Self-Employment

The one thing that sucks when you work for a company is that, it’s your only source of income. Yeah, you may have health insurance, profit sharing and know that while employed your income is guaranteed. But when that one source dries up because the company folds or you are laid off, that’s it, no more money until the next job. With this economy, who knows when that will be?

Now let’s say, you have multiple sources of income. One of the sources can’t pay as scheduled, don’t worry. You have several more sources to pay the bills. Well unless that was your biggest account or they all decide not to pay, but let’s stay optimistic (that’s what real entrepreneurs do).
Hey, this is what being self-employed is all about – it’s risky, but it could lead to a big pay off.

If you think about it, the Wal-Marts, the Targets and the Sears don’t just rely on one source of income to support their business. Why should you? You’re a business, you have expenses (mortgage, car and education), you have employees that look for salaries (any dependent you care for) and you need to turn a profit (high wages) to take care of all the needs and reinvest it back into the company (you and your family).

Now nothing good is perfect. There are some drawbacks to being self-employed. You have to wear all the hats. You are the boss you can’t slack. You don’t accumulate paid time off. If you don’t work, no money will be made. You provide all of your benefits like health, dental and retirement plans. If it all falls apart, you have no one to blame, but you!

Even though there are drawbacks, if you are mentally ready for the challenge, the benefits could win you over. You can be as flexible with your time as you want. You can choose how often and when you want to work. You are the boss, which means you make the decisions. You’re in control of your financial future.

Depending on where you are in your career transition, the very beginning (meaning you are in need of obtaining the education for the career) or you are seasoned and ready for a new challenge, below are some career fields that will easily lend itself to self-employment:

Professional Careers - These usually require four plus year degrees. Normally, in self-employed professions people will start a practice alone or in partnership, contract service with a company, or consult. For self-employed professional, your area of specialty is key.
• Doctor (family practice, alternative medicine, mental health practice)
• Lawyer (entertainment, tax, personal injury)
• Accountant (tax, financial advisor, general)
• Veterinarian (dogs, horses, livestock)
• Information Technology (fix computers, programming, instruction)

Vocation or Trade Careers - These may only require a minimum of obtaining a license/certification or training at a community college or technical college, which may be two-years or less. However, apprenticeship programs tend to last longer. Since trades skills are very specific, determining how you want to employee yourself is key.
• Beautician/Barber (own a salon, work from home, independent contractor in a salon)
• Plumber (contract service through plumbing service companies, home builders or multi-unit building complexes)
• Automotive Technician (open a shop, work from your garage or contract your services)
• Real Estate Agent (always commission based regardless if you work for yourself or in conjunction with a real estate agency)
• Bookkeeper (contract with businesses and individuals working from home, your own office or on the clients site)

No matter your profession or trade, any career can transition to self-employment, if you have the interest. Some just have an easier transition than others do. Regardless, if you want multiple streams of income to lead you to financial freedom, then being self-employed is the way to go.

To Be or Not To Be

Whether you want to believe it or not, your life choices are derived from the relationships you have or did not have with your first point of contact to this world – your parents. If you had parents that were not involved, you may repeat the pattern or strive not to be like them by being better. If they were involved, you may emulate some of their good choices, while eliminating the bad or fail because you could not live up to their standards or success.

Even your career path is predestined by the relationship you share (good or bad) with your parents. Don’t think so, let’s review some key points of career paths of our current President Bush and President-elect Obama.

Current President George W. Bush and his father, past President George H. W. Bush have walked almost the same exact career and educational path.
• Both attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
• Both served in the military. Papa Bush joined the US Navy. Baby Bush enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard.
• Both attended Yale University.
• Both in the oil business. Papa Bush started an oil company. Baby Bush worked in his family’s oil business.
• Both served as President. Big Bush served as the forty-first President of the United States. Baby Bush the forty-third and current President of the United States.

President-elect Barack Obama Jr. and his father, Barack Obama Sr. have a career and educational path that paralleled one another’s.
• Papa Obama received a scholarship in economics, leaving his home country of Kenya to attend the University of Hawaii. Following high school, Baby Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he completed his degree.
• Upon completing his degree, Papa Obama traveled north to attend Harvard University. On the other hand, after completing his degree, Baby Obama moved to Chicago, where he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project. Later, Baby Obama would enter Harvard Law School.
• After Harvard, Papa Obama returned to Kenya and was hired by an oil company and then served as an economist in the Ministry of Transportation and later named senior economist in the Kenyan Ministry of Finance. After Harvard, Baby Obama has worked as a community organizer, practiced as a civil rights attorney, served in the Illinois Senate, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School and will soon led our great nation.

As you can see, there is a strong correlation between parental relationships and career paths. You have President Bush that had his father around and walked in his footsteps, although, current President Bush was not as accomplished as his father was. Then you have President-elect Obama whose father wasn’t around, yet he still followed a similar path as his father, having been an excellent student and careers serving the interest of our society’s economic development.

All relationships become a part of your experience. Most affecting you is the one you share or don’t share with your parents. Regardless, you can allow them to assist in your success or failure. The choice to be or not to be is yours.

