9-5 is not a Slay: Gen Z Digital Creators working smarter not harder
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“I’m not just some number at a big corporation, I’m a creator, I’m something of my own.” - Gen Z
Have you ever heard a Gen Z saying they want to work a nine to five. That’s definitely not a slay. I know I don’t want to clock into work 9am every morning. I don’t want to work a job that makes me just enough to get by wasting 8 hours of my day, slaving away. Sadly this is how my parents were taught to live. In our parents' age, they got a college degree and worked a nine to five job which helped them pay their mortgage payments to their car insurance. This allowed them to achieve financial freedom in their late 50s and early 40s if they were lucky. But let’s be honest. My rent costs $1500 for a one bedroom one bathroom and my Tesla car payment is about $600 a month. A nine to five barely gets me by.
What’s our solution to this? Digital creation. I don’t believe in allowing work to consume decades of my life and I know fellow Gen Xs don’t. Instead we pick up a tripod, film a Tiktok, respond to brand deals, set up a program where people pay me to teach them and there’s our day of work. We’re not lazy like our parents call us or inadequate, we’re just smarter. If I can make the monthly salary of a regular nine to five job in an hour, how am I exactly inadequate or lazy. I can dictate the flexibility of my work hours and charge per post. I’m not just some number at a big corporation, I’m a creator, I’m something of my own.
I’m glad other Gen Zs are hopping onto digital creation and influencer marketing. Whether I’m are selling programs, products, or myself, I’m are working efficiently because at least I know, time is money, it’s more valuable than money. I’ve had lots of elderly people give me looks over my tripod but you can’t hate when Gen Z are working smarter not harder. I don’t want to ever be forty without having traveled the world knowing I spent my youth trapped in a corporate job.
At the end of the day, I want to be giving “soft girl” not a nine to five girl who falls asleep on the bed and does it all over again. I also don’t want to be getting hate as a spoiled Gen Z who just wants a life with no stress. I value my time and my youth, our generation does and it’s time for older generations to respect that.