23yr old does not want a job but does not want to be broke either, what to do??

[loveliketheflowers]

happy new year people. well here i go.
i have been having trouble finding what I want to do with my life (work, career, making money, my "purpose"). Last summer I decided since I know a lot about graphic design and web design that I would pursue starting my own web design business. But boy, is it hard to do....I thought I knew something, and there's so much i'm so unaware of such as the CSS codes (so many....), how to operate abobe dreamweaver (edit website)...i'm just lost. I took an online class for photoshop but I still have so many more classes to go, to gain the information I need to be an efficient web designer. So from summer til now, I have been trying to develop this business site, and found a person on craigslist to help me with some of the coding. but he scammed me, i found out he was not in california but in canada and threatened to call the police if i did not pay him. well i western union'ed the money and received nothing back from him. i got scammed. so now i'm back at square one.

I read on steve pavlina's site to NOT GET A JOB, and pursue something else that brings value to people. I have thinking and thinking, praying, reflecting, reading books on what I am suppose to do with my life to earn some money. I just want to be SOMEBODY, and make a difference in this world (a tiny one if possible). I think the web design biz would be a good fit for me but I don't think I have the skills or passion for it. I don't have any passions for anything really. I don't know what to do. Its so hard to get a job too. I look on craigslist, its all scams or they are not interested. I go to a petco or target and they say fill out application and we will call ya. It's just so hard and discouraging. I would go back and take some course to complete my G.E. requirement but what is the point of going if I keep on messing up every single time.

I just do not know where to go next, or what to do. I want to work, but can't get work. I want to have my own biz, but don't know what to pursue. I just want to be somebody like all of you who are pursuing their passions. I don't want to be broke either. My bf and I fight constantly because we never have any money to buy something when we are out and hungry or go to a movie. We can't do anything, but hang out at home. sigh.

Any help? Suggestions? I just want to be something, if not great, just somebody so I can be content and comfortable. My passions are art, graphic design (photoshop), poetry, animals (dogs [i had an idea for a dog grooming business ]]), screen play writing (i would like to get better and perfect the craft more), personal development, philosophy, and spirtituality. If you can, please help me out.

[AuspiciousEight]

Take you're current situation and just start moving in a positive direction. Take small steps at first. It doesn't matter where you're at. It doesn't matter if you have no job, or if you own a million dollar business. What matters is the direction that you're currently heading.

So just take where you're at now, and start moving in a positive direction. Never look back. Never give up.

Eventually, you'll just wake up one day and realize you have everything you could possibly want and more.

Good luck!

[Adrianne]

I just wanted to say that I know what you mean about wanting to find a way to do work that you love and that makes a difference but you feel stuck and like it will take too much time, schooling, money, etc. I've been there and am still there. Sometimes I feel like it's an age thing (I'm 25) - like we are too young and haven't had enough time to get the experience and skills to pursue our passions as a viable source of income. It sounds like you may be like me in that you have a few different directions (as far as what you are interested in) that you could go in - unlike some people who know from childhood that they want to be a doctor or a baseball player or whatever. I've recently found a great book called Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher that is kind of like a career counseling book for people that don't necessarily have just one path career wise (she calls these people scanners).

As for what I've done to address this issue in my own life, for now I have the "good enough job" - I am a school bus driver. Doing this earns me enough money and since it's part-time I still have time for pursuing my other interests. It is a job that I enjoy even though it is not what I want to make my career out of. I am also taking steps to pursue other streams of income - I've set up a website and blog where I do intuitive readings and I am working on expanding my artistic output - both pursuits that bring me a lot of joy, use talents and skills I've developed and am developing and make a positive impact.

So, I guess I'm saying I don't think you should feel so bad if you do need to go ahead and take the "good enough job" for now while you develop a dog grooming business and begin doing some graphic design consultation work on the side or pursue any other way you can start to earn some income from your interests.

