A lot of my readers, even those working remote, are facing a situation where if they do not get vaccinated then they will lose their jobs. Almost all big companies are starting to comply with the mandate and push for all employees to present proof of vaccination or lose their jobs. I am facing this myself, despite being someone who does not go into the corporate office or HQ. While I won’t talk about the efficiency of the vaccines, I will say that I am not really for the mandates and think they are excessive.
Now we have seen some success stories such as Southwest employees pushing back and getting their company to temporarily halt the mandates. Yet, I am not here to tell you to go on some strike. If you genuinely feel like you can be religiously or medically exempt, then go for it. I, on the other hand, have come to the conclusion that we have to hand it to the big corporations that they did indeed win this one. The fact that I am writing this, you are reading this, and that this is such a difficult decision tells us that we need them more than they need us.
The fact of the matter is that it doesn’t just stop here.
Once companies know that they can get the vast majority of people to comply, they won’t just stop here. In fact, expect them to ask for everyone to have a booster by end of next year if not sooner. If you think that companies will just stop with one full vaccination, then you are mistaken, more will be asked. I wouldn’t expect for any politicians or influencers to save you either, this is the reality we are living in. Jab or job will quickly turn into booster or job. I don’t really see any change in the government and whatever party is in charge affecting this all that much.
For a lot of you, its all too natural to get angry at your company and to somehow try to strike. A lot of you think that you can try to take this on head-first like the employees at Southwest did. While I won’t comment too much on how effective that is, I wanted to offer up another point, something I came to.
I came to a different realization, one that I ignored for quite some time.
For years, I read the writing on the wall around how a job can easily replace you and how you can easily be let go from any large corporation for whatever reason. Maybe it was due to my situation and because the paycheck is that cushy that I still, to some mystery to myself, ignored that and went all in on my job. Now it did pay off as I got a lot of great perks and also made a good pay but now, I feel like the chickens have come home to roost for me.
Ever since I started, I dreamed of having supplemental income to go along with what I was making on my job. I always told myself that I would do it to not be one of those guys who has to rely on his job in order to get paid, especially if shit hits the fan as it has. I am not the only one either, many of us did. The vast majority of us dreamed of starting that business on the side, getting that second income stream, or something to pay us on top of our jobs but we never got around to it.
Happy Hours were too fun, we had to party on the weekends, and it was great to get validated by the boss or leadership for doing a good job. We never knew it would come to this, at least not years ago before the pandemic. Then the pandemic came and we had the chance to work from home, no more long commutes and no more drives back. Work from home flourished and it is here to say for the future, but I regret not making more of it. Unfortunately, some like our great nurses and brave Doctors who were on the front lines of this did not get an opportunity.
If this does not cause you to build supplemental income, I am not sure what will.
Here’s the truth, it doesn’t really matter all that much who is in power. For us Americans, if a Democrat is in power then we will get what we are getting now. If we somehow elect a Republican next, well then the other side will cause such a ruckus to the point that leadership will be too busy playing defense than stopping anything. You can strike, quite a few people are and media is trying to downplay it all it can, but it might not do you as much good as you may think.
You can still lose your job, lose health insurance (in case shit goes haywire for you), lose your benefits, and lose so much. Some of you might not even be single, you have families to support. Quite a few of you only have a few months left of savings and do need your livelihoods to remain intact. As much as you want to oppose the government and try to be brave, it just isn’t wise for you financially.
It’s time to admit that they won this round, as much as we hate to admit it. While I wanted to see the side effects of the vaccines play out, I am in a situation now where I will most likely get vaccinated. It’s not just for my job but the reality that other things down the road might need proof of vaccination which is likely incoming. The last thing I want is to be in a situation months down the road, after I have quit my job, where I have to get vaccinated anyways.
From this day on, you use this as a chip on your shoulder to be financially independent.
Respect your own time. Exercise aggressive work-life balance and be ready to do just enough at your job to stay employed. The truth is that there is going to be a labor shortage so your company does not really want to lose you. Spend the time outside of your 9 to 5 to build your supplemental income stream. If you are a remote employee and can get away with it, use some time during your work day to work on your supplemental stream of income.
You are getting paid and doing it on the company’s dime, not the most noble thing to do but if your company is willing to go along with the so called rules, then it’s time to wake up and realize that. Sure, you can argue with HR, cuss out your boss, throw a tantrum, and join some worker’s strike. At best, what this will give you is short-term victory. Your goal is to want to achieve long-term victory and be ready to accept that while you may have lost this battle, you will not lose their war for your own personal freedom.
If you want to really win here, accept your short-term loss and go all-in on your supplemental income idea. Start that business, get into affiliate marketing, get into copy writing, and get yourself to a place where 6 months to a year from now you have a solid income stream going and don’t need your job. Best of all, you do it on their dime. That way, when they ask booster or job, you can smile and happily leave.
As for me, this blog has not produced me any sort of a profit. I have decided that if it is not helping me on the path to being independent in 2022, I will not renew my domain. I have decided to make supplemental income my number 1 goal for next year and the remainder of this year.
