'Working for youself gives you a higher chance of success'

Have you ever heard comments like the one above before? Chances are you have. Most people always believe that the grass is greener on the other side and that leaving employment to start your own business is a much better option. Although this idea always tends to spark a sense of excitement within us, the truth is often overlooked: employment is better than you realise.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is a book that always comes highly recommended in the entrepreneurial community. The basic notion of the book is that 'You can achieve anything you believe is possible'. Many people use this book as an inspiration towards success and riches, often opting to start their own business and leaving traditional employment.

However, Napoleon Hill was never an advocate of leaving employment (at east not in the short term). In his earlier 1,600 page monstrosity 'The Law of Success' he wrote "It is no disgrace to serve in the capacity of employee. To the contrary, it often proves to be the most profitable side of an alliance since not all men are fitted to assume the responsibility of directing other men.'.

Just because you are working as an employee for someone else does not prevent you from learning skills required for success. There are a number of skills that can be mastered both as an employee and an individual. For example, take the habit of saving. According to billionaire Mark Cuban, saving is the best investment advice anyone can ever receive. I tend to agree and would take the advice of a billionaire before listening to the typical business owner. Savings is better than traditional investments because:

1. It teaches you to reduce costs and to find ways to save further (by buying in bulk, planning, etc.).
2. The returns are higher (buying in bulk or paying off debt does not incur tax).
3. It teaches you discipline.
4. It helps you to develop a positive habit.
5. It teaches you the importance of making sacrifices.

There are also a number of skills that can be developed by a person as an individual. Even as an employee, you are still required to market and sell your personal services, which can teach you skills such as personal branding, personal presentation, marketing skills (using documents such as a resume and cover letter, business cards, a website/blog, etc), negotiation, etc. Additionally, if you master the habit of learning to do more than you are paid for then you will likely increase your income, which will allow you to learn new skills in a better position, gain new insights and of course, save more money.

These skills may seem simple but they are the same skills required to succeed as a business owner. If you can reduce expenses within an organisation and then increase the value given to a client, you are able to increase profit levels. Learning this in your own personal life is the best place to start to master these skills.

One other benefit of learning these skills while working in employment is that you begin to build a capital base (thanks to your savings). Cash allows you to have the ability to invest in opportunities not normally open to others (such as the option to buy into an existing business or to pick up deals at affordable prices when everyone else needs to liquidate).

Napoleon Hill again saw the benefits of this when he stated 'There are opportunities on every corner, but they exist only for those who have ready money, or who can command money because they have formed the habit of saving...'. J.P. Morgan said he would rather loan a million dollars to a man of sound character that had formed the habit of saving money, than he would a thousand dollars to a man without character, who was a spendthrift.

I have a friend who is 28, debt free and has saved over $100,000. The opportunties this capital will make available to him in his 30's is exciting! If he had been working for himself he would have needed to reinvest this money back into his own business, which would have prevented him from preparing for other opportunities which may prove to be more worthwhile.

The next time you would be better of leaving employment to try it on your own, remember to way up the possibilities. Saving, learning at someone else's expense, developing marketing skills and habits are bound to open just as many (and possibly more) opportunities than you would find in self-employment.

Chances are if you were like me, you were lead to believe that doing a number of differnt things would make you a success. If you blogged, had a high number of followers, ran your own business, etc. then you must be living the dream right? WRONG!

My experience with business has been an emotional rollercoaster. At the moment I am back to working as an employee because my businesses were not generating enough income to sustain my lifestyle (which is a student lifestyle). This time twelve months ago, I was working only a few hours a week, was cruising along and had over $10,000 in the bank. Now I am back to square one. This is the entrepreneurial journey that most people don't talk about as people can't understand the situation and stress entrepreneurs face.

Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to see two posts shared this year which outline similar experiences both in business and self help.

The first is by Jon Sinn. Jon is a pick up artist who blogs over at Sinns of Attraction. A few months ago, he put up a post titled 'Why people fail at self help; Don't talk about it, be about it.' In it he discusses that most people read too much but don't take enough action to make a difference in their lives. As a result, they get addicted to self help, thinking the next book or program will save them rather than taking action on what they have already learned. I highly recommend anyone who is into self-improvement to read this post and to assess your situation.

