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Today I will reach to the end with my discussion to Steve Pavlina’s article „10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job“. Here are the final arguments from Steve.

8. An inbred social life

Many people spend much time together with their colleagues. I do not mean only working time, but evenings and weekend as well. Usually you do not choose your co-workers (if you are not at the managerial position) so you will not choose the people you are socializing with. You just get hired to one department and after that you are going to spend much time together with them.

If you are a businessman than you do not have pre-assigned colleagues and you have more choice with whom you are going to spend time together. You have more freedom and you can be together with people you really like.

Actually if you are an employee there is no obligation to spend your leisure time together with your colleagues. For example, I have never spent too much time together with my co-workers from the university. I have always had my friends outside university and I have always preferred them.

The fact that jobs will inbreed your social life applies mainly to people who are not very eager to make friends. It is an easy way to socialize with people, who you are working together with and to participate in all kinds of company parties and activities instead of finding yourself places to go and things to do.

9. Loss of freedom

On many jobs there are detailed job descriptions and employees are strictly told what and when they should and should not do. They may not have control over their working time, they may not choose their working tasks and co-workers. They may even to be told how to dress, talk and move.

On the other hand, being a business man provides you freedom. Nobody will tell you what you have to do. Actually you do not have to do anything (but you will not earn money then). You may wear whatever you like (although what you are wearing will affect your business success).

Although being an employee is more restrictive it suits better to people who are below average in self-discipline, who are not confident to make decisions individually or who want that they are supervised.

10. Becoming a coward

An employee may be dissatisfied with his/her boss, but he usually can’t or does not dare to criticize him much, because it may cost his/her job. Therefore workers may hate their bosses in their hearts but they still will obey them. But this is generating stress and unhappiness. If you are an employee then you will loose your courage.

Fortunately, things are not so dark. Opposing your boss, will not always cost you a job, in some cases it may give you more respect and will have a positive impact on your career progress. You boss will notice you. And even if it costs you a job, then you can get a new one. If you act bravely then it will increase your self-respect which will help you in finding a new job.

To sum all these arguments up, it is not possible to tell what kind of a life should a person live, should he be an employee or start his own business. Everyone is free to make his decision. Being an employee is an easy solution and it is better possibility for people, who are less capable (actually they believe that they are so). Being an entrepreneur requires much effort. Basically every one can do it, if they really want it and if they believe in themselves. But if you do not have enough belief in yourself or will-power then it will not be a good solution for you.

kristjan Business freedom, jobs, leisure time, working time

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Today I will continue with discussion to Steve Pavlina’s article „10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job“. Let’s take the next arguments from Steve.

4. Too many mouth to feed

Employees are usually taxed heavier than businessman. If you own your company then it gives you many options for tax deductions reducing the amount of money you will have to pay to the state. In addition, when you are an employee then you have to earn profits for your company. If you are working in your own company then you will keep the profits. An employee you will get only a fraction of the income you generate.

While all this is true and for many people these are good reasons for having their own business, there are some drawbacks of it. While you have to pay more taxes as an employee, you do not have to bother yourself with the bookkeeping. It is not so difficult, but for some people it is the reason why they prefer to be wage earners.

Managing a business is even more difficult thing to do. If you are a part of a big team then you can earn money even if you are not doing so great job. If your performance is below average then you will be clearly better off as an employee. You will not earn much, buy still get something to cover your expenses.

5. Way too risky

Steve claims that employment is too risky as you can get fired easily. You will not have control over your company. If the management is making silly decisions that will drive the company into bankruptcy then you really cannot do much about it. In the ongoing economic and financial crises so many people have lost their jobs and it really feels that employment is not as safe as it was before.

It is true that employment relationships are not so stable anymore. Those times are over when you could work the whole life in one organization. Getting fired is part of our lives. Still, if you are a good employee then the chances of you getting fired are lower (although Steve is right that things are not completely under your control).

If you are an employee than you can get fired if you are a businessman then you can go into bankruptcy. Although the outcome will depend more on you when you are an entrepreneur the consequences of it may be more favorable to an employee. If you will get fired you will receive unemployment insurance and you can find a new job. Most people who get fired will not remain unemployed for the rest of their life.

