Feel like I am stuck.

BreezeDM · 2015-06-11T13:28:19+00:00

Learn a trade at night school. http://www.salary.com/11-high-paying-blue-collar-jobs-with-mike-rowe/slide/11/ There are many more not on that list. Find one you like and are interested in.

cmiovino · 2015-06-11T13:38:31+00:00

If college is out, learn a trade.

Welding, plumbing, electrical. Even automotive, although this field seems highly competitive.

Just food for thought - my friend is 18 and has just started a job welding, working on the side. He's making $30/hour he claims. Not frequent hours since he's still learning, but the potential is there.

RemyPrice · 2015-06-11T14:48:06+00:00

Learn Ruby on Rails for three months. If you pour yourself into it, you can make upwards of $100,000 starting salary.

Algernoq · 2015-06-11T15:24:40+00:00

To get paid more, improve the value of what you do for other people. Call the value of what you do your Job Market Value (JMV).

For example, in retail you help the store owner by getting customers to buy stuff and making sure most customers don't steal from the store. In return, you get paid. Your JMV is how much money you can make for the store. You get paid a percentage of your JMV, usually 10%-30% depending on the job.

Retail sales (paid hourly) has low JMV: it doesn't do much for the store owner. The store owner could replace you with some middle school kid, or with a robot check-out machine, and make almost as much money. Since your JMV is low, your pay is low.

If your JMV was higher, you could help more people, and make more money for yourself. You increase JMV by being able to do more for other people faster.

If you knew sales, you could help the store sell a lot more than it would without you. For example, if you were really friendly with rich customers, resulting in them buying a bit more, your boss might give you a small raise. If you made a viral video that brought hundreds of people into the store to buy stuff, you would have a much higher JMV and your boss would probably double your pay to stop you from quitting and making viral sales videos for competing stores.

If you knew engineering, you could design something a customer wants that no one makes, hire someone to build it, and sell it to the customer at a mark-up. For example, if a customer wanted a computer chair with a giant cup-holder attached, you could draw a design, hire someone to build it, and sell it to the customer at a high price. Again, a lot more money for your store --> a little more money for you.

If you knew economics, you could help the store owner decide what stuff to sell in the store to make the most money, and what to order when so nothing would be sold out or over-stocked. Again, a lot more money for the store --> a little more money for you.

How to increase your JMV?

Learn skills. Learn rare and valuable skills.

What's rare and valuable? Sales, math, skilled trades, etc. and being a reliable worker.

Here's one idea:

First, get a job as a laborer on the oil pipelines in Alaska. The work is shitty but the pay is good. Go Monk Mode and save your money. After 3-6 months of 12-hour shifts you can move back with a decent cash cushion. This work pays at least $18/hr but you don't want to do it long-term.

Second, get a (commission-based, not salaried) sales job. You only get paid if you sell, but if you can learn to do it you can make more money. This will also help you learn business social skills. When you're not at work, read books, talk to good salespeople, and practice. Continue until you're in the top 30% of salespeople. This should boost your pay to around $30/hr.

Third, learn a skilled trade, something like "X-ray Technician" that pays well and is in demand. When you're not at your day job, read books, talk to skilled people, and practice. Also, get an associate's degree in that trade by taking community college courses. The courses should be easy if you're reading books and talking to skilled people to really learn the trade (most professors are bad at teaching, and most students don't read much, so if you actually read a few books you'll be way ahead of the game). The pay is less than sales, but the work is easier. The real advantage here is being a "double threat": you can make more money as a salesperson selling to people in a specialty, or make more money as a specialist using your sales skills.

Fourth, get a professional certification. Something like "Certified Public Accountant". This will mean more classes, studying, etc. But, then you'll be a "triple threat", and this is great. Being legitimately good -- employable and a top 25% high performer -- in three specialties is really valuable, because the three together are much more valuable than any one or two specialties alone. Pay if you actually get to this point would probably be about $60 an hour.

P.S. College is out of the question.

This is poor-person thinking. Yes, going into a bunch of debt for college is usually stupid. But, if it isn't too expensive and you actually study/learn while there, it's worth it. I often think of the janitor who cleaned my office. She's in her 60s, makes $10/hr and works 60 hours a week. She never learned better skills, so she gets by (barely) on being hard-working and nothing else. She'll never be able to retire. Don't be like her. Learn skills.

It's a hard road: you're competing with every other worker out there, and must learn how to do stuff most people won't/can't do. But, you're competing whether you want to or not.

tl;dr: Increase your JMV by learning skills to help people. You can make as much money as you want IF you can make 3x to 10x that amount of money for the company you work for. Combining sales skill, a technical skill, and a professional certification is extremely valuable.

abdada · 2015-06-11T13:23:29+00:00

How old are you?

tyrone316 · 2015-06-11T20:08:36+00:00

Check if Postmates operates in your area, it pays $15-30/hr (depending on your area's population density & your own efficiency) and generally requires nothing more than a background check. And you set your own hours, so you can still pursue something better.

Title	Feel like I am stuck.
Author	throwaway565666
Upvotes	9
Comments	12
Date	June 11, 2015 12:30 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/39fq5t/feel_like_i_am_stuck/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/feel-like-i-am-stuck.149943 https://theredarchive.com/post/149943

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