Leverage Your Experience

Many people are finding themselves in a difficult situation as employers are shrinking their employee roles during the recession.  This is not too big of a deal - unless you are one of those directly affected.

One of the best ways to insure against the loss of income that may befall you is to constantly be paying attention to your inventory of skills and talents.  Don’t you have a skill that you developed earlier in life but have not used it very much?  I think we all do.

You may find that one of your lesser-used skills may be something that is more in demand today than those on which you have based your livelihood.  Almost all of us have performed some sort of activity - whether as a hobby, in a previous job, or as a charitable volunteer - that could add significantly to our resume of skills and talents.

To make the old, unused skill more readily apparent, now might be a good time to bring your knowledge up to current by searching for information which may complement yours on the subject.    Then, just add that skill to your resume and be prepared to discuss it with prospective employers.  You know, employers are always more interested in people that can ‘wear many hats’ and that extra skill just might give you a real advantage in the interview process.

For more information on leveraging your skills and experience, be sure to subscribe to our free newsletter at www.leverexp.com.

RetireDon skills

We each have a pool  of experience, education, skills and talents that comprise our knowledge base.  In our lives, we find comfort in working and dealing with things that are familiar to us.  This is where true productivity can be found.

Unfortunately, many of us respond to marketing pitches and hype which entice us to join a marketing program or “earn a fantastic fortune from home” , or otherwise engage in activities that we know very little about.  

Due to our sense of greed and perhaps because we really could use some extra income. we become excited about and invest in programs which promise wealth, glamour, and happiness if we just will do a few “easy and fun” tasks.

A recent survey shows that nearly 93% of the people who join in network marketing and MLM programs never earn enough income to recover their initial investment. 

After 4-6 months of worry, hard work, attending calls, webinars, and meetings, they simply give up and move on to the next offer that comes by - without really looking at why they had failed.

To be successful in most network marketing programs, you must become good at…. networking!  Either online or offline, you have to build a network and to make sales to that network.  Most people entering into such programs have no actual experience in networking.

They are convinced by those selling the program that they will be provided with a simple system which will run on autopilot and streams of income will grace their bank account with little or no effort.  That is simply a myth!

If you are experienced in sales and marketing, you can be quite successful in network marketing or MLM.  You will be operating within your “Comfort Zone”!  Things like making cold calls will come naturally for you and you will not have call reluctance to hold you back.

On the other hand, if you are uncomfortable picking up the phone, calling strangers and convincing them to listen to your sales proposition, you should not get involved in network marketing.  You must first resolve your feelings of discomfort or find a way to perform the tasks that is within your base of knowledge and experience.

Instead of evaluating a potential program based on its compensation plan and products, look at how well the program fits within your area of expertise.  When you find a program that really “Fits”, you will be remarkably more successful.

RetireDon Experiences, skills

In an effort to help those who are unhappy with their career situation, we are conducting an online survey to get a real sense of the level of frustration that exists, the amount of unused skills and experience and the passions that hare unfulfilled.

You may take the quick, online survey by clicking here

We will be publishing an objective analysis of the survey results on our newsletter, so be sure to sign up for that on the box to the right.

I hope that we get lots and lots of respondents to the survey so that the results will be statistically relevant.

RetireDon Uncategorized

The May, 2009 issue of Money Magazine tells the story of Mr. Martin Waugh of Portland Oregon who had a healthy career going as a software designer, but had always been ‘pulled’ toward his passion - photography.

As a hobby, he had been taking still photos of water drops as they hit upon the surface of a pan of water.  He dipped into his savings, purchased some new photographic equipment and now,  just a few years later,  Martin has a thriving profession going in still life photography.  He doesn’t “Work” anymore!

This is not surprising!  Each of us has unmet passions inside us that, if we only allow them to get a breath of fresh air, may explode into being a great future for ourselves.

You can check out Martin Waugh’s amazing website at www.liquidsculpture.com  and you can even see him in action on this great Youtube video - then you will know how he achieves such fantastic results.

This is just another example of what Money Magazine calls “Second Acts” where ordinary people realize their passions and never have to struggle to “work” again!

For more  such great stories and information to help your realize your passions, sign up for our newsletter at www.leverexp.com

RetireDon skills

As I’m sure you have learned by now, most of  our old ‘tried and true’ pillars of security, like the stock market, the banking system, and traditional big companies such as General Motors and Chrysler, have really disappointed us.  Of course, it also appears that our Government leaders were asleep at the switch, allowing this whole calamity to occur without raising a finger!

All of this just serves to reinforce the concept that “The only true security is personal security”.  You are the only one accountable to you.  You are responsible for your future!  You have the skills, knowledge and experience to take care of yourself and your family - right there in your head!

Why not take a few, small steps toward financial independence, using your existing skills and experience - right now?  You have nothing to lose but a little of your time.  What would it cost you, for example, for you to write a paper or an electronic e-book about your favorite topic?  Very little, I’m sure.   Well, that would be a great start.

There are many, many ways that you can use to transform your passions and skills into a little supplemental income each month.  Writing a book is only one of those ways.  We can show you many others.

It doesn’t really matter whether you are retired and looking to just supplement your Social Security check of whether you are a Baby Boomer trying to recover your 401K  losses or a younger person wanting to achieve independence, the road to personal security begins here!

Please signup for our newsletter at www.leverexp.com for a continual ‘drip’ of income-producing tips and techniques that won’t cost you a bunch to learn.

RetireDon Experiences, skills

Here’s a little video to introduce the concept of taking your accumulated skills, excperiences and knowledge and transforming them into a fun and rewarding future. It’s only a couple of minutes long, but it surely can help.