6. Having an evil bovine master

The word boss comes from the Dutch word baas, which historically means master. Steve argues that you can avoid unpleasant people when doing business, but you cannot avoid your boss even if you hate him.

Still, even if you are a businessman then you may still have to deal with people you do not like. You can encounter them every where. It is true that you can choose your business partners, but it is also true that you can choose your boss. If you do not like your boss, then you can get a new job.

7. Begging for money

If you are an employee then you will have to ask from your boss for a raise. It is true that employees, who do not fight for their wages are often underpaid. So there will be always a debate with your boss about your pay and you can view it as begging.

If you are a businessman then you have to earn profits on your own and you will not have to negotiate about them. This is absolutely true. In addition the possibilities for earning more are much bigger as a businessman. Still, flexible and performance based pay systems are more and more used, which allow earning higher wages for employees with out begging from the boss.

kristjan Business bankruptcy, Business, job, profits, wage earners

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I got an idea of writing this post by reading Steve Pavlina’s article „10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job“. In this post he explains why you should not be a wage earner as it is better idea to start your own business. I personally prefer to be an entrepreneur too, and I am less and less working for pay. At the same time I do not agree that being an employer cannot be a desirable and suitable solution for many people. Many people are not capable of doing business and many people do not want to do it. Let’s take a closer look to Steve’s 10 arguments.

1. Income for dummies

When you are a wage earner then you are getting paid when you are working. You have a certain number of working hours or you have certain tasks to complete. You are only paid for doing them. If you own your business then your business is working for you, your goods are being sold by other salesman and so you can be making money while you are sleeping or snowboarding. In that sense income from employment is active, while income from business is passive.

In fact, income from business is rarely totally passive. You still have to do some work. Even if you have invested your money to other peoples’ businesses then you have to keep your eye on your investment. It takes lot of time to build a business that earns you money. Keep in mind that on the average self-employed works more hours than wage earners. If you start your own business then you have to work very hard in the beginning and it takes time until you will be earning money.

And even if you succeed then it is very difficult to automate your business to the extent that you can be totally passive. Even if you are doing business in internet, then it takes time. For example, it took time for me to write this blog post and upload it. Of course, if you have it running well then you can reduce then number of hours you put in it, but usually the market situation is changing fast and you have to develop your business continuously, which requires your effort.

In the short-run you will be making more money in the paid employment. When you start your own business then it may often happen that in the first one or two years you will not earn any profits.

2. Limited experience

Many people do not start their own businesses as they think that they are not experienced well enough for that. Therefore they will get a job and obtain experience from it and pretend that they will start their own businesses later.

Steve argues that being an employee provides experience for being an employee and that kind of experience is not much use when you want to by a business owner. Most jobs give you experience how to do a specific task well instead of teaching you to how to make money.

I would not underestimate the value of experiences from paid employment although I would agree to Steve to some extent. Your job will develop many different skills for you are clearly some of them are beneficial for starting your own business. I would say that you will need these experiences especially if you are let’s say 20 years old. It is very difficult to start you own business by that time. If you have worked for 5 year in other company then it will be much easier.

Of course it depends on the type of job you have. If you have a job in sales or management then it can be pretty similar to entrepreneurship and it will give you lot’s of experiences. If you are working as a librarian then it will not help you that much. I have being working at the university for 5 years and although my experience is not directly linked to business, I would say that it is useful for my for my business projects.

3. Lifelong domestication

When you have a job then you are taken care of many things. You are provided work tasks and tools, you get regular pay every month, you do not have to deal with accounting, taxes or selling your product.

It may be comfortable for you but at the same time you have to obey the orders from your boss. He decides what you should do and what not to do. To some extent it may be look similar to being a pet or even a slave. You have to obey your master and he takes care of you.

Entrepreneurship gives you freedom. That is one of the main reasons why many people choose to start their own businesses. It is the same for me. I like freedom. I like to make decisions on my own.

But freedom is not so easy. It is not so comfortable. If you make mistakes then they will hurt you more when you are a businessman. If you make a mistake as an employee then you may get fired, but you can usually find another job and until that you can get money from unemployment insurance. If you are a businessman then wrong decision can cost you your investments.

