Finance Wanted.

By Waller Jamison

With so much in the news about the coming recession, effects which may impact your family and your career are likely to be on your mind.

No-one can predict how long the recession will last and how wide-ranging the consequences will be. In short, there is no magic solution to make everything okay.

However, there are a number of steps you can take to minimize the effect of recession in your own life, giving yourself and your family the best chance to survive the recession unscathed.

Recession Proof your Career

You can't control your employer's hiring and firing decisions, but you can take steps to make yourself a valued member of staff in either your present position or a future job.

Do a bit of research to find out which skills are in short supply in your industry and brush up or learn them from scratch. These will vary enormously, depending on your job, but despite the present economic situation, there is still a skills shortage in the major world economies.

For example, IT skills shortages in the UK reached their highest level in 10 years in February of this year (2008) And Britain is experiencing a severe skills shortage in areas such as construction at a time when demand is huge in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

You may already know which skills relevant to your own career are lacking in your area. If not, get online and start searching. Once you've established which skills you could realistically improve or learn, find a course - many skills can be learned relatively cheaply online or in local adult education classes.

Create Another Income Stream

Find another source of income to help meet increased housing, gas and food prices. If possible, set up a small business, as this gives you more control. Although you won't make profits overnight, this can be done for next to nothing and you need to be thinking long term - recessions come around with alarming regularity. There are many opportunities online which can set up quickly and cheaply or look around for products or services which are in demand in the local community.

Economize Where You Can

Don't buy stuff you don't need, and especially avoid using your credit card. Try to find cheaper alternatives to some of the essentials, for example, buy supermarkets' own brand goods where possible. They are usually just as good as big name brands and a fraction of the price. The same goes for clothes.

The effects of coming recession may be unavoidable but it doesn't need to be a disaster for you.

Recession proof your life by setting up a small business online. Get our free audio course for complete beginners here.

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Waller Jamison is a careers advisor and small business owner who understands the difficulties involved in setting up an online business.