Many companies claim to hire sub-standard management in an effort to fill positions quickly; deja vu the dotcom explosion of the ‘90s. In this tech-age some companies can’t even define talent. Enron hired more than 200 MBAs at the height of its fame while others went so far as to mix Nobel Prize winners among their super-achievers.

Even with the best of the best, some companies go down in greed and mismanagement. As they all compete for ‘human resources’ they fight the fiercest battle in the high-tech fields. And a win doesn’t mean you’ll hang onto your prize. Loyalty to the boss faded fast thanks to downsizing and companies dumping their retirement plans. Workers feel responsible for their own future today.

You can read where America’s biggest corporations will lose half their senior managers in the next five years due to the baby-boomers retiring. It would seem deadly important then, to get a line of younger high-flyers onboard to promote them into these vacancies. With this in mind, many are now going global in their search and regard universities as ideal talent-catching machines.

I remember when companies gave competitive examinations to recruit alpha minds. It’s not enough today – you have to work harder to woo potential recruits for high-tech positions. Companies have added millions to the budget for training and are paying more attention to employee’s reasons for jumping ship.

UPS was suffering a huge turnover in drivers and discovered it was because loading the truck each morning was back-breaking work. They contracted this out to part-timers who are easier to replace than a good driver. Smart move UPS -- and a problem solving high-five!

So okay, I say – we get the picture. While corporate America scrambles to get the brainiacs, what about the rest of us? I don’t have an MBA or a high-tech education. Does that mean that companies don’t want the likes of me? Well no, actually they still need people to deliver their pizza, change the oil in their cars, and clean their homes.

Thanks, but no thanks. I know there will always be unskilled jobs but I also know that a percentage of unskilled workers can learn to retire prematurely if only they will get a bit smarter with their money. I learned years ago that working forty hours for a paycheck would never cut it! Residual or leveraged income set me up for monies that result from my earlier efforts. Now it keeps on coming with little or no further attention on my part.

It all began when I was introduced to a fellow who retired at age 40. This guy was not a Techie by any means; he did 13 years working along side his dad in a machine shop. Then, the Internet came along and he spent hours searching, reading, and absorbing every piece of marketing material he could find.

The Internet has produced a gigantic bed of oysters and – you guessed it – a few carry pearls. They are not any easier to find online than in the boardrooms of companies but they are there if you’re a determined hunter. My friend found his pearl and after enjoying retirement for five years has returned because, he claims, he misses the excitement of online marketing success. Do it once and it’s not hard to do it again.

Talent likes to cluster. They feed off of each other’s brainstorms and enjoy the advantage this affords. They toss around ideas for new software or a new widget. I find them gathered in seminars taking turns on the mike, giving interviews on DVDs that sell for a pittance, and just about everywhere in eBooks and testimonials. Here then, is a collection of oysters and each one holds a pearl.

Blueprint your new life. Plan your money around it.

2006 Esther Smith