I was talking with a good friend last week who is self-employed. I told him I envied his entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to “go it alone.” He told me he envied my work as a teacher and the set hours and guaranteed pay check and insurance. (I told him there was nothing “set” about the hours, so I guess we both misunderstood each others work.)
So many people dream of working for themselves and only find out the true benefits and heartaches after they make the leap. Take you for instance, what do you miss the most from the box factory in terms of security, or interaction? What bothered, (or motivated) you the most to drive you to self-employment and what have you learned about your decision over the past year and a half?
Last Friday, I attended a workshop put on by Pamela Slim, who writes about entrepreneurship at Escape from Cubicle Nation. Before this meeting, I didn't know much about Slim or her message, but her work came highly recommended from my friend, Chris Guillebeau. "Pam is the real deal," he told me. "Her book is what a lot other books have tried to be."
Based on this recommendation, I drove to hear Slim speak. I was impressed. Chris is right: She's the real deal. I was so impressed, in fact, that I spent the weekend reading her book, which is also called Escape from Cubicle Nation.
Opening Up to Opportunities
Escape from Cubicle Nation starts at the beginning of the entrepreneurial journey: deciding what to do with your life. Slim spends several chapters discussing how to get in touch with what's important to you. At times, this almost seems touchy-feely. Almost.
"You don't have to be world-class great to make a great living doing what you love," Jonathan Fields writes in Career Renegade, "if you are willing to step outside the box, approach your passion differently, find innovative ways to mine that passion for money, and work like crazy to make it happen."
In Career Renegade, Fields draws upon his own experience, as well as that of others, to provide a blueprint for those willing to take that entrepreneurial leap of faith.
Career Renegade is an odd book. Its title and marketing might lead you to believe it's about careers. As I write this, it's the number one book in Amazon's "job hunting" category, which is baffling. Career Renegade isn't about job hunting or changing careers. It's about taking your passion and turning it into a business. It's about entrepreneurship. As long as you expect this going in, it's a great book.
In The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets (which I recently reviewed), author Peter Schiff provides a list of the best jobs to beat the economic collapse he predicts is just around the corner. "I foresee the following as the 10 strongest professions and industries over the coming decade and beyond," he writes. His list:
Engineering, because the abandoned U.S. industrial base will need to be re-tooled.
Construction, to rebuild the American infrastructure.
Agriculture, as we wean ourselves from imported foodstuffs.
Merchant marine, to transport goods to foreign markets.
Commercial fishing, because demand for fish is increasing in the U.S. even as foreign supply is declining.
Energy, because we'll need to develop alternatives to fossil fuels.
Computers and high technology, one field in which the U.S. continues to lead.
Entertainment, another industry in which the U.S. should continue to dominate the world market.
Automotive repair, small appliance repair, and the like. It's going to become more costly to replace items, making repair a viable option.
Tailoring and textiles, because imported clothes will become scarcer and more expensive.
This list is predicated on Schiff's belief that the U.S. economy is in massive collapse. He also lists job sectors he believes will decline sharply: the service economy, banking and finance, real estate, health care, travel and tourism, and retailing. If you have a job in one of these industries, Schiff recommends planning for a career change.
Schiff's advice made me curious. What do other experts think are the safest jobs for riding out this recession? I did some digging to find out.
Like many Get Rich Slowly readers, I credit Your Money or Your Life with changing the way I approach my personal finances. This book transformed my relationship with money, and helped me to understand that by spending beyond my means, I was sacrificing a secure future for today's passing pleasures.
One of the book's key insights is that time really is money. Or, approaching it from the other direction, money is time. The authors write:
Money is something we choose to trade our life energy for. Our life energy is our allotment of time here on earth, the hours of precious life available to us. When we go to our jobs we are trading our life energy for money. This truth, while simple, is profound...
Ask Metafilter is one of my favorite sites on the internet; I've been an active member there for years. It's a great place to get advice on many subjects, including money. And careers. Recently a user named Entropic asked a question about "finding your passion", which received an awesome reply from my pal Grumblebee. Here, with permission (and a tiny bit of editing), is that Ask Metafilter exchange.
