Dennis Yu

Only 44% of American adults have a good job

Our government says the unemployment rate is only 5.6%, but it’s a “big lie” according to Joe Clifton, CEO of Gallup.
Gallup is a measurement and polling company, so if anyone knows how to manipulate numbers, they would.

We’ve talked about the slave economy, where people have micro-jobs, but are still indentured servants.
Is this the world of tubes in the back of your neck, while we sleep in pink slime pods?

No, it’s just one where the idea of a “job” has shifted from being loyal to one company for 20+ years to doing small tasks in a crowd-sourced environment.
It means that your reputation based on task completion is more important than what a piece of paper says.

Your rating on eBay, Uber, LinkedIn, or whatever is far more compelling than what you say about yourself.
Your business’ rating on Yelp, Glassdoor, and Facebook is far more believable than your own review of your services or products.

Corporate brochures give way to personal branding, where your personal reputation bubbles up to your company’s brand value.

So in most cases, the idea of having a job is now synonymous with who you are and what you stand for.
At least if you have a job that you like.

Back to the 44% figure in our title and the 5.6% unemployment figure.
The 44% is for people who are consistently working 30 hours a week.
Several problems with that:

They could be making minimum wage– so while technically employed, it might not be a “good job”.

1) Some people aren’t hourly. For example, I’m not. Sometimes I work a few hours a week and sometimes 100 hours. I definitely don’t have a steady job, nor is my value determined by how many hours I put into my work.  If you’re in a factory or place where you wear a name tag, sure. But if you’re an entrepreneur and builder of things, you’re not being paid by the hour. It’s the results, baby!

2) If you’re doing something that involves expertise, then you should be spending at least 20% of your time learning, if not more. Should these count as hours? Hard to say, but I spend a few hours a day reading and improving my skills– not just to forestall obsolescence, but because I love what I’m doing.

3) This is assuming someone else is employing you as a cog in their machine. It not only doesn’t include entrepreneurship but discourages it.

The United States should redefine employment as people making an earnest living doing what they love while covering their basic financial needs.
Hard to measure, but certainly more accurate than being able to count as employed a person who “worked” one hour last week.

Instead of polling people on how many hours they got paid for by someone else, why not ask them if they’re doing what they love, with people they love, and making ends meet?

I believe these are the 3 criteria of job alignment, but most people get only one of them.
Maybe a job that pays well, but you hate what you’re doing and have jerk co-workers and bosses.
Or you love the job, but it doesn’t pay.
Or you’re working with friends, but suffering in some awful place.

Personal branding, which is what we are helping students do, is the intersection of these three.

If you connect someone’s passion with a commercial interest (a client who will pay), you’ve got the love and financial part.
If you have a program that brings people together into teams, then they can work with like-minded people.

LinkedIn meets a dating site or Uber for marketing, we like to say.

What do you think?


Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.
I'm a member of Blitzmetrics Academy and a friend of Dennis to boot. Not only is Dennis highly intelligent and full of great and creative ideas, he's also incredibly generous with both his knowledge and his time. Success couldn't come to a better guy. Thank you for all that you do for the world, Dennis! 🙏

Michael Pacheco

Marketer

Thanks 🙏 for being shining light in this industry. Love what your building for works overseas too network for jobs so innovative. Dennis helped me navigate having bad experiences with marketing agencies and doing dollar a day marketing which has helped my personal brand tremendously. Highly recommend.

Eric Skeldon

Founder at Kingdom Broker

Working with Dennis has been a delightful experience. After meeting him in 2015 I got to collaborate with him on countless occasions. His understanding for state-of-the-art marketing, his implementation, and his leadership put him into the top 0.01% of marketers and mentors.

Jan Koch

Ihr kompetenter Partner für innovative KI-Strategien.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dennis for my podcast in 2021 and since then we have maintained a friendship that grows with each interaction. I have seen Dennis' devotion to his friends and clients firsthand, and our conversations often result in us talking about how we can provide more value to the people around us. He is someone whom I can ask questions on a technical level, and look to on a personal level. If you have any hesitancy about hiring him, get over yourself and do it!

Isaac Mashman

Help scaling personal brands.

Geez, where do I start recommending Dennis? First, he is an absolutely brilliant marketer who understands where marketing is today and where it's going tomorrow. He also has an incredible passion for the International Worker community. The lessons he has taught me from his almost 20 years of experience hiring International Workers have been immense. Most importantly though. Dennis Yu is someone who wants the absolute best for you and is willing to tell you the truth. Dennis sat with me at a point in my business where I was floundering but did not want to admit it. He asked some very straight forward questions to get me to admit my issues, highlighted the issues, and then helped me create a roadmap to success.

Atiba de Souza

International Keynote Speaker | Video Content Superman | Superconnector |

Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will notr regret Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will not regret

Nixon Lee

The PR Whisperer

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