You will figure this out and you do have value to contribute. Get your basic needs taken care of and then pursue whatever excites you the most whole-heartedly - the path of action that leads to the most excitement and feels the most joyful and inspired is the one that leads to the greatest success.

[loveliketheflowers]

Thank you for that. Makes me feel a lot better. Do you know where I can find a part time "good enough" for now job. It is so hard to find jobs now-a-days. Does anyone have any online job sites I can find jobs. Craigslist used to be a place I would always go, but I see that has changed alot with lots of spam'ers. If you can help me out on where I can find a job I'd greatly appreciate it ]

[evacorges]

I had the same sort of problem, and now have a job that is a step in the right direction even though I don't see myself doing this in ten years. Not full-time, anyway. I might keep it parttime because my body loves doing it. My head needs a challenge too, though, so I am taking small steps towards that goal.

It really doesn't matter what you do. if it is a step in the wrong direction, you will be wiser, and it will be easier to find what the right direction is for you. Think about it as a process of calibration, like steve's recent blog post. You don't know what you want, so get any job and see what happens. Go pick berries for a season, become a day-labourer for half a year, work at mcDo, it really does not matter, because you will learn.
You are not going to learn a whole lot sitting in front of your computer, though. That will teach you facts and figures, but very little about you.
To learn about you you need to interact with others, and then reflect.

Good luck, and be happy you are in this dillemma in your early twenties, and not in your late thirties like me

[norbert]

Originally Posted by loveliketheflowers

i have been having trouble finding what I want to do with my life (work, career, making money, my "purpose").

Guess you're not alone with that I'd like to share some of my thoughts with you as I'm 25 but started to work at an early age and I've been in the web development industry for the last 8 years as a freelancer and business owner.

and there's so much i'm so unaware of such as the CSS codes (so many....), how to operate abobe dreamweaver (edit website)...i'm just lost. I took an online class for photoshop but I still have so many more classes to go, to gain the information I need to be an efficient web designer.

If you don't mind, I'd like to give you some tips on that. Professional designers work with Photoshop (some prefer "Corel"; I have no idea why); they put together the whole website template and then "slice" it (this is a manual process, not a single function) to create the final html + css documents. If it's a dynamic website, PHP, Ruby or .Net developers create the dynamic pages and apply the design using the html + css files provided by the designer, so they not need to work with Photoshop.

Why I'm telling this is that it is better to consciously make up your mind if you want to be an all-in-one designer/developer/maintainer or a more specific one. You actually can make a decision how much you wish to get into the technical details. Somebody who has a very good sense of graphic design (layout, colors, etc) can make a quite good income of creating templates only in Photoshop. The slicing in this case is made by other people (google xhtml slicing) and the development by web developers.

What I'd like to point out is two things:
- you can benefit from your energy better if you mainly focus on one of these areas. I say it definitely pays more to be a professional designer OR a professional developer etc than an all-in-one person.
- applications like Dreamweaver have been improved a lot over the years, still, professional sites are all hand-coded HTML + CSS.

So from summer til now, I have been trying to develop this business site, and found a person on craigslist to help me with some of the coding. but he scammed me, i found out he was not in california but in canada and threatened to call the police if i did not pay him. well i western union'ed the money and received nothing back from him. i got scammed. so now i'm back at square one.

One thing I'd like to point out here is that it's neither a good thing to pay everything in advance nor to pay nothing in advance. I find that for me, 3x15%+55% works the best, so the developer in this case has no food and rent problems and he is motivated to finish the project

I read on steve pavlina's site to NOT GET A JOB, and pursue something else that brings value to people. I have thinking and thinking, praying, reflecting, reading books on what I am suppose to do with my life to earn some money. I just want to be SOMEBODY, and make a difference in this world (a tiny one if possible).

I totally agree with you because that's where fulfillment comes from (while a job typically results in cash but no fulfillment).

One thing I've been thinking about a lot is this idea of providing value to people.

