Take What You Can Get? Really?

November 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I love Seth Godin, he writes articles that make me really think. Below, I have reproduced one of his articles, in full. It’s just that good.

Take What You Can Get (?)

When you’re just starting out or when your organization is struggling or when the economy isn’t hot, it’s very tempting to take what you can get.

You just graduated from law school and you have a lot of debt and the best job you can get is doing collections work. Should you take it?

Your consulting firm is organized around providing high-value work for large corporations, but the only gigs you can get in the consideration set for are small, struggling companies looking to spend a few hundred dollars a day. Should you take them?

The list goes on and on.

There are two things worth remembering here:

  1. Like bending a sapling a hundred years before the tree is fully grown and mature, the gigs you take early will almost certainly impact the way your career looks later on. If you want to build a law practice in the music industry, you’ll need to take on musicians as clients, even if the early ones can’t pay enough. If you want to do work for Fortune 500 companies, you’ll need to do work for Fortune 500 companies, sooner better than later.
  2. The definition of “can get” is essential. Maybe it seems like this gig or that gig is the best you can get because that’s all you’re exposing yourself to. Almost always, the best gig I could get is shorthand for the easiest gig I could get.

Surviving is succeeding, no doubt about it. Doing the work is better than not doing the work. Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress. But, and it’s a huge but, you define yourself by the work you do, and perhaps you need to redefine what you’re willing to take and where you’re looking for it.

The lesson that I take from this is, don’t settle for what you have – always, always strive to get what you really want. I’m talking to you if you’re stuck in that job that you’ve been wanting to quit for years; I’m talking to you if you’ve been “planning” to start your own business forever. Do something, start now.

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Online Data Entry Jobs?

November 7, 2009 by 86 Comments


Recently on the Young Professionals Group, we had this question from Boni:

Hi Guys

I have had this eager to venture in this thing called online data entry jobs which pay well but u have to register an amount for you to join.

  1. Now I don’t know who or where to begin searching for them
  2. If they work or not

Kindly please advice me and probably give sites that have paid.

Here’s my answer:

Hi Boni

How are you? I hope all is well.

In my experience, data entry jobs are among the worst type of online jobs out there. Why? Because they usually involve a whole lot of work. The amount of data to be processed is not anything small, trust me. For example, I once had to input 3600 entries (several columns) into an excel sheet for a mere $30.

The best way, in my view, to make online data entry work for you is to do more than just one gig here and there. Perhaps you can organise some people and then your role becomes that of just getting the jobs and then passing on the work to them. If you get 10 jobs paying $30 each that is $300. You then just make sure you pay your people less than $300. I know several people who do this from their own homes, using their friends and younger siblings for labour.

Better yet, do something else other than data entry. Probably, every other type of job pays better than data entry. Do you have a particular skill or technical training? Yes? Good, you can find hundreds of job with that.

Here are some of the sites that I know actually work:

www.getafreelancer.com
www.guru.com
www.elance.com
www.rentacoder.com

There are thousands of jobs available but the competition for them is fierce. People from India and other parts of Asia have particularly flooded the net looking for jobs.

How can you outcompete them? Well, basically, it involves clever marketing. Put yourself out there in a way that you are seen as not just another freelancer but a serious professional. When looking for work online or elsewhere, it is sometimes very difficult to demonstrate what you can do to potential employers. You don’t really have anything tangible to sell and convincing clients to pay can be hard – they may even resort to asking you to do the work and then “if” it is good they will pay you. How can you change this? Use a portfolio. A portfolio is key in making potential employers feel secure and confident about you.

I hope I have been of help. Please feel free to ask any other questions that you may have.

