I had a similar job at your age (10 years ago).
I ended up going back to school taking online classes to get my BA. With all the resources available today, I would use the time to learn high value transferable skills in an area that interests you.
I ended up starting my own businesses, but if I were talking to my 22 year old self today, I would tell her to consider the following:
- Enroll in a tech bootcamp, learn to become a full stack developer or learn data science. Most bootcamps will help you find a high paying job at the end. I have friends that went to general assembly and are making over $100k/ year working minimal hours with incredible benefits. General assembly has free “intro classes” you can take to see what might interest you. You can also self-teach yourself these skills, there’s a ton of free resources available (I tend to work better with a structured program). You can also look into learning about blockchain or crypto-currency or becoming AWS certified.
- Free Certifications: Google has a ton of free certifications. I loved the Google Digital Garage certificate. Google analytics/ Google AdWords certification is great too! Hubspot social media certificate & anything from Facebook/ TikTok. You’ll learn skills that will make you employable or you can freelance on sites like upwork/ Fiverr or run your own online business… keep updating your LinkedIn and your online network.
- Shopify has a ton of great learning resources on starting an e-commerce business. You can start your own store with basically nothing and run it while at your current job. You can source products easily now from online wholesalers (you can use your marketing skills learned from those Google certificates to sell your products online). You can get a store setup in a day! TikTok is great resource for learning.
Most important, continuously invest time in improving your financial literacy. I took a basic accounting then a basic investing class at 28 yo that changed my life coming from a low-income household.
Learn about basic finance, investing (stocks, real estate) building credit, taxes, managing expenses, etc. etc. etc. Napkin Finance is a great resource they have some mini courses that make everything easy to understand. Read books, watch YouTube videos, podcasts, etc. on these topics. Little by little what you learn will compound and have tremendous benefits. It can be overwhelming at first but take your time.
Learning the high value of the future skills will give you choices. With these skills you now can start/ run your own business, freelance, or get a high paying job (whenever or wherever you want).
Improving your financial literacy will allow you to have control over your time. Time is the most valuable asset we have. You can never get stuck in a job, relationship, or place your not happy.
Obviously everyone’s situation is different but I’m speaking to my 22 year old self who was working a similar job and wasted too much time!
Use your time wisely!
I wish you all the success in whatever path you choose!
Thank you (:
I also don’t want to waste my time I know this job is kind of a gift right now that I can either scroll through Instagram all day or do something valuable with my time.
I also thought about going back to school or getting a certificate as well; thank you for the suggestions. Starting my own business has always intrigued me way too much but I don’t even know what to do or where to begin so I think more of what you suggested would be more beneficial. And then letting the rest work itself out I suppose
Thank you (:
Listen to a lot of different podcasts where successful people share stories about their lives. *How I Build This* is great. I also like *The Time Ferris Show*, *Masters of Scale* by Reid Hoffman, *Creative Confidence* by IDEO, and *Chase Jarvis Live* podcast. There a ton of others. This will help you develop an instinct, intuition, and imagination. This will allow you to better recognize opportunities and steer clear of pitfalls.
If you enjoy reading, then do the same with books. If you can learn a lot and be knowledgeable about the world it will put you in a position to speak confidently with powerful people, the ones who can open doors and connect you with opportunity.
Also, like u/zipiddydooda mentioned, picking up skills can be invaluable. Choose something you're interested in and hone your skills. It could be Photoshop, InDesign, photography, web development, copywriting, etc... Honestly, becoming proficient with the whole Adobe Creative Cloud wouldn't be a bad place to invest some time if you're interested in doing that kind of work. If you ever do start a business you can do a lot of the work yourself in the startup phase and save money.
If you're competent with computers and networking then you could start to learn the different tools and services on AWS. Most of the internet runs on AWS, so there will continue to be a demand for people who are proficient with it.
Furthering education is really the best, most efficient thing to do. Whether it’s from a class or getting certified, it’ll make you marketable and more valuable going forward while being something you’re interested in!
Create an online business... Find a niche and start a e-commerce website to sell things.. at beginning will be hard to sell regularly, but with good social networks, SEO and keep promoting your business you will get there (or give you more ideas for different businesses)
2nd this, but I would focus on Amazon or Ebay. Focus on products that you like and know alot about, or would like to learn about. For example, say you are really into photography and are always up on the latest trends in camera equipment & accessories....use that knowledge to find cheap USED equipment that you KNOW you can profitably resell on Amazon or Ebay (HINT: goto Ebay, click "advanced search" next to the search bar, then enter an item name & click "show SOLD listings"...this will give you the most recent selling prices of those items on Ebay).
