I Quit

I quit my job.

It is scary as can be to write that sentence. Unbelievably scary. I’m walking away from a good paying and very stable job. I announced my resignation this week, and my final day will happen before the end of March.

Why?

So, why did I make this decision? There were a lot of reasons, all balled together, so I thought I’d walk through them one at a time.

I want to devote more time to my family. As my writing has taken off - both on All things Financial and in other forms - I’ve been more and more compressed for time. This has meant that I’ve spent weekends in the basement trying to write while my children play above me, their pitter-pattering feet on the floor making me wish I was with them. It’s meant that they spend more time in daycare instead of with me. It’s meant that when we go on vacations, I take my laptop along and write instead of enjoying special times with them. My son is a little over two years old and my daughter is almost six months old. If I keep doing this, I’m going to miss their childhood - and I don’t want to do that, not for all of the financial rewards in the world. In all honesty, this is the biggest factor that pushed me over the edge.

I want to devote more time to my writing. I love writing. There’s simply no other way to put it. The art of putting written words down on the page fills me with an elemental joy that I can’t describe. Some windows have opened for me where people are paying me to do this, and I can’t possibly turn away from it.

We’re in very good financial shape. If it wasn’t for this reason, I couldn’t possibly think of making a move like this. We have only a tiny amount of student loan debt and our mortgage and that’s it - no credit cards, no car loans, no anything. We have quite a bit of money in the bank as well and other sources of income, too.

We know how to live frugally. We’ve learned how to live way below our means over the last few years. We simply don’t spend much money at all, especially compared to our income. We spent substantially less than 40% of our income in 2007 - the difference was folded into paying off debts rapidly, with all of our car loans, our credit card debts, and much of our student loan debts just vanishing very rapidly.

Working in my home office and eating leftovers out of the fridge is far, far cheaper than commuting, buying gas, and succumbing to temptations along the way. I’ve calculated that my monthly savings just from not commuting is about twenty hours and $250 - and that’s assuming that I never stop for anything other than an occasional coffee or something. Plus, my lunches will be much cheaper - there will never be a temptation to eat out.

My wife is also considering a move to a job very close to home. Currently, my wife commutes about forty five minutes just to get to work. She’s considering a move that would reduce her commute to about three minutes.

I’m in the perfect position to leave my current job. I love my current job, so I’ve been waiting for the right time to make this move. I wanted a point where I could really walk away with minimal regrets, and now is just that time.

What Will I Do Now?

So, what’s my plan for after this switch? I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and here’s what I have in mind.

At first, I’m going to get substantially ahead in my writing for All things Financial. One consistent worry I always have about All things Financial is that I never feel far enough ahead with the writing - it’s almost impossible to walk away from it for a vacation or an illness or an emergency because I don’t have adequate time to get ahead on the writing. So, my first project is to “bank” a lot of articles and have them ready to go so that if I need to, All things Financial can keep running just fine while I step away for a bit.

This also means I’m going to have the opportunity to do some deep research and write some things that time simply hasn’t afforded to me.

Second, I’m going to shop my book hard to get it published. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a book that’s largely finished in first draft form. I’m going to polish it up and start shopping it hard, something that’s a time sink that I haven’t had time to do.

At the same time, I’m looking strongly at some freelance writing opportunities that will pay pretty well. I’m in discussions related to a newspaper column and perhaps a regular slot on a local radio show.

I’m going to start the long-discussed cooking/food blog. The focus is on preparing tasty and healthy meals at home for a family - while I won’t necessarily lean towards discussions of frugality there (I’m more concerned about tasty, then healthy), the very nature of cooking at home is a frugal behavior. When it launches, I’ll let you all know.

I’m going to dabble in local politics. This is something else that time compression hasn’t given me the freedom to do. Church council, city council, school board - these are all things I want to do.

I’m also going to spend some time on other side businesses and opportunities. Small-scale computer repair, things like that. I’m also going to look at helping my wife get her soap making side business up to speed, and I may raise a bumper crop of tomatoes, can some tomato-based foods, and sell them locally. I also have a few other strings that I may tug on, too.

I’m going to still send my children to daycare some for the socialization aspects, but we’re considering a reduced schedule that gives some stay-at-home-parent time. We’re going to ease into this over the next several months to see what works best for all of us and what matches our financial state.