I believe you do not need to provide value in order to get money. However, if you want fulfillment, you better provide value and that is much harder than not providing any. I'm definitely for creating value. Steve wrote a post about this; search for moochers and contributors or something like that.

I think the web design biz would be a good fit for me but I don't think I have the skills or passion for it. I don't have any passions for anything really. I don't know what to do.

You either didn't found it yet or you didn't consciously choose that this is what I'm going to love ("love" is a verb!).

Its so hard to get a job too. I look on craigslist, its all scams or they are not interested. I go to a petco or target and they say fill out application and we will call ya. It's just so hard and discouraging. I would go back and take some course to complete my G.E. requirement but what is the point of going if I keep on messing up every single time.

Yeah. Jobs are indeed discouraging. If you don't find a compelling job, you may need to create one for yourself. That's not so hard to do but you need skills. The benefits for creating a job is that you have no (direct) boss, you set your own time schedule and may decide which projects to work on. However, I think it is MUCH HARDER to be a self-employed person. Look up cashflow quadrant on the net for the why but here are some examples: by default, you don't have a constant stream of work, a contants stream of income and you are responsible for everything. Doesn't sound too good, does it? But it's better than a day job for some stupid people like me Actually, for me, it was a big FAIL and it's not a destination anymore, only a temporary solution until I finish some products for myself.

I just do not know where to go next, or what to do. I want to work, but can't get work. I want to have my own biz, but don't know what to pursue. I just want to be somebody like all of you who are pursuing their passions.

Many many people are looking for their passion and some are lucky to have found it. You can get more lucky by experimenting with different things (you will know by experience what you like and what you don't).

I don't want to be broke either. My bf and I fight constantly because we never have any money to buy something when we are out and hungry or go to a movie. We can't do anything, but hang out at home. sigh.

I'm pretty much saying the same after doing this for several years (I'm burned out). The reason I'm not a "business owner" is because I do all the work. If you are too competent, you will end up doing the job yourself instead of hiring people and that becomes a trap in the long run. (I don't really want to manage people but I don't want to do the job myself anymore either).

Any help? Suggestions? I just want to be something, if not great, just somebody so I can be content and comfortable. My passions are art, graphic design (photoshop), poetry, animals (dogs [i had an idea for a dog grooming business ]]), screen play writing (i would like to get better and perfect the craft more), personal development, philosophy, and spirtituality. If you can, please help me out.

You may do them all. It's the 21st century, we're all going to do multiple things only for living, and pursue our dreams besides if we're not lucky enough to live off of that.

Start with web design but do the other things too. It's usually the combination of skills that pays very well, not a specific skill in itself. (I know this sounds contradictory to what I said above but it is not.)

Okay, so the specific advice: instead of learning for learning's sake, mail 50 web design businesses around you now and send them something you have done. Tell them that is what you can do and you're interested in occassional remote work. What you send does not have to be perfect. You will only get responses for your current skill level anyways. The reason I'm telling you to do this is to learn in practice (better than any school) and to earn some income instantly. You will get better paying jobs as you become more professional over the months/years. Finally, be prepared for burning out after some years (4-5?), find out how you can make money preferably from products that you can sell in an unlimited amount over and over again (you can use your skills to create them) . Be prepared that it is hard to get a consistent stream of work but go for it anyways. Several years later, become financially free (in the sense that you don't work for money anymore because your monthly passive income covers your monthly costs), do what you truly love or spend some years figuring it out.

Well, thanks for reading, hope it makes sense (hopefully spared you some years ) and good luck to you loveliketheflowers! (sorry for the long post I don't know how it happened)

[sbdiane]

You are young and without much of a work history. Don't feel compelled to be a business owner or whatever glamorous thing you may have in your head. Give yourself permission to start at the beginning. It's ok to have a full series of courses ahead of you. Start with the first one. Start at the beginning and you'll start forging your direction. You'll know better where to go next (even if it's never to do that again!)

