The other day a blog showed up in my Google Alerts stating that the Millennial Generation is no longer motivated by receiving a paycheck!
The author, Erik Folgate, a Millennial himself, says:
So, why aren’t young people motivated by a paycheck anymore? Because they hate the idea of being confined to a fixed income. If you’re 25 years old and starting a new career, are you satisfied with getting a paycheck every two weeks or do you want more? Do you hate the idea that an employer dictates how much money you make? Of course you do, because you live in a new era of doing business. You live in an era where you can start a blog for virtually free and make money from it. You can sell virtual real estate in virtual worlds like Second Life. You can have an eight to five job, and do consulting work on the side. Knowledge is valuable. Information is king.
Sure Erik, we all want more, or at least I can speak for myself, but I don’t always have that luxury if I am working with a nonprofit. Sometimes working for a nonprofit means needing more. So, as employees of nonprofits what can we do to make sure we get our paycheck, which by the way I am definitely motivated by, and have everything we need and want in life.
I think Erik has it right, there are plenty of ways for individuals to make money outside of work and it can be easy if you take the steps to make it happen. His ideas seem to go hand-in-hand with the fact that many people are leaving the nonprofit sector because the paycheck isn’t big enough.
As a Millennial, it is the perfect time for me to take the extra steps outside of work to make extra money, working freelance, blogging, grantwriting, etc.
As nonprofit professionals, we should use the extra job outside of work to offset some of the stress we may have from working for a mission. I have my own personal blog and feel it is one of the best ways to release frustration and express my ideas, without taking up too much time outside of work. I don’t make any money from my blog currently, but could see that it could take that path in the future.
Taking the next steps to make money off my blog will be extra work and I have to find that balance, but it will be worth it if I am able to express myself outside of the workplace, where I may not always be heard.
I want to challenge all Millennials and Generation Xers who haven’t made their ideal paycheck yet to take advantage of opportunities to make money outside of work while still doing something you are passionate about. It may take some work at first, but it will be worth it in the long run if you can work for a nonprofit that supports your cause and make enough money to live well and do what you want to.
- Tera Wozniak
Gen Y
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17 March 2008 at 9:09 pm
chelsea
Tera,
I appreciate the fact that we as Gen X and Y-ers can find creative ways to make money and support ourselves, but I also think that nonprofits have a responsibility to provide living wage jobs and encourage work/life balance. How does having a second, creative job encourage personal and spiritual fulfillment? How does it challenge and break down the stereotype that work should always be number one, and the only way to show devotion to a cause is to give your everything to it. In the words of Cecile Andrews, author of “Slow is Beautiful”, how can we learn to strive for “good enough” rather than “perfect”?
My job meets some of my personal fulfillment needs, but not all of them, and I don’t think the pursuit of more money in new ways will meet any more of those needs. In working for a nonprofit, and therefore for social change of some sort, I think we are much better off learning how to feed ourselves and reduce burnout through relationships, community and spirituality.
I hope I don’t sound too critical-that isn’t my intention. Your post just reminded me of my struggle to balance work and life and feel justified in doing so when my role models do not.