Most importantly, I’m going to detach a bit from the heavily-compressed nature of the last two years of my life. In the summer, we’re going to spend some significant time visiting friends and family, people who I haven’t really been able to connect with in a while. I’m going to spend a ton of time with my kids outdoors, too - working in the garden, playing at the park, and so on. I’m going to breathe, something I haven’t done in a while.

All in all, it’s the single scariest thing I’ve done in my life, but I think it’s the right thing to do.

Little Income, Big Debts: Managing Your Money in Your College Years

Here’s what you shouldn’t do. When I was in college, I used my student loans to finance my lifestyle. I worked at a decent paying job ($9 an hour at a job related to my major was great), but that wasn’t enough - I needed more. So I took out student loans, even though scholarships covered most of my tuition and housing expenses for college. Even worse, I didn’t really understand the value of the college education I was getting - I basically completed a major, decided it wasn’t for me, completed a completely different major, and took enough classes for some minors along the way. After I finally graduated after six years, I had accumulated about $35,000 in student loan debt. Including interest, I’ve paid about $32,000 in loan payments so far and I’ve still got about $16,000 left to go.

What did I learn from this disaster that college students can use today? There are a lot of students out there entering college and taking out student loans to pay for it. The money they’re spending, in the form of loans, far exceeds the money they’re taking in. I know all about it - I was doing this very thing just a handful of years ago. I made some incredibly stupid mistakes along the way, and it takes a lot of hindsight to see the things I could-have-should-have done.

If I had it to do all over again - if I were a college student today with a big pile of student loans building up and not much income - here’s exactly what I would do.

Take the studies seriously.
The cost of college is tremendous. During your years there, not only are you investing the cost of tuition, but you’re also investing the loss of income that you might have made doing something else, like becoming an electrician’s apprentice or starting your own business. If you’re paying $10,000 for your tuition and other expenses and you’re giving up $20,000 in income, that’s $30,000 that each year in college is costing you. That’s more than $500 every week.

What’s the best way to undermine that strong investment? To flunk out. To fail a class, causing you to stay in school longer. Even a poor GPA undermines that investment - you reduce the value of the degree by reducing your opportunities right after college if you’re showing off a low GPA.

Hit the books. If it’s a choice between a side job and the books, choose the books every time. If you need to borrow more money because of it, borrow that money. Don’t undermine the value of your big investment just to save a little bit of money.

Take advantage of the other opportunities, too.
College isn’t just about hitting the books and partying. There are tons of opportunities on a college campus to start building your career and resume, which will improve your opportunities and salary when you leave school (further improving the value of your student loan investment). That’s not to say that the experience should preclude fun, but that you should put effort into joining groups - and spending social time with those groups - that either build leadership skills or coincide well with the topics that you’re studying.

You’re also better off getting strongly involved in a small number of activities than getting weakly involved in a lot of activities. Try out a lot of things at first, find the ones that click for you, then get strongly involved with those. Take on responsibilities with those groups and work towards leadership positions later on. You’ll build valuable relationships with people, learn new things about your areas of interest and about yourself, and build up your future resume, too. Here are some more tips for maximizing the secondary value of the college experience.

You’re a college student - live as poor as you can.
Don’t spend your time dressing exceptionally well - there’ll be plenty of time for that later on. Instead, do most of your clothes shopping at Goodwill and at thrift stores. Don’t think you’re above it - look at your checkbook and realize you’re a person with a negative income - the exact person who should be utilizing such resources.

It’s fine to have a few clothes for special situations, but don’t spend money on a great wardrobe. The typical college campus is teeming with free entertainment - check the campus newspaper for ideas instead of spending money to have fun. Take advantage of the cheap food opportunities, too - for a while, I had a “one meal a day” meal plan in dining services and I’d eat a big meal then, then just snack the rest of the day on whatever was available.

In a nutshell, realize that each time you spend money in college, you’re costing your future, especially when you’re surrounded by opportunities for the most inexpensive living you’ll have in your adult life. Need more specifics than that? Here’s a collection of money management tips for college students.

Use a credit card only to buy books. Pay the bill immediately.
Don’t listen to people who insist that you have a credit card. Research a good one, then use it only once a semester to buy your textbooks. Put that credit card somewhere safe, then pay off the entire bill as soon as it comes in. Never use the card for anything else.

This simple plan gives you the benefits that you can get from credit card use in college (mostly building credit) without the dangerous drawbacks of building high-interest debt that you’ll have trouble paying off.

