Free Fire Your Boss by Stephen M. Pollan, Mark Levine

least-paid workers. Everyone knows the stories of millionaire painters and novelists. But for every one of those millionaire painters there are millions of people earning very little doing some type of graphic art or design work. For every one of those millionaire novelists there are millions of people barely scraping by doing some type of journalism or communications work. Bosses seem to have realized that all they have to do is give people an opportunity for just a little bit of self-expression and they can get away with paying them next to nothing.
    But I believe there’s another reason creative workers are so unhappy: they face the longest odds in achieving their work goal. Those who work for power, for respect, for security, to travel, to serve, or to meet people have decent odds of at least partly achieving their goal. Those who work to express themselves have, truth be told, little chance of even partly achieving their goal. That’s not because they’re untalented, necessarily. It’s because work simply isn’t cut out for self-expression. Work and self-expression go together like hot dogs and peanut butter.
    This will be a vast oversimplification, but let me try to explain. Work is a mercantile process. You are paid to produce a good or a service that is of value to others. The more people value whatever it is you produce, the more you are paid. In effect, work rewards mass appeal. Self-expression, on the other hand, focuses on what’s valuable to the creator. You produce a good or service that is of value to you. The more it fits your own unique personal needs and wants, the more “value” it has. In effect, self-expression rewards individual appeal. It’s not impossible for them to coexist — it’s not like a comic book in which two alternate worlds can’t come together or else the universe explodes. Instead, it’s like putting peanut butter on hot dogs. They just don’t go together.
    That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue your self-expression goals. To do that effectively, however, you’ll need to be more specific. How do you want to express yourself? Do you like to write? If so, what type of writing? Do you have a particular audience in mind, or is it simply for yourself? You should make the same kind of analysis of any other artistic endeavor.
    When I told Sean Shanahan about my peanut butter and hot dog analogy he just shook his head. “I don’t eat either, I’m afraid,” he said with a chuckle. “But I understand what you’re getting at.” As I mentioned earlier in this chapter, Sean admitted to having always chosen art over commerce throughout his career. He and I discussed his drive for self-expression in a bit more depth. While he had worked in a number of mediums in his work life, Sean’s preferred method of personal expression in the past had been the mixed-media collage. He enjoyed shaping a unique piece of art using a variety of different, often unusual materials. Unlike at work, where he had a clear idea of the target market for all his graphics, his collages were made to please himself.
“I Work for the Money”
    In all the years I’ve been giving career advice to clients, no one has ever started off by telling me he or she works for the money. A handful, when prompted by my own admission that I work for the money, will say, with some embarrassment, that they too are more focused on what they earn than on what they do. 5 Most, however, seem shocked by such an attitude. At least at first.
    5. If you’re one of those handful, welcome to the club. Don’t be ashamed; you’re in good company. You’re also in great shape for taking charge of your work life. While you could just jump on to the next chapter, I’d suggest you continue reading this chapter. If nothing else, it will reinforce your already efficient attitude and make you feel even more secure about your mercantile approach to work.
    Not only is there nothing wrong with working for the money, but it’s the approach