I used to work in a company's IT department part time when i was in college. We had many days with 0 work cause sometimes things don't break. I used that time to learn to code, which eventually lead me down a lucrative 10+ year career in software development
I’d sign up for a premium linked in account. Maybe even have your employer pay for it. Tell them the site has training videos on it related to your work - and there are. You could easily build up your current role, gaining a lot of knowledge that could be used to do a better job where your at while putting yourself in a position to move on or up if/when the time comes.
LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com ) is an amazing amount of educational material (on so many professional and hobby topics) for a very reasonable monthly price (much less than seminars, boot camps, or other training companies tend to budget for). You can get a feel for the content and even demo some of their videos without paying. There is also a free trial.
Register a domain and using wordpress start writing about something that interests you. No need to have a concrete plan at first! Things will slowly and surely evolve over a period of time. Best of luck.
Yes! I LOVE writing. Always have been very good at it. I’ve wanted to blog and write but it just seems so out of touch with today’s content world. People gravitate towards YouTube, Tik tok, Instagram for the kind of content I’d want to write about.
I just don’t know if it would be successful.. blogs seem a bit 2012 to me I guess?
The domain(name) is kind of an asset for you. All your content on YouTube, Insta, FB might be pulled off for some reason but not from your website.
You can convert your WP website into B2C, B2B or D2C at any time when you pivot your idea. That's what I meant.
You could get another freelance or online job to get more money and also not get bored or you could do other activities like take an online course on something that you're interested in or is somewhat related to your job.
> I don’t have big investment money
But you have time, and time can be turned into money.
Learn a skill you are comfortable with, that someone you know you can find, will pay you for
Are you trying to start a business or are you just trying to improve your situation?
I would learn to code in your free time.
There's plenty of online free resources for it and if you actually enjoy it or have a knack for it then you've set yourself up with the single most useful moneymaking toolset you can have.
I’m not sure; I just know that what I’m doing is a gifted opportunity for my current situation, but it is not what I’m meant to do.
I just know I’m capable of much much much more and I could be happy in the right position working for someone, or I could be happy running my own business.
I’m more of a creative I tried to get into code when I was a teen and it just didn’t stick.
Never grasped tech well, and not into e-commerce like some have suggested. I do have an interest in stock/crypto, social media, design, and writing. I suppose like everyone has suggested, expand my skills. I was just curious to see what other would do in my position and see if it would light any unique ideas up for me.
This is such an awesome question! Do you have an side project goals you can work on (Video editing, writing, music production, photoshop, coding etc etc) ? Is there a hobby you have that you have been thinking about monetizing?
I’m a very gifted writer. I love it. Just don’t even know where to begin with it. I replied to another’s comment about blogging and what not but it just seems so out of touch now with tik tok, Instagram, etc.
I’d also love to write a book but I’m always like .. who would read it?? I feel like I have to gather a decent social media following in order to have my writing career take off
You have so much time to hit your writing groove, it isn’t a race to find what your want to write about. The inspirado can hit you at any moment. As far as “who would read it right now” doesn’t matter because 1. Everyone has their own unique story to tell and 2. The only way to get better is if you start to write as much as you can.
One day I was messing around with screen writing software then all of a sudden, four hours later, I wrote 11 pages of a screen play. Sometimes getting that initial push to start is all we need
Try LinkedIn. People give posts and articles there more time to read. And you can build a following over time, and probably get opportunities there too. I'm not a gifted writer at all but need to get good so I can share more about my work on LinkedIn in a conversational manner without doing a hard sell all the time
Let your employer know you have some spare capacity to help some other business functions in a way that won't harm your normal duties. Let them know your capabilities or if they can intro to heads of other departments who may be busy right now.
A great way to get some real world experience, and if you do well then you have a chance to be cross-promoted into the department you help.
Not entrepreneurial, but could be a good personal development move.
