Do you remember your first job?
Mine was babysitting.
Which is ironic because “good with children” is not typically the first (or second, or third) descriptor people apply to me.
Creative? Sure.
Good writer? Hopefully.
Good with children? Not so much.
In fact, just the other day my younger brother and sister reminded me that when I used to babysit them, I would call the cops when they were bad. Unbeknownst to them, “the cops” was my BFF, Pam. But apparently, my tough love – which I thought was hysterical – was utterly terrifying for the little monsters and they’re still traumatized to this day. (About which I don’t feel totally bad because BELIEVE ME, they deserved it).
Despite my questionable practices, somehow my babysitting business boomed. I’m not sure if it was my homemade flyers or my eager smile and “cute” freckles that won people over…but I was in demand. So much so that I frequented The Wall (hey, remember when they had actual music stores?!) and Gap with my earnings.
My babysitting business was my first brush with entrepreneurship and – except for the actual act of babysitting – I dug it. I loved spreading the word, drumming up new business and watching as my profits – and music collection – grew.
What’s shocking is that some of the most successful people in the world had humble beginnings just like this. Even billionaires, like Warren Buffet, Oprah, Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Giorgio Armani and George Lucas weren’t above parking cars and paper routes. In fact, according the MSN Money article, 7 Billionaires’ First Jobs, they all started at the bottom just like you and me.
If they started out as assistants and grocery store clerks, just think of the potential within all of us…
What was your first job?
I started competitive swimming at the age of 11, through college. So my first real job wasn’t until I was a junior in college when I worked in a primate lab…wheeling the monkeys around.
Oh Suzanne, I laughed so hard when I read this!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Erika