Your Dream Job is Not A Job – Part 3 of 3: Purpose
Posted on 11. May, 2012 by willrak in Internet Marketing Agency Management, Internet Marketing Franchise, Internet Marketing Success Stories, Online Marketing Industry News, SearchMarketMe News, Small Business Network, Starting Your Own Business
Last week was the quest for mastery, that perfect medium between boredom and stress that lets you work and feel your best. Based off a quick, entertaining video narrated by Dan Pink on what really drives us, this week we look at purpose, the reason behind it all.
Have a Crisis
Whether you’ve hit your mid-life, or you’re a bit before or a bit after, now’s a good time for a crisis. No, I don’t mean go tanning and buy a corvette. I mean it’s time to step back and assess the road behind. Take a look back on the past decade or two. You might be thinking, “Wow. Where did the time go?”…”Will the next decade blow by even faster?”
Why do you work at your current job? Is it the company mission? Pause a moment, and in your own words, describe your company’s mission.
Go ahead, we’ll wait.
…
When referring to your company, did you say “They” or did you say “We”?
If you said “they,” then maybe you’re not as connected as you want to believe you are. If you’re not in it for the mission, then maybe it’s your profit motive.
Listen to MasterCard
You know the ads, and they all end up with, “There are some things money can’t buy.” As it turns out, on the top of that list is genuine job satisfaction. As Dan Pink cites in his book, ”the correlation between money and happiness is weak – that past a certain (and quite modest level), a larger pile of cash doesn’t bring people a higher level of satisfaction.” According to strategy guru Gary Hamel, “as an emotional catalyst, wealth maximization lacks the power to fully mobilize human energies.”
This doesn’t mean you should disregard profits, but that you should see profit and purpose as equal. Dan goes on to explain that purpose-oriented goals, on the other hand, reliably produce higher levels of satisfaction and subjective well-being.
Purpose to the Rescue
As Dan says in the video, “Companies that are flourishing are animated by purpose.” And his book goes on to say that ”Autonomous people working toward mastery perform at very high levels. But those who do so in the service of some greater objective can achieve even more.”
It’s only when businesses disregard the purpose motive that “bad things happen.” Like bad ethics, bad products, bad customer service, or a bad work environment.
Your purpose can be as simple as turning any one of those bad things on its head. Like Zappos, who pledged to give great customer service, no matter what. Or Skype, who wanted to create a free internet-powered phone service, and succeeded.
But it can be more personal than that, too. Many of our Agency Owners value the freedom, or autonomy, to work how they want to work. Most of them are simply thankful for the extra time they get to spend with their family, or doing the simple things that they love, like golfing or gardening.
And studies have shown that if people can’t find their purpose already packaged up in that once-in-a-blue-moon job opening, “they’ll create a venture of their own.”
How to Shape the World
If you’re reading this, chances are that you come from the world of marketing, or are interested in getting involved. That’s a good thing! One of the greatest forces for change on this planet is the economy, both broad market development as well as granular customer choices. Marketing is the catalyst for that change. Great marketing can galvanize a local economy, reunite a community, or tip the scales on our scientific advancement. Great marketing can.
As an internet marketing Agency Owner, you will have the opportunity to choose how to shape the world. You can choose who to work with, what to work on, when to do it, where to do it, how to do it, and most of all, why to do it. You’ll have full autonomy, mastery, and purpose in your work.
Your dream job is not a job, it is your own internet marketing business.
To learn more about the SearchMarketMe internet marketing Agency Owner program, check out our website at www.SearchMarketMe.com. To receive our new “5 Steps to Success” PDF, feel free to email 5steps@searchmarketme.com or give us a call at (206) 201-2320.
Check out the first two parts of “Your Dream Job is Not A Job”:
Also check out Dan Pink’s book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
