Meaning and Freedom Without the 9-to-5 - The End of Jobs

I hate inspirational fluff and people selling hope. If you do too and are in need of some direction as an aspiring entrepreneur, read this book. Every chapter is clear and concise with actionable, no BS advice.

I picked up the very affordable Kindle version and finished reading it within a day.

As someone who in the game of trying to break from from the 9-to-5, I enjoyed reading the book. It was an easy and quick read.

But the opener, "“Hello sir, you want special massage?” A pretty Thai girl smiled as she framed the spa menu between slender arms." Seriously?

Absolutely loved ths book, I liked the honesty and straight forwardness of the book. I've read many other similar books but the difference with this one is that it gave alot of relative examples to the points and this helped with me getting started. As I don't have a daily task to focus and have been doing bits here in there, as I feel overwelmed with the long term goal, but you've made me realise the short term 90 days action steps to focus on. So thank you :-)

I really liked how this book was written. It gave me some ideas, as well as motivation, clarification, and really helped me to realise that I wasn't crazy to start working on some ideas to make money on the internet.

Taylor, well done on gifting us with this brilliant and timely book.

The resources and references to other authors and websites were incredibly well timed and relevant.

Your name keeps popping up in the entrepreneurial circles I move in, and the praise you are receiving for your work is well justified.

Thank you,
Derek

Simply incredible.

Taylor has a systems-based mindset and provides the reader with authentic data on why we're at the end of jobs. From there, he goes on to discuss what we, as individuals, can do with the current state of the economy - become entrepreneurs.

While he admits that there are thousands of ways to become an entrepreneur he elaborates on two methods - the stair-step method and the apprenticeship. This, by far, was my favorite section of the book as it gave me confidence in how to make the transition from worker to entrepreneur.

At the end of the book he also provides resources to help you get started with your entrepreneurial journey - SOPs, outlines, recommended business books, and more.

I loved this book. It's a combination of James Altucher, Peter Thiel, and Tim Ferriss.

I really enjoyed this book. There was an interesting historical perspective as well as actionable insights into what we can all start doing now to realize the opportunity of the entrepreneurial economy.

I've read books that have a similar thread throughout. But even still, Taylor Pearson delivers a boat load of information that changed my world-view in more than one area. If you want to exit up, read The End Of Jobs! The End of Jobs: Money, Meaning and Freedom Without the 9-to-5

This books tries to break your conventional way of thinking using examples and a few statistics, to a some extend it is a rehashing of already popular books of similar content. If you read for first time such kind of books you will be enlightened, otherwise you won't learn anything new, but a good summary of the current situation in the workforce.

This book was a great read. Very good explanation of why this is the right time to shift into becoming an entrepreneur instead of continuing the 9-5 hustle. I recommended this book to several loves ones and friends.

It was the same old story. Entrepreneur X makes a risky choice, venturing off on his own in lieu of taking a stable job. He learns about the power of working independently, building knowledge, and providing value to others. He writes a book about how you can do it too.

This is the same story Tim Ferriss told us back in 2007 with The Four Hour Workweek. It’s the same story I tell in The Connection Algorithm. And now, it’s the same story Taylor Pearson is telling us in The End of Jobs.

When I saw the title and the subtitle, I thought to myself, “Another entrepreneurship book? Really?” I was nervous to release my own book (which has a similar theme) because I wanted to avoid that exact response, and yet here I was, having the same knee-jerk reaction to a Taylor's title. Despite my reaction, Taylor’s book sales are through the roof. People are buying it in droves. It’s an instant bestseller. While the narrative sounds painfully overplayed, it somehow feels fundamentally different. The shoppers here on the store are telling us this with their wallets.

So, what is happening here? What makes The Four Hour Workweek more relevant today than it has ever been? And what is causing so many people to buy Taylor’s book?

On the edges of society, there’s a shift happening. People in cubicles across America can feel it. They’re curious about it, but it’s difficult to understand. The End of Jobs makes it crystal clear, which is also precisely why it’s selling so well. It explains why, contrary to popular belief, investing in entrepreneurship is a smart and safe bet to make at this particular time in our nation’s history.

