When it comes to jobs, be a chess player !

Have you ever read “10 reasons why you should never get a job” by Steve Palina. If not, why don’t you take a glance at this great post first, then we’ll continue.

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Now, how do you feel after reading ? Excited, shocked, yes, all the emotions could be listed here. But you’ve got to admit what he said, is true.

Want to jump out of your pitiful place of dull, boring job for a new and wide open horizon of freedom, do you ? Want to speak out loud :” I’m free !”. Yes, you do. I do. We do. But wait a minute, hot shot! There’s something you’ve got to know.

Are you a chess or a player ?

The difference is obvious. Being a chess means being manipulated by the player. You can’t decide your own moves, you must obey commands. A pawn, a knight even a queen, it’s just the same. Look at some jobs, are they turning you into something similar to a chess ? Obey the rules, and likely to be sacrificed for another purpose.

Being a player means control over things. Decide what you want, and how to get it. A player is absolutely powerful. And it’s what Steve Palina wants in his article, shows the difference between a chess and a player.

But what's wrong being a chess ?

Hey, there's no "wrong-or-right" answer here. It's your personal and unique choice. I can't say which one is better.

Being a chess could be fun. A secure jobs with salary, have nothing to worry. But in cost of  freedom, for sure. The job security depends on someone's decisions, not yours.

A player must think and plan 3 moves in advance. I once played chess, and this principle always works :”Plan 3 moves ahead this one”. Henry Ford once said : 

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it”.

Being a player means hard work and concentration and discipline. However, you can decide how much your income is, and how many of it. Wonderful, and freedom, yes, freedom.

Everything has its own price.

OK, now you're agree with me, but you can’t just jump in the strange body of water and adapt. You should prepare.

Why ? Unless you’re addicted to challenges, quitting a job without a backup plan is risky.   ( Believe me, I was in that situation). On the other hand, each choice has both pros and cons, it's up to you to decide.

In my opinion, it’s better to have a job then create your new income.

Remember, you can be a mere chess at this playfield, but a mighty player at other places.

OK ! What now ? 

I'll show you a way to be a chess player, of course.

 1. Motivate yourself

If you’re jobless , it’s quite easy.

If you have a job, the resistance could be high enough to prevent you from doing this.

It's the thought : "Why should I do this ? I'm Okay now. Later ! I don't have time".

Remember, a player has plan for 3 moves in advance.

Solution  : Pay attention to something you really, really want. Something you've dreamed of for a long time, it can be bought easily with the salary and savings, but of course, don’t pay for it. For example :

_ Watches

_ TV
_ Tools for home improvement
_ Gift for your wife ( home applicances )

Remember this principle : Buy these with your new income, not your salary.

2. Create an income to buy it

How many ways to make money ? Well, countless. Remember, 80% ( or even 90 % )  of them are useless, which means neither of them create a cent. But, keep up the good work. You're just one step away from the finish line.

Write down all your ideas ( even useless ones ) because you don't know, maybe it'll be useful again in the future.

There're for you something to chew on :

A freelancer : writing, designing, programming, anything. What are you good at ? Consider it a part time job, do it at weekend.

A translator : language proficiency is always good . And if it’s a rare and hard one, it’s better than good. Italian, Hebrew, Chinese, ..., up to you.

Write an ebook  : Your experience, your knowledge, can you turn them into a guide ? Now, thanks to Internet, publishing ebook is simple.

Resource :

1. Books : 

I hererby include 10 books to give you basic ideas about this topic

(  News : If you're U.S and Canada citizens, 18 years of age or older,you can have a free copy of Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth!
  here  )

2. Board Game and E-Game:

The famous Cashflow games are recommended for your financial freedom journey. They're easy to play, but have precious lessons. I've been playing with these for months, and found them really interesting

The first two are board games. The board games is fun when being played with your friends while the E-games ( the rest )  are designed for personal training with your PC ( but online playing is also available ).The last one is Cashflow for kids with fundamental concepts.

There're some differences between Cashflow 101 and Cashflow 202

Cashflow 101 teaches accounting, finance, and investing at the same time. It gives you fundamental ideas about Rat race, Fast track, Opportunity, Downsized... You must play this before proceeding to Cashflow 202

Cashflow 202 provides advanced business and investing techniques used by technical investors by adding volatility to the game. It has advanced investment techniques of "short-selling stock", "put-options", "call-options", "straddles" and real estate exchanges. The game is more challenging, thus it's harder to win.

You must have Cashflow 101 before purchasing 202.

Cashflow for kids : The kids may found this board game less interested than Xbox 360 

But why we don't make this a game, with prize ?

Tell them : If they play the board game good enough, they will know how to purchase this awesome LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon
with their own money.

 3. Ebook publisher  :

You may want to have a look at Smashwords ( I’ve published my first ebook here, love the service ), Lulu is another choice.

These articles provide some insights about this service :

How to self-publish an ebook by David Carnoy

How to actually make money selling ebook by Ryan Dube

4. Freelancer : 

I've tried these sites and would like to share to you :

a. Odesk

The most popular site for freelancer. I highly recommend it because of the professional services. It's like the combination of LinkedIn with a freelancer site. The users should create their own profiles ( the progress is measured with a 100% quota ) which give other a closer look at their experience.

Another good point for this site is "the test" giving you appropriate questions for your chosen area. For example, if one of your skills is "writing", then oDesk will recommend you to take a test about this area ( multiple choices ). The test result is "solid proof" for the skill, good idea.

Remember, a fresh user get only 3 proposals per week. To increase this number to 15 proposals per week, he or she must take a test about the oDesk service ( brilliant idea )

Whether you're a freelancer or a client, oDesk has protection for each case :

_ Freelancer : you'll be provided with a "time check" ( if doing hourly job) to make sure the paid relevant to the spent hours. ( They recommend freelancers to take hourly job because this  feature makes it easy to calculate the bill )

_ Client : Must have your payment verified to get trust by the freelancer. The client can sue the freelancer if you believe he or she did something fishy. 

b. Elance and Peopleperhour

They are also great. I love the layout of these sites, clear and nice.

They have one thing in common, you have 15 points for free account. Each time posting a proposal costs you 1 point which can be purchased more with money.

Elance allows you to put your proposal at the top for another 1 point.

But they don't have the profile builder as professional as oDesk did.But give them a try.

c. Getacoder :

 Not just for coder !  You may find countless of jobs here.

I have some bad feeling about this site. It does provides profile for user, but the profile isn't detailed. And they don't force the user to provide true information. So we have no idea if the client is good or not.

Somebody may hire you only to type captcha images for them, be careful, stay away !

In my opinion,oDesk remains top choice, Elance and Peopleperhour are worth trying. Getacoder is just for outsourcing your job.
  

For other freelancer websites, view this article : 19  ways to make money online