A Promising Career Strategy for the Modern Teen

Gone are the days where it’s necessary to go into debt to start a great career.

What if, instead of going to a 4-year university, you did this:

  1. Pick 8 skills that can make you money.
  2. Study each one for 6 months.
  3. Get certifications if you need to, but focus more on finishing projects that showcase your proficiency in the skill.

Examples of the kind of skills I’m talking about: Photography

  • Copywriting
  • Programming
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Facebook Ads
  • Options Trading
  • Personal Training
  • Video Editing
  • Sales
  • Content Writing
  • Graphic Design
  • Public Adjusting
  • Interior Design
  • Hair Styling

…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The point isn’t to exhaust any of these skills or master them completely. It’s to get a base foundation in the skills so you can build on them later and make money using them.

By the time your peers graduate, you would have not 1, but 8 potential sources of income. By this time you probably know which one(s) you enjoy the most and can double down/ start making money doing something you love.

This approach also frees you up to get a full-time job while you’re studying if you choose to do so.

So you’re…

  1. Saving money on student loans.
  2. MAKING money while you study.
  3. Finding out what you love.
  4. Setting yourself up for future success.

We live in a world where Harvard and other universities have free online courses with certifications. Coursera and other platforms offer verified courses in practically everything. Even LinkedIn has oodles of resources and certifications.All of this is at the fingertips of the people who choose to leverage it.

Be one of those people.

P.S. Stay tuned. I’ll be writing more on this topic in the future!

Taken in 2018 in Atlanta.

Musings: Working Remotely

Working remotely has its benefits. A lot of them, actually. It’s possible to work late into the night if those hours work best for you. If you wish to get up early, you can do so as well.

Being part of a large homeschool family, I can plan my week around a summer activity with my siblings, blocking out time to spend with them.

This week they begged me to go bowling with them. At first, I said no. I thought the quiet house might be nice. But I also had some light research to work on, and a couple projects that took little concentration.

So I decided to see how I’d be able to work outside my safe workspace. I put my computer and a notepad in my case and set up shop at the bowling alley.

It’s quiet from 10 AM- 2 PM during the weekdays in the summer. We had 2 lanes to ourselves, and only two other lanes were in use while we bowled.

I spent most of my time on my projects, but won several games of bowling at the same time. I felt pretty accomplished.

It made for a great social media post.

However, working remotely is not all about the beautiful pictures of doing whatever I want whenever.

It takes a great amount of personal drive to work remotely. I don’t clock in and out like I would if I worked in a traditional office; it’s entirely up to me if I get my job done.

I have to be the one in charge of letting others know what I am getting done. They don’t know unless I show them. If I worked a normal job, anyone could check in on me whenever. Remotely, I have to not only do the work; I have to ship it.

Working remotely means working more hours than normal sometimes. If I have a large project that needs to be done, the fact that I completed my 9-5 makes no difference. All that matters is that my job is getting done.

It’s not all perfect like a social media post. Don’t expect to work remotely and get a free pass to success. Regardless of your job, it takes determination and a lot of hustle to get the work done.

But it’s worth it. And for me, the hard work is what it’s all about.