Seek a job (or other experiences) related to your major, even for lower pay.
If you’re going to get a job in college (most people do), look for a part-time job that’s related to your major, even if it means sacrificing pay. A job that really matches well with your studies is golden on your resume when you graduate - if you already have some years of experience working with this material, then you look a lot better than most people coming out of school.

If you don’t know where to begin, the first place to stop is at your departmental office. Ask around for job opportunities within the major - research work, paperwork, whatever’s available. If you can’t find anything there, look for industries near the college that might relate to what you’re doing and look there. Make the effort to make a personal appearance, as it shows that you’re serious about this - anyone can pick up the phone and dial.

Minimize your debt.
If none of the above apply to a decision, make the choice that results in the lowest debt when you graduate. You’re in college to build your future. Don’t sacrifice that future by piling on debt without improving your post-graduation opportunities.

In a nutshell, maximize the value of what you’re paying for, and minimize the level of debt. You’re surrounded by valuable opportunities in college - only by grabbing them by the horns can you really maximize the value of your college education.

How I Read The Latest Books For Nearly Nothing - And Sometimes Turn A Small Profit

I’m a book fetishist. I can’t help it - I want to read the latest hardback releases as soon as they come out. I used to drool over these releases, but I’ve discovered a very nifty way to keep tabs on the latest books at a very cheap price - and sometimes turn a small profit.

What I do is if I know a book is coming out in hardcover that I want to read, I buy it on the day of release at my bookseller of choice. I take it home and without hesitation immediately start reading it, putting aside anything else that I happen to be reading at the moment. Given my reading habits, I can usually knock that book off in about two or three days.

As soon as I’m done with it, I immediately eBay the book. This is where things get odd - given my discounts at my local bookstore, I can usually nearly break even by doing this, and I often turn a small profit. Not enough of a regular profit to become an online book reseller by any means, but

Here’s an example. Recently, Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon was released in hardback. My price for the book is about $19.60, or about $21 after sales tax. It’s about a three day read for me, so it would appear on eBay on November 24 and thus sell on December 1. Take a peek at what the book is currently selling for on eBay - in other words, about a $2-$3 profit for me, plus I had the opportunity to be the first on my block to read Pynchon’s latest.

I always use my “weird” eBay techniques and I follow reasonable best practices when I sell, so it usually goes quite well. Plus, most bidders seem not to notice that the item isn’t new because it is such a recent release; the used copy always bids up to the same realm as the new ones.

Please note that this technique isn’t a sure thing. It merely ensures that you’ll get a strong return on your investment in the book, minus the depreciation for reading it.

This is a great technique to use if you’re a book addict like I am. I’m able to keep up with the latest books, read them completely at my leisure, and avoid the often-long waits for new releases at my local library. Even better: I occasionally turn a little profit.
advertise here

Financial Independence: Defining It and Figuring Out How to Get There

My big, overarching dream is to achieve true financial independence. By that, I mean that I have enough money saved and invested that I can live off the interest and investment income - a point that I’ve discussed before as .

This is a huge goal, one that I won’t achieve for many years no matter what path I choose. I dream about achieving this goal around the time my final child graduates from high school - roughly twenty five years from now.

What’s the exact goal? The first step in figuring things out is to determine exactly what I’ll need. Do I want to replace my living expenses alone - which would mean that I’d have enough to live, but wouldn’t be very protected against inflation - or if I want to replace my whole salary, giving me a lot of breathing room. The actual number I’ll probably need is somewhere in the middle - enough to maintain some growth, but not my current salary.

Let’s say I shoot for $50,000 a year in today’s dollars - in 25 years. Given 4% inflation between then and now, I’d need an income of $133,291.80 then. If I invest it in a stable fashion, I should be able to rely on returns of 7% annually. meaning I need to shoot for $1.9 million in investments in 25 years.

What tools do I have? I have a number of options at my disposal to reach that goal.

Retirement plans / 401(k)s If I actually retire at that point, I can start taking withdrawals earlier than the normal retirement age - that’s a 72(t) withdrawal. Thus, it makes a lot of sense to dump a big allotment into my retirement plan now. Given that the date I need is 25 years off and I’m targeting a very big number, I need to go pretty aggressive here - for now.

Standalone investment accounts A person can also put their after-tax money into investment vehicles like individual stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. There are many investment books that can help with this. My current plan is to adopt a portfolio from and add in a small piece for individual stock purchases - I plan on buying into a few individual companies eventually.

