Make your own job, with Black Jack and Hookers

I just saw this video by the YouTube channel "People make games". In general, I do empathise with the people recently being laid off in the games industry. They often look back at years of crunch, hoping to land a hit, get promoted, receive a bonus, or gain equity. Instead, they get shown the door.

When being tied to the job market, losing a job can be a disaster for people, with profound effects on their personal lives.

In the video, a speech is made in front of the Gameworkers union branch which rightfully questions some weird decisions having been made in the games industry lately, like acquisitions being directly followed by studio closures and layoffs.

Speaker Chris Bratt then, unsurprisingly (considering the audience), praises "collective action" and unionisation as the remedies to the problem.

I've been thinking about this for a while now, and it strikes me as odd that this adversarial relationship towards the workplace is still the kind of mindset people adopt in these moments of crisis. Another one should be so clearly in front of everybody: They've got to do their own thing.

Only entrepreneurship can bring freedom and true ownership to your workplace.

"But it's so insecure!"

What was so secure about that last job those people got laid off from? If my business fails, at least I can pinpoint the reasons why it did and either shift course with an entirely different type of business or try again, learning from my mistakes.

If I have a job, I can get laid off on a whim every day, from a company that might simultaneously be raking in money, even with me having made substantial contributions to that company's success. On a whim. A bureaucratic error. Some shitty consulting firm recommendation.

Jobs are not secure, this myth has to die.

"But it's hard!"

Starting a business has probably never been easier, with self-help books and courses often freely available. Marketing tools like websites, newsletters, social media have been largely democratised.

• Your website can have a comparable quality to an S&P 500 companies website. (If that's even desirable. A smaller and leaner online presence is preferable in most cases, your customer will thank you for it)
• Your newsletters land in the same inbox as everyone else's.
• Your posts on social media land right next to the ones of top influencers and are visually indistinguishable.

We live in a time when a single individual has extreme leverage through sophisticated tools and services. They can outsource, often even to online services, things like taxes, billing, design, etc. at incredible prices. The one-person-business can go a long way today.

"It's for the privileged."

Some people seem to believe that somehow an entrepreneurial career requires some kind of absolution from a higher instance, like a seal of approval from someone else. This is just in their heads.

If you have the motivation and are willing to learn and face your fears, there is no way anyone can stop you, given you are living in a society that offers you the basic freedoms to do so. No guarantees for success, but the business can be shaped exactly the way you want it. If you offer a shitty product or service, the market will tell you. Then you regroup and attack from a different angle.

Mistakes were made

I've been self-employed for over 20 years now. I've made mistakes and I learned from them. In fact, I'm learning every day. It feels like I've been red-pilled, it's almost impossible for me to imagine taking up "a job". I want to create my own job, with Black Jack and Hookers.

For those working in the creative business, creating your own products for passive income and getting there while selling your know-how as a service to others can be an incredible formula.

For further reading on the topic, I recommend:

• "The Millionaire Fastlane" by MJ DeMarco
• "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber
• "The Million Dollar Weekend" by Noah Kagan
• "The Art of Focus" by Dan Koe

After reading these books, I think it's almost impossible to not experience a major paradigm shift in your relation to work. Most of the information is applicable to any type of business. Making these concepts work in video games specifically is not easy. Otherwise, everyone would do it. But taking up an entrepreneurial mindset will immediately put you into a much more favourable position compared to people making games just out of passion, hoping to somehow win the algorithm lottery.

I'm still at the beginning when it comes to pivoting into a video game business and entering the games industry. But one thing that was clear to me from the beginning was, that getting a job in the games industry was off the table.

I hope this post and the resources mentioned might help others to create a clearer path for themselves. Have a lot of joy on your journey, and please tell me about it!