By the way, be sure to sign up for our free email newsletter at http://www.leverexp.com

RetireDon Uncategorized

While doing research for our new project, we have identified literally hundreds of examples of ways that people have taken a spark of an idea, based on their experiences, and translated that into a successful and financially rewarding project.  We intend to be doing case studies on some of the most interesting of those.

Some examples are as follows:

-  We know a couple who had training in psychology and counseling in their younger years who have created an e-book on how to save your marriage.  They have now marketed their wonderful book online for more than 2 years and it provides them with a nice, steady full time income.

-  There’s a young lady in the South who is passionate about teaching small children with learning disabilities. She has created a series of exciting books for use in teaching these great kids in a new and innovative way!  What a great and noble thing to do - and it also provides her with a nice income!

-  A fellow in Pennsylvania has for years been playing around with his video hobby.  He has transformed that into a “How to” membership site for those interested in making videos.  With the recent Youtube interest, his business has grown exponentially.

-  Another lady we know is proficient at digitizing images into ‘programs’ for use in embroidery machines.  She created an archive of various popular patterns and makes them available to folks with embroidery machines (You would be really surprised to learn just how many embroidery machines there are out there!)

-  We know a fellow who is very successful at growing tomatoes in his back yard using a technique that he has perfected.  He has written and sells an e-book on the subject and its sells during tomato growing season, as you might expect.  While this little project does not currently provide him a full time income, it is a great use of his passion and it has created some extra spending money for his family.

There are so Many!

To build a list of examples of people who have had the spark of an idea and turned it into a successful venture would be a never ending project.  Our commercial culture is literally built upon companies that, at one time or another, we just a gleam in the eye of an entrepreneur!

What about your idea?  Based on the experiences that you have had, the skills that you possess and the knowledge of a certain market or industry that you have, can’t you think of some solution or process or procedure that you could bring to the market, show others how to perfect it, and develop your own business along the way?  I’d bet that you can!

Be sure to signup for our free ”Leverage Your Experience” newsletter at www.LeverExp.com to get a flow of case studies and ideas coming to your email on how you, too, can use the experience that you have and transform it into a meaningful future.   The newsletters are free and you may easily unsubscribe at any time.

We look forward to having you as a subscriber!

RetireDon Education, Experiences, Legacy, skills

Most people are so focused on their day to day routine that they often overlook all of the skills that they have accumulated over the course of their life to date.  If you don’t practice a skill very often, it seems to withdraw to the recesses of your mind.

We will soon be featuring case histories about normal people, just like you and me, who have exploited a skill that they learned in the past and have found a way to transform it into an income producing endeavor!

You may not think that your particular skill is in much demand, but you would probably be surprised.  The Internet has opened the doors to a whole new population of people and it would surprise you to know that there are people out there right now who are searching for information and training on the particular skill that you take for granted.

If you can think of a skill or an experience of yours or a techniques that you have been exposed to, why not check out the search engines to see how many searches are conducted every day for your topic?  It’s easy and free and it may open your eyes to possibilities.

Just go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal  to access Google’s keyword research tool.  Just put in some words or terms related to your skill and see the search volume.

You can subscribe to our free newsletter at www.leverexp.com to learn more about finding a niche based on your experience, skills, education and knowledge. 

RetireDon Legacy, skills

From the time we become adults, we begin to accumulate real life practical experiences.  Whether continuing our education, serving in the military, launching a career, or raising a family, each of us develops a personal legacy of experience, knowledge and skills.

After a couple of decades of accumulating a sizable inventory of experience, it may well be time to begin to put these to work for you.  Not for some company or organization or group - but for YOU!

It’s the purpose of this blog to discuss how others have turned their various life experiences into fun and productive future endeavors. 

I will show you how to take inventory of your skills and passions and to demonstrate your expertise to others.   You may even wish to start a business or a non-profit program to help others based upon the things that you have become passionate about!  That’s why we are here.

I look forward to your comments and interaction as we begin this trek!

To subscribe to the “Leverage Tips” newsletter, go to www.LeverExp.com

RetireDon Experiences, Legacy

Each of us has experienced very different things in our lives.  Even if we grew up together in the same family, our individual experiences are quite unique to us.  We each liked certain subject in school and disliked others.  Some people were more interested in sports than others.  Some dated a lot in high school while others stayed to themselves more.

After school, most of us seemed to have gone our seperate ways - some to the miliatry, the peace corps, to mission work, etc, while others settled doen & found a job.  We may have launched a professional career and/or began a family relationship.  Regardless of our direction, we each took in differently along the way.

We all seem to have had our share of work experiences, some good and some not so good.  But, interestingly, we learned a little more about life from the experience.  We learned what works and what doesn’t and what are the qualities of a good leader.  Perhaps we picked up some skills along the way.  From how to toss a pizza to operating an embroidery machine to doing specific computer tasks, we each accumulated a certain set of experiences along the way.

The combination of all of your expereinces so far, coupled with the skills and knowledge that you picked up through your formal education, work and family experiences - we call that your “Knowledge Set”.  Yours is unique to you.

You should find it interesting to know that there are many hundreds or thousands of people seach day who are searching  on the Internet for the knowledge that you already possess!  Won’t you share it with them?

To begin to understand the value of your unique Knowledge Set, why not write an article of about 400-500 words to tell the world, in summary, some of the things that you have experienced and how these things make up who you are today.  The article doesn’t have to be for publication, just for yourself.

After you’ve written such an article, you will begin to realize the tremendous value that you have planted firmly between your ears!  The next step will be to learn how to actually do something with all of that knowledge.  That will be our journey. 

If you have not signed up for the free Leverage Tips newsletter, please go to www.Leverexp.com.  The newsletter will ocme to you periodically and is packed with tips for mining the value from your Knowledge Set.

RetireDon Experiences, Legacy