This is a game of suppression.

Each day spent as an employee affirms quiet submission.

The salary you receive is designed carefully.

It gives just enough to keep you in place.

It will never be enough to set you free.

Each day spend as employee is admission to the fact that you accept being paid less than you deserve

Because if the paid you what you deserve you will be independent enough to go and start something on own.

And that creates a risk of competition.

Because if you were paid enough, you could walk away.

And if you walked away, you could build.

They know you’ve seen how it works.

You’ve watched the tools, the customers, the workflow.

You’ve handled the systems that keep it running.

That knowledge alone is dangerous — if you act on it.

So the game is simple: show you enough to be useful, pay you little enough to stay dependent.

You are positioned where you can see everything but own nothing.

Low-barrier industries follow this structure with precision.

I have a theory that the lower the barrier to entry of any business the lower the business owners pay to employee.

When a business is easy to replicate and start, wages drop.

Because if compensation rises, so does risk.

Risk that the worker becomes a competitor.

Risk that a team member becomes a rival.

So the payment stays just below the threshold of independence.

Just low enough to prevent escape velocity.

You are taught how to execute, but not how to own.

You are told what to do, but not why it’s done that way.

Every detail you understand is more valuable than they admit.

You are being trained while being contained.

And the moment that training becomes dangerous, it is withheld.

They will never pay you enough to become your own master.

They will never fund the escape plan that takes you out of their orbit.

The illusion of security is part of the trap.

The comfort of a fixed salary hides the risk of sudden removal.

You are replaceable faster than you believe.

If the system can remove you in a moment, then the comfort was never real.

If they can unplug your income without warning, then the dependency is clear.

Stability cannot exist where control lies outside your hands.

So the question is simple — what are you building?

You already hold pieces of the machine in your mind.

The software, the supply chain, the service flow — you’ve seen it from inside.

You don’t need full mastery on day one.

You need enough momentum to begin moving in your own direction.

Splash your hands around.

Make waves, however small.

Each movement teaches you something the job will never reveal.

Struggle is not failure — it is construction.

Each failed attempt is a brick placed for later use.

Start where you stand and build from what you know.

The knowledge inside you is already capital.

It has value because it works under pressure.

It has value because it came from experience, not theory.

And that value is hidden while you trade time for wages.

Wages that will never reflect your full capacity.

You are not just being underpaid — you are being managed.

They are not scared of your inexperience.

They are scared of your independence.

That fear is the silent structure behind your paycheck.

The path forward begins with a simple belief: you already know enough to begin.

Start poorly. Start clumsily. But start.

Because staying still is the one outcome they’ve designed for you.

Every motion you take toward independence breaks their design.

And every struggle sharpens the tools that will build your exit.

You were never meant to stay small.

You were only trained to stay still.