Is This Why Jobs Are Disappearing?? And How I Crawled Out Of That

As jobs disappear (outsourcing, robots, AI and …..). What can one do ?

I am going to share below, what I have done.

It may work for you. It may not.

If it does, congrats. If it does not, don’t give up, keep finding.

Make a Door when you are stopped by a Wall.

Lets start …..

In the 90s, electronics was big in Singapore. I was in the correct trade.

Getting sales was easy.

Now, most of the factories have shifted overseas.

To make the same amount of money or even more, I need to travel.

To make more, I have to travel more often and further away.

Soon, I was providing my family a good apartment with good lifestyle. And not having to worry about expenses with spare money for holidays.

Except that all these happened with a huge sacrifice.

My time with my family. My bonds with my loved ones. Priceless.

If I quit and come back to Spore to work, that would mean a huge cut in Income and loss of face. I was not willing then, how silly I was !

I stopped work for a year to reconnect with my loved ones. And also to reconnect with myself.

During that year, I have lots of enlightenment.

I went back to work one year later (broke), this time, instead of getting the same Work Title with the same Income, I chose a middle management role.

This means a reduction in Income (ouch).

This mean I am in charge of a smaller territory, which is lesser travel (hurray).

This mean I have more time at home (hurray).

This mean people will laugh at me (loss of face ? who cares ? I don’t ! ).

I have a plan. It was not tested by anyone I know. I have no choice, I have to make it happen.

I chose a job that :

1. I can excel easily.

2. I can tap on my existing skill set.

3. Work from home.

4. Travel once a month, one week is best. Two weeks max.

5. Steady paycheck.

When there is a Will, there is a Way.

A friend called and he was quitting from a job. He referred me, I flew to USA and got the job.

For several years, I was top salesman.

During the free time in hotel rooms, during long drives, waiting for the planes to take-off, at home, I would research on property investing around the world.

I would read books, attend classes (fell asleep in some of them due to jet lag), network and purchase properties.

Unlike many who bought properties, I would purchase property purely based on Pocket Money.

No pocket money , no buy.

What is pocket money ?

That means that the rents from the properties must be much higher than the bank installments and misc. expenses.

Whatever left behind is for me to use any which way I like.

I keep improving my strategies with education from real Guru, local multimillionaires and being kaypoh

Bit by bit, one property at a time, I slowly build up my streams of passive income.

With the support and blessings from a new network of friends… agents, bankers, mortgage brokers, lawyers, fellow investors, I found many suitable deals and add these properties into my portfolio.

At the same time, I was an employee …. A good employee meeting the company’s needs.

The time came for me to leave the organisation. By then, I have enough properties in my portfolio to sustain my lifestyle without any sacrifice.

That’s it. Its that simple.

Nothing I have done is complicated. In fact, operating a massage chair is more complicated than my way of making money.

If you are facing similar situation, please allow me to suggest these :

1. Don’t leave your trade unless its totally gone like Motorola Pager.

2. Be willing to accept a lower pay job.

3. Do not accept a lower pay job that needs more work hour.

4. Accept a lower pay job that requires you to work less.

5. Attend many previews on personal development out there. One can learn a lot.

6. Suggested previews … local property investing courses by real guru ( defined as a teacher with real life experience surviving at least two crisis ) ; e-commerce ; reits ; network marketing ; equity investing.

7. Main objective is to create side incomes while having a full-time job. Focus on Passive Income, that means one time research and then little work thereafter to collect pocket money.

8. Most people make the mistake of looking for one single Passive Income to replace their Active Income. This is possible but difficult. Start small. Build confidence. Play a bigger game.

9. Believe in yourself.

10. Believe its possible.

11. Stay positive.

12. Stay away from naysayers.

13. Most critical – take advice from the rich. Do not learn from basketball players how to swim faster.

I had been retrenched (2x). I was once jobless. I had been in debt (2x). My company was once bankrupted.

Today I am living a great life. How did I do it?

By doing all of the above.

Do not despair.

Do not be depressed.

Sometimes life is unfair.

And sometimes unfair is good.

Financial Intelligence is one of the important keys, to living a great life. Learn to harness the power of this.

Life can be beautiful.

Life does not need to be hard.

Our parents brought us to this world to enjoy, not to suffer.

Love yourself.

And everyday will be a beautiful day.

Love,

Investor, Practitioner & Full-Time Coach