My first job out of college was working for Russell Corporation, the athletic apparel company. I worked there for 4.5 years and have been working for myself since that time. I’ve enjoyed perks in both circumstances. I did 20+ international trips at Russell, met some great people, and learned a lot about how business works. On my own, I am my own boss, and I really enjoy what I do. I work a lot, almost twice as much as when I work at Russell, but I am also in charge of my own schedule and can do my job from any country in the world.

Having worked for myself and for the man, and seeing the current job situation, today’s worker must be more versatile than even just a few years ago.

My friend Jacob Dearolph put it well the other day. The modern worker must be comfortable working for a company and comfortable working for themselves. They must be willing to take a job when the right one comes around but also be able to make it on their own should they not get hired or should it be time for them to move on. I’ve seen so many people stuck in their jobs. They aren’t learning anything new. They hate their bosses. But they have nothing else to go to.

Likewise, there are many people out of college now who can’t get work. Instead of joining occupy protests, they should be learning how to start their own company. They should be moving ahead with an idea, a product, or a service and figuring out how to serve people with that good or service. People pay for goods or services that create value.

I had a meeting with a client recently where she described a colleague who refused to use social media with the company because he said he was an accountant and not a marketer. These sort of distinctions are not really possible in this day in age. And in the future, that accountant is going to have a harder time competing against accountants who do understand marketing.

At the core, this shift in thinking has to do with marketing. Whether someone works for a company or for themselves, they are building a brand. At a company, they are building the company’s brand. For themselves, they are building their own brand or their own company brand. The shift here is that even when someone is working at a company, they need to be building their own brand. They need to be learning new skill sets and realizing that they may need to use these skills working for themselves some day.