Just about everybody would probably agree that time is a very valuable commodity. The challenge is in getting other people to value your time the way you do. Whether you are self-employed, or work for a company, the value of your time-at least from a financial perspective-is what somebody is willing to pay you for it. Generally, our society rewards you by paying you more for your time depending on the amount of training and expertise you have invested in yourself.
The obvious example of this is a doctor who has spent years studying medicine and who is rewarded by a much higher than average income. The same dynamic is true for any profession such as law, engineering, accounting, and any other endeavor requiring a person to invest a significant amount of their personal effort in building a career. But when the economy suffers, all bets are off. People can no longer afford to pay for many services that they once needed or enjoyed.
Professionals are forced to adapt, despite years of training and expertise. Whether they work for a large company or in private practice, a failing economy can force many professionals to take a job working in a role far below their professional capacity to make ends meet. They wind up working well below their professional potential.
Conversely however, there are many self-made millionaires who never even finished high school. These people have found a way to leverage their time and that has created for them the perfect lifestyle as well as a solid and sound financial future. The common denominator that one often sees when studying such individuals is a willingness to think outside of the box, a strong and passionate desire to achieve massive success, and the willingness to work hard at what they do.
Anybody who has either lost their job or is afraid that they might as the global economic firestorm swirls around us, should consider an out-of-the-box approach to reestablishing a sound financial footing. The object here is to evaluate the amount of time already invested in a career and figure out how to leverage the skills and experience developed into an entirely new endeavor. A good approach is to model someone who has demonstrated extraordinary success with relatively few skills or training, and to adopt their approach.
One sometimes hears investment managers cautioning not to throw good money after bad. The same applies to time. If you’re in a career that is in jeopardy, or if you’ve already lost your job, it may be time to reinvest your efforts and energy by finding a new line of work that will provide the kind of future that you want and deserve.