Can I get a good paying job with little schooling?
There are some studies that compare young people who begin a career at 18 (or younger) and those that postpone starting a career until after college. Those who have some unique talent often can become financially better off.
Now, I’m really talking about doing something major.
One homeschooled boy planned out and wrote a series of novels that later were made into a movie you probably know – Eragon.
Some kids from my old high school formed an acrobat troupe and given the chance to go on tour right after high school made them decide to forgo college for awhile.
While construction jobs used to make good money, the housing market and even the business market has rather dried up. There just isn’t enough work any more at the apprentice level.
Once someone told me that the key to finding a great job is to head in the direction everyone else in your age bracket is not. Bill Gates did not become a billionaire because he followed others into programming. No one was even thinking about becoming a programmer when he was starting out! (Well, maybe a few, but not very many!)
Look around you and within yourself. What problems are not being addressed where you feel you would like to dedicate yourself to making a difference? If you find something to do that really captivates your heart and soul, that enthusiasm will make you wealthy not just in a financial way.
CNN reported that there were 50 million jobs out there that did not require a college education and made more than $40K a year. Most needed only on-the-job training. When you talk to many college graduates you’ll find that they never worked in the field that they studied! They learned to reason and write and do a lot of research at college, and that helped them get a foot in some door.
Me, I have a degree in Philosophy. No one is calling me Socrates! But I learned not to be afraid of reading “difficult” books. So I was reading whole books about various software packages, and then “selling” my knowledge of doing that software to business people who didn’t want to be bothered. I mastered simple website programs while most of my women friends were perfecting their bridge games. Now I make a good living off my websites and blogs. Nothing to do with Philosophy!
My point being: the best paying job is the one you almost can’t believe anyone would pay you to do, you love doing that activity so much. I love to quote Steve Wozniak, inventor of the Apple computer: “Do what you love to do, and learn to do it very, very well, and someday, somewhere, someone will pay you very, very well to do it for them!”
By Ann Zeise
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