Continued from last Monday
2. Skilled Trades
It’s unfortunate that nowadays that some parents have a tendency to discourage their children from considering skilled trades as a career choice, in part due of the erroneous belief that trades are poorly paid. In fact, skilled trades people are generally very well paid and enjoy satisfying careers.
It has been estimated that 40% of current trades people will be retiring in the next decade, creating a huge demand for talented workers in trades such as:
Welding
Carpentry and general construction
Plumbing, pipefitting and steamfitting
Electrical and electronic control systems
Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC)
Machinists and Metalworkers
Masonry
Steel working
The nature of skilled trades makes them ideally suited for self-employment:
High salaries and strong demand for experienced tradespeople in most locations
Most trades can be operated as home-based businesses as the work is performed at the customer job site
Compared to many businesses, startup capital costs are relatively low for most skilled trades, and most cannot be automated to any degree, ensuring future job security
The ability to relocate to other jurisdictions where demand is stronger. Many experienced trades people take advantage of opportunities in remote or overseas locations to command much higher levels of compensation.
Why not take advantage of the demand and consider one of the skilled trades as your next business opportunity?
3. Software Engineering and Development
Software engineers and developers create, test and maintain software on a variety of platforms, from mainframes to mobile devices. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for software developers is expected to increase by 17 percent each year through 2023, and the median pay in 2014 was slightly over $100,000 per year.
The nature of the software development industry makes it ideal for contract employment. Many software engineers start out as salaried employees and eventually become self-employed contractors. Cloud computing and ease of remote access make software development an ideal home-based business.
To be continued
