Taking A Hobby and Making a Business

Do you have any hobbies that you can turn into a business? Do you sew, paint, or sculpture? Do you crochet, play sports, or collect items? Do you love animals, children, or plants? Can you take any of those loves and build a profit creatively from that hobby?

Wether you be retirement age or still in high school, you can still turn your hobby into a money making business. Think of Steve Jobs. That is what he did in his garage. So can you.

Find like minded individuals or friends to go into business with you. It may be someone from your math or science class. Someone from your art or computer science class. You could start a mastermind group with them and brainstorm ideas. Someone else’s strength may be marketing where your’s is concept development. What can you do together?

This next article is about a lady who started a business in her retirement. She saw a need and had the talent in her hobby of sewing to develop a business. 

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Solving Problems Through Innovation and Trades

What do engineers, mechanics, artists, and musicians have in common? Innovation! They are all people who have learned to take their imagination and know how to create new buildings, machines, sculptures, and music, and more.

Hackerspace is an organization of like minded individuals who come together for the common good. It is an organization made up of engineers, mechanics, artists and musicians and others who work together to create. It is like a mastermind group of people that come together with ideas and help each other take those ideas and make things happen. They share tools and skills to help each other with whatever concept brought to the table.

I might have an idea, but you may know how to take that idea and help me bring it into reality. We work together to solve the problem and find a solution that will work. I may be strong in coming up with concepts but you might know the mechanics of how to make that concept work. Together we make a dynamic team. This is how it is in Hackerspace. They provide the support by providing the tools to get the job done. Tools such as a 3D printer. A 3D printer costs about $3,000 but if provided by the group all can use it for a fraction of the cost. There is power in numbers and where like minded individuals come together the power is unstoppable. 

What concepts and ideas do you have. Are you finding it hard to have the money and means to take your concept from idea to reality? You can find Hackerspace in Austin, Texas. Get the help of others to get the job done. Read more in the following article by Kelsey Jukam:

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A Career That Has Meaning

I can tell you there is one thing that bothers me above all else. People who think they are better then other people. There is no job that is above any other in importance. No matter how important that CEO thinks he is the fact is that he can not do his job without the other people who work in the company.

If you think you are above being a trash collector just think how your life would be if the trash collectors all went on strike for a year. What would our quality of life be like then? 

There is no job that is more important then another. There is no person that is more valuable then another. Not in God’s eyes. We all need each other to live the life style that we have come to enjoy. Think about that next time you are in a public bathroom and the person that cleans is in there doing their job. Thank them for what they faithfully do everyday so you can have a clean bathroom to come to. That person is doing a service for you every day and they deserve recognition and appreciation for the job they do.

The jobs that get the least amount of recognition are usually the jobs that are most needed. Where would be without the person that cleans the bathroom or collects the trash? How would life be if we did not have someone creating the cars and keeping the cars running? So many people work behind the scenes everyday to make your life easier. Do not forget to thank them for the jobs they do.

Today is Memorial Day Let us remember to thank all those veterans that took on the job of keeping our country safe and free. Thank you!

I enjoyed this article by Judy Gillespie that illustrates my point:

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Internships Help High School Students Find Their Way

There are so many great advantages to doing an internship wether for pay or college credit when you are in high school. First of all it is a means to explore careers you are thinking about going into to see if that career fits you.

You work for a summer in an internship and not only do you get an education in your chosen field, it will also look great on a resume someday. If it turns out during the time you are doing an internship you decide not to go into this kind of career. You have saved yourself a tremendous amount of time and money not pursuing the wrong career for you.

You can read more about high school internships in the following article by Rachel Levy:

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An Education That Prepares The Student For Real Life

I am all for letting kids be kids, but when do we start preparing our children for real life? Children are being forced to grow up a lot faster these days then what I remember growing up. Times are different. What are we doing to prepare our children to meet this challenge?

One thing that thankfully is being looked at today is the way we are using high school to prepare the student for life. Some people will go to college. Some people will go to vocational school. There are those that need to be trained for life no matter what road they choose to walk down. 

Greenville, South Carolina is leading the pack in looking at alternative ways to educate and prepare the youth for life and employment when they graduate. There is a school called the Next High School where this is beginning to be a reality.