Actually many people prefer to be pets. They are satisfied with moderate income and they enjoy the fact that at 5 PM they can close the door of their office and may forget their jobs until the next morning.

Not everybody is capable of doing business. If you know that you have serious trouble on focusing to the work if your boss is not monitoring you then you would be better of by working for your boss. Business is not for lazy people. But if you want to be lazy then paid employment may provide you an option of living a lazy and comfortable life.

kristjan Business doing business, entrepreneur, freedom

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The overwhelming majority of the richest people of the world are involved in entrepreneurship in one way or another. It is almost impossible to reach the highest income ranks as a wage earner. An exception to that rule is individuals who are world class in some professions. For example best actors, singers, and professional athletes. In other cases you have to do some business in order to become ultimately rich.

Only a relatively small number of people deal with entrepreneurship. Although the entrepreneurial activity is different in different countries, the number of self-employed is roughly 10% of the employed in the western countries. It means that only one out of ten deals with business and the rest of people are employees. Why so few people choose entrepreneurship, when it is practically the only way of getting very rich. One reason is the fact that although some business-owners are extremely wealthy, on the average the self-employed are not much richer than employees. There are many small businessmen all over the world which have not created a decent income despite the fact that they have dealt with their businesses for several years. Some people do not earn anything form entrepreneurship, their businesses go broke and the entrepreneurs loose their investments, which in many cases come from their personal savings.

The second reason for such a low share of entrepreneurs is a widely spread belief that most people are not good in doing business their personality is not suitable for that. This can be used for explaining the fact that many businessmen are unsuccessful and cannot reach high earnings. Usually the personal traits which are required for doing business successfully are the following

• Desire for achievement and will-power. Entrepreneurship requires continuous and goal-oriented action. There will always be drawbacks and it may take some time to gain success. Doing business is suitable for those who like to commit them themselves to achieving results in longer perspective.
• Desire for independence. Entrepreneur is his own boss, in many cases his quite individualistic by his nature. Entrepreneurship is not suitable for people who like chatting with colleagues and passing time doing nothing. If there is no boss, it means that no one will give you detailed orders what you have to do, the entrepreneur has to decide it on his own.
• Self-confidence and optimism. Entrepreneurship is about making choices. What is the best price for your product? How to advertise your product? How many and what kind of employees do you need? How much you will pay them? An entrepreneur has to make such decisions every day. If you are indecisive or sceptic about future then it is difficult to be a businessman. Entrepreneur has to pursue its goals without being too much worried about the possibility of failure. Entrepreneur has to pursue profits not avoid losses.
• Risk tolerance and eagerness to act in uncertain situations. No business is completely risk-free. Although preparation, gathering information and commitment to your business will reduce the risks, there is no possibility to totally eliminate them. Entrepreneur’s income is unstable over the years, one year he may earn millions of profit, the next year he may get losses. If you like stable and fixed income, then entrepreneurship is not for you.
• Inclination to fast decisions and action. The world is changing faster and faster. Entrepreneur can not wait long with his management decisions or the competitors will be ahead of him. In doing business, there is frequently not enough time for sophisticated analysis, but you have to make a good enough decision during a short period of time.

Most of people think that those kinds of traits are inborn or at least formed in childhood or youth and therefore people, who are lacking these characteristics, think that they are not suitable for entrepreneurship. In fact, as far as they do not possess these characteristics doing business may not be successful for them. But actually it is possible to develop entrepreneurial traits even if you are grown-up. First of all it means altering your thinking. We can change our attitudes towards risk. We can develop diligence and dedication. We can train ourselves to make fast decisions. We can get used to unstable earnings. We can make a habit of acting without orders of the boss. If we think a little then we find that we can acquire all those characteristics, which were listed above. Of course, the question is that are we ready to change ourselves and do we want to work hard on that. If yes, then we can be successful entrepreneurs.

kristjan Business business skills, doing business, earnings, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, personality

Dr. Frey with Micro Fa micro chip, which protects against radiation from mobile phones

Every day I am getting more and more involved in business activities. Besides this blog and speed reading course, I run two companies. One of them Dream Capital Ltd. is an investment and insurance broker company and MICRIM  is selling health products.

