I am hoping mods keep this up, if they do not..well the rest of reddit is correct about how they are viewed.
I am a college student who has been fortunate enough to make a lot of money while doing it, as well as use the GI Bill and get lucky with some work options. Compared to your average 32 year old, even out of school, I have a lot of money.
This post most likely will catch some flak by many here, there are a lot of people in this sub who spend their day looking to rip on anyone because they have to find some way to gain back control of their lives (somewhere) because they obviously have no control over their work.
I would like to offer four short tips that I have found to be useful. Please bear in mind that it is hard to make use of them sometimes, hell even for me as I would rather leave my current employer but due to the economy and other factors, I will be staying post graduation to sort out my next moves.
- Read Machiavelli, ALL OF HIS WORKS.
-N.M was a brilliant human being, and gets a bad rap from many. Most likely due to the inability for most to comprehend the work as it is very dense, but disguised in the words of flattery toward those who he wished to curtail favor. Ignore the Youtube producers for the most part, read not only Principalities, but Business Lessons by N.M, Understanding N.M, the Art of Politics and War, The Mandrake, etc. Understand how he lived, what he learned, and how to apply it. Life is not fair, and its time for you to make it fair in your favor.
- Negotiating power is key.
-Some of us have it, others do not. Some of us think we have it and we do not (I found this out last year a bit), and some of us have it and do not realize it. Understand what it is and how to use it. Prompt 1 will help, but what will also help is taking a weekend to dive into the psychology and philosophy of negotiations. I have no off the top sources for this, but if you follow 1, and understand it, 2 will follow.
- Move in silence.
-Understand from 1 and 2 that 3 follows, try to slowly deconstruct your online presence, the less people know about your true feelings (from 1 and 2), then the easier 3 becomes. The bigger your footprint in areas that could cause trouble, the more problems arise. You never know who is in a thread.
- Trim the fat, find a way to increase employability, and force it to your favor.
-Figure out that plan, trim the fat, be prepared to move continents (literally for me) to find it. Take only what you need and understand that the suffering to get there is worth it. Use the anger you feel in your current situation to drive your success. Anger can be amazing fuel if you channel it through a torche to which you can carve a masterpiece.
5* And edit
I found this out again, after being a soldier for years. Many know this, but if you do not
YOUR EMPLOYER IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
You can be friendly with them, you can love them as a friend (I suggest not) but they are YOUR EMPLOYER.
This is why in the infantry more often then not, when you get promoted, you are moved units or platoons. Because friendship can cause drama. Not always, but it can
Here is a personal anecdote:
I was given a 1 percent increase after my company made net (if you do not know, this is take home profit) 66 million dollars. AFTER EVERYONE WAS PAID, I did not even get a dollar raise. My direct boss and I have a great relationship, but there was nothing she could do. She was very excited to give me the raise, of course, she needs to be. I did earn a raise of course, perfect marks for 12 months in a row in all categories (soldier in me, good at following orders and not bitching ever).
I was upset for a week or two, then it clicked *no shit dumbass, she is great and so are you, but she is bound by HR, which is bound by accounting, which is bound by the CFO. THIS IS BUSINESS, lesson learned for me.
I still like my boss, we joke and laugh, but work is work, and I learned I cannot put the same effort in here as I did in the military fighting in trenches of Iraq.
Hope some of this helps. If you want financial advice message me, I am by no means qualified (BIG BOLD PRINT HERE) but I can do my best to offer help in anyway I can
_Goofy Goober Out