Looking for ideas/input on what would be a career that will survive the current and coming instability. My job is directly connected to coal, if our illustrious leader wins re-election he will continue with his war against coal. I was thinking of trying to take classes or something that i'm ahead of the game.
Wind power seems to have provided some solid employment for several of our members. You could also think of beginning to build a small self employment business that you can work at while still maintaining your day job. Either make it something that has value across a variety of industries or is highly specialized. If the job opportunities in your industry continue to decline, you will already have something started to either replace it or act as a bridge until you can find something more suitable. Remember, Cabela's started by a husband and wife tying fishing flies at their kitchen table after supper every night and selling them with little classified ads. I started my business 15 yrs ago when I wanted to get out of the corporate world so I would have more time to care for my aging parents. I had been an exec in the bulk weighing industry (i.e. import/export elevators, rail loading systems, etc) I took my accounting and business background and began offering those skills on a contract basis to small business in my area. I did everything from creating custom software for clients, accounting, run training programs, marketing campaigns, whatever a small business needed but couldn't afford to hire or need to hire a full time person to accomplish. The business grew beyond my wildest expectations to the point that if a potential client was unable to wait the 4 - 5 months for an opening in my time, I had to refuse their work. It was all a matter of figuring out what skills I had that would be needed by small businesses. One caveat - expect to work harder and longer hours than you ever would if you were employed by a company.
Join Date: May 2011 Location: colorado Posts: 116 <!-- google_ad_section_start -->job security<!-- google_ad_section_end --> <hr style="color: rgb(209, 209, 225); background-color: rgb(209, 209, 225);" SIZE="1"> <!-- google_ad_section_start -->Looking for ideas/input on what would be a career that will survive the current and coming instability. My job is directly connected to coal, if our illustrious leader wins re-election he will continue with his war against coal. I was thinking of trying to take classes or something that i'm ahead of the game its really a shame,im retired from coal mining,UMWA and we were always told before election who our union was supporting for presidentmand sad to say,they endorsed O bummer in 2008 Read more: http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/financial-cents/32301-job-security.html#ixzz1q4zv2rHk
If you have access to coal, perhaps something taking advantage of that? Making coal stoves? making coke for blacksmiths, or blacksmithing? Selling small sacks of coal to people who want like 50# of it at a time , kind of like those city slickers buy a sack of fire wood instead of a cord? If you want to get completely away from coal, then not sure what if anything you can find. I remember reading that the key to making money is: find something that someone with the cash to buy it wants and supplying it and you could make money if that helps trigger some thoughts. ETA: If things go totally south then I suspect the EPA et al will be the least of any of our worries. Also perhaps a garden / vegetable stand like peasants did in soviet Russia if we go the tyrannical police state route we seem to be on. (Kind of an allowed black market thing.) Thad.
I'd say that just about any job that involves repairing useful devices could deliver a decent income now, and could deliver a lot of barter power in a post SHTF world. A lot of jobs which were once looked down upon by the Business BA "up-and-comers", involving manual labor, are now lining their practitioners with a lot of green. I know when I leave the auto mechanic's shop, or the small engine repair shop, my bank account is considerably lighter. Jobs that involve repair will always be the last to be affected by an economic downturn. When people can't afford to buy new, they start to repair what they have. I'm a jeweler these days. I repair some of the least useful things that I can think of; and when the economy started to seriously falter, I thought to myself that I'd be seeing some lean times. Instead, the worse the economy got, the busier I got. I'm so busy now, that I have to turn work away. People can't afford to buy new jewelry, so they repair or restyle what they have. I think that if you repaired something useful - electrical, plumbing, heating and air, automobiles, small engines - the effect would be even greater.