National Career Development

November celebrates National Career Development month! This month is dedicated to encourage everyone to recognize the importance of life-long career development and personal empowerment. It is an opportunity for adults and teens to self-assess, explore careers, and develop plans that will better prepare them for a great future.

Even if you are currently enjoying a successful career, there are always additional skills, training and learning one can pursue. Some course of action that everyone can benefit from is updating your resume, attending a seminar, learning a new computer program or taking a continuing education class. It can also mean completing your education, earning an advanced degree or pursuing a completely different career path.

To support National Career Development month, I encourage everyone to take action and complete at least one activity this month that will assist them in developing their career. As I know your time is valuable, I have selected a familiar website to facilitate your career development. Careerbuilder.com has a variety of resources that will aid you in completing one or more of your activities. Below is a list of services you may want to consider:

1. Search for employers that are hiring.
2. Search for positions in the industry of your choice.
3. Post your resume to allow employers to seek you out.
4. Find the best match for your educational goals (degrees and certificates).
5. Explore top business opportunities from automotive to travel through the Franchise Opportunity Center.
6. Make the most of the resume writing, employment background check, and resume review service located under the Job Seekers Tool Kit.
7. Review information on upcoming career fairs and career fair tips.
8. Participate in a variety of self-assessment tools to help you on your unique career path located in the Career Test section.
9. Search and compare salaries for thousands of jobs using the Salary Calculator.
10. Take on-line computer, language and certificate courses through Skills Training.
11. Look at Career Videos by industry, career categories and job type for currently employed, students and career changers.
12. Make important connections, ask questions and get first-hand information through Networking Online.
13. Build a personal profile page to take advantage of job search management tools, resume posting tools and job recommendations through My Career Builder.
14. Receive email or text message on the latest job openings based on your interest, daily or weekly provided through Job Alerts.

Every month seems to acknowledge the awareness of some major health challenge. We support it because we have loved ones affected or we have been personally or know someone personally affected by the health challenge. We either walk for it or contribute money for the cause.

This cause affects everyone. No one but you can improve your career. So this month and always make a personal contribute to your development.

Unemployment & Downsizing Hits the Young

When we think about the economic crisis that our country faces, we normally only think about the effects it has on the adult population. We never think about the working teen population who is also affected. Their positions are being downsized or hours reduced so that companies can accommodate adult’s employment needs.

While, it’s understandable if a manager is reducing the hours of a teen worker to give more hours to an adult worker who has a family to support. To a teen, it just isn’t fair. The teen may be working to supplement for items their parent’s don’t have enough to contribute towards. Therefore, working to provide for their own clothes or activities fees. Even worse is it for those teens who are the breadwinner in their household and have to take care of their needs and wants as well as their families.

How does a teen survive during an economic crisis?

Unfortunately, the majority of teen workers are apart of the unskilled labor market. Having no skills leads them limited to the types of employment they can seek. Though lots of them go for retail positions since they require no real skills and they are open to hiring people with no to little experience. So, when adult workers are edging teens out of the part-time retail employment arena, they really have nowhere else to turn, except to education.

The saying goes, “no one can ever take away your education.”

The labor force is going to force teens to turn to education because there will be limited employment for them after high school graduation. For some teens, which are already tired of school or not interested in pursuing a four plus year degree, this can be a difficult pill to swallow. However, there are alternatives that teens should be aware of that may help them gain relevant skills and experience so they can enter the job market quicker.

Besides looking to pursue a two-year associates degree, teens ready to hit the job market, may want to look into various certificate programs. Certificate programs are designed primarily to prepare graduates for entry-level employment in positions which require both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. These certificates range in length from one-semester to four-semesters. They are offered through colleges, online education providers or technical institutions.

Not only are certifications useful to get you employable skills that can lead to the job market quicker, but it also allows you to find out if you really like the particular field you have entered at a lower cost than a four plus year degree. It’s important that teens understand the job market is competitive for all, skilled and unskilled, but especially for those without experience, skills and education. I hope teens learn a quick lesson from this economic crisis to prepare, prepare, prepare.

College and Majors

Life is funny! Kids want to be grown and grown ups want to be kids again. Young people think being an adult will bring them all this freedom. Adults look at being young as a time when they had the most freedom from responsibilities of family and finances.

Let’s face it, young people are always going to want to be grown, to get away from their parents rules, thinking this will bring them freedom. But how can we make sure adults continue to believe that being grown does allow them freedom in their life. One way is to make sure teens plan a better career choice for their future that they love, as opposed to a career they dread while making sure student loans don’t cause their career choice to be too costly to enjoy.

Your career choice is one of the biggest choices you will have to make. And it gets even better because according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average U.S. worker changes careers 3-5 times during their lifetime. So that means you will have many more times to face this big decision. Nevertheless, let’s start with career número uno (number one for my none Spanish readers).

Most teen students, and parents for that matter, are more interested in the college or university as opposed to the major one will take up at school. Yes, the college matters in terms of quality of education, family alma mater and of course – the fun! But more importantly, you need to look at the cost of the education versus the return of investment of that degree – the wage you will earn.