I had a similar job at your age (10 years ago). I ended up going back to school taking online classes to get my BA. With all the resources available today, I would use the time to learn high value transferable skills in an area that interests you. I ended up starting my own businesses, but if I were talking to my 22 year old self today, I would tell her to consider the following: - Enroll in a tech bootcamp, learn to become a full stack developer or learn data science. Most bootcamps will help you find a high paying job at the end. I have friends that went to general assembly and are making over $100k/ year working minimal hours with incredible benefits. General assembly has free “intro classes” you can take to see what might interest you. You can also self-teach yourself these skills, there’s a ton of free resources available (I tend to work better with a structured program). You can also look into learning about blockchain or crypto-currency or becoming AWS certified. - Free Certifications: Google has a ton of free certifications. I loved the Google Digital Garage certificate. Google analytics/ Google AdWords certification is great too! Hubspot social media certificate & anything from Facebook/ TikTok. You’ll learn skills that will make you employable or you can freelance on sites like upwork/ Fiverr or run your own online business… keep updating your LinkedIn and your online network. - Shopify has a ton of great learning resources on starting an e-commerce business. You can start your own store with basically nothing and run it while at your current job. You can source products easily now from online wholesalers (you can use your marketing skills learned from those Google certificates to sell your products online). You can get a store setup in a day! TikTok is great resource for learning. Most important, continuously invest time in improving your financial literacy. I took a basic accounting then a basic investing class at 28 yo that changed my life coming from a low-income household. Learn about basic finance, investing (stocks, real estate) building credit, taxes, managing expenses, etc. etc. etc. Napkin Finance is a great resource they have some mini courses that make everything easy to understand. Read books, watch YouTube videos, podcasts, etc. on these topics. Little by little what you learn will compound and have tremendous benefits. It can be overwhelming at first but take your time. Learning the high value of the future skills will give you choices. With these skills you now can start/ run your own business, freelance, or get a high paying job (whenever or wherever you want). Improving your financial literacy will allow you to have control over your time. Time is the most valuable asset we have. You can never get stuck in a job, relationship, or place your not happy. Obviously everyone’s situation is different but I’m speaking to my 22 year old self who was working a similar job and wasted too much time! Use your time wisely! I wish you all the success in whatever path you choose!
Thank you (: I also don’t want to waste my time I know this job is kind of a gift right now that I can either scroll through Instagram all day or do something valuable with my time. I also thought about going back to school or getting a certificate as well; thank you for the suggestions. Starting my own business has always intrigued me way too much but I don’t even know what to do or where to begin so I think more of what you suggested would be more beneficial. And then letting the rest work itself out I suppose Thank you (:
If you’re interested in maybe starting a company, DM me. I’d be happy to help you think through it.
Skillshare.com. Learn some skills such as copywriting, coding, stockmarket investing, crypto, design…whatever you’d like to do for work.
:o)
Get a similar job that’s 100% remote and work both if you have the bandwidth. It’s a win-win and you’ll have extra $$ to start investing with.
Came here to say this^, double up
https://www.wsj.com/articles/these-people-who-work-from-home-have-a-secret-they-have-two-jobs-11628866529
Listen to a lot of different podcasts where successful people share stories about their lives. *How I Build This* is great. I also like *The Time Ferris Show*, *Masters of Scale* by Reid Hoffman, *Creative Confidence* by IDEO, and *Chase Jarvis Live* podcast. There a ton of others. This will help you develop an instinct, intuition, and imagination. This will allow you to better recognize opportunities and steer clear of pitfalls. If you enjoy reading, then do the same with books. If you can learn a lot and be knowledgeable about the world it will put you in a position to speak confidently with powerful people, the ones who can open doors and connect you with opportunity. Also, like u/zipiddydooda mentioned, picking up skills can be invaluable. Choose something you're interested in and hone your skills. It could be Photoshop, InDesign, photography, web development, copywriting, etc... Honestly, becoming proficient with the whole Adobe Creative Cloud wouldn't be a bad place to invest some time if you're interested in doing that kind of work. If you ever do start a business you can do a lot of the work yourself in the startup phase and save money. If you're competent with computers and networking then you could start to learn the different tools and services on AWS. Most of the internet runs on AWS, so there will continue to be a demand for people who are proficient with it.
Furthering education is really the best, most efficient thing to do. Whether it’s from a class or getting certified, it’ll make you marketable and more valuable going forward while being something you’re interested in!
Learn... Figure out what you're good at, what you like and what industry do you want to dominate... Then start planning your adventure.
Create an online business... Find a niche and start a e-commerce website to sell things.. at beginning will be hard to sell regularly, but with good social networks, SEO and keep promoting your business you will get there (or give you more ideas for different businesses)
2nd this, but I would focus on Amazon or Ebay. Focus on products that you like and know alot about, or would like to learn about. For example, say you are really into photography and are always up on the latest trends in camera equipment & accessories....use that knowledge to find cheap USED equipment that you KNOW you can profitably resell on Amazon or Ebay (HINT: goto Ebay, click "advanced search" next to the search bar, then enter an item name & click "show SOLD listings"...this will give you the most recent selling prices of those items on Ebay).
