Believe it or not, it's never been a better time to reinvent yourself than it is now.

Sure, the job market looks bleak. Stories of downsizing nearly every day.

But you can learn new skills, often for Free.

John McCoy of John McCoy Writes tweeted a few weeks ago:

"Friday reminder: you can just learn a skill for free off the internet and start selling your services and people will pay you. Nobody can stop you."

Tips to learn new skills

Use LinkedIn Learning. You can often get it for free by using the library. Topeka/Shawnee County offer it for free. If you are veteran you can get LinkedIn Pro and LinkedIn Learning for Free.

Get some training and a certificate, either through Grow Google, or take a class that guarantees you will pass the certificate at the end.

Start small, work for a small company (or the State), and then leverage that experience in a couple of years to significantly increase your salary. Working in IT for a manufacturing company is how I started in IT.

Build your experience portfolio by freelancing on Upwork.

Facing Downsizing? Build Something for Yourself

In the second half of 2024, it seemed like downsizing was on the horizon (when you know, you know). Like Justin Welsh says: Build something for yourself.

I got tired of the fear and expanded Grow Nut Trees, growing and selling more trees than ever before. I started Thriving Food Forest Design (see details below) and had my first really big customer.

Check out the show notes on our website:

Ep. 153 - It's Never Been Easier to Reinvent Yourself - with John McCoy

Grow Nut Trees is now taking orders for Spring shipping or local pickup.

Grow Nut Trees.com

NEW for this year are more types of chestnuts, including Qing Chinese hybrid chestnuts. Qing (pronounced "Ching") is a Chinese chestnut Half-sib from a named tree that was open pollinated by other trees, including hybrids. The Qing tree is a heavy producer with sweet flavored extra large nuts. These seedlings were grown locally and are adapted to the Midwest.

Grow Fodder Trees! New this year are cuttings for fodder trees - mulberry and hybrid willow. These are fast growing and the leaves are edible as forage for animals (my horses love them - maybe a little too much). Plus the mulberries can feed chickens if planted near a chicken run. And they are good for chop and drop. Get your mulberry and willow cuttings from Grow Nut Trees.