Shocking.
The state of a portion of Canada's workforce is simply...shocking.
Specifically the work ethic of people born in Canada.
Not all of them...but many.
Maybe most.
Or maybe it's just our generation...we're not sure.
We've thought this for some time but the work ethic bar seems to continue to set new lows.
For the record, we're lucky enough to work with some very hard working people.
It seems like the exception though.
We both regularly chat with a good friend about the difficulty he has finding good employees for his business.
His latest adventure included hiring a young guy for a sales role that had a base salary plus commission.
He had the opportunity to make six-figures.
This is someone who is right out of school.
After a few weeks, he gets himself fired.
On his way out the door, he literally says something along these lines, "Who cares, I was only working about half an hour a day anyway...I was on Facebook all day."
Can you believe that?
He was proud of himself.
The sad part is that we've heard this exact same story from other businesses.
An Accountant we know had someone quit on him and go get a government job because it would be "easier."
An Engineering company owner had a young architect quit because she couldn't do the type of work she wanted...only what the clients wanted.
What these guys don't understand is this...
The young sales guy above doesn't realize our friend worked 16 hour days for years before getting any kind of break and making any real money.
The engineering company owner worked two jobs for over a year, while raising his children, and started his business in his basement. He still works weekends regularly to make things work.
This behaviour isn't just limited to employees either.
We regularly have real estate investors approach us asking us to explain how they can make millions of dollars overnight...and preferably with one property.
When we explain that it's possible but it'll take five years or more and you'll need some capital to start...some, not all, get annoyed with us.
LOL!
Seriously.
They think we're the problem.
What they don't realize is that they're exactly the type of people we don't want to work with.
They expect a lot of return for very little time or very little money invested.
We just met with a 67-year-old gentleman who is about to pull out 3-4 million dollars from one of his buildings.
He spent two years getting permits, dealing with architects, engineers, and contractors, and built an office building from scratch.
He then ran the building for the last 4 years.
And today he's going to sell it or refinance it and extract millions of dollars.
He worked many years in another business and had saved up enough money to pull off this project.
Another gentleman we know started buying single family rental properties and ran them for fifteen years.
He then sold some of them to buy apartment buildings and ran them for ten years.
He then sold some of the apartment buildings to buy Tier-1 commercial space just off Yonge Street in Toronto.
Today, he still owns some houses, some apartment buildings, and these commercial spaces.
He goes on six or more vacations all around the world: fishing in Siberia, hunting in northern Europe, sailing in the Caribbean, entertaining in Mexico, attends Formula 1 events all around the world, etc.
It's taken him decades to get to this point.
He's worked hard.
And this doesn't just apply to real estate.
Early this month, a young "internet marketer" asked us how we got so many hits on some of our websites.
We explained that for two years we wrote content on those pages every week without fail.
He was shocked.
Thought we were "old-school."
He was going to out-source his "content production" to India and just post it all over the Internet.
Thought that it would be faster that way.
And he's right, his way is faster.
But it's not better.
It's like building a house on a foundation of sand rather than concrete.
These strategies work for a little while and then Google figures out it's not really good content and his rankings will suffer.
We explained this to him but he didn't want to hear it.
Let us be clear on two points:
1. If someone doesn't have any desire to work hard or beyond the bare minimum of what's expected, that's fine with us. But please, please, don't complain to us about what you have and don't have. Your complaints will be falling on deaf ears.
2. There are good, hard-working, young people in Canada. They just seem to be in the minority. And if you're one of them, give yourself a little pat on the back right now. You're a rare breed.
Can we make a deal right now?
If you're not interested in hard work, fighting through challenges, and putting in the hours to achieve your goals, then can you please go ahead and unsubscribe from our emails, our blog posts, and anything else.
Don't waste your time with us.
But if you're interested in doing what it takes to reach your goals, make your money, live your life on your terms...then welcome. You've found people who think like you do.
And we feel honoured to have you around.
Maybe together we can get some stuff done! π
Until next time...Your Life! Your Terms!
Great article guys!
Well said.
Thank you for this article. I am in my 20's and sometimes feel like an outcast when I talk to some of my friends that cannot understand why they are 'paid so little' to work the bare minimum, if that!
Also as someone who has previously worked in policy development for the government... those jobs are not always 'EASY'; so good luck to whoever made that statement (if they haven't already been laid off).
Thanks for the great site and content. We decided this year to sell our restaurant in Saskatchewan and move to Ontario. I will be getting my real estate license and investing the money from here into property there. We have been here for five years and have been successful despite starting six months before the last recession hit. The reason we are selling and moving is because we cannot find people to work. We have gone through over fifty people since opening and I would only hire two of them again. Most would not show up on time, my god we even bought an alarm clock for one of them. Most would not pay attention and I would have to tell them the same instructions 10, maybe 20 times. And they wonder why bosses yell at times? Plus all the regular bs; cell phone use, talking to customers for 10 min+, not cleaning things right in front of them until they are told to. It is ridiculous; like they cannot think for themselves. Just this week for the fifth time out of six weeks our employe decided they didn't need to show up on Monday and this time Tuesday, as well. So I gave them the next week off the consider their employment here. And don't think I am some kind of dick; this is not the case. My food rep said to me a few months ago when he managed Boston Pizza in Yorkton they went through over three hundred people in two years? Management is not the issue with the lack of work ethic in society today; look no further than our government and the nanny state they have created over the last 100 years. Anyhow....cannot wait to get out of here and start working with you guys in Ontario.
Hey Chris, thanks for sharing. Our father ran a construction company for years.
I used to get some friends jobs with me, working for him over the summer ... after they saw how much work it was many of them stopped showing up after one week. LOL
Thanks for sharing, it was a fun read (but I know it's been a painful experience).
Sounds like we may be seeing you soon!
Tom.