Change your career

I think one of the biggest factors that determines the outcome of our future is our careers. This is one of the most important decisions we make in this life. To support this I only need suggest that you evaluate your life as it is. Does your family suffer because you spend weeks on the road? Do you spend late nights at the office every week? What are the habits you have come accustomed to that could prove my point? For some people their careers are the most important thing to them in this life and thus everything else is an additive, and you know that’s fine too. But really take an unbiased evaluation of your situation and think about it.

There are six things we should evaluate when making the very important decision of what we should do for 40 hours a week every week of our lives.

1. Level of Interest
2. Aptitude and Training
3. Should be Challenging
4. Provide Self-worth
5. Enjoy Each Day
6. Provide Sufficient Income

Take a quick minute and review your career and ask yourself those questions. Then ask yourself what will my life be like if I am doing something every day that feels like a dead-end?

I understand that today in our present situation, where our economy and societies are trying to recover, some people are struggling to find work and are doing whatever they can to survive.

And on the other hand, did you know that experts have said more fortunes are made during an economic crisis than any other time?

I read an article some time ago entitled, Set aside 10% of your work for retirement not 10% of your income. The idea of the article is to work on creating an additional income while working at your current job. Not anything new, it is actually the same thing I have heard for years. It is the same thing that every MLM business preaches. I think this time it hit home because of the way it was presented.

For every 10 hours you work at your job, spend 1 hour working on your side business. This side business does not have to be something huge, it does not have to be something you want to convert into a full-blown business. It can be a simple way to generate an extra couple of hundred dollars a month. It my be something that you plan on only doing for a while then throwing away after it has yielded the result you wanted. The key is to avoid setting aside more than 10% of your work. Other wise you will get burnt out and quit before you even get started. And not only that, but your family will start to struggle as well. All things in moderation, it is important to keep your life balanced.

If you feel like your job is a dead-end, if you feel like what you spend 40 hours a week every week of your life doing is unimportant and meaningless, find something that fits into the first five essential points above and make that the thing you do to set aside 10% of your work.

Unemployed?

As mentioned in the post “Introduction to Small Business” I said, “…one in ten Americans in 2009 started a business”. It is true, there were more than 500,000 (read all about it here) new business started every month in 2009. It is also true that anywhere from 40 to 50% of those business will fail within the first two years. But don’t be discouraged by that! I failed my first year in business, but I was relentless and pulled through! Making this my third year in business with increasing growth each year!

Starting a business can be done with little to no money so do not let that get in your way of you taking action!

Other reasons to consider starting a business

• Be your own boss
• You get to do what you’re interested in
• Lots of tax incentives
• Unlimited Income Potential
• Escape the Rat Race
• License to be creative
• More time to dedicate to family

Here are the things we’re going to cover this week:

- Introduction to Small Business
- Why You Should Consider Starting a Business
- Who is Qualified to Start a Business
- Business Ideas: The Right Idea is Driven by Passion
- The First Steps: Getting Your Business Started