The second is by Erica Douglass. Erica sold her business at the age of 26 for $1.1million and has since been blogging and working on some other businesses. One of her latest posts discusses the issues she has been facing. While she has been making what others would term 'good money'  it still only just covers her employee expenses in trying to develop her various businesses. She claims for all the hours she is putting in she is probably on less than minimum wage if calculated hourly. Additionally, she recently found out that the house she has been saving for cannot be purchased using 'dividend income' from her previous business. This, combined with over $70,000 worth of tax bills in the last 12 months has inspired her to write a terrific post about her struggles.

The more I learn about entrepreneurship (both through my degree and my experiences), the more I find this is the reality for most of them. Sure, they may appear to sit at home and do nothing while making boatloads of cash. In reality they put in more hours than most people and while making a lot their personal income from Net Profit is not usually as high as they could get in a salaried position. While building an asset they may appear to have money on paper, it is not realised until sold and converted into cash (hence the term 'asset rich, cash poor'). Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com once said that although he was quoted to be worth millions he still had to save money to buy a couch for his apartment.

Others in employment face the same issue. They read and spend time learning how to get out, hoping the next insight will be the one that sets them on the path to freedom from employment. The reality is it is far better to act on a little knowledge and to learn along the way then it is to know everything at the outset.

If you want to buck the trend and try something new in your life then go for it. Just remember that the reality is that things usually look better than they seem. The grass appears greener on the other side.

Do you try and compare yourself to others?

If you are like me, chances are that you do. I've spent a long time comparing myself both to people who are more successful than myself and to people who have done nothing. After spending countless hours stressing about where I should be I have realised one thing:

IT DOESN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Each of us lives an entirely different life. No one can walk in our shoes and live our life for us. If we want to make a change and to achieve the best we can, we have to take action.

Comparing doesn't help us to take action, it only causes us to become demoralised or to help demoralise others by putting them down. Some people even get to a point where they spend more time comparing themselves to others than they do making a change in their life.

For those of you who do like to compare things (like me) there is a solution. You can compare your current situation to the situation you were in 1-5 years ago. Chances are there is a big difference. If your situation is worse now it was 1-5 years ago, you know it is time to make changes.

Forget what others have done or are doing. They have had different opportunities in their lives that you have not had available to you.  Focus on the opportunities you have in front of you to make begin making a difference in your life. Take small steps today:

1. Put $25 in a savings account and add a little each week.
2. Spend a few hours a week reading books related to your job.
3. Start exercising ten minutes more a day than you did previously.
4. Do a little more of what you know you should be doing.

Make a small step that is better than what you are doing currently and watch your results improve. Comparing yourself to others will stagnate your growth. Comparing yourself to your past will help you get a true perspective on how you much progress you are making in your life.

Hey there,

So today at work I spent a few hours talking to five university students about to graduate. They are doing a work placement project for us which will be extra stuff they can add to their CV. As we got talking, I had a few pieces of advice for them to help improve both their CV and their ability to go from one position in a business to another much more easily. The main ones were:

1. If you don't feel your major (i.e. International Business) is worth much, just list that you have a Bachelor of Business on your resume (mention in the blurb underneath that you majored in International Business).
2. Focus on the key transferable skills you have developed rather than the specifics. For example: I learned how to use Content Management Systems by using Joomla, Wordpress, Blogger, Posterous, Dot Net Nuke and so on. The transferable skill is knowledge in using a CMS. The specifics are helpful but it is the general skills that are transferable, which allows you to learn much more rapidly.
3. Develop management skills by first managing your own projects, time, money, family and friends, etc. These are areas where you can experiment on a micro scale whiel still teaching you the same skills that are crucial to success in business.
4. Create a blog to improve writing skills. With an increasing number of positions being made available in professional services it is important to master writing skills as well as networking and online abilities.
5. Get on LinkedIn. It is where the professionals hang out. Facebook seems to have more friends and issues than opportunities to make money. Start building your network one business contact at a time. In the future years they will be of great importance to you and may help to open up a world of new opportunities for you.

After a lot of hard use my laptop finally decided to give up earlier this week. Consequently I went out and bought a 13inch Macbook Pro (which has been on my goal list for close to two years now).

Although I have got my head around the majority of things, I am wondering if any of you have tips or advice. Any recommended shortcuts? Programs I should downlaod? If you are a Mac user and think there is something I can't afford to miss then please let me know.

Regards,

Josh Moore

Recently I decided to sell my old text books. I had too many of them and wanted to declutter the house a little bit as well as freeing up some extra cash.

