Would you rather choose to hope someone saves you someday, or you choose yourself to save “you” today, Even if you fail?
I talked to 16 people from this sub after my last post.
DMs. WhatsApp. Voice notes at 2 AM. Long messages from people who clearly just needed someone to actually listen.
So I listened.
And I need to tell you what I found because it pissed me off and I think you deserve to hear it.
Every single one of them had skills. Not “I watched a Udemy course” skills. Actual skills. Finance people with 15 years in the field. Engineers who built things you walk past every day in this city. Designers. Operators. People who’ve managed teams bigger than most companies here.
You know what the market gave them?
Nothing.
Ghosted applications.
Automated rejections.
Interviews where some 24 year old asks them to “sell me this pen” for a position paying AED 6,000 that somehow requires 5 years experience.
And then the internet tells them to fix their CV.
Fix. Their. CV.
????
Like the problem is font size and not the fact that 80% of real jobs in this country get filled through WhatsApp and “I know a guy” while companies put up fake postings to look like they have an HR process.
Like tweaking your LinkedIn headline is going to change anything when someone’s cousin already got the role before it was listed.
Here’s what I realized talking to these people.
You’ve been lied to.
Not on purpose.
Not by evil people.
By a system that runs better when you keep applying.
When you keep refreshing.
When you keep hoping.
Because while you’re in that queue, waiting, hoping, refreshing, you’re manageable.
You don’t ask for more.
You don’t demand better.
You take what you get.
The system wasn’t built to help you. It was built to keep you in line. And most of you are still in line.
I told all 16 the same thing.
Stop looking for someone to give you a chance.
Go find someone who has a problem and offer to fix it.
Not for free. For money. But don’t start with money. Start with a question.
One person you already know.
A relative, a friend, your old colleague, your neighbor who started some company last year.
Doesn’t matter.
Ask them: “What’s the one thing in your business that eats the most time or money?”
Then shut up and listen.
What comes out of their mouth is worth more than 500 job applications.
Three people actually did it.
Within 48 hours.
One of them found a construction company running 12 active projects on paper.
Physical files.
Family handling the finances.
No software.
No system.
They can’t get a bank credit line because no bank is going to look at receipts in a cardboard box and call that fundable. That’s not a job opening. That’s a problem worth real money.
And it pays more than whatever salary you’re sitting around hoping for.
Another found a business owner paying AED 3,000 every month to a “marketing agency” that posts two graphics a week on Instagram and calls it strategy.
The owner doesn’t even know what he’s paying for. Just knows it’s not working. That’s AED 36,000 a year being lit on fire by someone who doesn’t know there’s a better way.
Third one found a restaurant doing AED 80K a month in revenue. No tracking. No cost breakdown. The owner “feels” profitable but can’t prove it.
Not to a bank.
Not even to himself.
Three people.
Three conversations.
Three businesses bleeding real money.
Found by people who just asked one question to someone they already knew.
The other 13 are still thinking about it.
Look. I’m not calling the 13 lazy.
They’re not.
This market beats people down.
You send 200 applications and hear nothing back and eventually you start believing maybe you’re the problem.
You’re not the problem.
But the 13 chose familiar over uncomfortable.
Not because waiting feels good.
It feels terrible.
But terrible you know feels safer than action you don’t.
Be honest with yourself for a second.
You’ve saved how many posts on this sub?
Bookmarked how many YouTube videos about starting a business in Dubai? Downloaded free templates. Read articles. Followed “career coaches.” Maybe even started a business plan that’s still sitting in your Notes app. Or asked chat gpt.
And you’re in the same spot you were 3 months ago. That’s not preparation. That’s a coping mechanism wearing a productivity costume.
The 3 who moved didn’t have more money.
Didn’t have better connections.
Didn’t have some secret.
They just decided that one real conversation about one real problem was worth more than another month of collecting information they never use.
Here’s the thing nobody in this sub is going to tell you.
You don’t need a job. You need one person with one problem who trusts you enough to let you try.
That’s it.
Not a business plan.
Not a trade license.
Not a website.
Not an investor.
One person.
One problem.
One honest conversation.
You’re either waiting for someone to come save you.
A recruiter, a lucky break, a connection that hasn’t happened yet, a viral CV, whatever story you’re telling yourself.
Or you accept that nobody is coming and the only person changing this is you.
I can’t make that decision for you.
But if you pick yourself.
If you’d rather fail trying to fix one real problem than succeed at waiting.
DM me one sentence.
Tell me what you’re good at.
That’s it.
One sentence.
I’m building something with people who chose themselves.
And the ones who moved first are already ahead.
-Prince