I don’t.  I don’t support it and I don’t believe in it.  Here’s why:

1. Today’s “job” is not the same as yesteryear’s “job.”

10 or 20 years ago, getting a job meant something bigger than what it means today.   It meant having a career. It meant job security.  It meant benefits, like good health insurance, pension, and more.

Getting that job meant you had ARRIVED, and you could take a breath, and relax.

Today, a job doesn’t come with good healthcare.  Companies that used to provide good healthcare have seen costs skyrocket, and so you have to pay more OR you get less coverage.  Hardly anyone offers pensions.  No company offers any job security.

Having a “job” today is more of a temporary status than it has been for a long time.  I can’t get behind a movement that seems to push towards getting something that is different than what you think you are getting.

2. Jobs aren’t here in abundance.

I know, I know, they are there.  You just have to find them.  You have to network in and find the hidden job market.  I BELIEVE THAT.  I have a good friend who got an amazing job at an organization that was on a hiring freeze…. his brand and network helped him land an amazing job.

There are a few factors that have an impact on the number of jobs.  The economy has been in the toilet long enough that employers are timid about bringing on new costs…. many seem to be holding their breath, waiting for better days (and less risk).

Also, the flat world has been too tempting for big companies to send billions of dollars of salaries overseas.  Whether you think that is right or wrong, it is reality… and those jobs won’t be back for a while (or, forever).

In the webinar we did with Mark Hovind this week (should be posted soon), we learned that things aren’t going to get “back to normal” for about four or five more years (back to normal -> about 7% unemployment).  That’s a LONG TIME.

3. Back to work is based on flawed metrics.

This is perhaps my biggest hangup. I don’t believe in many statistics, and the analysis thereof, especially from the government.

The success numbers behind “Back to work” go up when someone goes from not employed to employed.  Even if it is a temporary or part-time job.  The criteria is that they are getting a paycheck.  It might end after the season… or it might be 10 hours a week.  Regardless, the success measurement (which is GOT JOB=+1) is misleading.

The other hangup I have is that even if the job is a full-time, permanent, maybe even salaried job, the income might not be what you need to make.  If you lose a $70k job, and then find a $35k job, is that a success?  It might feel better to not be unemployed, but when you get that first paycheck and then realize you have to get a second or third job to make ends meet, it doesn’t feel like a success anymore.

I’m all about getting people back on their feet.  But I’m not convinced that “getting back to work,” or “getting a job,” is the right answer for everyone.

There are other options… other career strategies.  Like this concept.

Those are my three main thoughts… what do you think?

Happy Halloween.

Now that that is out of the way…

I’ve been working on a new project.  It was inspired by parts of many conversations I’ve had over the last couple of years.  This will be my next book, hopefully in print by the end of this year (or early in 2012).  I’m really hustling on it.

In part, it was inspired by Dick Bolles, author of the mega-best-seller What Color Is Your Parachute. Dick impressed the idea on me that as we (as speakers, authors, etc.) show people their alternatives, we give them hope.  I thought back to my job search when I felt all my alternatives had dried up, and how hopeless and out of control I felt.

When I got the idea for JibberJobber, which was an alternative, I know the hope I had, and exuded, was like night and day.

In part, this book was inspired by people I’ve talked to, after my presentations, about what they are doing, or what they could do, to earn some money “on the side.”

In part, this book was inspired by Robert Allen, and his book Multiple Streams of Income.

In part, this book was inspired by Timothy Ferris (4 Hour Work Week), who shares examples of people who are doing it (he calls their businesses their “muses“), and GaryVee (Gary Vaynerchuk), who included 4 killer ideas at the back of his book, Crush It.

In part, this book is inspired by the stories I hear about, and read about, of people who are ready to take the plunge and JUST DO IT. One in particular came from DOBA founder, about the dude who wanted to clean his garbage cans, and ended up making more per day than some make per week.

101 Alternatives to a Real Job is a book about hope.  It’s about alternatives. It’s about ideas.  The message is “these people are doing it, and maybe you can, too.”

Whether that means you start a business with the potential to make thousands each month, or just a hobby that makes a few hundred bucks a month.

I want to take the inspiration I’ve gotten from my audiences over the years and share it with millions of people… people who’s hope has been gone for a long time.  People who have been told there’s only one way to a good career.

This book shows 101 alternatives to that old definition of a “good career.”

Alternatives and options = Hope.

If you want to preorder, email me and let me know how you want to pay.  I’ll reply back with the options (check, Paypal, credit card)

To keep updated, watch this blog, or get on my LinkedIn Group.