Taylor describes how civilization has taken us through various phases of power and control — from the church, to monarchs, to banks, to corporations. In each phase, the dominant institution is overtaken by a group of people holding a new resource in high demand. This resource, often initially seen as risky or unstable, slowly morphs into the dominant form of power and profit, until it reaches peak saturation and effectiveness, at which point the cycle repeats.

Taylor explains how America, and much of the world at large, is currently experiencing another peak, namely — peak jobs. To borrow from Taylor’s rhetoric, a “job” in this case is defined as working for someone else and performing tasks that aren’t driving your own knowledge and interests forward. You can think of it as a worker on an assembly line. This person is simply performing a task and getting a paycheck. He isn’t gaining anything for himself in terms of knowledge capital. He’s just performing his duty.

As we transitioned from the Industrial Age into the Information Age, these “assembly-line jobs” declined. Machines took over most of the rote tasks, forcing us humans to use our brains and become more than just a finger pushing a button. This departure from mindless tasks, along with the proliferation of technology, created a new landscape of jobs. More specifically, in the Information Age, demand shifted from menial labor to knowledge-based labor.

When knowledge became the valuable resource, credentials became the most popular measure of that resource. Young people started attending college and graduate school to obtain their diploma — their ticket to stability and success. Unfortunately, over the last twenty five years, as more and more people have flooded into universities despite increased costs, the value of a degree has drastically declined. It has become a saturated asset. The valuable resource has once again changed — and it now lies in entrepreneurship.

The traditional path of the past century is rapidly becoming less stable, less effective, and therefore less appealing. A college degree is no longer a badge that grants you access to the workforce. It’s now an expected commodity, and doesn’t guarantee much of anything. Because jobs as we currently understand them are increasingly being taken over by machines or processed overseas, companies are downsizing their staffs, leaving only the members who make the organization run — the knowledge workers. But even if you’re among these knowledge workers, the heightened competition for such roles means employers are more likely to drop you for someone more qualified, or less expensive. There is no security and no stability. Your job could be stolen from you at any moment.

Working for a corporation is becoming risky. So here we are, at The End of Jobs. Taylor Pearson describes the situation in simple terms:
"What was once safe is now risky. What was once risky is now safe."

Power is shifting away from corporations, and toward the individual. As entrepreneurs, we can now skip the middlemen and rely on ourselves — with unprecedented stability. The same technologies that are derailing security in the corporate world are bringing limitless opportunity to the world of the entrepreneur. The knowledge-focused market that was once owned by CEOs is now accessible to everyone. The internet has created an open, meritocratic platform, enabling transactions between anyone in the world. Creatives are starting to realize this. Designers, musicians, writers, engineers, and inventors are all now able to profit from their unique skills, without being tied to an institution. The whole process can be done independently. We can now learn how to do something valuable (from the internet), and effortlessly offer that value to customers with the click of a button (through the internet).

So, if the Information Age has forced us to become knowledge workers, and the nature of this environment eradicates job security within corporations, and we now have a free platform for easily sharing our knowledge for profit, why wouldn’t we just become the operator of our own knowledge and control our own destiny? Why tie ourselves to a third-party system (the corporate world) that’s arguably now less stable than investing in ourselves and building our own personal equity (which can never be taken away from us)?

One of the problems of the past was capital. But that problem has been solved, too. Technology, crowdfunding platforms, the sharing economy, and accelerator programs are enabling entrepreneurship like never before — and this trend will only continue to build momentum. Ten years ago, I couldn’t make money from renting out my apartment on Airbnb, or teaching an online course on Udemy, or driving people around in my car with Uber. Today, I can. Ten years ago, I couldn’t pitch my product to the entire world on Kickstarter or Indiegogo. And I couldn’t join accelerator programs like Techstars or 500 Startups to launch my company without any Angel money or institutional backing. Today I can. Funding projects and making money on the side has never been easier. The infrastructure is already solid, but these types of services are sprouting up every day, enabling more and more people to hit the eject button on the corporate world and spend time on their own entrepreneurial endeavors.

