I was talking to a friend the other day about the value of children starting to work at an early age. I think it’s a critical part of building and shaping a young person’s work ethic and eventual ability to create value. As a young person working, you get to see the correlation between effort and return, understand the spectrum of hardworking people that produce and lazy people that don’t. You build relationships, learn how to manage up, learn how to add value and how to get what you want from work relationships. Personally, my parents strongly encouraged me to work and work hard at a very early age. While I’m sure I didn’t like it at the time, I know I can thank those experiences for the work ethic and ability to produce results I have today.

For fun, I took a couple of minutes to jot down some of the jobs I’ve had over the years (I tried to put them in somewhat of a chronological order). I'm sure I forgot some so I'll add them as I think of them. Regardless, I can't even begin to count the number of important lessons I've taken from each of the jobs on this list.

Newspaper Deliverer
Playground Supervisor
Altar Boy
Camp Counselor at a Baseball Camp
Dishwasher at a Private School
Babysitter
Dogsitter
Basketball Referee
Baseball Umpire
Landscaper
Mover
Snowplower/Shoveler
Waiter at a Nursing Home
Golf Accessories Salesperson
Dishwasher at a Seafood Restaurant
Lifeguard at a Lake
Parking Attendant
Swimming Instructor
Lifeguard at a Pool
Lifeguard at the Ocean
Fitness Center Supervisor
Certified Personal Trainer
Entrepreneur – Accounting/Bookkeeping Business
Office Manager
Advertising Salesperson
Marketing Director
Business Manager
Nonprofit Co-Founder
Director – Business Development
Senior Director – Business Development