A good way to find jobs is to walk around your town. I have found that sometimes this works better than scanning ads. Works for apartments, too.

The way most people get really good jobs is by networking. Fancy word for making acquaintances. Get yourself out there in your community meeting people and someone may help you find a job. Join something that interests you, take a class, something like that and start meeting people. But don't go just to ask people for a job. Contribute something to the other people there, too.

I personally avoid working for large retail corporations. I can't think of a worse kind of job. But if you like it, go for it.

I'd rather work for a small business. I've worked really interesting, quirky jobs that way. I stood outside for 7.5 years selling flowers in an outdoor market. I worked for a really small fast-food restaurant where I got to do everything from taking orders and serving to cooking. I've worked at a small parrot-only pet store with a sanctuary full of unwanted parrots in the back. I've also worked listening to the arctic whale migration in the midst of the industrial noise of oil drilling. I got these jobs between the ages of 18 and now by either walking around town or meeting people who got me the jobs. Recently I saw a help-wanted sign in a candy-making shop. That would be fun! I also heard about a job that pays $20 an hour to sit around and talk to old people at a luxury retirement home. Can you imagine the interesting stories you'd hear? I could write a blog just about the stories I heard.

Get out there and good luck!

[WilkesG]

Originally Posted by sbdiane

You are young and without much of a work history. Don't feel compelled to be a business owner or whatever glamorous thing you may have in your head. Give yourself permission to start at the beginning. It's ok to have a full series of courses ahead of you. Start with the first one. Start at the beginning and you'll start forging your direction. You'll know better where to go next (even if it's never to do that again!)

A good way to find jobs is to walk around your town. I have found that sometimes this works better than scanning ads. Works for apartments, too.

The way most people get really good jobs is by networking. Fancy word for making acquaintances. Get yourself out there in your community meeting people and someone may help you find a job. Join something that interests you, take a class, something like that and start meeting people. But don't go just to ask people for a job. Contribute something to the other people there, too.

I personally avoid working for large retail corporations. I can't think of a worse kind of job. But if you like it, go for it.

I'd rather work for a small business. I've worked really interesting, quirky jobs that way. I stood outside for 7.5 years selling flowers in an outdoor market. I worked for a really small fast-food restaurant where I got to do everything from taking orders and serving to cooking. I've worked at a small parrot-only pet store with a sanctuary full of unwanted parrots in the back. I've also worked listening to the arctic whale migration in the midst of the industrial noise of oil drilling. I got these jobs between the ages of 18 and now by either walking around town or meeting people who got me the jobs. Recently I saw a help-wanted sign in a candy-making shop. That would be fun! I also heard about a job that pays $20 an hour to sit around and talk to old people at a luxury retirement home. Can you imagine the interesting stories you'd hear? I could write a blog just about the stories I heard.

Get out there and good luck!

Where did you hear about that job? That sounds interesting.

[Lil Chris]

loveliketheflowers,
This may be of some assistance:
Napoleon Hill talks about his meeting with Andrew Carnegie

[SimonaRich]

You sabotaged yourself by convincing yourself that starting business is hard. It is not. Just take one step at a time. Nobody became successful in a day. Just keep being persistent and consistent and you eventually become a successful person.

[sbdiane]

I heard about the job from my boyfriend's ex-wife. I told him to tell her that if she gets a job there to hook me up. Right now she teaches a swimming aerobics class or something like thate. We'll see if it ever happens. It helps I live in a resort town with a lot of very very rich people. (I'm not one of them.)

[JE Gonzalez]

Get a job if you need it, and save up with the intention to create the life you want. Steve was just being humorous but Jobs are not all that bad.I just listened to Marc Allen's Millionaire Course. In it he said that negative beliefs sometimes became self-fulfilling. Most of his concepts you will find in Steve's interview: Marc Allen Interview. One line of thinking that you have to change is that it is hard with very little success.