I took the header photo when I visited the Statue of Liberty on a trip to New York five years ago. I was born on the 4th of July, I used this photo to commemorate the independence of the United States.

I was growing up in the 1940’s and 1950’s after the war. I graduated from college in 1959. My parents made it clear that the way to get ahead and have a secure future was to get a college education, get a job with a large company with insurance and retirement benefits, and work for that company until you retire.

In retrospect, if every person adhered to that philosophy, there would be very few millionaires or successful people. It is true that most young people just out of high school or college have to resign themselves to working for existing successful businesses. In the Kindle book “Time to Make The Donuts” by William Rosenberg, the author tells the ethic that he held to establish and franchise “Dunkin Donuts”. He points out that a positive attitude and open eyes can propel virtually anyone to greater success.

In this internet age reaching out to friends, relatives, and work acquaintances through personal contact and social media can provide ideas and support to expand or change your employment goals and success. It is amazing that some of the most successful people have applied very simple ideas to promote a successful business. Instead of staring into space on breaks or spare time , have a thought process that entails thinking outside the box about your talents and how you could use them to advance your career. William Rosenberg tells how he did everything he could to make his first Dunkin Donuts the best it could possibly be. Then he duplicated that model for a second and third location, and from that he began his highly successful franchising model. In essence he had weeded out most of the bugs so a franchisee has a plan that would work without having to experience some of the growing pains he did.

I remember my first marketing experience selling apricots from our backyard tree by boxing them in strawberry boxes and selling them for five cents a box. I put them in my red wagon and pulled it around the block. I went to each door and offered the apricots. I sold all of them before I returned home. My parents were amazed. William Rosenberg tells that one of his first jobs was selling cups of ice to people in his neighborhood from a cooler during hot muggy weather. These simple experiences give a person confidence to meet and talk to people and teach a child public relations skills.

In the current employment market , it is very difficult for children and teenagers to find employment. Fast food employers do hire teenagers but with increased minimum wage laws and high unemployment older people are filling many of the jobs formerly held by teenagers and college students. Does this mean the younger people are dead in the water when it comes to getting a job? On the contrary. It is very common for children, teenagers, and college students, to have their own tablet or laptop computer.

I have been buying and selling items on eBay for over fourteen years. I attended the first “eBay Live” held in Anaheim California in 2001. Over six thousand people attended. I sat next to Meg Whitman , the president of eBay on one occasion. They featured testimonies of people successful in building full time businesses using eBay as the vehicle. One person telling their story was “Bubble-wrap Sally” that sold eBay shipping supplies. Another was a person from Los Angeles that bought big and tall men’s clothes on the east coast from failed businesses and marketed them in California. It is relatively easy to open an account on eBay and PayPal. One of my initial trial eBay marketing items was an Olympus camera two years old and all of the supporting items. I bought the item for $35 including shipping and sold it on eBay for $50 on eBay. It is pretty easy to detect those items sold by an individual with no idea what it is worth. You can see by looking at the other listings for the same item. If you have the cash you might look at lots of CD’s or DVD’s that are new. The lots will list the names of the items included, see if you think you can sell the items individually at a decent price resulting in a 50% profit on the lot. You will not get rich buying and selling on a small scale on eBay but you can supplement your income or provide projects for people that do not have jobs.

Thinking about improving your employment opportunities on a larger scale, ask friends , relatives, civic club members what businesses they think offer better opportunity. I had a black man come to me when I was a Financial Consultant for a member of the NYSE, this man wanted me to call on businesses and get contracts to line parking lots. The man was a janitor but had the lining business with all the frames on the side. He said since he was black and did not have nice clothes, he was not able to get many clients. He thought if he had a white business person get the jobs and he did the work he would get a lot more business. I considered it but I travelled a lot and could not consistently call on businesses. That man found a person to be his front man a few months later. He later told me he made $30,000 lining parking lots on weekends and the front man was paid
$5,000.

Service business are among the most profitable with a low investment in equipment. Rug cleaning, house cleaning, auto detailing, painting, plumbing, electric, lawn care, septic tank pumper, bicycle repair, child care, and the list goes on. Expanding on this a person can set up a business and hire several people to do the work and pay them an hourly wage and keep the profit on the job after paying the help and related payroll expenses.

I hope these ideas will help you to begin thinking outside the box and elevate your earning potential.