The financial sector, the building industry and car manufacturing, are a few industries that have been hit the most. Many people have now lost their jobs and are looking to get back into employment as quickly as possible. The problem is the confidence has eroded, and with the ever increasing doom and gloom portrayed by the media, it's almost impossible to stay positive and focused.

It is therefore vital for anyone wishing to get back into employment, to concentrate on the fundamentals and not pay too much attention to the daily ritual of the negative onslaught by the media. Despite the current situation however, there are still many opportunities available. There is for example a countless number of people all over the world making a living from the internet. People work from home making money from eBay, affiliate marketing, adsense, selling products from websites, writing articles, the list is endless. But why do so many of us choose not to go down this path?

The ability to learn is the biggest asset we all have at our disposal. However, the fact that so many of us fight against any form of change or refuse to learn new skills, just ads to the day to day struggle a number of us face.

The fact is we all need to be a little more self sufficient and a lot less dependant on external sources. This means not relying so much on employers to keep us in work for the next twenty years of our lives. We all know how unrealistic this is, yet a lot of us still carry on doing the same jobs day after day, week after week, moth after month, year after year. Until eventually we are surplus to requirement and back on the scrap heap. This is one of the reasons why we all need to learn new skills and embrace change.

From my own personal experience change has not been easy. I have been self employed for over Twenty years now, and in that time I have had to learn many different skills and overcome many obstacles. As anyone who has been self employed or run a business knows, the ability to learn and grow is paramount to survival, especially in today's current climate.

You have to learn how to keep accounts, how to deal with employees, employment law, the internet, finance, sales and marketing, investment, banking, the list goes on. It's the learning aspect that puts many people off from becoming self employed or starting a business in the first place. Of the many people I have spoke to who are against starting their own business, it's the fear of not having the ability to learn new skills that seems to be the biggest reasons.

As the well know saying goes “It's better to have tried and failed than not to have tried at all”,

How true!