Rather than going the traditional online selling route (using eBay as the magic place to sell items) I decided to niche down. A friend recommended I check out www.textbookexchange.com.au for selling my books.

I listed them about half way through the first semester this year realising that nothing much would happen until the start of the next semester. At the end of the second week of semester (when most of the demand had died off) my results were as follows:

1. Fundamentals of Business Law textbook sold for $55.
2. Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship textbook sold for $55.
3. Managing Technology and Innovation textbook sold for $60.
4. Commercial law textbook sold for $60.
5. Second commercial law textbook sold for $40.

Total Sales= $270

Not a bad little experiment. For less than eight hours of my time I made more money than most people do working for eight hours. Most people might see this as a loss given that I paid for the textbooks. I see it as a profit because I had to buy them anyway and my likelihood of selling them after use is normally 0.

All those of you who are students and have old textbooks, consider listing them on textbookexchance.com.au for the next semester.

Regards,

Josh Moore

P.S. Another little website that I am looking at experimenting with is Rentoid. Rentoid allows you to rent your stuff online through their website (kind of like eBay for renters). This was founded by my mate Steve Sammartino. I wrote a little ebook for him which you can find here.

Hi there,

It was about this time last year that I was introduced to one of those books that has an effect on your life for the better. 'The Game' by Neil Strauss is becoming known by more and more men around the world.

Primarily focused on bettering your skills with women, The Game is so much more than that. It is about establishing self-belief and self-confidence. Reading it helped me to:

• Set more realistically achievable goals.
• Speak up and present my ideas, opinions and suggestions.
• Pay more attention to my sense of fashion and style.
• Commit to personal development as a lifelong progress.
• Step back from a business venture that was costing me more than it made.
• Helped me to find a new job and to get enough demand from people that I am now in the process of starting my own business.
• Allowed me to focus on what is important.
• Improved my confidence levels.
• Interact better socially not just with women, but with people in general.

This morning I talked to a friend I haven't spoken to for awhile. Seems like the GFC effect is still being felt by a number of people my age; work is quiet and businesses they run are less profitable. My friend is still working but he said finding full time work where he currently lives is difficult. However, it seems to be the case for a number of people I'm speaking to. Work is easy to find but work that is consistent and regular is not.

Luckily, my friend had recently heard about 'The Game' and has been reading that. He's now doing a number of things to take control of his situation:

1. Working: He's continuing to do any work he can and is looking for opportunities for more work. He is considering moving to help him find work if required. Unlike previous generations, Gen-Y and the generations that follow us are unlikely to see retirement. It's a carrot we will never reach. The focus is now to do work that you enjoy or that will teach you new skills.
2. Saving: He's putting money aside and saving to build up a buffer in the event of work running out for short periods. This is essential for our generation as we move between periods of employment- whether they are contract, casual, full-time, part-time or self employed.
3. Reading: Reading 'The Game' is a good start to focusing on personal development. Reading helps to build knowledge and skills.
4. Martial Arts: After getting unfit, he's now doing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) 4-5 times a week. He's investing in his health, physical appearance and confidence.

Even though he has learned some skills from 'The Game' that have helped him to improve his chances with women, he has learned skills that are far more important than that. Well done mate!

So to all the girls who go to criticise a guy for reading the game, remember that they are building life skills not just trying to get women into bed. Also remember that you read magazines such as cosmopolitan that are very similar in nature. Sometimes it pays to 'take the log out of your own eye' first.

Regards,

Josh Moore

P.S. For those guys interested in learning more about self development, I strongly suggest signing up for Neil Strauss' email list or blog at http://neilstrauss.com/

P.P.S. After losing all my savings due to a lack of income from my last business endeavour, I've finally started building my savings account again. The last four weeks has seen me feel better than I have in the last nine months. For those of you who would like to start saving, I would recommend this 30 day series of free tips from Ramit Sethi http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/announcing-the-save-1000-in-30-days...

P.P.S. If you need new shoes, go to a shoe shop such as Williams. I bought a new pair of work shoes for less than 50% of the price I was paying at shops such as Tarocash and YD.

P.P.P.S Things take time to accomplish. I'll be a top blogger one day but I plan to do this over the course of my lifetime, not in the next six months. Take the pressure off yourself! Keep a positive long-term focus but learn to enjoy the moment also.