There's a growing trend in the United States that threatens to damage irreparably the entrepreneurial engine that made America the economic powerhouse that it was in the 20th century.
It's what I call the "entitlement society." The seeds of it were sown in the 1970s.
What I have to say about this may make you angry with society as a whole or even make you mad at me. But, it's something that needs to be said.
If you think that you'll be offended, then look away now.
The Entitlement Society began with the Baby-Boomers in the 1970s. By then, the generation was in full swing. Some of them had already finished college and were just starting their careers. The youngest of that cohort, however, was still in primary school.
One of the things that characterized this generation was the two-career household. Instead of having one breadwinner, suddenly there were two.
(What I have to say is in no way an attack on women. I believe that if they want to have a career, then they have a right to do so as much as any man.)
The two-career lifestyle left little room for children. Many couples decided not to have kids, or to postpone them until later on in life.
Generation X, the children of the Baby-Boomers, in large measure, were unwanted. (I have a book on my shelf called The Unwanted Generation which describes this phenomenon.)
In the period when they were born - 1965-1980, depending on who you ask - the topic of unwanted pregnancies featured in the news to a much greater extent than it does today. Babies were looked upon as inconvenient. Their birth would mean that at least one person's career would have to take a back seat, and it wasn't limited to women.
As Generation X came of age, they started having children of their own. Their experiences of being unwanted made them want to have their own kids all the more. Generation Y, as they came to be known, turned out to be almost as big as that of their grandparents.
But these children were brought up with a different attitude. There were not only told how much they were wanted, they were also taught that everyone else wanted them as well. If that was all that happened, it wouldn't have mattered; but with it came the idea that they deserved a gold start just for showing up.
Professors lament that students from that generation and the one that followed expect to get A's just for coming to class. That's without studying or doing the assignments.
Employers have made the same complaint: that employees expect to get promoted just because they turned up for work on time for three months.
And I've had young employees write to me to ask when they should ask for a raise after they've held a position for less than a year.
That's the Entitlement Society. "I am, therefore I'm entitled."
Online coaches are faced with the same problem.
Most of them are committed to helping entrepreneurs of all ages to create web-based businesses. But they've found that very few people who come to them for help are willing to do the work necessary to succeed.
And there's so much baloney on the Web that tells them that making a fortune is as easy as falling off of a log, that they believe it. After all, it fits right in with the mindset that tells them that they're entitled to it anyway.
I've probably stepped on a lot of toes in this article. I've probably offended those who think they're entitled as well as those who taught them that they were.
But the truth is that those who have succeeded in business worked their socks off to get to where they are.
New businesses, both offline and online, are being started every day. Some of them will succeed. Many of them won't, and that's for a lot of reasons.
Some people will give it everything they've got and still be unsuccessful. But they will keep coming back. They will keep working at it. They will persevere until they get there.
If you hunger for that success, then you'll work as hard as you need to for as long as it takes.
The opportunities are there, but if you want to take advantage of them, then you have to work at it with all your heart.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8098722