Escaping Full-Time Work

Sick and tired of watching advertisements on TV, I now resort to making good use of the broadband plan that I have with my ISP and watching mainly YouTube videos on my television. There are ads on YouTube, but they don't seem to be as offensive as the ads on mainstream Australian TV (e.g. those annoying X-Factor ads where someone sings wells, there is a standing ovation, people start crying, etc).

One of the people on YouTube I watch is George Hemminger. Here is a video of him talking about how he doesn't work full-time because he is unable to.

 

I have a full time job now but always wonder whether I can do it for the rest of my life. I am almost 30 now, and most people retire at about 60, so it's another 30 years of full-time work. I've been reflecting on this topic for a while now and I don't think I have the energy to do it. Luckily for me, I don't have wife, children, mortgage, or even a girlfriend. I barely even have any friends. It's not something I deliberately set out to achieve, but just a by-product of being introverted or shy.

I have no plans to get a big mortgage or a wife or children, and I still work full-time, even though I question whether I want to do it. I suppose it's the fear of no longer earning an income that keeps me working.

My hatred of being a full-time employee relates to lack of freedom. When you are an employee, you have to go to work and do what the boss tells you to do, and it's that constant subordination that wears me out. I think one of these days I should start my own business, but I'll need to save up some money first.

Many people think that in order to start your own business you must have a really good idea. Even though I have no experience in running my own business, I doubt this is true. What is wrong with taking an existing tried-and-tested business model, e.g. starting a milk bar, and doing that? Some people will say that if you don't invent anything, you will compete with many others. For example, if you invent a cure of AIDS, you will have exclusive monopoly rights granted by patent law and you can make huge profits, but if you start a milk bar, you will compete with all the other milk bars out there and make almost nothing. While I agree that monopolization can be highly profitable, I don't agree that just because you start a mainstream business (e.g. a cafe or a milk bar) that you cannot make any money. You will just not make as much money. If there is no money to be made from e.g. opening a cafe or a milk bar, why do cafes and milk bars exist? There must be some profit. Furthermore, even if you are an employee, you are not inventing anything. You go to university just like millions of other people out there and when you leave and apply for jobs or apply for promotions within an organisation, you are competing. You are competing on basic things like communication skills, writing skills, stakeholder management skills, and so forth.