In a previous post I have discussed how speed reading has helped me to defend my PhD thesis. Today I am going to share my thoughts about how does it help me to do business better.

First of all I would point out that if I had not taken up speed reading then I would probably had not got involved in business. I was a 100% academic and working at the university provided a nice and stable career with decent income. Learning to speed read somehow opened my eyes and showed me that there is more inside me. While I was quite a bright student in high school then at the university I was really not giving my best. I studied economics, but I did not aim at the business career. I wanted to be a politician instead. But soon I realized that I did not like politics and after I graduated MA studies I was out of ideas what to do with my life. Then I was offered a position at the university and at the same time I entered a PhD program. From that on I saw my life as a scientist and I did not believe that I was capable of having a business career.

But after I learned to speed read I started seeing the academic life slow and unproductive. Suddenly I wanted to do something more practical, efficient and I wanted to make more money too. Then I started teaching speed reading classes as self-employed in addition to holding a position at the university. From that point on I was doing business and afterwards I started my other projects.

Besides giving me the attitude of being fast and efficient speed reading itself allows me to save a lot of time on reading. In business you have less time for making decisions than in academic career and you need to find and work through right information fast. The number of emails I receive every day must have at least tripled in last 2 years. I need to read more reports, internal documents than before. If I were a slow reader then it would be very difficult to handle this.

I use a lot more internet resources due to my business activities. I browse more websites, read more blogs and company resources. For doing business you have to know what is going around at the market and what are you competitors doing.

Being an entrepreneur means that you have to continuously educate yourself. The world is changing fast and you just have to keep up with it. Therefore you have to read a lot. It is especially important for me as a beginner entrepreneur as I have to gain knowledge in management and marketing. In my academic career I was oriented towards economic theory and therefore I did not have much interest in management or marketing. But for being a practical businessman you have to be familiar with these subjects So I think I have to read even more than an ordinary businessman as I have to work more on my weaknesses.

While I have to read a lot for business, reading texts alone will earn no money. There are many other activities which take up my time. If I were a slow reader I would end up with working for 12 or 14 hours a day. It would generate lots of stress and I would burn out sooner or later. I definitely do not want that. So I just have to read faster to save time. Speed reading gives me a possibility to have time for resting and leisure activities.

kristjan Business, Speed Reading academic career, academic life, blogs, Business, business career, doing business, speed reading, speed reading course

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The ongoing global economic crises started from the real estate crises. During the last year too much real estate was developed in many countries all over the world. That real estate has dropped sharply in its value by now. During the real estate boom many houses were built on purpose for earning a short-term profit as the real estate prices increased rapidly. Now the situation has changed and the question is what will be the value of real estate in the future. Although it is difficult to predict future real estate prices, some general trends which will have an impact on the real estate prices in somewhat longer perspective (5-10 year), can be outlines. Next I will present the most important developments, which will affect the demand and prices of residential property during the next decade.

Our time will become more and more valuable. First, it is caused by the fact that our earnings increase in the long-run and it means that we can earn more and more money with our time. Second, as the income increases, individuals have more possibilities for leisure activities, which is require time for doing that. It is not likely that people will be happy to spend their valuable leisure moments on household tasks. Therefore people will prefer more and more that kind of housing, which does not require too much time for housekeeping activities. The heating system is also important. If the it is not based on an automated solution, which requires active human participation in the heating process, for example, oven heating, then it will not match the life style of a time valuing person.

The location of the real estate is also related the increasing value of time. If your home is far from your job, schools, kindergartens, shopping centres, sporting facilities etc., then a reasonable amount of time is spent on commuting. The more people value their time, the less they are willing to waste time on travelling from one place to another. So it can be argued, that the location of real estate will become even more essential in the future. As people are travelling more and more to foreign countries both for work and leisure, then the international connections of the location are becoming important. How far is it from the airports, how many direct flights departures from the nearest airport? How good is the railway connection with foreign countries?

