On the user webinar this morning someone asked my thoughts about their situation: two advanced degrees, and not even able to get an entry level job.

I have a few thoughts on that:

The idea of a career and job has changed.

I’ve blogged about this quite a bit.  No longer are we shooting for a long-term career with retirement benefits.  We’re happy if we find a place where we might settle in for a few years.

My recruiter friend Robert Merrill told me a couple of years ago that he thinks we’re getting closer to becoming a world of 1099 workers.  What’s that?  1099 workers are contractors.   No more FTE (full time employees).

Have you seen a trend moving in that direction?

Even if you are hired as a FTE, the company treats you as a 1099, with frequent layoffs and rehiring.  Crazy stuff.

That’s one reason why I’m writing the book 101 Alternatives to a Real Job.

Whether we are out of the recession or not, employers are going to be cautious/skeptical.

Until they feel really good about their market and customers, they aren’t going to commit to the salary and overhead of a new employee, unless it’s critical. (So, how do you prove you are critical?)

The pending election will probably make employers wait on big (hiring, strategy, product line, etc.) decisions.

What impact would Romney or Gingrich have on our economy, trade, markets, taxes, etc.?

What impact would another Obama term have?

Whatever you think it will be, each employer has their own opinion, and they might be waiting on big decisions until… the end of the year :s

Trivia: One of the biggest spikes in JibberJobber signups was when Obama was elected President, through the inauguration.  I was amazed to see how many people started to seriously take career management into their own hands upon hearing that news.

If that’s the case, what does 2012 mean for job seekers?

A couple of years ago we had some expensive hospital work that we were trying to plan for.  For various reasons outside of our control, we didn’t have health insurance.  Today, with a different kind of health insurance we get from employers, and more people out of work, I thought it would be important to bring this up again.

Here’s a post that describes what happened.  It was scary, but such an amazingly positive experience (with regard to the finances). From an August 2009 post:

Three months ago we had a baby and paid for it without health insurance (even cheap health insurance) or government aid.

Last week my wife had a surgery and we’ll have it paid for as soon as we get the final invoice, again without any health insurance or government aid.

You should note that I have NOTHING against private health insurance (well, I think it’s grossly overpriced and doesn’t offer what it should) nor am I against getting government aid when appropriate (more on that tomorrow). Nor am I against healthcare managers who run the companies. This isn’t a political post, or a bashing post… I just wanted to share a couple of ideas that might help you save money (or, be able to afford the health care you need).

When asked what our insurance is we simply respond that we are “self-pay.”  This means it doesn’t go through insurance, rather that we pay for it ourselves.  As self-pay you can finance the service(s) through the service provider (hospital, doctor., etc.).  Or you can pay in full.  Why would you pay in full? Read on.

When we had our baby we told them we were self-pay and asked them if they offered a discount.  Guess what the discount was?

OVER 50%!  Instead of paying more than $8,000, our total hospital bill was around $3,400.  That is a huge, significant savings.  I like getting things on sale, and I like saving almost $4,000.

Note: We had to pay this in full before my wife got out of the hospital.

Fast forward three month (yeah, surgery three months later sucks).  My wife goes in for a surgery, fairly standard, and the doctor said he would do surgery wherever we wanted, so we could shop around.  We didn’t know you could or should shop around, asking hospitals what the cost would be.  We found there were pretty significant differences and chose to stay with this same hospital, which offered 50% off of this procedure. (we also learned that if you are insured and pay the copay up front you save 25%)

The doctor also offered 50% off – we took advantage of this for both the birth and the surgery.

Did you know you could save so much?  We had no idea.  But for us it’s a necessity.

We also learned we could get a prescription for any oral medicine the doctor would prescribe that was to be administered in the hospital and get that filled at our local pharmacy and then just bring that in for another significant savings.  I have no idea how much we saved but it was cool to know we could do that.