I remember many years ago, thinking I wanted to be CEO of a major company.  Have the corporate jet, private bathroom, gym, etc.

As I got older I thought that would conflict with the type of family life I wanted.

So I thought, perhaps I can own my own company.

As I got older I realized I didn’t have any idea what I could do/sell better than what others were already doing/selling.

I figured all of the “better mousetraps” had already been invented, and there wasn’t room for anything more.

If you want to do something on your own, I am telling you: DO IT!

There are other ways to do things.  And maybe timing has a lot to do with it.

No one was doing JibberJobber (job search CRM) when I started it – it was THE better mousetrap for job seekers.

How about photo sharing?  There are gobs of services out there that let you do it, right?

Who is gutsy enough to make a go at Flickr??  No one that is sane.

Well, some “insane” people (I say that as a compliment) figured they would go for it.  They came out with Pinterest.  This weekend my wife said “have you heard of pinterest?” I hadn’t… but apparently the rest of the world had.

This could easily be a flicker killer, imo.

Combine photos + social (Twitter (2006) wasn’t around with Flickr (2004) started) in a brilliant way, and let’s you see what is trendy and cool (what gets buzz) in a way that Twitter should but doesn’t.

In other words, Pinterest is doing something much better than Flickr (who has a bit of social but not much, and it doesn’t make it look this good) and Twitter (who has some pic stuff, but doesn’t make it this easy and fun and engaging to look at (and get sucked into!!)).

Better mousetrap?

Yes, way better.

I encourage you to not set your dream aside.

Work towards it.  Believe in it.

Maybe the timing isn’t right for now, but it could be perfect soon.

My work continues to get awesome media mentions.  This one is from Meridith Levinson at CIO.com.  She titles it How Writing a Book Can Boost Your IT Career and Your Income.

She starts:

“Jason Alba always wanted to write a book. When he started his own business, a service for job seekers called JibberJobber, in 2006, he finally had the time. One night in January 2006, while dining out, Alba shared his book idea—an explanation of how job seekers could use LinkedIn in their job search—with some friends who had books published. Alba says they loved the idea, and one of them offered to introduce Alba to his publisher and serve as his executive editor.”

This is really a fun story… you can read the article here. I know many of you are interested in writing a book. My advice? DO IT!

One of my favorite quotes from her article:

“Even if your book sucks, even if it’s small, even if it’s lame, just being the author of a book … gives you credibility.”

Even if it SUCKS?

Yes, even if it sucks.

I’m not saying to write a sucky book, but don’t put it off for years, while you get to “excellent,” when you can get it published sooner, at “good enough.”

Meridith, thanks for letting me share my story with your readers

A couple of years ago I was inspired by a blog post from Jeremy Hanks, CEO of Doba.com, where he talked about a guy who knocked on his door asking if he could clean out his garbage can for $10 (or, both cans for $15).

Here’s the post I wrote after I read Jeremy’s post: Jeremy Hanks Pays To Get His Garbage Can Cleaned

It’s a nasty job, but homeowners aren’t really proud of the stench that accumulates over the years.

Jeremy was intrigued and paid the guy, and wrote about it.

I was intrigued, and inspired, and eventually figured out this would result in my fourth book (not sure what it will be titled yet, but it’s something like “101 Alternatives for Job Seekers: 101 ways to create alternative revenue streams while looking for a job”).

Since then I’ve found dozens of other real-life examples, and am compiling them for the book.

The idea, I think, all started from this ambitious garbage can man!

A few weeks ago I was in Charlotte, NC. It is a beautiful town with very cool people, and I had a great experience there.

One evening, at dinner, we were talking about the projects we were working on.

I was talking about stuff I am currently working on.  My thoughts wandered to my old employer from almost 6 years ago. If I would have proposed to do any of these projects six years ago they would not have been approved, for sure.

The management wouldn’t have seen how they would bring value to the organization, or the bottom line.

But I see how they bring value.

And so I’ve written a book.  It wasn’t supposed to make me any money, but I can easily attribute at least $100,000 of income to writing that book.

And I wrote another book.  Even though it took a lot of time, I did it.  And more money followed.

I decided to write a children’s book.  I did that on personal time, but by this time I realized I could do what I wanted.

And when doubt moved in, I asked “WHY NOT?”

Why not write a children’s book?  I’m one line away from having that masterpiece done, but I did it.

Why not?

It has helped my refine writing skills, since it was a completely different style than I was accustomed to.

