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Making Sense of Money

If You Want to Earn More Money, Start with your Career

If You Want to Earn More Money, Start with your Career

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Do you have to work more to earn more money?  Many financial experts suggest starting a business, getting a second job, or a side hustle.  Is this really the solution?  Is the alternative to just spend less?  Have you thought about how to earn more money without leaving your day job?  Do you need more money to pay down debt or is it just a sign of success?  What is your plan?

Skills

Do you have the skills and experience to maximize your earnings?  You just graduated college with a degree in electrical engineering with a starting salary of $55K.  You have student loan debt and you are moving out of your parent’s home.  Welcome to the real world.  A college degree pays handsomely, but you are not rich!  You do not start out with a brand new Porsche, penthouse and a lot of discretionary income.  Yes, it is better than a student part time job, but you need to control your expenses.

Engineers are in the driver’s seat right now because there is a shortage, but you do not want to be an engineer for forty (40) years.  What skills and experience will ready you for the next position or promotion?  Do you have a plan?  What are you doing every day to make yourself ready for the future?  Marketing your skills, experience and talent is not easy, but you can start with your plan.  I recently wrote an article called “Do Your Resume Backwards!” which discusses planning your future and acquiring the skills and experience for that next step.

Plan

If your plan is to become Vice President of Manufacturing, you need certain skills, experience and training.  Do you need a MBA or a Professional Engineer certificate?  In your first year of work in your career, you should learn what you want and develop a plan.  Your plan should include getting the skills and experience for the career goal you want.  You should talk to the people who perform the job or career you are interested in, study how they are successful and find out what it takes to be a successful Vice President of Manufacturing.  What is your plan?

What should you do if you are interested in starting a business?  Every business requires skills, experience and talent.  There are things you can learn in your current position that will help you reach our goal.  Your plan will include those skills and experience, but it must include what you need in your new goal too.  Start with an informational interview with the business owners that perform a similar business.  It is called networking!  Find out what you need to achieve success in your new career.

Financial Plan

Yes, you need a financial plan!  Even if you are earning $55K as a electrical engineer, you need to save money for retirement and your future.  Whether you are starting a business in ten (10) years, buying a home, saving for that Porsche,  or investing, you need a budget.   A budget is a structure or a financial plan to help you achieve your goals.  You want to control your expenses and pay off your debt.  Until you make it big in your profession or your own business, you prepare for it.  It is all part of planning.

Failed Plan?

What do you do, if it is not working?  Have you ever faced failure?  Most people learn more when things do not go well than when things do.  Your boss hates you or business is down or there is no clear career path, what can you do?  You should have a plan B to put into place for that second effort.  You may end up leaving, you want to show you did everything you could to overcome the obstacles.  It shows your true character or are you just a complainer?  Problem solvers succeed and complainers do not!  Remember, it is your record or effort that you will market in your resume.

Final Thoughts

You are in control of your life, if you take the time to plan.  Planning your future means you have to involve every aspect of your life in your plan.  This includes your career, future business, personal finances and retirement.  Without a plan, you will not reach your goal.  If you really want to earn more money, you have to commit to your career.  If you do not like your career choice, change it!  Don’t run away from problems or difficulties because it is part of your history.  It appears on your resume.  If you want to earn more money, do something!

Photo by:  Flickr

Comments

  1. I completely agree with the power of committing to your career, but its equally important to be sure that this career is something that you want to do in the long-term and that your extra efforts today will be rewarded in the future.

    I also promote side-hustles that are related to your career. This is a great way to earn extra income, but also to understand the needs of people in and around your industry better. This can either help you branch out later in life if you wish to go it alone, or can help you within your career as long as you efficiently balance the two.

    • When I worked in industry, I worked 60-70 hours a week. There was very little time to do much else. Despite this, I invested in income property and it grew into a business. It is very tough to balance your time, family and start new things.

  2. It’s another learning method about If You Want to Earn More Money, Start with your Career. This is very helpful and useful for those who are planning to get life insurance. I learned and many great insights here. Thanks for sharing the article. Great post!

    • Funny, when I worked for a Fortune 100 company, I Had my highest life insurance because it was 6 times my annual earnings.I wrote this article because so many people overlook the obvious,your career is important! You spent a lot of years in preparation and you will probably work 40+ years. Maximize your career prospects and earnings!

  3. Krant, ypu are right assuming that young people will still have the kind of careers we had. Looking at the structural changes that are happening on labour markets this may be an incorrect assumption. My guess is that many young people will have ‘maverick’ careers where thay have core cometencies and can use these to master different related activities very fast. In this case, what you said may not apply.

    • Careers are evolving, but still have certain characteristics! If you want to succeed you need to put in your time. If you are putting in 60-70 hours a week,you might as well make the most of it. This would be true if you were in your own business too.