Holiday in foreign countries will become more affordable and popular. Our jobs will also become more time and location flexible and it is possible that short time stays in foreign countries will become regular for many of us. For example a web designer or accountant can live for a month or two to a warm and sunny place like Hawaii or Thailand during the winter months and he can do this work over the distance using information and telecommunication technology.. This leads to a fact that people will spend in their homes less time. This can create two trends. First, using their homes less means that people are willing to pay less money for that, which can lead to a change in preferences toward cheaper housing. As at the same time the location of the property will become more important, it could lead to increased demand for small apartments in good location. Secondly, it people stay away from home for longer periods, it makes profitable for them to rent out their home when they are away. So if the house or apartment well suited for renting it could increase its value.

Family relationships will become more unstable and they will have shorter duration. The new generation will value more freedom and variety. The starting age of long-term cohabitation will increase, the greater share of young people will attend foreign universities, work in foreign countries and the youth will travel more to foreign countries. If the present economic crises will become too long, then it could decrease the birth rate. If the number of kids in families is smaller then the demand for large houses will be lower.

Among demographical processes the aging of the population will have also an impact on real estate demand. If the share of elderly population increases, then their preferences will affect the real estate more and more. What kind of real estate is demanded by old-aged people? Usually they need less living space than the younger ones, well functioning public transport system and peaceful environment have great importance for them. They do not care so much about the modern design, so they are reluctant to live in older houses, especially if it is cheaper.

Besides aging population and low birth rates the European countries have a problem of high and continuously increasing labour costs, which create a demand for using cheaper foreign labour. The cross-boarder labour mobility will increase in the future. As labour mobility means more changes of residence, then it will foster the development of rental real estate market as more and more people will benefit more from renting instead of buying real estate.

In conclusion, it can be argued that in the future there will be increased demand for more flexible real estate solutions, which correspond well to continuously changing lifestyles and preferences. People will change their homes more than before during their lifetime. Therefore real estate, which can be easily sold or rented, will gain more value in the future.

kristjan Business earnings, household tasks

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It is a well-known myth that you need money for making money. Lots of people claim that they could be running some kind of business projects, if they only had the starting capital. Many people, who have made plans of starting entrepreneurship, bring lack of capital as an excuse for not getting ahead with their plans.

But do we really need money for making money? In fact, there exist lots of examples, when huge amounts of starting capital have been unnecessary for creating a very profitable business. One of the best examples is YouTube. It was founded in February 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. It started from the search of a sensible method to share videos over the internet for personal use. In November 2006, Google bought YouTube for 1.65 billion US$.

But what happens when a person with insufficient financial knowledge acquires a huge amount of money. It can be possible by winning a lottery or inheriting some funds. In many cases the equity gained by a windfall is partially or totally lost. You may think that they just spend it, but this is not the most common case. More often they lose their money by disastrous investments or bad business deals. If you suddenly have a lot of money, it does not make you an investor or a businessman. You are not smarter than before. Frequently, having a big sum of money leads to an excessively high level of self-confidence and underestimation of business risks. In many cases, those newly rich get many business offers from their friends, who are not professionals either, and so they get involved in business project with doubtful value.

Too much capital can be disastrous for a starting company, as it could lead to inefficient action. If you have lots of capital, then you are likely to start from the very beginning with relatively high office, communication, marketing, transport and other costs. You are likely to use many standard, expensive and inefficient solutions for your business processes. But, in the situation where you have a limited amount of starting capital, you are forced to work out how it is possible to run your business on low costs. It forces you to be creative and flexible and develops entrepreneurial habits.

To start a successful business you firstly need the skills. Many people think that you need to have a good business idea, but actually a good idea is useless, if you are not able to apply it. There are lots of people, who have many good business thoughts, but who will not be able to put them into practice. But if you have the necessary skills for entrepreneurship then it is always possible to apply other people’s ideas. The most important skills for entrepreneurship are:

• Creativity and flexible thinking. In order to be better then your competitors, you have to do things better than they do. The most successful businesses are based on both new ideas and new ways of applying these ideas. Why most of the businesses do not make much money? Because they follow a well-known path, their products and services are not distinguishable from their competitors’ ones and they are just copies of other businesses. They are just another hardware store, travel agency or restaurant.
• Ability to predict future. The world is changing faster and faster. Products, services, production processes, marketing and customers’ needs are constantly changing. So, in order to cope, the entrepreneur must be able to see what the future will look like, and take necessary actions.
• Ability to attract capital and labour. An entrepreneur must be able to sell his idea to employees or owners of the capital. You have to attract other people’s money to raise capital. You have to attract people to your team, who are impressed by your plans and who will enthusiastically contribute their time and effort for your success.
• Ability to take action efficiently. An entrepreneur cannot just sit, do nothing and wait for the end of the day. Business is to a great extent, putting things into practise. You have to be able to manage yourself and your time, plan your action and avoid wasting time on rubbish.