One night I thought of an awesome idea for a movie manuscript.

WHY NOT?

I started a couple of years ago, and recently made some excellent progress.

WHY NOT? Because there are thousands of movies.  Because I’m not a movie writer.  Because I don’t know what I’m doing, or what I’ll do when I have the first draft done.

But seriously, WHY NOT? Those are things that keep me from doing what I want to do.

I don’t have someone keeping me from doing it.

So I do it. I think about it. And sometimes I make progress on it.

After watching my oldest daughter excel at the piano for about 11 years I finally decided to take the plunge, sit down, and start learning the piano.

WHY NOT?

I’m too old, perhaps.  I don’t have enough time.  But I’ve always wanted to learn to play the piano.  I’d love to sit down and plunk out a tune, whether I’m alone and it’s to relax me, or because I’m somewhere and want to show my mad piano playing skillz.

Right now I can play a few tunes with my right hand.  I’m a beginner.  But I’m only a few months into it.  Wait for 11 years, like my daughter got, and I’ll be doing some pretty cool things on the keys.

My wife declared, one day, that she is a songwriter.

WHY NOT?

She didn’t make the best grades in school… so she really isn’t qualified to write for the arts, right?

But she’s been a student of lyrics for many, many years, and even wrote her first lyrics when she was around eleven.  Now her goal is to get her first 100 songs written, and go from there.

WHY NOT?

Why not do what you’ve always wanted to do?

You don’t have enough money?  Not good enough.

You don’t have enough time?  Not good enough.

You are too old (or too young)?  Not good enough.

Go for it.

At least try.

I’ve wanted to play the piano for decades.  It is too late for me, really.  But I don’t care.  Maybe I’ll be good at it when I’m 70.  And I’ll enjoy it!

Do it.  Try it.  Make progress.

There is NO reason to not move forward.

I love the idea of the abundance mentality. You can find all kinds of descriptions online that talk about the abundance mentality, but the gist of it is that there is PLENTY to go around.  There is an abundance (defined:more than an adequate quantity) of _________ (whatever you think there is a lot of).

For example, right now, with today’s sucky housing marketing, there is an overabundance of houses on clearance.

In Puerto Rico, where I lived for a few years, there was an abundance of amazing beaches to visit.

In Utah, where I live now, there is an abundance of amazing geological wonders.

There’s more than enough to go around…. that’s the idea.

If you have an Abundance Mentality you are not concerned about getting your fair piece of the pie, worrying that the pie will run out.  You think the pie is big enough for everyone to have as much as they want.

I was reminded of the Abundant Mentality a few nights ago when my 10 year old son showed me the logo stuff he traded with a friend of his.  When I was his age I was not a trader… I was more a hoarder. I was proud of what I had and for some reason was not open to trading with others.  My son, however, trades toys with friends all the time.  It’s somewhat foreign to me, but they are all excited to do it.  They aren’t worried about having less, or fewer, or older, or whatever.

They know there is plenty to go around.

I thought about how, as job seekers, we are usually worried about losing out on that one job, or the few job openings that are right for us.

We are concerned that if someone else gets our job, we lose out, and we’ll have more days, weeks, months to be in unemployment hell.

It’s scary.

Lately, there has really not been any “abundance” of jobs.

I started to wonder, though, if we are thinking about abundance of the wrong thing?

Should we be wondering about an abundance of jobs (no one feels there is an abundance of jobs right now)?

Let’s go back to the beginning… I think many of us are not after a JOB so much as we are after an income.

Is there an abundance of MONEY?

Seriously, is there an abundance of MONEY??

I think there is.

We spend a lot of time chasing after the job, and get discouraged because we feel there isn’t enough to go around, all the while there is an abundance of money.  (read my post on the Job Search Rabbit Hole, where I talk about chasing the wrong thing)

We just have to figure out how to get it.

What do you think… am I on to something or am I just daydreaming?

Robert Merrill (I’m blogging about him tomorrow, too) asked for input for a presentation he’s doing on Friday for middle school kids.  I’m guessing they brought him in because he’s been a technical recruiter for a long time.  He asks:

…if you suddenly found yourself in middle-school today (12-15yrs old)…

…what one or two things would you want someone to inspire you about concerning your future career?

You can click over to his post to see what others said, including a short comment by me  I invite you to give your own advice there, too.

Here’s my advice:

START A BUSINESS.

Right now.  Today.

When else are you in an environment where you don’t count on your financial success to keep a roof over your head, food on the table or your laundry clean?

