So, you are unemployed…and no one seems to be recognizing the skills and training that you have amassed over the years. You are sitting there, in self-pity, wondering what next step to take in life.
You fear that your lack of a job might render you “useless” or “irrelevant” in a couple of years to come. Well, guess what? We have some good news for you. You can turn your unemployment into a blessing in one of the following 15 practical ways.
1.Keep feeding your mind
Do not let your mind shut off. Keep reading books, magazines, newspapers and online articles. These will help you keep up with the latest trends and equip you with new ideas as well. Subscribe to informative blogs so that you keep getting updates whenever new (useful) articles are posted.
2.Bring your creativity to life
Are you a creative person? Then, why not take a leap into freelance work? By freelance work, we are talking about things like: selling art merchandise, manicure services, working online, venture into agri-business.
You can read one of our previous articles on “5 Proven Ways to Make Money Online in Kenya” to learn more on how you can monetize your creativity.
3.Give out your services for free (Volunteer)
Why not join a niche specific volunteer organization in your area and start offering your expertise for free? For example, you can offer to teach at your local primary school. Better still, you can volunteer at a local children’s home or join an NGO working in your area.
You might be lucky to get an NGO job or better still you can set up your own organization.
4.Enroll for a short course
You can enroll for a course in photography, graphic design or even you can enroll for guitar training. More training and exposure improves your ability to cope with various challenges in life and makes you more employable.
5.Start exercising, it eases anxiety
The more anxious you become, the more confused you are likely to get. To prevent this from happening, start exercising. Note that you do not have to go to a gym to keep fit – you can even start out by jumping a rope or jogging early in the mornings.
6.Attend events, conferences and local meetings
Do not take public meetings for granted; even the Chief’s baraza meeting could be of great benefit to you. Adopt the good habit of attending all relevant meetings being held in your neighborhood.
While you’re at it, do not forget to carry a small notebook and a pen with you for note taking – you might just learn something new. Who knows, you might even be nominated to work as a youth leader and start receiving a salary.
7.Try to make money out of your strange talents or abilities
We all have our fair share of unique abilities. Actually, even the ability to sing badly is a talent that you can utilize. For example, you can start recording some videos of yourself singing badly and share them on YouTube.
Gradually, your YouTube channel might grow and you can actually make money from it – through Google adverts.
8.Share your wisdom with the world
There are many websites that give you an opportunity to share your knowledge with the world. Such sites include Ezine Articles Directoryand Hub Pages.
Some like Hub Pages, actually, can bring you some passive income in addition to giving you a perfect spring-board into blogging.
9.Take advantage of Amazon Kindle
This is yet another good opportunity for people who can write to a mass audience. You can create a nice book (about 20 pages long), post it on Amazon Kindle platform and start earning some royalty revenues from it when people buy it.
The more eBooks you share on Kindle, the more you can earn.
10.Teach foreigners your local languages
There are many foreigners coming to Africa from different corners of the world. And they would like to learn a few of our local languages – Isizulu, Gikuyu, Swahili, Dholuo, Baganda etc. By starting a website that trains them on some of the languages that you are well-versed with, you can keep yourself busy and even start earning a decent living from it.
As your audience grows, you can set-up an online travel agency and even start selling hotel and airline tickets.
11.Sell some services to people in your estate/village
Baby-sitting, security, home-tuition and masonry (mjengo) services are just a handful of services that you can offer in your neighborhood at a small fee. Remember, you want to make yourself useful and at the same time make some money so that you can live an independent life.
12.Start talking to your role models
Do you have a specific person who you would like to emulate? Now, this is the best time to contact him or her. Just identify that person and send them a polite email asking them about how they got started down the path.
You never know, they might share some worthwhile information with you which you can then use to improve your life.
13.Join helpful religious programs
Religion is a vital part of our lives. Join a local church, mosque or temple. Enroll for self-help and self-development courses. You can even take courses in simple topics such as anger management, self defence (e.g Karate) or even marriage counseling programs.
You can use this training to start an online coaching program.
14.Join a Sacco and start saving bit-by-bit
Consider joining forces with your buddies to start contributing small amounts of money. Save whatever little you make from your side-jobs – gradually, you will build a huge pool of resources for yourself.
If all goes well, you can even start borrowing loans from banks and microfinance institutions to venture into bigger business opportunities.
15.Take time to tour various tourist hotspots in your county/country
This is the best time to visit all those awesome areas in your neighborhood. Start planning for hiking escapades with your friends. Take many photos and keep sharing them out with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
Slowly, more people will want to join your club and you can even start a tours and travel company!
You don’t have to think too hard to succeed in life. All you need to do is look around your life for the small opportunities that exist and capitalize on them to build an empire of sorts.
