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Things are Looking Up

Yes, I know, the down economy has a lot of us feeling down. But I’m here to tell you nine reasons that the situation may be turning brighter. Consider the following:

1. Interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have reached all-time lows. You could save some money on your payment or get out of a risky interest-only loan.
2. Gas prices, topping over $4 per gallon recently, have dipped below $2. It’s no longer three digits to fill up that SUV and take a road trip.
3. While layoffs continue at major companies worldwide, consulting opportunities are rampant. Companies like the idea of paying just for a project and not all the overhead.
4. The government is getting smarter by the day in how they use the bailout money and the economy does seem to be stabilizing.
5. The new administration comes in on January 20th and you can’t help but feel optimism at a new direction… even if you supported the other guy.
6. This is a great time to buy things like houses, cars, tech gadgets, etc. Companies are so eager for your business you just might get the deal of a lifetime.
7. If you just got a severance package from your company you may be worried but you also get the gift of reevaluating your priorities and choosing a new career direction.
8. Banks are making it harder to lend money and that tighter restriction will make it easier for you to avoid getting into financial difficulties down the road.
9. Finally… when things are bad and bottom out, they can’t go anywhere but up, so hold true to the belief that good times are around the corner.

There you have it… nine reasons that it just may be sunnier than you ever imagined!

Layoffs Lead to Life Changes

Every day we’re reading new stories about corporate layoffs. Thousands of employees are shown the door on a moment’s notice… forced to completely rethink how they’ll put food on the table, get back in the corporate rat race, and continue their career.

Now I know that a pink slip is nothing to smile about but maybe, just maybe, this is a blessing in disguise. Let’s say you’re getting severance. That means you now have anywhere from a few months to perhaps even a year before your income dries up.

So what should you do with that time? How about figuring out how to work less and earn more? Here’s five steps you could take, starting today, to begin your journey:

1. List your strengths: Are you great with spreadsheets? Do you know how to close a sale? Can you fix a broken appliance in minutes? Look back on your previous jobs and figure out your strengths.
2. List your passions: Do you love to present in front of a live audience? Do you cherish writing short stories or keeping a journal? Don’t think moneymaking here, just what you love.
3. Find the intersection of your strengths and passion: The meeting point of your strengths and passion is the sweet spot. This is where you can really make your money. For me, I’m strong in talent management and have a passion for writing. That’s why my book made perfect sense. What about you?
4. Draw a line in the sand: How much money do you want to make and in how many hours do you want to earn it. For me, when I left my corporate job, the goal was to make more than double my corporate salary in half the working hours. What’s your goal?
5. Find work to meet your goals: Look for consulting work, freelance opportunities, work from home gigs, really anything that can meet your working and earning goals. It might even be passive income opportunities like real estate investing or internet marketing.

Take that first step and you’ll find it gets easier as the steps progress. Before you know it you’ll be working less and earning more than ever before. Not a bad outcome for someone who just got laid off.

Own Your Life!

For those of you not familiar with MomCorps, this company connects talented professionals with organizations that need the talent. Sure that sounds like a typical headhunter or online search firm, but MomCorps is completely different. They match up people looking for flexible working arrangements with progressive companies that know the value these professionals can bring.

The kinds of talent found at MomCorps includes:

• Moms who jumped off the fast track to start a family and are ready to dive back in… just not full-time.
• Small business owners who want to land some contract-based work on the side while their business grows.
• Stay-at-home dads (yes, they do cater to dads too) who have the extra time to complete freelance assignments during naps and late night.

For those of you looking to go from the traditional work place to a flexible one, I highly recommend the MomCorps Own Your Life Conference. Scheduled for May 12, 2009 in Atlanta, this is your chance to network with other working moms seeking flexible setups and also hear from some of the biggest names in flexible working arrangements. So check it out and you’ll be on your way to paying your life first.

It’s Your Money… Hold Onto It!!!

For those of you who get Cablevision, Channel 12, yours truly will be appearing on It’s Your Money on Thursday, November 13th, at 2:15 pm. During the interview, we’ll be covering:

• How to work less and earn more
• How to find work/life balance in a challenging economy
• How to pay your life first and control your precious 168 hours per week

And of course, we’re sure to hit on lots of other tips from my new book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Working Less, Earning More. So watch it live or set your DVR!

You’ve Opened My Eyes

Whenever I teach my How to Work Less, Earn More seminar I always get an interesting mix of attendees. From small business owners to corporate climbers to recent retirees and terminated employees, every career situation imagineable is in the room.

This week I had the privilege of meeting a doula who recently relocated from the midwest. For those of you unfamiliar with doulas, they are best described as birth coaches. No, they’re not meant to replace dear old dad in the room, but doulas act as the experienced helping hand to guide expectant mothers from the birthing process.

In this case, the doula I met had given up the profession for a few years to begin raising her family. She loved her time at home with the kids but now was the time to re-enter the workforce. Going into the class, she assumed that meant getting a traditional job. But by the end of the seminar, she was brimming with new work less, earn more ideas including:

• Leading doula seminars to train those interested in the profession
• Creating a birthing video and selling it on the internet
• Joining together with other doulas in the area to create a business

Her specific quote to me was “you really opened my eyes to new ways to make money without settling for a traditional job.” I love that word… “settling”… because it really sums up how so many of us feel about our current jobs. We’re simply settling! That’s a sad way to go through life and one that doesn’t have to be your destiny when you pay your life first.

Thank You Westfield!

