Job (Lack of) Market

I was just checking the local job market. There is NOTHING unless you want to get paid minimum wage. Even the stuff I've done for years at $10/hr is now paying only minimum wage. For somebody with over 30 years experience, that's really sad.

The only real solution is to make your own job - become entrepreneurial and make a business of your own. Maybe you will make it, and maybe you won't, but you have to try. That's the only way to make it anymore.

You can't count on an employer, that's for sure! They only want to pay the stockholders and line their own pockets with enormous salaries at the top. The "little guy" who is actually doing the work only gets a penny for their effort.

Now, I've been entrepreneurial for years, so I already have the mindset. But folks who are expecting to get an education, and then get a job, are really going to have a hard time of it. College doesn't teach you how to be the boss and make your own business decisions. It doesn't teach you how to take a risk, and what risks are OK to take, or how to evaluate a risk in the first place.

Some risks are just not worth it, while others are almost a sure bet. Each situation is different, and each person brings a different set of tools and skills to bear on each situation, so there is no rule about it.

You have to really know yourself, your abilities, your strengths and weaknesses. You have to know what you can tolerate, and how well you budget. You have to know if you can live on ramen or if you need meat every day. If you have kids, the stakes go up.

If you have a partner who is willing to make the same sacrifices as you, who is as dedicated to the business as you, then you have a leg-up on the competition.

And you have to know your abilities with technology, too! So much is done on the internet that you need to know and apply that to your business plan.

Well, good luck, is all I can say. Get out there and try it. You won't know if you are the next Edison or Ford unless you get out there and try it.

And don't take failure personally. Each failure is just a way that didn't work. Keep trying, change stuff around, try different things. Just don't give up. You have the perfect set of tools for something. It's just finding that something.

Interviews...

YEA!!! I'm getting interviews!!! This is such a blessing!!! To get this far in the process in this job market...

When every position has 100+ applications and resumes submitted, to get asked for an interview is really great. It gives me the chance to get in front of the employer and show them how I can be an asset; how I can contribute to their organization.

Do I always want to be part of something else - some one else's dream? Yes and no.

I love being out on my own, running the show! I really do. I love the freedom to schedule myself, drive myself and only work as hard as I want to - or drive myself to distraction when a great project pops up! But the money isn't steady. I like the combination of my own stuff and a steady paycheck.

So, a part-time entrepreneurial drive seems to be more my style. That means that I won't ever make it "big time" and become a millionaire by those efforts - most likely, unless I get a great idea and design the next MAC computer system or something...

But for working in my "dungeon," helping in the community and spreading my efforts around, I think this is probably the best way for me right now.

Besides, I just "volunteered" to run a community garden! Who has time to spread themselves so thin??? And I still teach FPU, so that takes time...

Networking Women, Early Morning Alarm

I went to my networking meeting last night...

http://www.meetup.com/Women-Creating-Wealth/

We learned how to become celebrities in our town! It was a lot of fun. I heartily suggest any entrepreneurial woman find a network and use it. Of course, I use LinkedIn, as well. But this group was personally recommended to me, and I'm finding all kinds of information in it. It's like a pressure-cooker environment, creating successful women entrepreneurs. Our leader, Rachel Young, is really great!

Then, this morning, I got up early and mowed the yard.

Have I told you this story? I've been woken up since I moved into my house - in October - at 4AM every weekday.

I thought it was the neighbor's alarm, set too close to the window. Then, I thought it might be a truck's backup alarm, at the yard down the street.

It turns out that when the house was built, someone left their watch, alarm set for 4AM on weekdays only (not Monday! The crews were off on Mondays) somewhere in the wall of my bedroom before the drywall was put up. It got sealed in the wall. There is no way to find it that will be successful, and not leave a mess.

I decided to make lemonade out of lemons - use that 4AM alarm for when I need to do the yard and it's scorching hot or high humidity or both (like right now!) and get out of bed early. Why not?

So - Never think that just because you have an obstacle, you can't find something positive about it!

I'm a complete night-owl! I like late-night TV. I don't sleep worth beans. I like to sleep late in the morning. So what! My sleep has been messed up for so long, it doesn't hurt me to get my butt out of bed in the early morning and do something instead of laying around until noon.

Besides, I take a nap most evenings anyway. They might as well serve a purpose besides after-dinner boredom!