What's Your Working Journey in 2011?

It's raised a massive amount of questions prompting plenty of conversations with my Brother looking back over the years studying people's attitude towards work over different generations.

Query raised this week with my Brother was why I could not keep in mind much the 80's miner's strikes & the terrible times families suffered in the hands of industries being wiped out causing extreme unemployment with over two million out of the work. In the coursework of this period when I was two times growing up as a teenager I keep in mind well the scenario of Dad intensely watching the evening news when you dare not say a word or else you would be glared at & told to be calm (which I wonder now how often this typical picture plays out in relatives homes). It occurred to me that because my parents were self employed & ran their own business what was happening around me, didn't directly affect me as none of our relatives members worked down the mines either.

I've thoroughly enjoyed & found fascinating the current TV series 'Britain at Work' hosted by Kirsty Young.

This made me realise & ask the query about attitude to life & work & what impression parents & relatives make on you as you grow up. Definitely having a relatives that ran their own business made a mark on me, helped generate my outlook & influences on life - having to stand by yourself feet & not solely depend on other people. My parents were much about being an individual & not being a 'sheep', following the crowd. They knew life was going to get even tougher & having a definite amount of independence & self reliability was important.

My parents were lucky to be in a position where financial independence was feasible, definitely didn't earn pots of money but they didn't must depend on an employer to provide the work & wage packet. Yes I do keep in mind things being hard with not plenty of money floating around but they definitely didn't go without.

Over the last few months I have had an increased amount of people contact me interested in finding out how to become a home working virtual assistant - which has been fantastic. As always I paint a realistic picture of what it is like to start up your own new venture, all the excitement & buzz, opportunities of being your own boss & setting up your own virtual assistance business. What I always point out is the sides of being self employed & what the actual crux of walking a business involves. You can be the greatest provider of your service in the world but in case you cannot sell it then you are going to have a hard time. When you say to somebody that business falls in to the 80/20 rule - 80% is walking the business getting clients on board & 20% is doing the actual work, for some the idea of going self employed suddenly loses its appeal. Going self employed doesn't automatically suite everyone!

Going back to the TV series 'Britain at Work' - a massive percentage of people are brought up with the ideals of getting a job with the strong reliance of massive companies & authorities to provide the work & the wage packet every month. A massive percentage of people will be looking for something different, keen to be their own boss, choosing not to be reliant on a company to provide the work but require to be financially independent & generate their own work.

After watching the tragic aftermath of the quiet demonstrations in Hyde Park this weekend followed by the violent disruption at Trafalgar Square with the small percentage of people intent on causing violent chaos - are they running in to a worrying period of repeated demonstrations with the rise of unemployment on the up.

But what is guaranteed these days - small. So are they at a tipping point in society where people are being forced in to rethinking their working life journey?

Having the confidence to go it alone when you have always been in work where the responsibility of finding the clients/customers/sales has been the manager/owner/executive's role is like tipping a working role scenario on its head. All of a sudden it is your responsibility to find the clients that require the services/products that you are selling - you are forced in to the driving stool of being the salesperson - it can be an overwhelming place to be. All of a sudden you have got to wear the hats of about ten different roles usually held by different people made up in a company. Being able, energy, enthusiasm, drive & sometimes the bravery to try something new doesn't automatically exist in everyone.

Will they start to see a massive rise in more people taking up the self employment route - is it a survival strategy out of this mess?

So who is going to provide the jobs for all these individuals who don't fancy self employment?

Is it up to you, individually to generate your own work, take a glance at what skills you already have & think hard about what you could provide as a service or a product to sell?

What is the survival strategy - does somebody have the answer that is likely to fit all the differing scenarios to look after all those millions of people out of work.

Whose responsibility is it?