My heartfelt thank you to the Town Book Store in Westfield, New Jersey for hosting a book signing yesterday for my new book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Working Less, Earning More. I appreciate the folks who turned out to get a signed copy of the book and to share their own work less, earn more stories.

One attendee in particular jumps out from yesterday, he works as a financial forecaster for a chocolate company. How sweet is that? Sorry for the lame joke! But seriously, here’s a guy who loves chocolate and found a way to work it into his career.

While he is happy in his job he couldn’t help but wonder how else he could make money to lessen his eleven hour work days, five days per week. After a quick career discussion, we realized he’s skilled in financial analysis, decision sciences, spreadsheet creation, and forecasting. From there we came up with three alternative ways he could make money while chopping down those eleven hour work days:

1. He could repackage himself as a financial consultant and work with companies in need of improved forecasting capabilities
2. He could run numbers on rental properties, analyze them in a spreadsheet, and find the best possible rental property to generate the most cash flow
3. He could write freelance articles for business and financial magazines to share his analytical insights with the world

Bottom line… while this guy loves his job he realizes eleven hours per day is leaving little time for anything else that matters in his life… say working out, relationships, seeing friends. But I have a feeling that he is about to take charge of his career, take back his life, and start paying his life first!

Working From Home is a Great Start

People often ask me how you can jump into the world of working less and earning more. After all, walking into your bosses office, tossing your work ID on her desk, and announcing “I quit” is not the most realistic option (unless you’re in a big budget Hollywood movie).

Scoring a work from home job is a great start. No, I’m not talking about get-rich-quick or pyramid schemes. I’m talking about legitimate work from home opportunities that can even earn six figures. I noticed today that AOL published a list of the Top 8 Work-at-Home jobs. From transcriptionist to attorney, plenty of jobs can lead to big bucks while in the comfort of your own home.

While you may still need a nanny to avoid juggling your kid on your lap while typing, at least you’ll avoid the commute and all the pesky interoffice politics. At the very least you’ll prove to yourself you don’t need to sit in a cubicle ten hours per day to earn some income.

That’s what working less and earning more is all about. You think about your unique talents and then consider how you can repackage them to get paid for those skills. Whether you’re a good writer, speaker, consultant, scientist, teacher, or plumber, someone out there needs those skills and will pay top dollar to get them!

Four Generations in One Room

So my wife and I have a 21-month old son at home. Anyone with a child that age knows traveling, particularly long distances, can be a challenge. So when we decided to visit my 95-year-old grandmother in Boston, we knew the 4-5 drive from New Jersey could be a challenge.

We packed all the baby gear into the car just prior to the little guy’s nap and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, six hours later (thanks to traffic) we arrived in Boston with the little guy sleeping all of 12 minutes. When your son is used to 2-3 hours of shuteye, you can imagine that 12 minutes won’t cut it. Words like cranky, over-tired, and short-tempered replace well-behaved, well-slept, and patient.

Why am I telling this story? Well, my grandma suffers from Alzheimers. Her short term memory is gone and her long term is fading fast. While it would have been easy to prioritize a baby’s sleep over a visit to see Grandma, we made the sleep sacrifice to spread the love. At the end of the day, working less and earning more frees up the time to make these kinds of trips.

One photo of my son, me, my mom, and my grandma made the entire trip worth the lost nap time. My son can always catch-up on the shuteye, but I wouldn’t trade a chance to catch-up with my grandma for anything in the world!

Don’t Fret the Down Economy!

I hear the following statement all the time… “Working less and earning more sounds great but it’s impossible in a down economy.” Folks will go on to say… “You’re lucky to even have a job with the economy in such turmoil.”

Look, I understand the fears with the stock market plummeting, Wall Street firms going belly up every day, and a pivotal presidential election rapidly approaching. But do these fears really mean you can’t make money and work less at the same time? Did you ever think about the fact that some industries actually thrive under these conditions:

• With home ownership mortgages in such flux many folks are choosing to rent. My wife and I have had no trouble in this environment keeping our two family rental property 100% rented.
• With companies going through rounds of layoffs, suddenly consultants are a better option. There’s no overhead, no long term commitment, and no benefits to pay. The consulting side of my business has reaped these rewards.
• With so many folks losing their jobs unexpectedly, many are looking for new ways to make money. What better time to rethink your career priorities and consider a new lifestyle… a working less, earning more one!

Bottom line… there’s nothing wrong with some fear as the economy finds its footing. Just don’t let it stall your thinking entirely and give up on the dream of finding ample free time and ample income. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too!

Whatcha Up To This Thursday Night?

Come one come all… to Barnes and Noble in Hackensack, New Jersey, this Thursday night, October 2nd, at 7:00 p.m. I’ll be speaking live about my new book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Working Less, Earning More. You get a 30-minute live presentation about the book, followed by signings from yours truly. Not a bad way to spend your Thursday night. You can even pop by the B&N cafe for a night cap after the event.

During the speech and signing I’ll cover some of the main lessons in the book, including:

• How I went from a corporate climber in a Fortune 500 company to a writer, speaker, and consultant
• How it’s possible to build a life where you can actually work less and earn more
• How to make money as a freelancer, consultant, internet marketer, real estate investor, and/or small business owner
• How to turn your biggest fears and obstacles into stepping stones to take charge of your life
• Why productivity and money management are critical to working less and earning more

That’s just a taste of what I’ll be covering on Thursday. So if you have a few extra hours and want to meet like-minded folks interesting in changing their lives for the better… come on out to Hackensack. I look forward to meeting you there.