In my book, The Connection Algorithm, I describe a state-of-being called ZombieLand. ZombieLand is where you feel uninterested in what you’re doing — it’s the land of jobs. Most of us have fallen into this culture. We’ve been trudging up the Status-Quo Mountain for the past century, and we’re now at the peak. In my book, I didn’t spend enough time explaining why it’s time to take the leap out of the traditional workforce and into the entrepreneurial arena. Thankfully, Taylor Pearson has filled the gap. Simply put, The End of Jobs is a masterpiece. Taylor goes into far greater detail than I have here, building an almost infallible argument. And he does so with engaging prose, compelling evidence, and poignant examples. I fully expect it to become one of the top-selling and most influential business/lifestyle books of the next decade and beyond.

One of the points I make in my book is that the extractable value of a trend is disproportionately weighted to when it first appears. In other words, it’s insanely valuable to “get in early.” Well, we’re now standing at the precipice of a massive trend: An exodus from jobs as we know it, and a growing army of entrepreneurs who will redefine our concept of work as we approach the second half of the 21st century. I hope you will join Taylor and me, along with countless others around the world who understand the benefit of getting in early. The opportunity won’t last forever.

When I first saw Taylor’s book, which launched only a month after mine, my heart jumped with excitement. Without ever speaking to each other, we had both uncovered the same secret, at nearly the same time. This isn’t some miraculous miracle. It isn’t fate, or luck, or chance. It’s a sign. It’s a sign that we are, as Taylor so eloquently explains, at The End of Jobs. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Taylor’s book right now. It will change the way you see the world, and equip you with the necessary mindset to succeed in this unique, transitional period of our history.

Final Note: I should mention, as Taylor does, that investing in entrepreneurship does not preclude you from being an employee. You can work at a company and still be investing in entrepreneurship by using the Stair Step method (explained in the book). Or, you can be an apprentice to another entrepreneur. On the flip side, you can also be a startup cofounder who just takes orders from your partners, in which case you’re not investing in entrepreneurship.

The core of entrepreneurship lies in independent action, knowledge-building, and problem-solving: Starting something from nothing. Creating. Whether this is being done within an institution, or not, is irrelevant. But, I will say this: the further you decouple yourself from the corporate world as we know it, and the further you venture into the world of entrepreneurship, the higher you can go.

I thought this was a great book. It addresses the changing job structure in today's economy and helps to show that having a job might not be the path to freedom and happiness and security it once was. Definitely a great read to someone entering the job market, looking to break out on their own, or changing up their life.

Very insightful. Was very impressed by the concepts of this book and their presentation. Highly recommend to my fellow entrepreneurs, especially those looking to hire apprentices. And recommend even higher to everyone who needs a new framework for thinking about work mindset in the internet age

This book does a great job exploring the history of work as well as discussing the trends that are currently happening. This is a great read for anyone currently working for someone else that feels like they could be doing something more geared towards meaning and freedom.

Author's discussions of economic eras was very insightful.

Offers actionable advice on how to take advantage of the current economy.

I'd offer this book to new professionals and experienced professionals alike. Anyone interested in a current state of economic affairs or entrepreneurship would be wise to read this book!

Taylor clearly illustrates why it's safer to be an entrepreneur than staying at a job for years. Written well, concise, and full of great resources and tactics - I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to succeed in the 21st century.

Great read that looks at economic history and current economic theory and ties up everything nicely. The 90 day planning stuff is fantastic, and I really enjoyed being introduced to Nassim Taleb's Extremistan idea as well as long tail theory and the Cynefin framework.

I would have rated it 5 stars, but chose to go with 4 instead for 3 reasons. 1.) I subscribe to the playboy method of handing out stars on the store. All women are beautiful in their own right, but you have to be an outlier in terms of physical beauty to grace the pages as a centerfold. Books should be the same, and thus 4 stars is a fantastic rating for me. 2.) It's a really well researched, well written book that connects the dots between a lot of pragmatic issues, but there isn't anything that is really extremely insightful or groundbreaking in the form of either content or frame. 3.) To the best of my knowledge (and I could be way off base on this entire 3rd point), Taylor is a successful entrepreneur. However, near as I can tell, this book is his biggest entrepreneurial success. There is a massively expanding, almost sort of an epidemic of young entrepreneurs who are starting businesses whose primary business is teaching people about starting businesses. It just doesn't work that way, you have to put in the hours. Period. While his skill is undeniable, I simply can't grade any type of book on entrepreneurship whose main business is teaching entrepreneurship 5 stars. If, however, you read this book with this last point in mind, and you are looking for a good starting point to explore escaping the rate race, this book is a home run.

