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Waste Not Thy Years: don't settle for a bad career path

This is a tough one. On the one hand, my husband and I are living proof that with hard work and frugality it's possible to save money and even start a homestead on an income well below the poverty line. On the other hand, there are days when I stop and think about how much sooner our goals could have been realized, how much more stability our lives could have contained, if we'd chased down a better job for my husband years ago instead of months ago.

There are a lot of reasons why people might choose not to pursue a more lucrative position. Maybe you don't currently have any skills and the cost and effort to obtain the skills you need seems prohibitive. Maybe the last time you hunted for a job you found the process to be stressful and unpleasant, and you aren't keen on boing through it all again in the near future. Maybe you have a great relationship with your co-workers or a great enjoyment for your current employment, and feel that seeking more pay would be at the expense of your enjoyment of life. Maybe your location limits your career options--you work for the only employer within a 20 minute commute and have no interest in letting the car eat any more of your day. Maybe you really like weed, and the jobs that pay better all require you to have drug testing.

All of these obstacles are ones I've seen arise, causing people who could be getting ahead financially to instead continually tread water for most of their adult lives. Some live fulfilled, happy lives despite their low income, and others ultimately break free from their income inertia and find a way to make a comfortable living with plenty of room for savings and investment. The good news is that, whether you make minimum wage or an upper middle class income, this blog is here to help you stay solvent! This post, more specifically, is to give ideas and inspiration to help you have more money to invest in your own future, so if that idea interests you, keep reading.


Obstacle 1: Lack of Skills


This is the one that held us back for years. And it doesn't just apply if you're uneducated or inexperienced: my husband had a Masters degree and years of experience in milking cows. The trouble was that a masters in Theology, while very personally fulfilling and providing an important basis for his spiritual leadership in our family, doesn't necessarily result in a job, and being a very good milker of cows actually doesn't pay well either. So here's one important aspect of overcoming the experience obstacle: if you are putting in the investment to become more employable at a higher wage, make sure you choose a field that will actually get you a better job. Taking a night course is a great way to add skills, but if the course is in macrame it's not going to add an extra $3-4/hour to your wage. On the other hand, welding, wiring and plumbing will both permit you to be more self reliant and lead to high demand jobs in the future.

Some training is worth sacrificing for. When Ben lost his previous job at a dairy farm, he initially received a job offer to work for a masonry contractor. The initial pay wouldn't have been much better than that at the dairy farm, but he hoped to gain valuable experience and knowledge and become eligible for higher waged, skilled jobs later on. However, before that job started, he was offered the opportunity to be trained to receive his CDL A. This involved a much greater sacrifice than taking the masonry job, as he was not paid during the several weeks of training, but the reward was also immediate: with his CDL he earned a much higher wage and also immediately became a much more valuable employee. Wherever he goes he will be able to find a job that pays well because truckers are in very high demand all over the US. So we tightened our belts and went through the long drought from the last farm check to the first trucking check, and while the financial setback was worse than we had anticipated, it's already proven itself to be worth while in a myriad of ways.

Obstacle 2: enjoying your current job


This one is a little more nuanced than the previous one. I know intelligent, hardworking, clean and sober people who choose to work in landscaping all their lives for a few dollars over minimum wage, simply because they love the outdoors, they love plants, and they are content with their position. And that is a very valid life choice. If you are able to live simply and within your means, to supplement your income with homegrown food, and to responsibly meet the needs of your family in your chosen profession, you're exactly where you need to be. But if your family's needs are not being met, if your debt keeps piling up (or sitting on your shoulders and never getting smaller), if your ability to live within your means is not shared by everyone in your family, a temporary career change or even a lateral move to another department that has a higher pay ceiling might be in order.

I want to reiterate that taking a job that doesn't pay the best, or retaining such a job, isn't necessarily a poor decision. It can be a great decision if it doesn't keep you from meeting your financial obligations, and that's exactly why I write this blog: to show that you can live a great life and nourish your family well on a limited income. My husband's ultimate goal is to have a little farm and make just enough money to cover the land taxes and necessities we can't grow ourselves. But to do that we need to pay down our tudent loan debt and make the initial investment to buy that little farm. If you have a similar need for capital, whether to pay down debt or purchase a home, I encourage you to make the temporary sacrifice of seeking better employment; once your liabilities shrink you'll have more flexibility to enjoy the job you want no matter how badly it pays.

Obstacle 3: location


This can be a real quandary. What if you live far from employment, far from trade schools, far from any means of bettering yourself? This can be even more of a financial quandary than obstacle 2, since there are costs (both direct and opportunity) of choosing to make a longer commute, and other costs associated with moving closer to work. In this case, assuming moving isn't feasible at the moment, you may have to get creative. Sometimes a long commute is worth it for a vastly improved paycheck. Cultivate a taste for books on tape and consider the drive to be cutting into your entertainment time (as opposed to family or chore time). If possible look into staying with a coworker one or more nights a week in order to save some gas money and vehicle wear and tear.


If changing jobs doesn't make sense, can you instead pick up more shifts at your current job? Can you get qualified for a promotion or work hard to earn a quality bonus? If you're really desperate there might be a part time convenience store job, or seasonal work at a deer processing business. Or you could look into hanging a shingle for a small trade to bring in a little extra income. Welders are often in demand in rural areas, as are folks with a livestock trailer for hire. Finding a niche in your area can earn you a few hundred to a few thousand extra dollars annually, and if invested carefully that extra capital can really put you ahead.

Obstacle 4: Pharmaceutical concerns


I mentioned weed because it's one I've seen quite a few times among the chronically poor working class in rural areas, but there are other situations as well: various medications and recreational substances pose an obstacle, psychological or otherwise, to a change in career paths. Maybe you get cranky when you don't smoke weed, or maybe that extra shift cuts into happy hour, or maybe a job you're otherwise qualified for red flags people who are using antidepressants. Not to put too fine a point on it, if you need more income to reach your goals, and your substances are preventing you from realizing this necessary income, see how you can reevaluate your pharmaceutical needs. Any expense that you frequently incur that isn't absolutely necessary should come under scrutiny, weed and booze included, as should dependencies: they cut into your resilience and make a major hole in your bottom line over time. And while I'm all in favor of anti-depressants when needed (your doctor is a better judge of this than me or your mom), I'm also a fan of cognitive therapy, good diet and exercise, with the goal of  reduced dependence on any kind of medication.


So if your chemical of choice isn't physician prescribed and your prospective employer doesn't apprive of it, my best advice is to let go of your stubbornness and your reliance, at least temporarily. You'll have your whole lif to keep a low wage job with no drug testing, but as long as there are debts to pay and investments to be made it's only holding you back from true fulfillment and ultimate self-reliance.

In sum: you've only got one life on this earth, only once chance to reach your goals. So if your current job isn't helping you attain your life's true passions, quit wasting time! Use your time off to poke around job sites, schedule an evening class, or ask a coworker to regale you with the finer points of his particular skill set, but find a way to better yourself now so you won't look back in five years and wonder how much farther you could have come if you'd just taken a chance. 

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