Paying off debts early Debt repayment is merely an investment at a known interest rate. For example, if my home mortgage has an interest rate of 6%, an extra payment on that debt is an investment that will return 6% through the end of the original mortgage - it’s interest you won’t have to pay on that money, so it’s investment returns in your pocket. Since this 6% is incredibly stable, it’s often useful to make it part of your investment portfolio. Of course, this does assume that when you’re done with that debt, you take both the original payment and the extra payment and roll it into some form of investment, but I plan on doing that.

This doesn’t mean that it makes sense to take out loans and then pay them off early. You’re better off not taking the loans at all and instead saving up for big purchases like automobiles. However, if you’re starting with pre-existing debts, it’s useful to look at them as opportunities.

Extra work Right now, I make some additional income from blogging, which I’m rolling into this plan. In addition, I’m also writing a book and working on a few other interesting items that can potentially put some money in my pocket over the long haul in a sense. This basically generates more money to invest in this plan, making it easy to meet my investment goals each year and to perhaps exceed them - and do it consistently over time.

What do I need to do? Let’s say that each year I can earn an 8% return (on average) on my investments. I’m intentionally going low here so that I don’t underestimate the personal sacrifices I need to make to get it done. I need $1.9 million in investments in 25 years. What do I need to sock away each year to get to that level? Some simple Excel calculations show that I need to be socking away $26,000 per year to reach that goal.

Now, if I put the maximum allowed limit into my retirement plan ($15,500), I need to be investing $10,500 more on my own each year from here on out. This is a number I can actually reach fairly easily right now, but the real question is where should I be putting it? Right now, I’m paying off all of my debts with an interest level of 6.5% or above - basically, everything but my mortgage. I view that as an incredibly stable investment with a rate of return approaching what I need.

Once those are paid off, I’ll actually have a bit more to invest in a year - about $12,000 after my retirement plan, according to my math, and perhaps even more than that. This money will be used in a diverse portfolio that I’m still working on - one piece of it will be advance payments on my mortgage, which will provide an incredibly stable 5.875% component (there’s no tax implication because my standard deductions for all of my dependents are substantially more than the house interest). The rest will be in a portfolio, as I discussed above.

All of this adds up to one thing: reaching true financial independence is realistic - and it might happen sooner than I think.

In a nutshell, the idea is that you can only achieve audacious accomplishments if you set audacious goals to begin with. What are your biggest goals? What’s the game plan for getting there? If you’ve never thought about where you want to go, how do you know if you’re following the right path to get there?

How To Make Your Own Laundry Detergent - And Save Big Money

I’ve been experimenting with making lots of cleaning supplies at home, but this one is by far the craziest - and the most successful. Basically, I made a giant bucket of slime that works incredibly well as laundry detergent at a cost of about three cents a load. For comparison’s sake, a jumbo container of Tide at Amazon.com costs $28.99 for 96 loads, or a cost of $0.30 a load. Thus, with each load of this stuff, I’m saving more than a quarter. Even better - I got to make a giant bucket of slime in the kitchen and my wife approved of it.

Here’s what you need:
- 1 bar of soap (whatever kind you like; I used Lever 2000 because we have tons of bars of it from a case we bought a while back)
- 1 box of washing soda (look for it in the laundry detergent aisle at your local department store - it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches of this stuff)
- 1 box of borax (this is not necessary, but I’ve found it really kicks the cleaning up a notch - one box of borax will contain more than enough for tons of batches of this homemade detergent - if you decide to use this, be careful)
- A five gallon bucket with a lid (or a bucket that will hold more than 15 liters - ask around - these aren’t too tough to acquire)
- Three gallons of tap water
- A big spoon to stir the mixture with
- A measuring cup
- A knife

Step One: Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it’s almost boiling. While you’re waiting, whip out a knife and start shaving strips off of the bar of soap into the water, whittling it down. Keep the heat below a boil and keep shaving the soap. Eventually, you’ll shave up the whole bar, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water.

Step Two: Put three gallons of hot water (11 liters or so) into the five gallon bucket - the easiest way is to fill up three gallon milk jugs worth of it. Then mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax if you are using borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.

And you’re done. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll have a bucket of gelatinous slime that’s a paler shade of the soap that you used (in our case, it’s a very pale greenish blue). One measuring cup full of this slime will be roughly what you need to do a load of laundry - and the ingredients are basically the same as laundry detergent. Thus, out of three gallons, you’ll get about 48 loads of laundry. If you do this six times, you’ll have used six bars of soap ($0.99 each), one box of washing soda ($2.49 at our store), and about half a box of borax ($2.49 at our store, so $1.25) and make 288 loads of laundry. This comes up to a cost of right around three cents a gallon, or a savings of $70.

