Yes you can…Start work again!
About Freelance Work Guide: In my careers I have been a banker, accountant, certified financial planner, freelancer, property trust administrator and website owner. I know from my ten years as a certified financial planner where I have directly helped clients in their 50’s start their working lives again that this time is one of the most challenging times in your life. Having a freelance work guide is important. This is especially true of people that have been made redundant late in their working lives, have children to educate and a mortgage to look after. This is my story.
From Banker to Certified Financial Planner
I worked in the banking industry for about thirty years and I was there when the last big financial crisis occurred in the late eighties and early nineties. I was in an auditing/compliance role and saw the source of the policy mistakes first hand. It is strange how history repeats itself.
After I had recovered from losing my career I realized that I would have to retrain myself and went back to school to study financial planning for two years. Even after this study and all my banking experience and being a qualified accountant I could not find a job, I turned 50 during this time. Possible employers did not want a financial planner who didn’t have the practical experience even though I had worked in financial services all my life. I am sure that many of you who are 50 years old or thereabouts will identify with this.
This is me at 50
A church friend, also a redundant banker and accountant who wanted to continue to work, decided that the only way we were going to get financial planning experience was start a business ourselves, which we did. It took a sizeable chunk of our life savings to do this. All this time my wife was working as a schoolteacher and paying the bills.
From Certified Financial Planner to Private Property Trust Administrator
My friend and I started our financial planning business under the guidance of a mentor who was the license holder’s business development manager. He was responsible for seeing that we started with a business plan that was realistic and we complied with the industry’s laws.
If you are 50 or thereabouts and starting a business rather than freelancing skills that you have developed in your working life be prepared for hard work.
It is important to realize that most small businesses fail. We did. However, the two years practical experience while we tried to build the business from no clients to a viable business enabled us to gain employment working for someone else.
It took five years and a lot more study to qualify as a Certified Financial Planner. During my time as a Certified Financial Planner I helped a lot of clients.
After ten years of financial planning I transitioned to administering some residential property trusts for my son and his business partner. However, I still encountered people struggling to make late career changes.
I decided to investigate how people over 50 and made redundant by the Global Financial Crisis can be helped.
Freelancing your skills VERSUS Starting your own small business
It takes time to realize that the public words of politicians and large businesses owners stating that they are keen to employ mature aged people can be perceived as different from the reality that you face if you are 50 or thereabouts and looking for a job.
If you decide to start a small business rather than freelance the skills that you have acquired you should be sure that you understand the risks of failure, have a business plan and a family financial plan.
Most countries have a Small Business Administration service that will help you manage your business from start to finish. In the United States this is the U.S. Small Business Administration which can be found at http://www.sba.gov/. However, most developed countries have a similar service.
Watch out for Fraud on the Internet
It is hard to believe that people would prey on the gullibility of people seeking to start work again or supplement their family income.
However, it is true and the scams are not easily detected. I have been caught myself and lost about $5,000. You would think that with all my experience that I would be able to pick up a scam. It was the seemingly genuine testimonials supporting a scam that that got me hooked. However, I was not alone. Not that it makes me feel any better.
Internet fraud is now a major issue for consumers around the world. Most countries’ Fair Trade Commissions or equivalent Commissions have taken action to tighten the guidelines on testimonials. The Federal Trade Commission of the United States has published guides on endorsements and testimonials which can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/.
How I got scammed and why I switched to SBI to build websites
I was taken in by a scam in 2006 that implied that it was easy to build websites and obtain traffic by buying home e-commerce software packages and with some minimal back end support. This was presented at a seminar supported by speakers talking about how they had used the system successfully and it was easy to operate and be successful. There were at least a hundred people at the presentation and many bought the packages at special not to be repeated offers (a sure sign of a scam!). I tried to follow the process outlined and to make it work, but it would not work despite my best efforts and I eventually gave up. I wrote the amount off to experience – $5,000 gone! I have subsequently noticed that there have been court cases against the company in a number of countries.
Take a reality check about earning income on the internet
Earning money on the internet is not easy! You are more likely to lose money than make money unless you complete your due diligence. If you want to earn money on the internet you need to learn how to do it by a reputable organization. I read about the article SiteSell Education Changes Lives and the list of Universities and Colleges that teach SBI! method.
Here are some of the Universities and Colleges:
- The University of Arizona
- Penn State University
- University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley
- University of Alaska
- Austin Community College
- Santa Fe Community College
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Regards,
