ABOUT TIM FERRISS
Tim Ferriss is the author of a blog that inspired me to write about this subjects. He is the author of a thought-provoking book, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join The New Rich. In addition to writing this book and several others, Mr. Ferriss has done a lot of things in every corner of the world and continues to do them, including:
- Guest lecturer at Princeton University in High-Tech Entrepreneurship and Electrical Engineering
- National Chinese kickboxing champion
- MTV break dancer in Taiwan
- And a whole lot of other unusual stuff
He’s only in his 30’s but he’s figured how to grab the world by the tail and ride it to a life where anyone willing to follow his plan can do everything they want—without being a millionaire. When I saw where he was writing about becoming an entrepreneur without a lot of advanced training, I realized this was a subject many potential entrepreneurs would be interested in knowing.
A NEW WAY OF BECOMING AN EXPERT WITHOUT CREDENTIALS
This blog tells of several ways to gain expert status outside the normal progression, including circumventing the normal way of getting a job. As home based entrepreneurs, we aren’t really interested in getting a job. But the ideas we will discuss also apply to becoming experts without credentials.
The blog authors refer to the fact that there has been so much talk about the value of a Masters Degree over a BA, or an MBA over a Masters, or a PhD. over them all as so much hype. All this talk has lowered the value of them all and does not apply anymore to most jobs and expert designations. They say you can get around all this without incurring massive school debt. Evidence of this is in the distinction between the Formal Job Market and the Informal Job Market.
What is the informal job market? It consists of all the jobs that aren’t taken by someone who responds to a formal job advertisement. Most of the informal jobs are filled by personal relationships, or by a company wishing to bring in a certain person where they simply create a job for that person. A Google search will reveal that major media groups estimate 80% of jobs are filled informally; most people are applying for only 20% of the available jobs. This is a strong indicator that formal credentials are really not needed.
How does the 80% in the informal market actually get hired? They build professional relationships with people inside a company, they exploit any connections they may have in the company, they ask for referrals from friends, and they use people who know people in important positions.
When an employer says, in a job advertisement, it is looking for applicants with a BA degree, or an MA, what they are really saying is they want someone who has the ability to follow instructions, to meet deadlines, the ability to think critically, communication skills, and all the other abilities required to get the job done. Those who apply are also expected to be mature, have perseverance, respect for authority, and the general work ethic that got them through a multi-year training program. In other words, employers are looking for a set of skills rather than the degree. Is this not the same set of skills required to succeed as a home based business entrepreneur?
Requiring degrees is just a way of helping human resources people to wade through the stacks of resumes they receive every day. The informal job market allows potential employees to use their creative skills and relationships to get around the small formal market and get into the much larger informal job market. This is the same creativity that enables home based entrepreneurs to start and successfully operate their own businesses. You don’t need an oppressive amount of college debt to participate in this vast informal market. Lack of formal training should never discourage an entrepreneur who possesses the required skills from venturing into their own business. Few skills learned in college are ever used in the workplace; I can tell you this is true from my own experience. I have a BA and an MBA and only once, for about a month, have I ever used anything specific that I learned from these two degrees.
GETTING UP TO SPEED QUICKLY WITH INFORMAL TRAINING
This plan assumes you are unemployed and that you are willing to make a full-time effort at finding a job, or a new career, in the informal job market, or creating a business. This program should get you where you want to be in the informal job or business market in one year. Here’s how:
Spend up to one month deciding which field you want to build your career in. You will need to exclude fields that require educational credentials for licensing purposes like accounting, law, or medicine. Examples of areas you might consider are programming, design, writing, entrepreneurship, and many others. Ways to find your field include Google searches, meditation, reading, and keeping an open mind. Cost for this phase is $0.
The next thing to do, even during the first month, is to spend up to two months learning all you can about the new career you have chosen, or the new business you want to open as an entrepreneur. To accelerate your learning process, you should start an uncomplicated blog in which you explain your learning journey. It is imperative that you read one or more books related to your chosen field every week during this period; afterwards, write one blog every week explaining what you have learned. This shows everyone, including your potential customers, that you are capable of continuing to learn about your field, that you can write, and do critical thinking. It also shows that you are a thought-leader your field. The blog host will cost less than $20 per year, and your books may cost $0 if you use the library. The time required each week to do these things should not be no more than 20 hours.
In the same first two months you need to learn networking skills. This will help you to promote your business and entrepreneurial ability. Here is a very good series of articles on the proper way to pursue networking. Among other things, the series suggests that you find, in the first two months, three business owners, online or off, that you can have conversations with about business concerns you have. While cultivating these people, be sure and try to find ways you can help them. In addition to the first contacts, try to build your social network constantly–it’s your entry to success. It will take about 20 hours a week to start the networking process; after that, fit as many hours into networking as you can. The cost of all this is $0.
For the next three to five months start seeking opportunities to do free things for your network. If you are into design, offer free design help; if you are into copywriting offer to write free articles for your network. When possible refer your network to your blogs to further show what you can do. All the while you are doing these free services, ask for referrals down the road. This will take about 20 hours a week in combination with other networking activities, and it will cost $0.
While still in the next three to five months, for about 10 hours a week, when you aren’t networking or servicing your network, develop your experiences into case studies of various problems and post them to your blog. Integrate your network into your blogs (with their permission). This will require 10 hours per week, integrated with your other networking activities. The cost is $0.
Develop relationships with mentors during this same three to five months. Reach out to authors of books you have read and try to obtain interviews for your blog. This will take another ten hours, integrated with all your other activities, but the cost is $0.
For less than $20 on Amazon, purchase, read, and continuously study Spin Selling by Neil Rackham. When you have a grasp for the information in the book, find a person in your network who will let you sell for them. At this point, you are not exactly trying to sell for your own monetary gain, but rather to learn all you can about selling. If you can’t sell, you will have a tough time making it in your business. In addition to the cost, plan on spending 20 hours per week in a combination of studying the book and selling your network associate’s product or service; any extra time you have should be spent to continue constructing your network.
You have now positioned yourself to begin earning real money; it’s up to you to go out and do it. How to do this? Meet with 10 individual business owners over breakfast, lunch, drinks, or any other way you can think of. If they have a need you can address, use your new selling skills to address them. If they don’t need you, they may be able to refer others to your services, or, maybe you can refer someone else in your network who can help them instead of you. You may have spent 40 hours per week networking, but the cost is $0, and you may have begun a lasting relationship that will bring money to you in the future.
This is the completion of your training for an informal business background. You have spent about nine months attaining exactly the same training as a formal college course, but you have spent less than $300 on books and nothing on tuition. It looks like you have saved over $150,000 and three to five years in time. Continue to build on the previous eight months of lessons and you are ready to launch your own business as a self-employed freelancer from anywhere in the world you want to.
CONCLUSION
You have seen that there is an informal job and business market that is much larger than the formal market that requires specific degrees. In fact, 80% of the work market is informal; you just have to know how to get around the so-called “official” training requirements. You have seen that these demands are simply ways human resources officers manage the tons of useless resumes they receive every day.
We have also seen how the informal job market relates to the informal entrepreneurial market. If you approach it right, you do not need a lot of formal training to embark on a successful career in self-employment. Included in this article is a specific plan to attain all the information to successfully enter a career of your choice. By following the steps we discussed, you can successfully go into your own self-employment business. Use your personal creativity and just go out and do it.
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