My point with this post is that health insurance isn’t the only way to get stuff paid for… if you don’t have it simply ask your doctor or the staff (the medicine thing was a suggestion from his front desk staff), and the hospital finance people… there are plenty of people who are self-pay and it isn’t as bad, scary or undoable as we thought it would be.

The scary part of this is that it exposes how expensive health insurance is.  If a doctor and a hospital are willing to discount 50% of their invoice just to (a) get paid in full upfront, and (b) not go through the insurance system, can you imagine what healthcare would be without health insurance in our system?

Do you have any other suggestions on finding affordable healthcare.

Two years later the question is still highly relevant – what suggestions do you have?

Read this post form Seth Godin: The forever recession (and the coming revolution)

In a nutshell, Seth describes a new recession that is here to stay, brought on by how the internet has changed business.

This recession is a problem.

From problems come opportunities.

The opportunities might be yours.

Here’s how he ends his post (read the whole thing):

This revolution is at least as big as the last one, and the last one changed everything.

The last one changed everything, created new businesses, created new wealth, and created new millionaires.

This one will do the same thing.

Maybe… just maybe, you should think about how you can get a piece of the pie.

Or, I guess you can continue to look for that old, traditional job with benefits that you used to have, at a company that was loyal to employees, and valued your long-term loyalty.

The choice is yours.

I’ve had some money thoughts on my mind over the last few months and had to get them out.

I remember a few years ago, when I was deep in my job search and starting to working on JibberJobber, but without any financial success and deep in worry about how/when the money would be enough to sustain my personal expenses, I had an experience.

I was at my parents house, visiting for Christmas.  Right before our trip, our microwave had blown out.

My good wife said it was no big deal, we could simply do without a microwave.

I didn’t think we could, and was on the lookout for a way to get a microwave.

Understand, a replacement microwave was anywhere from a hundred bucks to a few hundred bucks.

This amount of money doesn’t seem like a big deal right now, especially for something as important as a microwave, but at the time, this was an insurmountable challenge.

It was immensely stressful.

My parents had an extra microwave, brand new, in their attic, and offered it to us. I remember the stress of trying to figure out how to get a box so we could get it on the plane… I’m embarrassed at how stressed I was when we were trying to find a good box (and get our kids and other luggage ready for a flight)… but again, that microwave, with a value of probably $150 bucks, represented something much more than $150 bucks!

Right now I’m in a position where a $150 replacement is not a big deal.  (my fridge, on the other hand, which seems to be dying a slow death, is another story, as it will be about a $1,000 replacement).

But then, $150 seemed to be more than I could emotionally/mentally handle.

What is $150?

Not much, now.

But 5 years ago, it might have been $150,000 to me!

Think about your financial problems today, right now.

Are they insurmountable?

For me, my perspective changed when I realized (later) that there was money out there that could be made… it was just a matter of me finding out how to do it, and doing it. In a traditional job, I would have to budget based on my salary (we had been living paycheck to paycheck for too long), and plan accordingly. As someone empowered to make money on my own, I am not limited to the calendar.

Another perspective-changing event happened when I read Atlas Shrugged. This is a a super-huge book that helped me rethink money, who can have it, why and how you can get it, and how to think about it.

One of my favorite quotes on money was from Harrison Ford, in a magazine I can’t remember, about his personal life.  When asked about money, or spending money, he said something like “I don’t think about money anymore. I haven’t thought about money for a long time.” (sorry if misquoted)

I read this quote when I was thinking about money 25 hours a day!  I couldn’t stop thinking about money!  I wasn’t thinking about boats and mansions and riches, I was thinking about paying this month’s bills!

Thoughts of money had consumed me, because I didn’t have any, and I was worried and scared.

Life has changed, and in the last five years I’ve changed the way I think about money.

I remember my wife saying a few times that money is like oxygen… if you don’t have it, you suddenly are consumed with thoughts about it!  If you have it, you usually don’t think about it.

How do you think about money?  Do you have an abundance mentality? Do you have a scarcity mentality? Do you believe you deserve to have at least the basic comforts (have bills get paid, etc.), and maybe even some of the finer things in life (like a vacation)?