Below are some occupations and the annual entry wage for Chicago, Illinois. Also noted is the demand for the job and any additional degrees needed. To research your career interest, go to www.careeronestop.org, Salaries + Benefits tab.

Elementary School Teacher - $39,428, in-demand
Lawyers - $70,065, in-demand, requires post bachelor degree
Graphic Designers - $27,687, in-demand

Research the cost of attending the school of your choice. Will you have to get loans? If so, how much will it cost you? Then look at the cost of any additional degrees, like a master’s or Ph.D., you will need to obtain to start a career. Now, compare the job’s entry salary to your total cost of attending college(s). Decide if you can survive on that salary after you meet your educational student loans, housing expenses, food and transportation.

Side note: Oh and by the way, please don’t rack up any credit card debt while in school or ever if you can help it. Now back to our regular scheduled program.

If you can great! But if you can’t, you’re not going to experience the freedom, you’ve so longed to get by being grown. Rather, you have become a grown up who wants to be a kid again because financially you have no room to breath and that’s no fun.

A part of growing up is exploring your freedom, freedom to choose your clothes, the time to come in the house and make important decisions in your life. Being financially free and enjoying your job, not as work, but as play really brings adults the most sense of freedom. So begin planning (education) with the end in mind (career) and make sure it’s fun and financially beneficial.

Community Resource 101

When there is an increase in unemployment, there is also an increase in educational enrollment. People seek continuing education as a way to sharpen existing skills, gain new employable skills, or start a whole new career. A visit to your local community college can be the start towards your next position.

You may think that community college is a holding cell for kids out of high school wandering aimlessly around trying to find themselves or get their act together so they can go on to a four-year college or university. But I’m here to tell you, community college is no longer the extended high school program it use to be. Times have changed and so has it!

Offering more than just an associate’s degree, many community colleges offer a comprehensive list of programs and services. Programs and services offered may include transfer programs, occupational programs, developmental education, workforce development, community education and student services. These programs and services are geared towards:

•Individuals seeking to advance their career by taking professional development courses offered by the workforce development program.
•Community members looking to broaden their horizons and improve their quality of life through classes, workshops, events and trips offered through community education.
•People seeking immediate employment can enroll in short-term certificate programs offered through occupational programs.
•Adults wanting to improve basic education skills can sign up for General Education Development (GED), Adult Basic Education, the Adult Literacy Project, Learning Enhancement and English as a Second Language (ESL) offered through developmental education.
•Students wishing to start their academic career at a school closer to home and affordable tuition can take advantage of the transfer program.
•Members of the community in need of resume writing assistance and other job seeking tools can visit the career service department as part of student service. Important to note, you may not even need to be enrolled as a student to take advantage of this service.

With globalization driving changes in our economy, the need for an educated workforce has never been greater. The majority of new jobs that will be created by 2014 will require some post secondary education. Advantages to community college are its relatively low barrier to entry and ease of access. Relationships with local business and social services allow community colleges to be a real catalyst in economic development.

To find your local community college, visit the American Association of Community Colleges (http://www.aacc.nche.edu).

You have a Dream!

You have a dream, a goal, and a passion for owning your business. You have the idea and you are ready to roll. The one and only problem is that you do not have the experience or “know how” to get that idea off the ground.

There is accounting you don’t understand. A business plan you need to write. And marketing to grow your business.

Taking one or more non-credit continuing education class may be the answer to all your dreams. “What are non-credit continuing education classes?” you ask. They are courses that are designed to teach you a skill or provide information on a certain topic.

Numerous non-credit continuing education courses are offered at you local community college or university. To locate that department at the college, they may be listed under adult education, workforce development, community education or lifelong learning, to name a few. Also, check your mail, often times, the community college sends out a catalogue of the course offerings.

Unlike most credit courses offered through colleges and universities, non-credit continuing education courses are offered in the evenings and weekends. This makes it convenient for the learner who hasn’t exactly quit their day job in hopes of living out their entrepreneur dream. In addition, with today’s technology, you can go on-line and take a course on your time schedule.

Depending on the topic covered, a course can be a one day class covering a span of two hours. On the other hand, the class can meet up to twice a week, two hours per session covering a span of four weeks. Nevertheless, most classes seem to be a few hours, once a week from four to maybe six weeks.

The cost of a course can range from as little as, free, to upwards of a little over $1,000. However, this is looking at the extreme range. Classes that are more technical and lead to certifications are usually more expensive. On average, most classes are under $100.

As previously stated, these classes are non-credit. This means that you will not receive any college credit upon completion of the course. Therefore, there is no need to worry about grades or essay exams. Whew!

However, just because these courses are non-credit and there are no grades, does not mean you will not learn from the best. Industry professionals teach the courses. Meaning you will gain valuable years of their expertise in a short time, thus reducing the amount of trial and error mistakes many new business owners face.

Now armed with your idea and ready with knowledge from your non-credit continuing education course, you are ready to pursue your American dream!