THIS IS MY 41ST BLOG ON UNDERSTANDING MONEY TOOLS
Let’s call this blog, “Things”. A friend of mine who is a tech consultant recently had a
talk with me. Even though he is
very bright, accomplished and good at what he does he is experiencing trouble
retaining good clients. According to him, which I believe, clients are really
confused, not sure what is happening in the fast paced business world, only
interested in getting customers (which of course means sales/money), and
“flip-flopping” all around.
I think it is the world we live in; too much information
available, too fast a pace, no loyalty from the workforce or companies.
“Things” are changing exponentially. So….what is my friend going to do to
enhance his future and hopefully add to his skills? Go back to college. Skills that were once valued are no
longer desired by companies and people. School loans are available at
relatively low rates and schools will assist you in getting loans. These loans
are at relatively low rates of interest and can be paid back over a long period
of time. There is almost $1 trillion in school loans outstanding in the United
States, and we need more educated people if we are going to compete worldwide.
Today, a lot of tech jobs are outsourced to India and Asia.
Perhaps a tech person in the USA is making $65-85/hour. Companies know they can
hire very competent technology people in Asia for $3.00/hour. Some tech people
here in the USA get a contract, outsource the work to a reliable individual
overseas for a low hourly wage and then bill out their normal contract wage
after reviewing material content and giving it final approval…..leverage at
it’s finest.
What kind of schools should I look at and what is needed?
First, what do you want to do with your life? Secondly, where do you want to
live, or do you want to be mobile? What kind of degrees and credentials will be
required in your work endeavors once you attain more education?
Let’s pick this apart a bit. The first question is the
hardest. What do I want to do with my life? It doesn’t matter if you are 10 years old or 70, many or
most people really don’t know what they want to do. Not bad. I fall into that
category. Many times the “tail wags the dog”, “when one window closes, another
will open”. It does help if you have a focus or an interest in a subject so
that you can be properly counseled.
Let’s get into philosophy. Do you want to be happy in your
job or profession? How many hours a week do you want to work? How much independence do you need in
your work life? How much money will it take to live on or make you happy? How
materialistic are you? Do you need to feel like you are in control of your work
life? How much are you willing to sacrifice for a job? There are books to take you through
this process. If you want to save money and do the basics yourself, grab a
yellow pad. Now, on one side of the page put wants, the other side dislikes.
Start filling out line by line trying to let your feelings flow and not be too
analytical. See what you come up with.
Secondly, if you forgot what second is it’s where do you
want to live or be mobile. Today’s
world does permit you to work almost any place, computers and the internet make
it possible. I recently had coffee
with another friend who is a computer hardware expert; he can work anywhere. He
is looking at a company where you can adopt boats, and working while he
cruises! Some charge a small fee with title transfer. Owners have donated their boats to be adopted by new owners
who will take very good care of them.
Just like the Human Society! This friend is thinking of adopting a
sailboat and cruising either the Atlantic or Pacific Coast, pretty exciting.
Perhaps get a dog or cat to go with you!
For one source check out Northeast Sailboat Rescue.
How about something exciting and another dimension? English
is the big worldwide language, and Asia is one of the places teachers are
welcomed to teach “conversational English”. One friend of mine taught in Japan,
and another decided to change his life and is now teaching in China. These jobs
don’t require a master’s degree and pay is relatively low, however it is an
experience and adventure. You need to check out the reputation of the company
offering the job, and make sure housing is included. Housing in Asia and many countries can be very expensive and
difficult to get.
Back to education. If you are intending to teach at a school or
university once you get more skills/education, you will most likely need a
master’s degree from an accredited, recognized school. If it is only refining
your skills for today’s work environment, there are many on-line courses a
person can take from numerous colleges, universities and people who are putting
out information covering various topics on the internet. “MOOC” would be one
way, (Massive Open Online Course). Coursera is a site that represents various
universities for accredited and non-accredited courses. The company will guide
a person as to what courses may be taken, tuition, etc. and on-line. You can
get information on some of the top US universities and colleges.
Another website to go to for improving your skills is
Udemy. This site offers tutorials
on various subjects. Also, if you are an authority on a subject you can
possibly teach a class. This is a good way to learn more, or give back to
society for higher education.
Remember companies are trying to do more with fewer people.
One man I respect who is changing an industry is Elon Musk the creator of Tesla
cars. He started out in the technology industry making a lot of money, then
decided to change the auto industry and improve it. For one, his cars are
battery driven, nice looking, safe, and fast. He named the car after Nikola
Tesla, a Serbian American from the 1800’s who assisted people such as Thomas
Edison and George Westinghouse. Nikola
was a futurist in his thinking as well as an electrical engineer and physicist.
Besides building a great automobile, Elon Musk is trying to
change the way cars are sold. Instead of buying the cars through dealerships,
he retails cars from places people normally go in masses, like shopping malls.
Dealerships across the country don’t like this, however business is changing.
There are a few drawbacks to the battery car, but time will change all of this.
Obvious weaknesses are:
- Number
of locations for electrical charges
- Time
it takes for a full charge of the batteries
- Cost
of the automobile
- Distance that can be driven between electrical charges
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