Work, Keep Working, and Then Work Harder

Congrats! You made it.

You finished college.

You got good grades. 

…Ok, passing grades. 

Now you’re gonna get a good job. 

…Ok, a job. 

In 20 years, maybe you’ll pay off your student loans.

After working for another 30 years, you may finally be able to retire and take that cruise to Aruba you always talk about.

And then? You die.

What. A. Joke.

Is this really what God or the universe or your mother had in mind for you?

Who decided this is the path to success? The woke colleges that teach you almost nothing of real value?

The corporations that need “well-behaved” worker bees to reach their quarterly targets?

The government that takes half your income and then wastes it?

I’m here to tell you there is another way.

I know because I’m living it.

I dropped out of high school at 14. I worked minimum-wage jobs when “minimum” meant something—as in “next to nothing.” I lived out of my car and “camped” in parks.

And yet, here I am, one of the most-watched personalities on the Internet. I employ a bunch of people. And, I make more than the minimum wage. 

How did I get here without a college degree?

As someone once said, “I never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

My parents owned a coffee house in Chicago.

I did a little bit of everything. And while I was cleaning, cooking, or cashiering I was also soaking up the banter, learning about culture, politics, and why Jason hated the Republican party—that was my education.

I didn’t have some grand plan for my life. Actually, I didn’t have any plan. I just worked hard. 

Whether I was handing out extra-crispy fries at the drive-through window, or freezing my ass off hauling luggage at O’Hare, I was always excited about what I was doing, because I knew my next job, and the one after that, would be better.

In my early 20s, I began a career in activism. I fundraised on behalf of Greenpeace and other environmental nonprofits. And I was damn good at it. In fact, I was always one of their top fundraisers. But I walked away when I discovered that the “green” these organizations claimed to care about was not the environment.

Around that time, rumors began circulating on the internet about something called “Occupy Wall Street.” The plan was for thousands of people to storm the streets of New York because they felt that the rich were being bailed out during an economic crisis they caused. Meanwhile, the middle class and the poor were being crushed. It seemed interesting, so I thought it was worth checking out.

I bought a roundtrip bus ticket to New York, planning to be there for a week. I stayed six years.

Multiple times a day, I would live stream and post photos of what was happening. When the epicenter of the protest at Zuccotti Park was raided by the police, I began what became a 22-hour straight livestream. TIME Magazine picked up my story.

My career in media had officially begun.

I was receiving phone calls, emails, book offers, from every media organization you can probably think of. But I had already learned my lesson. I did not trust that they knew what they were doing, especially with new technology.

So, I went independent. I worked my ass off. I reported on anything I thought was interesting. Always posting. Posting. Posting. 

Now that I had built a foundation, I had leverage. I went to Vice. I didn’t ask them for a job—I told them the job they would make for me. They agreed.

But as corporate media began to change and embrace the cult-like ideology of wokeness, I realized I couldn’t stay there. If I wanted to tell the truth, I had to do it myself.

Fast forward six years and I now have my own media empire. The Timcast network has over four million subscribers, over one billion views, and two songs on Apple’s Top 10 list. And yeah, I’m still working my ass off.

In short, I trusted myself more than I trusted my teachers, or my managers, or the people running the companies I worked for. Whatever value they assigned me—represented by a report card, or a title, or a paycheck—wouldn’t have an impact on my success.

How about you? Do you believe in yourself enough to chart your own course so that you can one day do what you really want to do?

For me, it’s working for myself. For you, it could be getting to the C-Suite of a Fortune 500 corporation. Or staying home and raising a family. Or becoming a cattle rancher. There are a million good options. I’m not going to make any judgments about what you want to do. 

My life-changing advice? 

Well, sorry, I don’t have any, except maybe this: work… keep working… and then work harder. 

I figured it out. Your turn.

I’m Tim Pool, host of Timcast, for Prager University.