Join us for Career Focus Spring 2012

by Dale on January 12, 2012

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3 ways for you to make more money

by Dale on October 4, 2011

Assuming you want to make more money, have you ever considered there are just three ways to make more money?

3 ways to make more money

1. Find more people to pay you. This might imply taking a second job or multiple other jobs including selling stuff on eBay. If you are an employee and think like an employee – all you have to sell is your time. So sell more of it. If you are a bit entrepreneurial you can always sell something besides time (which still takes your time) by finding new people to pay you for your stuff. Note that of the three methods, this one is the hardest to do. It is the same problems companies have when they need to get more customers. We call is customer acquisition – and the cost of customer acquisition can be high. In your case you give up more of your life and also have to find that other customer who is willing to pay you.

2. Get your customer to pay you more frequently. If you are an employee you have this one licked since your employer already pays you on a regular basis. But as a way to make more money this is still something we need to look at. A business can get customers to purchase more frequently. How? Provide great service is one way. But for you, if you do not have an employer paying you frequently, how do you make the money flow more often. For instance, if you are an on-call independent contractor, what could you sell more often to get them to take out their wallet. The independent computer technician will often try to get a maintenance contract where he or she will come in periodically and service equipment to keep it running instead of waiting for something to break. If you are not being paid frequently by one of your customers or employees, what can you do to make that happen?

3. Add more value. While your employer is already paying you, what else can you do? Forget the political concept of a “promotion.” Instead think about what other roles you could do. Could they pay you an incremental amount more if you do some other things, even things that are a slight increase in what you are doing? Perhaps you can take over the roles of a vacant position – or even some work from your boss. If you go to a fast food restaurant, they do this by asking, “do you want fries with that?” You are already buying fast food when you here this statement. So the food chain figures if they can just add a little more value while you are already paying they can make more money.

Note of the three listed above, they are in reverse order of difficulty. The easiest way to make more money is to get the people already paying you to pay you more when you increase your service to them. The hardest to do is finding new customers.

 

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When to quit your day job

September 20, 2011

One reason few people start their own comapny is that they are afraid of being broke. Or, as Pamela Slim puts it, they are afraid of living in “a van down by the river” (because that is all they can afford). My ideal path would not be one of starvation between day job and the work you love. [...]

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To hire or not to hire

September 13, 2011

If you are like me, you often find yourself needed someone else to do work for you. But who do you need? Do you hire a pro who will cost serious cash, hire in someone like an intern, or delegate to someone on your staff. (And be hire I mean pay an outsider to do [...]

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Never hire your workers!

September 6, 2011

A frequent question from budding entrepreneurs is “How do I hire people? And when?” My Answer: When you doing the work is getting in the way of you growing the company AND when I have the cash to pay. Or when you just cannot stand it anymore! How? My general rule is that I NEVER hire anyone – I [...]

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How to ID investors for your startup business

August 30, 2011

“How do I identify investors so I can start my company?” This is one of the most frequent questions I get from hopeful entrepreneurs. It is often centered on getting VC (venture capital) or angel investments. Here is my short answer! Don’t. I have nothing against investors. But, practically speaking, most of investors are not going to [...]

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Open Letter FROM CEOs, COOs, CIOs and CFOs across the corporate world

August 23, 2011

We across the corporate world have read Pamela Slim’s open letter to CxOs. In her letter she is telling those of us in the executive wings how we SHOULD treat our employees. She gives us a good whipping – even calling us oppressive. Yes, we have read it. After our initial anger with her tone and accusations we decided to craft [...]

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Escape From Cubical Quick Sand

August 16, 2011

I received this email as part of an application to Information Engineering and Management. I thought it so described what others tell me that I would share it with you.  Escape From Cubical Quick Sand  It is 5 by 5 feet wide, 5.5 feet in height and the floor feels like quick sand. It appears [...]

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

August 9, 2011

I used to teach a lot of undergrad engineering courses. The students were usually so wrapped up in their courses and just getting to graduation that they never looked up to see where they were heading. So I started to tell them – in a lecture I called “Engineering Your Career.” But the wake-up came when I [...]

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Modern Slavery in America

August 2, 2011

We often reflect on the slavery issue our country has struggled to get past. We have books, movies, and even days to remember the struggles. But, as I look around and meet with people I see new forms of slavery in the most prosperous country in the world. Debt – The debt crisis has overtaken [...]

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