Because I continue to be amazed by people that continue to make bad choices that complicate their lives. Some of these choices are:

-getting into debt. Nothing keeps you down like spending more than you earn. Having savings means you don’t have to work somewhere you hate. Being dependent on income is very apparent during interviews and other situations because it diminishes your power. You need to be able to walk away from any negotiation.

-not getting an education. I see many people especially in this small town who never got an education. They are paying the price now working many hours for low pay, sometimes more than one job, and even working the night shift.

-accepting low paying positions. Due to fear and insecurity many take low paying jobs and are miserable, plus they have half their pay removed from taxes and other deductions.

-accepting long commutes. People will drive an hour or more to work and be absolutely miserable and waste many hours of their lives each day. They’re afraid to move closer to work, only accept remote work, etc.

At the core of why we do this is fear in my opinion. Fear of what will happen if we set higher standards and don’t get instant results. And the fear is that we won’t be able to pay our bills or support our family. So the financial aspects have to be resolved. With savings and low or no debt the freedom is liberating!

Feel free to post your excuses as to why you can’t do this below!

Leverage Attention

People used to read newspapers. Then they watched a lot of TV. Then they went online and searched. Now they spend hours on social networking sites. That’s where you need to be because that’s where your customers are.

Leverage the Technology

There’s an incredible amount of technology that you can use to help get exposure for your business. Facebook fan pages (to build a community and interact), WordPress blogs/websites (to create websites, receive comments on your blog posts), Twitter (to post links to useful content, engage with your customers), Ustream.tv (to do live video streaming), YouTube (to post videos educating your customers), etc. There’s never been a better time to build your brand and get awareness of your company.

Leverage the Influencers

Other bloggers have spent years building a large and loyal following. Can you leverage that following and also provide value to the other blogger? For example, offer the blogger a commission on sales of your product if he interviews you via audio/video and records it, or sends emails to his followers, tweets about it, etc. I see this all the time on teleseminars and blogtalkradio.

Leverage Existing Communities

There are many forums, Facebook fan pages, groups, Linked In groups, and so on where your customers are hanging out. Other people have built these groups and managed to get a large following of engaged people talking about your niche. Go there and be helpful to these people.

Leverage Affiliates/Joint Ventures

There are many affiliates who sell other people’s products online. They’ve learned how to sell, how to create landing pages, how to create Google ads, how to build an email list and so on. Why not leverage those affiliates for your own products/services? You could post your product on Clickbank or create your own affiliate program. Partner with someone who can do more marketing or create the content split the work and the profits/risk.

Leverage Customer Data

You can leverage the information that sites like Facebook and Google have acquired over the years. And yes you can still benefit from advertising. Some of the newer technologies can target what people are searching for (Google Adwords) or Facebook ads can target people with specific interests, ages, geographical locations and so. You can also see what people are buying by checking top selling Amazon, Ebay products.

Leverage is about taking advantage of existing communities, influencers and technology to make faster progress than you can by yourself.

If you can think of other categories not mentioned above please post them in the comments.

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I’ve been saying for years that there is no job security, and this only reconfirms that fact. I was laid off after 1 year on my first job out of school which looking back was a blessing in disguise. I ended up taking control, started contracting and made way more money than I would have as an employee. I’ve become more entrepreneurial starting online businesses, and now working entirely from home.

If you’re still lucky enough to have a job, take this opportunity to take control of your career. Start supplementing your income with an online business, reconnect with your network, take some courses, do some interviews for new jobs, pay off debts and so on. Many wait way too long to do this and are caught off guard.

Many of the guests got laid off and never expected to be unemployed. Many of them never saved any money. But the biggest fallacy that many had was the expectation that many recent grads have – they’ve been promised that if they study hard, get a degree and work hard, they will live the American dream. The reality is there is no job security and there probably never was.

As challenging as getting a degree and finding work is, it’s trained us to work for others, and lose that natural entrepreneurial spirit I believe we all have. I always think back to blacksmiths, general store owners, people selling food, and trading services amongst each other before the industrial age kicked in.

Take this opportunity to find your true passion and start your own business – becoming an entrepreneur. Sell your expertise online through information products, start consulting out of your home or develop some other home-based business. You might have to support this with a part time job, but resolve to never be in this situation of dependency again! Who knows, with hard work you could be one of the next entrepreneur success stories.

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Looks like I’m getting some agreement on flexible work arrangments.

Many career experts and advisers talk about how to do well in interviews, who’s hiring, what degrees you should get, what careers are hot, what industries are growing, etc. There’s some good information there, but it comes with an implicit belief which is never mentioned: the employer is in charge. As we grow up we are told to do well in school so that we can get a good job, get a college education so that we can be marketable, and so on. After years of layoffs, downsizing, rightsizing and restructuring the idea that employers will provide you with a lifetime of secure, well-paid employment are long over. So now I want you to take charge of your career. The biggest stumbling block to making more money is your thoughts about money and your perceived self-worth. Of course, making money takes effort and lots of action but I find that before this can take place, you need to change your way of thinking.

This might be a good time to take back control of your career. One way is to consider consulting. The hourly rates are much higher, you pay less taxes, have all sorts of deductions and control your work schedule. Take a few months off in between contracts if you want. I save lots of money during my contracts so I can take months off whenever I want. I even went back to college for jazz guitar at age 36.

Even as an employee, you can change your mindset. Keep learning. Take some night courses. Do lots of networking and enhance your profile online by writing a blog, articles, and so on. Establish yourself as an expert and have a network you can use to change jobs whenever you want.

Each day you experience things that either enhance your sense of self or diminish it. If someone tells you that you did a great job your ego expands. If someone cuts you off in traffic your ego is diminished – after all, they didn’t respect ‘you’. Have you ever been slighted in some fashion and never did anything about it? Never vented to someone explaining how you were wronged and how the other person was an idiot? It is near impossible for most of us to leave our ego in a diminished (bruised) state. So this brings us to the topic of successful people.

‘Successful’ people can makes us feel diminished. They have more money, a bigger business, more homes, more cars, more happiness, more attention, more attractiveness. If they have more then we must have less. This creates an imbalance in our minds. Whenever we are diminished we need to get back on top again. The ego does not like feeling diminished. This is done by criticizing and judging those successful people, perhaps by saying ‘They are greedy, they didn’t earn the money, they had it easy, they’re not really happy’. This puts us back in a superior position temporarily, until we meet or hear about the next successful person.

This is a harmful habit because it will affect your ability or interest in being more successful because you are associating negative attributes to success, at least subconsciously. By being happy for people’s success and being grateful for what you already have you will attract more success into your own life.