Fortunately, we can enhance all our skills, which means that we can get better and better with our business skills if we work on them. The progress is not made overnight, but if we devote our effort to constant improvement, we gradually get better every day. In the end we will be able to do everything we did not even dare to dream before.

kristjan Business business project, business skills, creativity, financial knowledge, self confidence

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Many businesspeople have developed an attitude that meetings are pointless and waste of time. Sadly, many of the meetings are. But it is not because meetings itself are bad, but because they are badly organized, badly run or used in the situations, when other communication methods are more efficient.

Meetings allow people seeing eye-to-eye and direct communication, which enables to express and see feelings and emotions better than any other communication channel. The risk of misunderstanding each other is lower in case of meetings and there is an immediate option for asking questions and clarifying misunderstandings. It makes meetings an efficient tool for communication and solving problems. But meetings are good only in some situations.

On the general meeting other people is justified in the following situations:

• Making complex decisions. If there is a need to work out a solution to a specific problem and if it calls for longer discussion then organizing a meeting is a good idea. It allows people to present their opinion and arguments. Meetings are especially justified if there is a need to involve many people in the decision process and it is necessary to have each of them to participate in discussion.
• Generating new ideas. If people come together then they are away form their other tasks and it can increase their focus and creativity. If you want to brainstorm new ideas then it is sensible to come together.
• Providing critique to other people. If a subordinate of you has not managed to do his job properly then this issue needs to be immediately discussed. In that case it has to be ensured that there are no misunderstandings. Things have to be clarified and meeting face-to-face is a best option for that.

At the same time meetings are not very efficient in some occasions such as:

• Delivering simple information. You can do it on meetings, but it is really a waste of time. There is no point in bringing people together for presenting some informational matters such as work schedules, regular reports or some other kind of simple information. Meetings are pointless if the only point of communication is delivering information without expecting active feedback from the participants.
• Working on tasks which need individual activities. It sometimes happens that people are brought together for discussing and solving problems about some projects. At the same time these problems may call for individual work from some parties. For example, after making one decision then there has to be done some research or compiled a presentation before it is possible to move on. In that case the meeting should be held only for making the decision and it should be ended after the decision is reached. Then people should be assigned their individual tasks (research and presentation compilation in this example) and only if these have been completed then people can be brought together for the next meeting. It is especially harmful for people’s time if during the meeting some people are doing some individual work and other participants have to wait for them to finish.
• Turning down offers. If you want to say “no” to an offer then usually it is not worth time meeting the person. In addition, if you are facing a pushy salesperson then turning down an offer can be time wasting if you meet him and he will not let you go.

kristjan Business, time management communication, creativity, meetings

I had not played much soccer before I was 24 years old. As I am quite tall then I was more into basketball during high school and university days although I was never at the top level. For short time I also practiced rowing during high school. But five years ago on one Friday night when drinking heavily with my friends one of us proposed going to play soccer on the next day.

From that point on we played soccer every Saturday and after that there was usually sauna and beer. If we had done it for some months then we played a friendly match against one amateur soccer team and although we expected the opposition to be much stronger than our team it was not that bad. We lost the game 3:5, but it gave us inspiration to form our football club WC Guwalda and start playing league games.

This year it is already fifth league season for us. I have been the manager of the club and a player for all these years. Probably I am one of the worst soccer players in Estonia and our team has never been too competitive. We have been always playing in the lowest division in Estonia and for all seasons we have been on the first or second place in the league table if we look it from the bottom.

It has consumed lots of time for me. We usually have 22 league games on Sundays and it means that for almost half of the year I have spend much of my Sundays on playing soccer. In addition we have soccer practices for two hours twice a week.