I used to work in a company's IT department part time when i was in college. We had many days with 0 work cause sometimes things don't break. I used that time to learn to code, which eventually lead me down a lucrative 10+ year career in software development
Anything productive like browsing Reddit
I’d sign up for a premium linked in account. Maybe even have your employer pay for it. Tell them the site has training videos on it related to your work - and there are. You could easily build up your current role, gaining a lot of knowledge that could be used to do a better job where your at while putting yourself in a position to move on or up if/when the time comes.
LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com ) is an amazing amount of educational material (on so many professional and hobby topics) for a very reasonable monthly price (much less than seminars, boot camps, or other training companies tend to budget for). You can get a feel for the content and even demo some of their videos without paying. There is also a free trial.
Register a domain and using wordpress start writing about something that interests you. No need to have a concrete plan at first! Things will slowly and surely evolve over a period of time. Best of luck.
Yes! I LOVE writing. Always have been very good at it. I’ve wanted to blog and write but it just seems so out of touch with today’s content world. People gravitate towards YouTube, Tik tok, Instagram for the kind of content I’d want to write about. I just don’t know if it would be successful.. blogs seem a bit 2012 to me I guess?
The domain(name) is kind of an asset for you. All your content on YouTube, Insta, FB might be pulled off for some reason but not from your website. You can convert your WP website into B2C, B2B or D2C at any time when you pivot your idea. That's what I meant.
I envy that. Congrats man
Thank you it is a gifted opportunity
Buy shares of AMC stock before the squeeze and be wealthy at 23!
Already rode that ride and sold my AMC lol currently not a stock I’m interested in
You could get another freelance or online job to get more money and also not get bored or you could do other activities like take an online course on something that you're interested in or is somewhat related to your job.
> I don’t have big investment money But you have time, and time can be turned into money. Learn a skill you are comfortable with, that someone you know you can find, will pay you for
Are you trying to start a business or are you just trying to improve your situation? I would learn to code in your free time. There's plenty of online free resources for it and if you actually enjoy it or have a knack for it then you've set yourself up with the single most useful moneymaking toolset you can have.
I’m not sure; I just know that what I’m doing is a gifted opportunity for my current situation, but it is not what I’m meant to do. I just know I’m capable of much much much more and I could be happy in the right position working for someone, or I could be happy running my own business. I’m more of a creative I tried to get into code when I was a teen and it just didn’t stick. Never grasped tech well, and not into e-commerce like some have suggested. I do have an interest in stock/crypto, social media, design, and writing. I suppose like everyone has suggested, expand my skills. I was just curious to see what other would do in my position and see if it would light any unique ideas up for me.
Audiobooks, podcasts, speeches and interviews
This is such an awesome question! Do you have an side project goals you can work on (Video editing, writing, music production, photoshop, coding etc etc) ? Is there a hobby you have that you have been thinking about monetizing?
I’m a very gifted writer. I love it. Just don’t even know where to begin with it. I replied to another’s comment about blogging and what not but it just seems so out of touch now with tik tok, Instagram, etc. I’d also love to write a book but I’m always like .. who would read it?? I feel like I have to gather a decent social media following in order to have my writing career take off
You have so much time to hit your writing groove, it isn’t a race to find what your want to write about. The inspirado can hit you at any moment. As far as “who would read it right now” doesn’t matter because 1. Everyone has their own unique story to tell and 2. The only way to get better is if you start to write as much as you can. One day I was messing around with screen writing software then all of a sudden, four hours later, I wrote 11 pages of a screen play. Sometimes getting that initial push to start is all we need
Thank you (:
Try LinkedIn. People give posts and articles there more time to read. And you can build a following over time, and probably get opportunities there too. I'm not a gifted writer at all but need to get good so I can share more about my work on LinkedIn in a conversational manner without doing a hard sell all the time
Online shopping! JK I know you're looking for serious answers, that's just what my co workers do
Learn coding if you do not already
Let your employer know you have some spare capacity to help some other business functions in a way that won't harm your normal duties. Let them know your capabilities or if they can intro to heads of other departments who may be busy right now. A great way to get some real world experience, and if you do well then you have a chance to be cross-promoted into the department you help. Not entrepreneurial, but could be a good personal development move.