The Worst Career Advice I Ever Received

The worst advice I ever received sounded practical. “Go get a real job.”

It came from my accountant.

I had just finished my MBA and launched my team-building company. I had decided before graduation, but this was the point when it stopped being an idea and became my life. No easing in.

No backup plan dressed up as strategy. I was all in.

Not long before that, I had read a line in a book on entrepreneurship that stuck with me: “The only difference between the unsuccessful entrepreneur and the successful one is that the unsuccessful one thought they’d be successful. The successful one knew it.”

That line landed because it matched how I felt. Not arrogance. Not fantasy. Commitment. I had decided failure was not the plan.

That first year was brutal.

I worked 9 to 5 every day at Team Builders Plus. From 6 to 10 each weeknight, I delivered pizza. On Saturdays and Sundays, I worked for my parents in their children’s clothing store. Seven days a week. Every week. My free time was Saturday and Sunday nights, and that went to chores. Glamorous stuff.

At the end of that first year, the business made a “profit,” sort of. I put that in air quotes because it is easy to look profitable when you don’t pay yourself. Still, the company had momentum. I felt encouraged.

I sat down with my accountant expecting a conversation about growth, maybe a little caution, maybe a little hope. Instead, he looked at me and said, “Why are you working so hard. You have an MBA. Go get a real job.”

Yeah. That was his advice. Get a real job.

What he was really telling me, though he did not realize it, was to walk away from work that meant something to me. Work that energized me. Work that fit how I am wired.

To be honest, it also made me mad, which became useful fuel.

The next year, I came back with better numbers. More revenue. Real profit. Then I did it again. And again.

Years later, after handing him the paperwork for another year’s taxes, he took a deep breath, looked me in the eyes, and said, “You’re my lesson. I will never again tell anyone to stop trying to grow a business. Imagine if you had listened to me.”

That stayed with me. Only now, I mean something completely different.

A real job isn’t defined by a paycheck, a title, or whether others approve of it. It isn’t about looking respectable on LinkedIn or sounding impressive at a reunion.

A real job feeds you. It’s work that lets your personality shine. It pulls you in so deeply that late nights don’t feel like a sacrifice. They feel like excitement, full of possibility.

So maybe my accountant wasn’t entirely wrong. I did get a real job, and it was the best career decision I’ve ever made.

​About the Author
Merrick Rosenberg is the author of Personality Intelligence: Master the Art of Being You, The Chameleon, and many other books for adults, students, and kids. He is the creator of the Eagle, Parrot, Dove, and Owl personality approach. As an award-winning speaker and President of Take Flight Learning, Merrick teaches people how to understand themselves and others through the lens of personality, because when you know your style, you unlock your path.