Plus, you can make slime in the kitchen - and have a legitimate reason for doing so!

Nine Simple Ways to Stand Out in Your Career

For a long time, I worked in what you might think of as a typical office environment - imagine Dilbert without the pointy-haired boss (my bosses have all been both intelligent and wise people, thankfully). During that time there, it became clear that there were three groups of people: the ones that were useful and were liked by most everyone, the bootlicking suck-ups, and the people that faded into the woodwork. Guess which group got the raises, the promotions, and the opportunities?

I found it hard to really stand out at first. I’m naturally introverted and thus at first it was very easy for me to just clam up and not say much of anything at all. I’d go to meetings and not say much. I’d go to conventions and just keep to myself, listening to the talks, taking some notes, and then hiding in my shell like a turtle.

Fortunately, I’m observant enough to realize that some people were simply doing better than I was. What were they doing differently? How could I move from the “wallflower” group to the “likeable by all” group? I sat back, watched, learned, and put some things into practice that eventually began to turn some heads.

Here are nine things that you can do to improve your career situation. Most of these apply to any job - a few of these work only in specific situations, but it’s fairly obvious which ones. You don’t have to do all of these, but putting sincere effort into a few of them will slowly and subtly open doors for you that you never knew existed.

Volunteer to present.
Whenever an opportunity to give a presentation to anyone comes up, volunteer for it. Presenting is one of the most valuable things you can do in terms of personal growth, in terms of building a relationship with other people, and in terms of being a valuable employee. Present in an internal meeting. Present to a trade group. Present at a conference. Present at a training meeting. Wherever there’s an opportunity for you to get up in front of a room, share information, and answer questions, take it.

This was incredibly challenging for me personally. In 2002 and 2003, my supervisor repeatedly thrust me into positions where I was made to present to others - and it made me constantly sick to my stomach. I did not want to present. It took a lot of presentations for me to start feeling even a little comfortable with it, and it took several more after that for me to realize that I was getting better at it - a lot better. People were starting to talk about me, talk about the projects I was working on, and started to talk to me about things, too. I eventually got good enough that I felt fine presenting in front of hundreds of people - and I earned the loudest applause and the most questions of the day. That helped me build countless relationships with people who saw me speak. Don’t doubt the power and usefulness of presenting - it can help you in untold ways.

Make positive suggestions and comments at meetings.
Whenever you’re in a meeting and you have a suggestion or a comment to make, make it. You’re not going to sound dumb for thinking it - in fact, it’s likely a thought that someone else in the room is thinking but doesn’t have the courage to say. However, when you do speak up, keep it positive - or at least as positive as you can make it. If it’s going to be negative, preface it with a positive and perhaps follow it with a positive, too.

The big benefit for doing this is that it creates an impression that you’re a source of ideas and thoughts, and in an information economy, ideas and thoughts are where the value is at. Just remember, though, that it’s only worth speaking up if you actually have a distinct and useful idea, a distinction worth mentioning on its own.

Don’t say something just to say yes or to reaffirm someone else’s opinion.
This is the defining characteristic of the “bootlicker,” the type of yes man that most people in an office environment loathe and avoid. Don’t just sit around reaffirming everyone else’s ideas - in fact, avoid doing that as much as you can. You don’t need to suck up, you don’t need to glom onto the ideas of others, and you definitely don’t need the reputation of someone who’s there to suck up and coast along for the ride. Those people think they’re getting in good with the boss, but most bosses worth their salt know who the suck-ups are and who the actual reliable people are - and the two groups don’t overlap.

The obvious exception to this is if your opinion is requested, at which point you should give up a very simple answer. Don’t try to build it into something more than it is - a simple yes or no will usually suffice here unless you have an original idea to contribute.

Show empathy.
If someone is facing an exceptional challenge at work, help that person out a little bit. Give them someone to talk to, an ear to listen to their problems. Suggest solutions to their situation. Offer whatever support you can to help them succeed - or to get back on their feet. When someone with value fails, it never benefits anyone - help that person find what’s valuable about themselves so that they can show it off to everyone else, and they (and the business) will value you in return.

