Small Business Careers

Smart Career Choices

The practical need for a new career is an increasing reality for many individuals through no fault of their own. The old career planning methods have not worked for some time, but it frequently takes a severe event to bring the true colors to the forefront of the picture.

For example, banking and real estate were both engaged in excesses that were problematic for a number of years. But most individuals chose to overlook these financial problems as long as they were making money or at least not damaged by the risks and illegal acts. Eventually the banks went too far and caused the house of cards to collapse.

What Could Go Wrong?

As it turns out, the chaos caused by banking institutions has effectively destroyed or severely damaged many careers as a direct result. That is certainly a major reason for thousands of individuals to be examining their career options at this point.

But perhaps more importantly, the banking crisis also helped many of us to see how ineffective some career choices have been. In a booming economy, even ineffective career paths can still work out to everyone's satisfaction.

But what happens when something goes wrong?

Something has indeed gone very wrong with employment, education, politics, and the economy. In a human version of "The Perfect Storm," we are now faced with all kinds of unexpected happenings.

•     How many thought General Motors would go bankrupt?
•     Did anyone really expect Merrill Lynch to fail and fall into the hands of Bank of America?
•     Who thought that our biggest banks would be making payday loans at annualized interest rates of 300 percent and higher?
•     What were the odds of our biggest banks laying off and firing over 50,000 employees while still paying their CEOs salaries in excess of $10 million?
•     Is anyone surprised that almost 20 percent of homeowners in the United States are still "underwater" with their mortgage (owes the mortgage company more than their house is worth), while in some states the number is as high as 30 percent to 40 percent?

Yes, the cumulative impact of these and other "financial surprises" has felt like one body blow after another. Having a Plan B for both investments and careers might have been some help, but "The Perfect Storm" will always produce more damage than anyone expects. Most of us are currently evaluating Plan C, Plan D, and beyond.

Do You Have a Plan B and Plan C for Your Career?

One of the career choices that has stalled out and fallen to earth for many individuals involves an expensive college education that literally results in student loan debt bigger than the cost of some houses. Six-figure student loans are increasingly common. As someone who acquired both an undergraduate and graduate degree without accumulating any debt whatsoever, it is impossible for me to imagine how differently my life would have been with a huge debt burden at the very start of my business career.

It is always worthwhile to re-examine the wisdom of spending the amount of money now required for a college degree. Except for those specialties such as medical ones which require that a specific educational path be followed, the time is right to find another path.

Small business careers are clearly not the only alternative available for those who want to consider any and all practical alternatives to an ultra-expensive university sabbatical. But it is a practical career path that I can speak authoritatively about in terms of how to do it effectively and efficiently.

For example, I can train most individuals (in the United States and Canada) in a period typically ranging from three to nine months (depending on both personal schedules and backgrounds) to become a small business finance consultant. The cost for the specialized and individualized career training program to do this usually ranges from $2500 to $5500.

You can do the math:

•     $5500 or less versus a potential six-figure student loan.
•     Earning income within a few months versus four years from now.
•     Working in a field that is diverse and flexible enough to provide a permanent Plan B.
•     Positions work very well either part-time or as second jobs.

While the way that I portrayed the career choices above was ideally suited for someone contemplating a long-term college period in comparison to individualized and specialized career planning, I do not want anyone to overlook the larger potential and possibilities of this prudent and cost-effective approach to their future career. This particular career solution can work very well for anyone currently involved in a career or one who has just been outsourced by their employer.

Perhaps my proposed Plan B should be your Plan A?

Recent Business Writing Topics

Many individuals and small business owners rely heavily on the internet as a source of information. However, some search engines (especially Google) have made this more difficult during the past several years. It should not come as a surprise to learn that Google and others have done this under the guise of “improving the internet.” But is it really an improvement from the perspective of someone looking for help about a topic as important as restructuring their business to be led by the search engines to paid advertisers, newspapers and university research?


How Objective Are Search Engines Funded by Advertisers?


Google has unilaterally decided what content is worthwhile and has effectively assigned everything else to an internet trash pile. So it is now much more difficult for interested readers to find many special reports published by me and other business experts. This is primarily because an increasing number of online publications have failed some mysterious test in the secret Google search engine algorithm that determines what you will find. So now, when you are looking for help or information about “legal due diligence for investing in businesses” or “building a home with a silent partner,” you should lower your expectations about how helpful a search engine like Google will really be.

