?I am in a situation where I am noe a single mother. I am in the education field as a teachers aide and of course the money isn't enough to survive on. I am willing to go back to college but I can't spend years there. What about vocational schools? I also don't want to waste my time taking a bunch of classes that I will never need. Please help.

Any idea what you want to do? I would suggest that you take a vocational apititutde test probably offered at your local community college through their careers counseling/services office. Those tests are designed to help you identify what you are good at and what interests you. Once you have that information you can begin setting up your course of study and you will be heading off into a morerewarding career (financially and professionally) before you know it. 8)

Have you thought about starting a business?

In recent times, the North American job market has slowed substantially. In fact, the March 2003 Help-Wanted Index was 38, the lowest level in 40 years! Scary! The number of opportunities advertised on my job board, TCM's HR Careers (www.tcm.com/hr-careers/), has dropped dramatically and is a fraction of what it was two years ago.

I am more and more convinced that the employment market is undergoing permanent structural change. The world of work is changing... fast! I'm now encouraging new graduates and job/contract seekers alike to start thinking about developing more than one source of income, so as not to have to rely solely on employment income for future financial security during their working careers. Employment is just not as secure as it was. The sooner someone starts doing something about this the better, since school generally does not teach us about starting businesses and investing, and you sure don't learn it on-the-job. I believe this is a requirement today and if you don't pursue it early, it's very hard to change later.

I help moderate an invitation-only online business community where you can learn about business and make some good contacts. It's a group consisting of small business owners, entrepreneurs, and others who are interested in learning. Many have jobs, but are moonlighting to create more income sources and long term stability. The community, called Making The Run, was started in 1999 and has grown to 1700+ members. It's private and hidden because the emphasis is on honesty, integrity and relationship building. The community is very carefully moderated to prevent scams, spamming, and pitching!

I'd like to personally invite you to join us in this valuable community and kick the tires for a while! Send me a note ([email protected]) and I'll send you an invite to join "MakingTheRun" (MTR).

Eric Snyder
Moderator, Making the Run
http://www.tcm.com/egs.htm

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