This book does a great job exploring the history of work as well as discussing the trends that are currently happening. This is a great read for anyone currently working for someone else that feels like they could be doing something more geared towards meaning and freedom.

Author's discussions of economic eras was very insightful.

Offers actionable advice on how to take advantage of the current economy.

I'd offer this book to new professionals and experienced professionals alike. Anyone interested in a current state of economic affairs or entrepreneurship would be wise to read this book!

Taylor clearly illustrates why it's safer to be an entrepreneur than staying at a job for years. Written well, concise, and full of great resources and tactics - I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to succeed in the 21st century.

Great read that looks at economic history and current economic theory and ties up everything nicely. The 90 day planning stuff is fantastic, and I really enjoyed being introduced to Nassim Taleb's Extremistan idea as well as long tail theory and the Cynefin framework.

I would have rated it 5 stars, but chose to go with 4 instead for 3 reasons. 1.) I subscribe to the playboy method of handing out stars on the store. All women are beautiful in their own right, but you have to be an outlier in terms of physical beauty to grace the pages as a centerfold. Books should be the same, and thus 4 stars is a fantastic rating for me. 2.) It's a really well researched, well written book that connects the dots between a lot of pragmatic issues, but there isn't anything that is really extremely insightful or groundbreaking in the form of either content or frame. 3.) To the best of my knowledge (and I could be way off base on this entire 3rd point), Taylor is a successful entrepreneur. However, near as I can tell, this book is his biggest entrepreneurial success. There is a massively expanding, almost sort of an epidemic of young entrepreneurs who are starting businesses whose primary business is teaching people about starting businesses. It just doesn't work that way, you have to put in the hours. Period. While his skill is undeniable, I simply can't grade any type of book on entrepreneurship whose main business is teaching entrepreneurship 5 stars. If, however, you read this book with this last point in mind, and you are looking for a good starting point to explore escaping the rate race, this book is a home run.

The book was packed with valid information in a timeline setting with graphs. I knew most of that information from research of my own but for someone who has no clue about how jobs were created it will blow their mind. The flow of the info made it an easy read. Thank you for making this book. It is time to rise the entrepreneur.

Taylor Pearson's book, The End of Jobs, will change the way you think about work and being an employee. It will make you question the relevance of academic credentials and being an employee in today's market place. This book is a must for anyone unsure about starting out for themselves!

Speaks to themes I've been thinking about for some time. Nice work Taylor, if you get a chance please take a look at my very modest blog which talks about similar stuff imageneralist.com thanks and good luck with your future endeavours.

A disappointment because it's a rehash of the same subject matters written on this topic. Nothing really insightful. Technology is killing jobs. Focuses too much on being an internet entrperneur. University education is useless....etc

Pearson directs it to a young audience just starting or not long in the work place but the precepts work for those over 50 who have bought into the traditional idea of "job" but find themselves unemployed and trying to begin their next chapter.

I have many books about business, success, and entrepreneurship. This is the best, by far. Pearson explains why the knowledge economy is failing the middle class in developed countries. He then sets out how to capitalize on the current inflection point and shift to the entrepreneurial economy. This change can enable us to generate wealth and enjoy the lifestyle improvements that previous generations saw. More important than wealth and material comfort, the shift to an entrepreneurial economy can give us the meaning and freedom that so many of us are desperately seeking--I know I am.

There are no business plans here. No five-year goals. And that's how Pearson wants it. There's a big, powerful vision, and some next steps. It's compelling and gets the ball rolling. If you need more help with what to do next, I recommend Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses.

The End of Jobs has lit a fire under my ass in a way that no other book has. If it doesn't do that for you, well... Entrepreneurs will always need employees.