When else can failing at a business venture mean so little, both to your financial viability and to your ego (or, sense of professional well-being)?

I really have no other advice for these kids.  What a great time to try out various things to see what you like (for example, do you like the details of things, or the high level strategy, or delegating?).  What a great time to learn about cash flow, profit margin, customer service, operations, product delivery, pricing, time management, work ethic, business relationships and partnerships, etc.

I would love to see more kids involved in entrepreneurial ventures, not because they could become fabulously wealthy but because the skills they’ll learn in their ventures will be skills they will use for the rest of their careers!

What do you think?  What would you tell this group of kids to do (in preparation for their future career)?

This week I’ve talked to 5 job seeker clubs and one business owner meetup.  Tomorrow in Danville I do my last presentation and then I fly home for a 40 hour rest before I go to present a bunch in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

One thing that came up in a presentation was the idea of creating different revenue streams that can either replace your job income or complement it, to add stability to your income.

Two books I recommended in the presentation:

The Four Hour Workweek. I haven’t read the book but I read his blog and loved, loved LOVED this post: Engineering a “Muse”: Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses. Sometimes we think “starting a business” means something too big and complex, but it doesn’t! Read that post…

Crush It! This is GaryVee’s first-of-ten books and, to be honest, I thought it was pretty weak.  But in the end he shares business ideas that he thinks can be awesome and amazing, and I got energized just reading this thoughts on those ideas.  You can go to a bookstore and browse through the book just to find those ideas (I think they are in the appendix?).  Awesome ideas.

Who knows what YOUR idea is… but I want you to think about it.

Can you make $1 doing it?  Can you make $100?  If you can make $100 you might be able to make $500?  If you can do that, maybe you can get to $2k?  If you can get to that, how can you get it to $10k?

Sure, it takes work… but it can be exciting and energizing… and it’s a great idea for your own career management!

I recently shared, as a Favorite Friday, my multiple income streams.  Then, I wrote about job seekers having creating multiple income streams. M. Shane Smith, a friend and job seeker advocate in the Twin Cities, sent me an email about it and I asked him if he would share his thoughts with you.  Here ya go!

Looking for a job in today’s economic conditions will be a challenge. But, IF you’re willing to learn and put in the time and effort, you will be successful. Before you start looking at multiple revenue streams, I always encourage people to get their head on square with a positive attitude.

(1) Learn: how to sell yourself with resumes, social media, business cards, your 30 second commercial, reading books  and even keeping track of your job search and contacts. Three books I recommend are: I’m LinkedIn-Now What???, Jason Alba, Resume Magic, Susan Whitcomb, 101 Smart Questions, Ron Fry.  Of course, take advantage of JibberJobber.

(2) Time & effort: Spend at least 30 hours per week researching key companies, people, participation in career seminars (online or in person), networking groups and networking with others. Your personal brand will be much stronger if you help others (making more deposits) rather than just taking (the withdrawals) contact names. This is not a time to relax and “take time off.”

OK, you’re doing the work; you know what you want and where you’re going. Now let’s look at multiple revenue options, knowing everyone is in a different situation:

1. Unemployment benefits. While not much, it helps.
2. Find a Part time job #1. Some may think of this as a survival job. (20-30 hours per week) Holidays are a great time to land these jobs. Temp job services should not be overlooked.
3. Find a part time job #2. One that maybe is nights or weekends. (10-20 hours per week) This could be cleaning houses, yardwork, house sitting and more.
4. Volunteer. Sure, you may not make money, but the contacts you make could be worth much more than money.
5. Consult. Do you have talents that you can charge $20- $100+ per hour? Think about it. If so, get business cards and go get some projects.
6. Selling personal property. Need cash? Sell personal property before you go under water. This could be a car, house or other items that can bring in some cash during this difficult time.
7. Move. Yes, move to another state where there is LOW unemployment. No one is asking you to live there forever, but sometimes we have to do what we can and things change.

During this same time period, keeping looking for job like you just had or better yet, your dream job!

Things change and sometimes we have to make adjustments in our lives to pay bills.

Stay positive, learn, share and grow during this time of adversity.

M. Shane Smith is a founder or a founding member of over five job networking groups in the Minneapolis St. Paul area that have help thousands of individuals.  His involvement in networking groups and passion for helping others can be seen by his LinkedIn profile. During his last transition of 23 months, he implemented many of these ideas to keep the revenue flowing. Today, he has returned to work, commuting between Minnesota and California.

What do you think?