What does money mean to you?

Lately I’ve run into a number of singer/songwriters who are interested in moving forward in their careers.

I’ve randomly seen a number of songwriters sign up for JibberJobber (not because of my wife’s songwriting journey).

Why are these people getting on JibberJobber?  Or, why shouldn’t they get on JibberJobber?

JibberJobber is a personal relationship management tool.  It is a database that helps you keep track of your relationships.

Originally designed for job seekers, JibberJobber helps you keep track or your target companies and your professional contacts (as well as your personal contacts).

Does this sound like something a songwriter would need?

ABSOLUTELY.

In some of the workshops my wife has been to they stress the importance of networking and branding.

Songwriters are doing the same things that job seekers need to do.

• They need to keep track of who they meet.
• They need to keep track of what they talked about.
• They need to set up reminders to follow-up with people.
• They should have a place to store the contact info and relevant links to contacts.
• They should wordsmith their own 30 second elevator pitch.
• They should network into companies.

All of these are things that JibberJobber offers, and perhaps that’s why songwriters are heading over to JibberJobber.

It’s simply a relationship manager.

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.

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!

Friday I reshared some ideas on creating multiple streams of income. I get emails from people who own a business saying they are doing the same thing – creating multiple products/services that can generate various types of income (passive, etc.).

I think some job seekers (or happily/unhappily employed people) wonder if they can have multiple streams of income, and if so, how do they do it?

Let me relate a story.  Growing up I knew my dad, who worked for the government, could not have a side business.  Not only did he work all the time (so he had no time to pursue something else), there were policies in place precluding him from having a side gig.

That, I thought, was normal.

I didn’t think too much of it. I was that typical worker-bee who wanted to do good stuff for the company and not have side distractions.  No big deal.

Then, in my job search I had a really interesting interview.  It was after I had launched JibberJobber and I had my mind set on having JibberJobber run as a little side project that might make a few hundred bucks a month.

I asked the interviewer, who was at the VP level, if there was a problem if I had this little side business.

His reply floored me:

“Not a problem – the manager across the hall has a movie theater and the one down the hall has a such-and-such business, and …. “

My thought?  Why didn’t I get this memo???

Why was I trusting 100% of my income to one person when I could have had side gigs that were producing a few hundred, perhaps a few thousand dollars each month?

Talk about securing my own income!

I missed the boat on that one…. but I walked out of that room thinking NEVER AGAIN.

The funny thing is, most of the people who were involved in the decision to lay me off had their own side gigs – other income.  Why was I so blind?

Can you have a side gig? Yes, you can.  Don’t wait until you NEED the extra income, though.

I LOVE the concept of having multiple revenue streams.  When I got laid off in January, 2010, I had 100% of my income disappear overnight.

I never, ever wanted to be in a position where one person (or worse, a committee) could take away 100% of my income.

Enter: Multiple Streams of Income.

One day I sat down and listed out all of my revenue streams – I was surprised to find I had 10 of them.

I wasn’t working all of them, but I was planning on working on them.  Others were producing a pretty good income. I decided to share what most of them were… I hope you get inspiration from my sharing this to figure out what your own multiple streams could be:

• Revenue Stream 1: JibberJobber User Upgrades
• Revenue Stream 2: JibberJobber Partnership Program
• Revenue Stream 3: Books I write
• Revenue Stream 4: (not announced yet)
• Revenue Stream 5: Professional Speaking
• Revenue Stream 6: Consulting
• Revenue Stream 7: (not announced yet)
• Revenue Stream 8: (not announced yet)
• Revenue Stream 9: Information Products
• Revenue Stream 10: Miscellaneous

It’s not necessarily a path to sure wealth and jets and engines… I’m not talking about get rich quick or schemes or anything – it’s all about securing your own income and having more control because of a certain degree of diversity.

What about you?  Can you have multiple streams of income?