Thursday, April 26th, 2007
Middle Aged Professionals And Executives Burn Out. Tired Of The Rat Race?
Unless you are a spring chicken and ready to take on the business world by storm, the odds are that your graduation date from college or business school is a few years or maybe even decades behind you. At this point you might have lost the starry eyed glaze that originally catapulted you toward the sales careers which looked so glamorous with their travel perks and high income opportunities.
Additionally, you might have found that while sales jobs most certainly have the potential to be high income careers, they also take a toll physically, emotionally, and sometimes even in your personal life when extensive travels and family life simply do not mix. When you factor in all of these components, it is not surprising that more and more middle aged professionals and executives are suffering from burn out and simply tire of the rat race.
Home business opportunities are beginning to look attractive, and since many of these professionals have managed to set aside a respectable nest egg - thanks to a lot of success coaching from financial planners and other financial professionals - the idea of starting a home based business becomes much more palatable to them. In addition to the foregoing, the very fact that they have held high income jobs attests to the fact that they have received their fair share of leadership training which is no being translated into a successful home business opportunity.
It is interesting to note that for many professionals and executives the idea of a home based business opportunity slightly differs from that of younger folks. While the younger set might be considering a product to sell, the more mature professionals see the business opportunity as a way of marketing themselves. Very often this means that their home business takes on the guise of a consulting firm, a planning firm - whether architectural in nature or financial - or they might even take their management and people management skills to the next level and open a business in the field of personal development. Such former execs are now career coaches, head hunters, or corporate trainers in a myriad of functions. Of course, for the die hard marketer there are always the opportunities for network marketing which are rather plentiful on the Internet -yet they require a lot of time and effort.
Another avenue that middle aged professionals and also weary executives at times will traverse is the hobby that is being turned into a home business. While this is often true for women, more and more men are discovering that you can make money by doing the things that you love. For some, this means the opening of a home based catering business. Others will find that a dog grooming parlor or pet sitting service is more to their liking. Still others will manufacture arts and crafts in larger scale, especially when friends and family keep egging them on to do more and sell it to extended family, friends, and for the many gift giving opportunities at Christmas.
The latter has actually spawned a semi-home based business where some professionals will pool their vacation time at the end of the year and instead of bidding the boss good-bye, they will simply take off three months at the end of the year to manufacture their arts and crafts for the Christmas and Hanukkah consumers. While strictly speaking they are not letting go of the boss’ apron strings, they are setting themselves up for a business opportunity that might take off to such an extent that in the future they may very well make this their only source of income.