Additionally, we have written a whole lot on this subject on this site so you will probably get some of your questions answered if stick around. :p

Here are some articles that may be interesting to you:

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Not the usual job requirements…

July 11, 2009 by 4 Comments

Anyone who’s been out looking for a job knows how hard it is. You not only need the education and papers to prove that you are qualified, but also the ‘qualities’. Usually employers look for communication skills, honesty, ability to work in a team, motivation, flexibility and such. I don’t deny that most of us do have these qualities, but you all can’t deny that when it comes to an interview for a job that you really want, you take it to a whole other level. You emphasize the best in you, try to prove to the employer why you are better than everyone else. Why you are the best guy for the job.

Sometimes the not so good or not so usual qualities that we don’t pride ourselves in can come in handy. I put together a couple that I think serve as an advantage in acquiring a job. I’m all for self employment by the way (thanks to a lot of influence and some experience) so these are stuff that you don’t really need to be actually employed.

Celeb. This includes you if you were Mr Campus, it doesn’t matter how many years ago, if you were in one of those BlueBand commercials when you were like 5 years old or more generally if you know A LOT of people. To most being a celeb is not a ‘not so good’ quality. It’s here because it’s usually never in the list of qualities that your new employer wants or needs to know about you. So how can you put this to use? There are so many new businesses coming up. All this business starters need clients. So where do you come in? You know a lot of people. So find these new business starters and make deals with them. Bring them clients for a certain percentage. ( The more people you know, the more you’ll earn). You don’t need to go to school for this, just good communication skills and be smart, you’ll pull it off.

Mdaku. If you like knowing ‘stuff’. Especially stuff about other people that don’t concern or affect you in any way. You just like knowing. I’ve met someone like this. Not just the normal ‘talk a lot people’, this one was hard core. She’d get this serious glow in her eyes when she got info about someone else that has absolutely nothing to do with her. Note I didn’t say if you like passing along the news since this will most likely get you fired in this case. So anyway, who knew this could ever be good? There are a lot of ‘busy’ people around. With growing technology and maintaining status these very ‘busy’ people don’t have enough time to check their email and reply to all of them, update their status on facebook, myspace, twitter, Badoo, Bebo, Flicker, hi5, Orkut, mig33… I’m sure you get the point. I’ve seen many people and small businesses willing to pay to have someone do these simple tasks. Again this comes with the connections. The more people you know, the better.

Shopperholic. There are people who do not have the time to go shopping and believe it or not, there are others who just don’t like it. Shocking? I know. I can think of three groups to categorize these non-shoppers. First, celebrities. Those who cause chaos when they show up to buy milk at the supermarket. Second, the busy. Those who fly to Mombasa for that morning meeting, have to be back in Nairobi at lunch time for the appointment in the afternoon, the conference after that, then more work and just don’t make it to get to the shop. Third, the aged, sometimes the sick come in here too. Usually these have family or friends take care of them but not always so they hire sometimes. This is where you come in. I know mboga shopping is not as exciting as shoe shopping, but hey, you are shopping and being paid for it, so it’s a really good deal! This jobs are mostly for getting groceries and to run small errands. Again the more people you know, the more connections you have, the better you chances.

Mwanalugha. If you are really good in languages, or a language, you fall in this group.
In a mixed community like we live in now, language is quickly transforming. With sheng’, Swahili and English, most children born in urban areas never get to learn their ‘mother-tongue’. These languages are part of our culture and I think it’s important to pass them on to the next generations. I’ve seen people pay quite well to have these languages taught to them and mostly their children. If you don’t think you are that great in teaching, there is another option. Translation. Most people I’ve seen do this are based in tourist frequented areas such as Mombasa.

To succeed in any of the above, you need clients. You need to know how to sell yourself. There is a whole lot of information on this site about starting out your own business. Plenty of good tips that will get you on your way to success. If you need help, you can join ‘Biashara30’ a 30 day program where we teach you everything we know about starting your own business and take you step by step until you start making money.

I’d also like to mention one thing that I think is very important. Africa having the fastest growth of Internet use, having your own website is crucial for any business. Having your info and contacts available on line increases your chances of getting more clients. Check out Nickel Pro to get a great website. Their prices are great too and I think they do resumes and profiles too if you are looking for a job.

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