Here are some of the topics I have written about recently (all of which are published somewhere on the internet even if Google pretends that they don’t exist):

• Impact of Working Capital in Manufacturing Companies
• Why Are So Many Condominiums Sold for Cash Only?
• Corporate Debt Restructuring Guidelines
• More Questions Than Answers?
• How to Cut Your Cable Bill
• Legal Due Diligence for Investment in Companies
• What Is a Roku?
• Making Smart Career Transitions
• How Can Businesses Invest in Foreclosures?
• Effects of Inflation on Self-Storage Investments
• How Do Franchises Divide Territories?
• Practical Business Writing Help
• Does Medicare Pay for Prescription Medications in Nursing Homes?
• How to Build a Home With a Silent Investor
• What Is Needed for a Business Restructuring Plan?

Authority Value According to Google


One of the criteria now relied on by Google to determine “authority value” for a website is whether the publisher is a newspaper, university or “none of the above.” While some of my special reports are in fact published by universities and newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, the majority are published by other highly-respected sources such as Zacks Investment Research. But good luck in finding them in a normal search unless you happen to enter the exact title. Google has its own agenda in deciding what to show you in search results. Their agenda is not necessarily resulting in the “best” or “most complete” search engine results for internet users. However, based on Google’s profits, it is clear that their search engine agenda is very popular with their advertising clients and other paying customers.


Two Questions About Search Results

Should we depend on Google to determine what internet information is highly-respected?

When you have a question to research on the internet, do you want Google to emphasize the organizations and advertisers that write the biggest checks to Google?

Good News and Bad News About Business Finance Planning

The past decade has provided an array of changes and problems for business finance planning. Because of the growing need for flexibility and contingency plans, a recurring piece of wisdom has emerged from some of the business and finance chaos: 

Always Have a Plan B.

Plan B is the good news.

So that I do not bury the lead, I want to make it crystal clear that the expanded appreciation of how important Plan B can prove to be for any individual or business is at the top of my list for the good news portion of this business finance planning discussion. Of course, I have never hidden how I feel about the critical value of having a Plan B. As you can see from the mosaic image which I produced above, I rarely miss an opportunity to feature Plan B in a front-and-center kind of way.

Another purpose for the business finance planning mosaic was to demonstrate in a visual way that everything can fit together quite nicely with a little (or a lot) of planning energy. Key concepts like strategy, solutions, experts, and help also deserve a seat at the table when formulating your own Plan B.

How important is Plan B?

To say it as succinctly as possible, always having a Plan B is a winning strategy. Having a solid Plan B mentality during the past five years has more often than not proven to be a critical difference between business survival and failure. What is your Plan B?

Always Have a Plan B

The bad news:
You can tell there is an oversupply of bad news when the primary good news is the increased appreciation about the importance of having a Plan B.

I am sorry to say that there is more bad news than there should be. This is due in large part to a political climate that is increasingly governed by the largest corporations, big banks, and of course their lobbyists. When the incomes for average individuals decline during what is hailed as a "recovery" by some biased politicians, you have the first clue as to the underlying problem that small businesses and individuals are currently facing.

During the last three years, the average income for individuals has shrunk from $51,000 to $45,000. Meanwhile corporate profits and the stock market have done very well. As they say, the rich get richer and the rest are still searching for Plan B.

Banks are still hoarding their riches and not lending normally to either small businesses or most individuals. In their own little good news bubble, the banking industry has launched an aggressive campaign to move into what they see as the next front. The world of payday lending programs is beckoning to the bankers. How could any respectable banker not pay attention to payday loans when they offer the easy opportunity to charge annualized interest rates of 300% to 600%? Never mind that they are illegal in some States (as they should be). This is why banks pay the big bucks to their lobbyists, isn't it?

The bad news lesson to be learned from what banks are now doing with the money used to save them just five years ago is to realize what they are not doing with it at the same time. Commercial mortgages and working capital financing are just two of the things that most banks are not presently doing with their money in any significant way. By the way, many banks have also resumed their investment activities involving financial derivatives. For those who are not aware, the use of risky real estate derivatives by the banking wizards brought the economic world to its knees several years ago. I can only suppose that the bankers have figured out what they did wrong and are going to test their new theories with more taxpayer money.

Unsurprisingly, my small business finance planning solution for addressing the abundance of bad news is as follows:

Always Have a Plan B.