Yesterday and Today

25 years ago - An unskilled laborer remarks how much easier it was in the 1960's to get a fulltime warehouse job which paid enough to support his family.

20 years ago - An autoworker complains about the unstable state of his industry and its inability to guarantee his job longterm.

5 years ago - A Microsoft systems engineer complains about a recent layoff from his once lucrative job and the subsequent migration of his job overseas.

Today - I/You/Someone complains about?

Questions

1) Is your job portable? Can it be done by someone else, somewhere else for less?

2) Is your job non-challenging? Can it be performed by someone younger, with less education, who speaks a different language, for less money?

3) Is your job expiring? Is it based upon old technology or no technology?

4) Is your job evolving? Have you been doing the same task for more than five years? One? Forever?

5) Has your company outlined its roadmap for future growth? Does it exist? What happens tomorrow where you work? Do you know?

6)How high is the ladder where you work? How many layers of management and employees are there? 1? 4? 12? More? How hard is it to speak with the CEO? President?

7) Do you know where the exit is at work? Do you have an escape plan? A back door?

Answer these questions or be one of the people at the top of the page. Now.

Self employment

Somebody wrote the other day and asked:

"Your advice, while good, appears to be geared towards people who want to work for other people. What advice do you have for the self employed?"


Good point.

When I started Marketing Me in 2002, I was obsessed with the numbers of people whose jobs were rapidly disappearing overseas and to corporate downsizing.

I thought to myself, "What if people were like companies? What if people were so indispensable to companies, a company would go to any length to retain them as they would any other necessary resource?".

So I began a life pursuit of teaching others to make themselves invaluable and important commodities to both their current employer and future employer.

Now, remove employer and insert customer. There you have it, Marketing Me is now inclusive of the self employed.