One of my favorite office stories is that of a person who spoke English as a second language. She was incredibly intelligent, but she had great difficulty presenting her ideas to others. Two of us took her under our wing - we constantly worked with her on her conversational English, edited her documents and presentations for her, and were an audience for her when she would practice her presentations. Eventually, it became clear to many that she was an idea powerhouse (and she was). When she finally got the big opportunities, though, guess who she reached back and helped out in the end? It wasn’t the people who let her blow in the wind, that’s for sure.

Get to know everyone on the support staff.
Everyone that works in your office, from the maintenance men to the janitors to the administrative assistants to the technical support, do countless things in subtle ways to keep things running smoothly. They often have their ears to the floor and have a very firm grasp on the inner workings of the organization as well. Befriend them. Tell them thanks for what they do to help you out every day. Occasionally bring in some treats for them - just a few weeks ago, I bought some pizza and shared it with a group of administrative assistants, and before that I brought a box of doughnuts for the janitorial staff. Talk to them and listen to what they have to say - it will pay off in ways you can’t even imagine. You’ll find out information and be ahead of the curve. They’ll be the first to help you out when you need assistance. They’ll sometimes drop positive comments about you at just the right time. They’ll sometimes even put your papers where they need to be or shuffle a few other things around to help you out.

I’ve seen too many people take the maintenance and service people in their workplace for granted. They are valuable people to know and have on your side because they are so involved in greasing the pistons that keep the company going. In many ways, these people have a better grasp of how things work than the people in charge. Don’t ignore them - tell them how valuable they are.

Try hard to meet new people at conventions.
Never eat alone at a convention is the first piece of advice that my first post-college boss gave me when I was about to leave on my first trip representing the project. He told me to meet as many people as I possibly could, eat every meal with at least one companion, and spend my time socializing and interacting with other convention goers, not hitting every bit of the meeting’s schedule. I wish I had followed that advice - I didn’t really figure out the value until much later.

At the last convention I attended, I had two to five dinner guests at every meal and I wound up with four very good contacts over the long term. I’ve already chatted with these people again since the convention. How did it really pay off? Two of them have told me about job opportunities within their organization (although I’m not interested, it was nice to know and have that open door) and one of them offered me a speaking engagement at another convention. That’s why you should really put effort into building connections at conferences.

Don’t know how to start? It’s easy. Whenever you notice someone having an obvious interest or passion, casually ask them about it - “I can’t help but notice…”, then give them the opportunity to tell you about it in detail. Ask questions. If they’re compelling, ask them to share a meal with you at the conference. Most of the time, they’ll be glad to have someone to dine with.

Send a handwritten note.
Whenever someone, particularly someone outside of your immediate working group, does something very helpful for you or has some momentous news, send them a handwritten note. I keep a big pile of blank notes on my desk - thank you notes and congratulations notes. On the inside, I just jot down a quick note thanking them (and reminding them of what the thanks is for) or a congratulations on the event. If I don’t know them really well, I jot down enough info to remind them of who I am, then I sign it and drop it in the mail.

This merely keeps your connection with someone alive over a long period of time, even if you don’t have the chance to interact with them. They’ll remember you, and they’ll value that you took time to remember them. Eventually, they may be able to reach out and help you as well.

Go to a community event to meet people.
I love community events - church dinners, city council meetings, school board meetings, caucuses, and so on. There are always a lot of interesting people there to meet and I always learn something new. I treat them as a mix of a workplace meeting and a convention - I try to strike up lots of conversation before and after the meeting (and during breaks), and during the meetings, if I have a valuable distinct thought to share, I stand up and share it.

Again, this merely serves to build connections with people in the community, and doors will open for you. I’m under thirty, yet I’m already serving in leadership roles in the community - in one case, I’m the first person under thirty elected to the board in many, many years. I am building a lot of connections to established people in the community, and I’ve had the opportunity to help out several of them. If I ever need help myself, I’m sure that many of them will be willing to offer a helping hand.

Don’t burn bridges.
Whenever you move on from a situation, don’t burn bridges, even if you’re deeply disgruntled. Realize that you are actually leaving the bad situation, and that burning bridges will do nothing more than damage your future beyond this situation. Instead, be as pleasant as possible when leaving. Offer whatever help they need from you, and be flexible in the exact date of your departure. It’s a great final opportunity to make a good impression, and leaving on a high note will help them to remember that high note as much as or more than anything else.

Not only will this help with any future references you may need, but there also may come a time in your future when you need to return here, or when someone from this situation may hold a key to your further plans. If you left in a ball of fire, you’ve likely damaged your chances - and for what? A moment of feeling relief that you got it all off your chest? It’s never worth it.

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