The students are divided into schools in technology, life sciences, energy and mobility. The school of mobility includes automotive and aerospace. The emphasis is on becoming part of the solution by problem solving. This is done by involving the students in real life applications like crime-scene investigations for example. There is also a emphasis in exploring the local market by matching training to the industry and jobs in the immediate area.

This is the beginning of the cycle of matching education to jobs. It does not necessarily mean that anyone has to be stuck in a job for life. It just means the beginning of training our youth to be able to survive in the job market upon graduation from high school till they complete their higher education.

Read more about the Next High School and their concepts in the following article by Liz Segrist:

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Taking A “Gap Year” Between High School and Higher Education

When I was seventeen years old I graduated from high school. I married and took a gap year working in a notebook factory. This turned out to be a good thing for me to do. When I did start college I was ready emotionally and scholastically to take on the challenge. I already knew what it was like to work full-time on the job. Now I knew I wanted to get a degree to work in nursing. I was more determined then ever to get my education. I was serious about it. 

You should consider doing the same thing yourself. It will give you time to reflect and determine what is important to you. This will help you when you start school to realize what a privilege it is to be able to further your education. You will be more determined than ever to apply yourself and make sure you are giving your best when going to school. It will give you a sense of purpose and the determination it will take to complete school

Consider taking a gap year yourself!

Read more about it in this article by Jena Manuel Krugstad.

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Student Loans Is This Really The Way You Want To Start Your Adult Life?

Why would you want to start your life as an adult in debt? Yet when you graduate from high school just to apply for student loans for college that is exactly what you are doing. People are getting out of college with large student loans and they are unable to buy a car or house because they are already in debt upon graduation. There has to be a better way!

Read more in the article by Susan Tompor:

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Computer Programers and Engineers Are Guaranteed A Job

It is hard to do business right now for people like Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook and other companies in the technology industry due to the lack of qualified computer programers and engineers. The good news for you is there are plenty of jobs in the field of computers and technology. This is the kind of information that you want to look for when deciding your  education and job field. Where is the need?

There is such a great need that Mark Zuckerberg is trying to get foreign workers to come to America to get those jobs. What? No he didn’t! You need to train to get those jobs not let someone like Mark Zuckerberg give those jobs, your jobs, to someone from another country! 

Do not let people like Mark Zuckerberg give those jobs away. Instead get the training you need in computer science, programming, and engineering so you may be ahead of the field and qualify for those jobs yourself. It is time to get busy.

You can read more about Mark Zuckerberg and other tech giants like him who are trying to get visas for foreign tech workers to come to the United States for those jobs in an article by Peter Wallsten, Jia Lynn Yang, and Craig Timberg by clicking below.

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Are You An Artist? There is a Vocational Job For You

One of the late and great artists died this month. His name was Ray Harryhausen. He was a pioneer special- effects artist that paved the way for the great special effects we experience today in the movies. He used his artistry not only to make a good living in Hollywood, but also to create a new way to enjoy the movies. He inspired people like George Lucas of “Star Wars”, Peter Jackson of “The Lord of the Rings”, and James Cameron.

Ray created animation not by drawing pictures but by the tedious detail of moving small figurines and photographing the figurines in each new pose in a process called stop-motion animation. This was painstaking work that required a huge amount of patience and attention to detail. The pictures taken of each change of pose were spliced together to create the appearance of fluid motion in film.

Ray was a genius and an innovator for whom all of modern movies with their special effects owe a debt of gratitude. Billions of dollars have been made due to the amazement of special effects in the movies.

Are you an artist? How can you use your art to bring about change? Would you desire to work in the movies creating special effects or do you have a whole new invention in innovation to share with us using your artistic abilities.

Read more about Ray Harryhausen in the following article and then use your imagination to create.

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“The Lawyer Bubble” is A Must Read For Those Who Want To Go To Law School

“I am going to go to law school.” What parent would not have liked to hear their son or daughter say these words. Today not so much. Why? Because there are no jobs for lawyers. There is a saturation of lawyers that is even causing some law firms to go into bankruptcy because of the competition. Steven J. Harper has put out a book that is a tell all about law school and the prospects of a graduate today called “The Lawyer Bubble”. Remember the housing bubble? Yea, you get the picture. Be informed so you can make the right choices when choosing where you want to go to school. Where are the jobs? Read more in the following article by Everett Bellamy:

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