How have you figured out what your passion(s) is/are in life, and how have you translated that into a successful career involving your passion(s)? I am intentionally not including details about myself and my situation because I don't really want specific suggestions about what might be good career directions for myself or what interesting areas I might pursue. I'm looking more for concrete examples of what steps you've taken to find out what drives you, and how you were able to make a career out of that.
I was stunned but not surprised when Don wouldn't meet my eyes that morning. I had grown suspicious when he started passing me over earlier that week while handing out new projects. I was responsible for 40% of the workload in a three man group — why else would he do that?
The company I worked for had been in a downward spiral for quite some time. Every month another group was laid off. Initially they started with the new people and the slackers. These were easy because they contributed little to the bottom line. After round three, the cuts started to hurt. We started to lose project engineers. Ten electricians were quietly told their services were no longer needed. What started as 150 employees would now be 78. Unfortunately for me, I was employee number 79.
A strange twist to the story
Actually, I was relieved. This may sound crazy, but getting laid off was the best thing for my family. The past year had been painful as I watched friend after friend escorted to the door. The hours got longer. The sense of despair was almost palpable.
Continue reading...
What is the difference between a career and a job? Trent at The Simple Dollar recently suggested the following dichotomy:
A job is something you do simply to earn money; a career is a series of connected employment opportunities.
A job has minimal impact on your future work life, while a career provides experience and learning to fuel your future.
A job offers few networking opportunities, but a career is loaded with them.
When you work at a job, you should do the minimum without annoying the boss. When you're in a career, you should go the extra mile, doing tasks beyond your minimum job description.
Though I agree with Trent on many things — our financial philosophies are very similar — I don't agree with him on this. I believe that all jobs deserve your best effort, and I believe the distinction between a job and a career is artificial.
Doing My best
During the summer after my freshman year of college, I worked as a busboy at the Holiday Inn. I was the best busboy I could be. While the other guys stood around during slack times, I looked for ways to help in the kitchen or to prepare for the lunch rush.
Finding a job can be tough. Competition is fierce, and even if you've got the skills, it's a challenge to make yourself known to the right people. According to Michael Hampton, Director of Career Development at Western Oregon University, informational interviews are a valuable networking technique that can give you an edge on your competition.
The informational interview is designed to help you choose or refine a career path. You can learn how to break in and find out if you have what it takes to succeed. Spending time with one of your network contacts in a highly focused conversation will provide you with key information you need to launch or boost your career.
An informational interview is not the same as a job interview. It's an opportunity to find out more about a particular career or company. These sorts of interviews can be valuable for anyone, not just those looking for a new job. You might consider this approach if:
In the past, I've shared the story of the worst job I ever had. In a lot of ways, it felt like I was part of a pyramid scheme or multi-level marketing operation. I've been approached to participate in similar operations since then: once by my veterinarian (?!?) and once by a stranger in a book store. Sometimes you cannot tell a scam is a scam until you see it up close, and then the sunk-cost fallacy will sometimes force you to make a poor choice. GRS reader Bozemblem recently sent me this story of his close encounter with a "business opportunity" that turned out to be a scam.
I've been reading Get Rich Slowly for about a year now, and I can definitely relate when you talk about your struggles and triumphs with money. Here's an experience I recently had.
I currently work and live in one of the most expensive parts of the United States. I'm going to school part-time to get my MS in Computer Science. School is very expensive, even with my employer paying a great deal of the tuition.On top of that I'm getting married next year and I have a tiny amount of credit card debt. I do a very good job of budgeting my money; I follow it quite closely and it won't be long before I've rid myself of the debt. However, as you might be able to tell, money is a bit of a concern and so I'm always looking for way to either decrease my spending (which I think I've done a good job of so far without going crazy) or increase my income (which is much harder to do, and it is my attempt to do so which is why I'm writing you).
"You don't have to be world-class great to make a great living doing what you love," Jonathan Fields writes in Career Renegade, "if you are willing to step outside the box, approach your passion differently, find innovative ways to mine that passion for money, and work like crazy to make it happen."
Continue reading...Finding a job can be tough. Competition is fierce, and even if you've got the skills, it's a challenge to make yourself known to the right people. According to Michael Hampton, Director of Career Development at Western Oregon University, informational interviews are a valuable networking technique that can give you an edge on your competition.
