Don't Kill the Goose: Make Experience Not Money

There is a temptation in us college students to go after the goose and neglect the golden eggs. What the heck did I just say? What does a goose and some metallic eggs have to do with business or ventures or anything of the sort? Oh yeah, I have to start with the story before I go after the analogy:

Once upon a time...

no.

A long, long time ago...

still sounds stupid.

There once was a farmer...

that's better.

There once was a farmer that lived far away in the country with his old wife in his old cottage.  He owned two old dogs, one old cat, and a very old goose.  The whole old community of farmer, wife, and animals were poor and barely could afford to exist!

From this picture to the left, the farmer apparently wore a dress and had a really funky haircut.  Anyway...

He was surprised to find one day when he went out to check the eggs of the old goose, the goose had laid a golden egg.  He was sure that it couldn't be true, even though the egg was heavy and cold.  He took the egg to the local Gold Identification Office ('cuz they had those all over in those days), and indeed, the goose had laid a golden egg!

He was thrilled and told his old wife and she was thrilled and then they were all thrilled together.

The next day the farmer went to check the goose and it had again laid a golden egg.  He was surprised, although less than last time, and he snatched up the egg and went to market to sell it.

Well, long story short, the farmer kept getting golden eggs from the goose, a little less excited and more demanding each time until finally he and his wife decided they would go and get all of the golden eggs all at once.

When they gutted the goose, however, they found that it was the same on the inside as any other goose.  They had killed their source of golden eggs.  After the money they had amassed was spent (they hadn't studied the time value of money at college), they were as poor as they had ever been.

The end.

What a weird story, right?  What does this have to do with us?  The farmer killed his opportunity by going after the quick fix or the easiest route.  We do the same thing!

Lets play the "would you rather" game:

1.  Take an easy class in your area of interest where the professor doesn't take attendance and tests are a cinch
OR
2.  Take a tough class in your area of interest with hard tests, required attendance, and highly technical content?

1.  Work at McDonalds as a cashier for $17 an hour
OR
2.  Work for WalMart in corporate offices for free?

1.  Take an internship from you brother in-law running the copy machine at his print business for $3500 stipend
OR
2.  Take an internship from Intel helping manage accounts for free?

1.  Start a business selling hot dogs for $1200 a month
OR
2.  Start an internet business with increasing traffic for $100 a month?

I don't want to blabber.  I hope you get the point.  Don't kill the goose.  Don't go after the quick fix and waste your opportunities to build valuable experiences that will move you towards your goals.

My simple recipe for not killing the goose:  Find your passion + Make experiences in your passion + Use experiences to make better experiences = great professional life, healthy goose, many golden eggs.

DON'T KILL THE GOOSE BY WORKING FOR MONEY ONLY!