"Unemployment is at an all-time high",
Best advice? - Ignore the chatter.
For you the individual whether the economy is good or bad, unemployment is up or down is irrelevant to you making a living, it just changes the way you make a living.
There are only two ways of creating income;-
1) You trade your hours and body and energy for dollars (As time input goes up, hopefully income goes up, until you run out of time, energy and life)
2) Or you leverage your skills and time to geometrically produce income (time input stays the same- income increases)
Now in the 1950s there was a rare break in the economy where getting a job with a big company actually allowed you to have a future. A single income earner could earn enough for a household, and when they retired there was enough of a pension to take care of themselves and their immediate family. And they probably never needed to change career paths their whole lives. This was true -whether you were a factory worker or an executive. (Also note executives made only 4 or 5 times the money a factory worker made. Not the 200 or 400 times they do now.)
For good or bad -those days are gone forever. It was a small blip on the normal economic landscape where mostly the smart and forward thinking always survive.
If you are presently at school (high school) or college - take their career advice and then think for yourself. Be aware of what 'everybody does" - because the average person ends up dead or broke at 65 (U.S. Social Security Administration)
And be very well aware of the truism that when times are tough that's when most opportunities present themselves. When times are good any fool can survive (and many do). When times get tricky, people get scared, normal business retrenches, banks pull back, and overall there are less businesses out there. That is - less competition for you.
In times of depression more millionaires are created than in good times. It's like my successful friend says- "You know what I like about the holidays? Everyone is on holiday - that's when I work hardest, because that's when the results pay off the best"
Your Primary Concern: - what kind of life do you want for yourself, 5 and 10 years from now? Both in terms of money (things, homes, cars etc.) and time (time for a family, time for relaxing, time for yourself, time to enjoy life)
Then what kind of financial vehicle (job, career, occupation) would meet that income and time demand?
The ideal situation financially is to be in business for yourself. The harder you work, the more you make. All the mistakes are yours and all the gains are yours.
Of course as with all things in life, the greater the reward the greater the risk. Being in business for yourself is risky. Most people over the age of 25 who make a 6 figure income in their own business have gone bankrupt at least once.
Working for someone else, in theory is not as risky. Though, of course, that is not true in these uncertain times.
Remember the employer is concerned with their family first - before anything else. (And rightly so)
A corporation is concerned with the executives' pay packets and the stockholders - and that is all.
So taking all this information - how do you plan a future livelihood?
1) Unless you have an innate skill - (that is you are driven and consumed by some skill or talent that takes over all other factors in your life) - be logical.
Use common sense when planning a future. It doesn't matter what the 'job' is, it matters how it works for you long-term.
Don't be a snob. A heavy-duty mechanic makes very good money, can start out on their own, and can do whatever they want on the side. I know personally of two people who became rich by collecting garbage. Choose where the opportunity is best.
2) To go into business for yourself takes some experience, takes a good network of people (to become customers and clients right away) and guts. Best case scenario take a job in a company big or small that is in the field you think may be profitable, and do research for striking out on your own from there. From 9-5 you make a living after 5pm - you construct a life.
3) If you have no inherent skill or desire for a certain field - look around with open eyes - mechanic, dentistry, I. T (computer programmer, Systems analyst, web developer etc) pharmacist, nursing, physical therapist. Be open-minded. You are looking for something that has future prospect right now, that you can possibly spin-off into your own business, and that pays better than average (all trades pay better than average)
Tip stay away from Retail, Hotel and Restaurant Businesses - sink holes. Though franchises are something to look into.
4) Most important ask around. Not your professor, not you two best friends - ask people in the trade. Ask people who are just starting. Ask people who have been in the target business 10 years. Get the real information. Spend time going out and asking. Don't listen to the ads, or this article, or the brochures. Go and talk to a variety of people in the businesses or jobs you want to take a look at.
This one thing asking around first, will save you years of grief and a boring work life
5) You want to go to college and get a degree? Great - use the time to plan a future, that may or may not have anything to with your degree.And spend the time building a connection, a community, a network that you can tap into later.
6) Always keep in mind eventually you want to be able to leverage your time and experience. For instance; the Franchise Model; the Network Marketing Model; the Teacher -Apprentice model. A business or process where eventually you can teach individuals and more important provide the incentive to do what you do, and yet you still retain an income.
7) The question is never, or what's a 'cool' job or business. It's the results that have to be 'cool'. Financial security, holidays in the Bahamas are cool. What's the best way to achieve those things, for you? That is always the question, and the only question to research.
And whatever career, work or job path you take - start building your own brand, fan club tribe, clan, as you go. In this day and age of incessant information, the surest way not to get lost is to have an inbuilt customer list, or group that you can start to work with. A network of people who are like minded, open to what you have to offer, and who you have built some form of trustworthy relationship with over time.
In other words start to build your own marketplace, now that you both contribute to and benefit from. It's the surest way to beat the market, and the odds.
----------------------------------------------------
author martin gover - writes for http://moreincomezone.com - a website that will kick start your On-line Business. Info, freebies, and help for the internet entrepreneur
He also has been know to idle aways days at http://martingover.com
EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=256191
No comments:
Post a Comment