Lost in Kollel » creative income

Lessons From a Chassidish Computer Whiz

aaron — Sun, 08 May 2011 03:29:00 +0000

I recently had my computers serviced by a chassidishe fellow from Boro Park who does computers. Not only did he know what he was doing, he was more knowledgeable than the technicians from the software companies that he spoke to on the phone while working on our systems.

Microsoft makes a very sophisticated and powerful database software called SQL. It is so complex that there are specialists whose entire job is to be a database adminsitrator who can properly manage the databases and the tables, where the average salary for a good database person can top $110,000. This fellow tells me that without taking any classes, he was able to pass 2 of the very difficult Microsoft exams on SQL, which he took “just for the fun of it”. (None of his heimishe customers would know or care if he is Microsoft certified).

Here you have someone who never went to college, never went to any vocational school, doesn’t have a high school diploma, but who is making a nice living setting up computer systems for businesses of all sizes, from small to medium to large enterprises. How did he get there? By applying his intelligence (which we all have) and drive to succeed (which we all should have) to a skill, he became an expert in what he does. An expert in any kind of field, whether it is law, construction, medicine, or even kriah remidiation, becomes the “go to” person that can make a nice living whatever it may be.

So next time you find yourself saying, “But what can I possibly do to make a living?”, just learn the lessons from this enterprising fellow (and the many others just like him). Believe that you can do it, and then get about the business of doing so.

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Charting Your Own Course

aaron — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:27:13 +0000

The economic situation of today is starkly different than 50 years ago, or even 20 years ago. You cannot be making serious money today by just working for someone else. In order to make “good money” in today’s economy, you have to be directly operating a profit center of your own, without anyone else standing between the money and you.

This does not mean that you have to be running your own multi million dollar enterprise in order to make money. On the contrary, bigger does not necessarily mean better. Even while working in someone else’s business can this be achieved.

Let’s take doctors as an example. The average salary of a general practitioner doctor is around $150,000. That is nice money, but nothing exceptional. However, if the doctor opens his own practice and brings in other doctors to work under him, he can be making upwards of $400,000. Now these doctors are doing the same kind of work and seeing the same amount of patients each. Why the difference in pay? Because the doctor who has his own practice is running his own business, while the doctor who works for someone else has to be satisfied with what the “boss” is willing to pay.

Everyone has a choice in how they bring in their income. You may think it is more secure and stable to just get paid, and let someone else worry how that money should come in. But at the end of the day, no one is worrying about your family’s financial situation more than you are. Ultimately, it will come down to your ability to bring in the income needed to sustain your family.

We will explore creative ways to “be your own boss” even without operating a business in the traditional sense, in upcoming posts.

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