How does it fit do my life style if I am a time management trainer? Could it regarded as too much time consuming and pointless if there are no good results for the team? Well, time management is about spending time on the activities what we want to do. Of course, the point is to perform your tasks efficiently, but what you are going to do with your time depends on what do you want from your life. And you can do practically everything if you are happy with it.

Playing soccer has always been fun to me. Although I really can’t play I like doing it. It is true that it consumes time. But soccer is for leisure for me. I work efficiently to get my other tasks completed fast for having time for soccer.

Besides the fact that I like playing soccer, it gives me physical exercise, which is necessary for me as much of my work takes place behind the computer. Since I started playing soccer my physical condition has improved a lot. I have lost about 15 kilograms (35 pounds) of bodyweight since I started with it. I have much more strength and endurance now. Overall I am in better physical shape.

Physical exercise does not only allow me to be in good physical shape and feel well, but it also provides variety to my life. I really cannot be efficient if I sit the whole day in the office. If I have some physical activities then they will help me to restore my mental energy. I will feel more refreshed and I am able to work faster.

As I have been the manager of the soccer club then it has given my managerial experiences. I have not been employed to a managerial position and 5 years ago I did not have skills to lead people. But when I had to do business for the club, then it meant that I had to find sponsors, search for new players, negotiate deals with different service providers etc. I find it has given my much valuable experience, which I have benefited, when I started my entrepreneurial career.

Playing soccer and managing the club has also extended my social network. During five years about 50 different players have been involved in the team. In addition, I have made contacts with many other partners. I have benefited from those relationships when doing business and I am sure I will do it in the future. For example, last week I found a new sales agent for my investment broker company through the soccer club.

kristjan Business, time management benefits, computer, inspiration, life style, playing soccer, time management

Photo by Minnesota Historical Society

Overcoming the global economic crises depends among many factors also on the number of entrepreneurs, who could adjust to the forthcoming changes. Probably many existing businesses will die during this or the next year. It creates an opportunity for new companies to replace the old ones on the market. The last one hundred years has mostly been the century of the employees as the share of the entrepreneurs in the population has been lower than during the previous centuries. A couple of hundred years ago all the handicraftsmen and farmers were entrepreneurs. Now the situation could change, but the growth of the entrepreneurship activity depends to a great extent on the career choices of young people. The central issue is how many university graduates are going to start their own businesses. But they need relevant education for being successful in it.

Most of the entrepreneurs are not persons, who have deep specific knowledge in a particular field. In the majority of cases they have broad-based education. Dealing with business, especially with small business requires skills and knowledge from different fields, as the have to face many different tasks. The opposite case is the specialists, who are employed in big companies, as they can concentrate on specialisation to a narrower field and enhancing a limited number of skills. Although entrepreneurs can and have to employ specialists, they still need diverse knowledge for recruiting specialists, giving them appropriate tasks and evaluating their performance.

Recently there was made a survey among the graduates of the Business School of Stanford University, which investigated how the study results and choices in curricula affect the probability of starting an own business after graduation. The results of the analysis gave support to the hypothesis, that balanced set of skills increases the chances of being an entrepreneur.

First, the probability of starting business was higher for those graduates, whose grades were more evenly distributed among different courses. Those, who got very high grades in some subjects and low grade in other subjects, were likely to become an employee.

Second, the future entrepreneurs were more likely to choose courses over a broader spectrum of fields. They did not choose classes only from one field like management or marketing, but the studies include various courses in all fields of economics.

Third, those who started businesses, worked during their studies on many different jobs. More precisely, it was not the number of different jobs, but number of different tasks they had to perform on those jobs, which affected their future career decisions. Performing many different tasks, the future entrepreneurs, acquired a diverse set of skills and knowledge, which were beneficial for starting their own business.

It can be concluded upon these results that more broad-based education is necessary for promoting entrepreneurial activity. That kind of education gives the graduates an ability to see the potential needs of the customers and spot the business opportunities. Therefore it is not so good if university students, and especially those who study business or economics, specialise too early, as it decreases their possibilities to becoming an entrepreneur. The specialisation may come later, for example at the master level and the broad-based undergraduate education does not prevent specialising later to a narrower field.

kristjan Business education, entrepreneur, skills