You don’t need a job. You need a source of income.
I know that sounds like I’m playing with words, but stick with me. I see people online every day posting that they need work, can’t find a job, or their business is struggling, and I think a lot of us are stuck on the wrong question.
A job is one way to get income. It’s not the only way. If you need $100 today and you work somewhere 8 hours to make it, great. But if you sell something, clean two houses, help somebody move, do yard work, or make phone calls for a business and make the same $100, you accomplished the same thing. You put $100 in your pocket.
We get so stuck on “I need a job” that we stop thinking about “I need to figure out how to make some money.”
This matters even more when you have limits. Maybe you can only work certain hours. Maybe you don’t have a car. Maybe you have physical limitations or need something close to home. At that point you might have to create something that works around your situation instead of waiting for the perfect job to show up.
If physical work is hard for you but you can talk on the phone, learn how to sell. Every business needs customers. Learn to cold call, follow up with leads, set appointments, answer phones. Real estate investors, insurance agents, roofers, contractors, landscapers and cleaning companies all need people who can bring them business. If you can make somebody money, you can usually figure out a way for them to pay you.
If you don’t have a car, stop sitting on Indeed all day. Pull up Google Maps and look at everything around you. Industrial parks, warehouses, shopping plazas, small businesses, anything within a radius you can actually get to.
Then go outside and talk to these people.
Go into the tire shop. The cabinet shop. The upholstery guy. The funeral home. The restaurant. The mechanic, the welder, the countertop company, the landscaper. A lot of small businesses need help but they are never going to make an Indeed post and dig through 200 applications to find somebody.
You might walk in at the exact right time and the owner says, “Actually, yeah, I could use somebody.”
Finding work is starting to feel like dating. Everybody’s on an app swiping and wondering why they can’t meet anybody when there are actual human beings outside 😂
Indeed isn’t the entire job market. You’re throwing the same resume into a pile with hundreds of others while there could be a business owner 5 minutes from your house who desperately needs help and never posted the job anywhere.
If you’re young, have no experience, live at home, and you’ve been sitting around for months anyway, I’d even consider working with somebody for free for a little while just to learn. I’m NOT talking about letting a company take advantage of you with a full time job for free. I’m talking about investing time you’re already not getting paid for into learning a skill and meeting people.
There’s a house being renovated around the corner? Walk over and talk to the contractor. Tell him you don’t know anything but you’ll clean up, carry stuff, hand him tools and learn. Electrician in your neighborhood? Ask if you can ride with him one Saturday. Cabinet maker? Welder? Same thing.
At first you’re just the person handing somebody a screwdriver. But you’re watching. You’re meeting customers. You’re learning what things cost and how the business really works.
Eventually you become useful.
That’s when the conversation changes from “Can I come learn?” to “What are you going to pay me?”
And don’t overlook older business owners. There are people in their 50s, 60s and 70s who have been running a little business or trade for 30 or 40 years. They know everything about it. Their kids don’t want it. Nobody is learning from them. Eventually they’re going to retire, sell or shut it down.
Why can’t you be the person who shows up?
Spend a couple years learning everything somebody like that knows and you might walk away with more than a job. You might have a skill, customers, relationships, and maybe even a shot at taking over the business.
One more thing. Use social media to your advantage. Stop using it ONLY to watch other people. Document what you’re learning. Welding, construction, detailing cars, landscaping, cutting hair, cooking, whatever it is, post it. A year from now when somebody asks what experience you have, you can say “Look at my page. I’ve been doing this for a year.” Now they can see your work and see that you’re consistent.
So if you’re struggling to find work, don’t ONLY ask “Who’s hiring?”
Ask yourself what you can do that somebody will pay for. What you can learn. Who around you already knows something you want to know. What problem you can solve.
You might need a job. You might need a customer. You might need a skill or a mentor. You might just need to walk into 20 businesses tomorrow and introduce yourself.
But sitting home filling out the same online applications for months and hoping something changes can’t be the only plan.
Next week I’m going to talk about the difference between talent and infrastructure. It’s the thing that completely changed how I look at work, and it explains why the person signing your check usually makes more than you.
