Entreprenuer? Or just “self-employed”?

Just when you thought last month’s non-stop media circus surrounding the largest-ever Mega Millions lottery jackpot was nothing more than a memory, the story is back in the news again, now that the final winner has come forward to claim the remaining one-third share of the record $656 million prize.

One popular routine used by the news media every time there’s a large lottery prize about to be won is the obligatory “man on the street” interview session with people waiting in line to buy tickets. There might as well be a script, because the questions – and answers – are basically the same every single time it’s done:

The reporter shoves a microphone in front of an excited ticket buyer’s face and asks the classic question, “What will you do if you win?”

The immediate response is almost always the same: “I’ll quit my job.” (Sometimes there are slight variations, such as “I certainly won’t go in to work tomorrow – that’s for sure!”)

The politicians must not be watching any of this, because all they keep talking about is creating more jobs.

A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law Lisa took a full week off from work to spend time with my beautiful wife Michele and their mother, while I attended a business conference.

All week long, everyone took notice of how happy Lisa was (and she even has what people would call a “good job”), and she herself was constantly counting down the remaining hours of her freedom before she had to go back to work.

Lisa also had extra time to read her daily newspaper, which consistently contained stories and headlines about America’s “need” for more jobs.

It’s a well-accepted fact of American life: People “just try to get by” all week long, so they can spend two straight days without having to work. There certainly isn’t a popular restaurant chain called, “Thank God It’s Monday,” is there?

Over the years, popular song titles have told the same story:

• “I Don’t Like Mondays”
• “Working For The Weekend”
• “Friday” (Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend)
• (Monday I have) “Friday On My Mind”

And of course…

• “Take This Job And Shove It”

And yet the American people continue to allow themselves to be brainwashed into believing that “we need more jobs.” Almost all politicians will be positioning themselves as “job creators” for the next six months or so, preying on people’s pathetic lack of ambition to try to get themselves elected.

The facts are indisputable that Americans hate their jobs (even most of those who have “good jobs”), and that the government is horrible at “job creation” – creating too few jobs, and almost zero “good jobs.”

I thoroughly enjoy being a coach and consultant to aggressive, forward-thinking, action-taking entrepreneurs. They are motivating, exciting people to be around.

That’s why although I accept the fact that most typical Americans choose to settle for a life of conformity, mediocrity and general dissatisfaction by adopting a “job mentality,” it makes me sad to see the majority of small business owners choosing the same limiting lifestyle by settling for being merely “self-employed” instead of striving to become wealthy.

I had the pleasure of attending an intimate gathering of some of Chicago’s top thought leaders yesterday, featuring a talk and Q&A session by Ziad Abdelnour, author of “Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics.”

As Mr. Abdelnour writes:

“America was created to be a land of opportunity, where the individual could take an idea, develop it, and create wealth in the process. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with this notion.”

Somewhere along the line, we’ve become a society where the vast majority of people have no real desire to become wealthy – or to help others do the same. Our teachers, politicians and even parents focus on teaching us to conform and strive for nothing more than a comfortable, upper-middle-class-at-best existence.

Creating wealth requires work. It requires drive. It requires passion. It requires sacrifice. And most of all, if requires the guts to take risks.

This country needs more people to step up and lead the way out of our economic funk. It needs more “wealth creators” – not more “job creators.” And those leaders are our nation’s true entrepreneurs.

As Mr. Abdelnour observes, “Just once, I’d like to see a politician saying he wants to create more millionaires instead of saying he wants to create more jobs.”

How about you? Are you one of the few small business owners who truly wants to be wealthy, and to help lead this country back to being the wealthy, admired, respected, world-leading power that it used to be?