How To Use The Worsening Labor Shortage To Your Advantage?

[heavy_industry]

There's a shortage of people going into trades.

Culture plays a big role in this.

Traditionally these kinds of jobs were associated with having a lower socio-economic status. Low level of education, back-breaking work, low wages etc.

As the masses flocked towards more sophisticated types of work, such as sitting all day in an office and having your humanity being sucked out of you by a computer monitor, the economic tides have started to shift in favor of manual labor once again.

Whenever there is high demand and low supply, price will go up.
It doesn't matter if you clean toilets or write software for NASA. As long as your job is difficult enough to prevent everyone and their dog to enter your industry, chances are you are going to make some big bucks.

Case in point: @Johnny boy makes bank by cutting grass.


It's all about supply and demand.

The economy will pivot once again, as soon as enough people realize they can make more money cleaning roofs, than working at an office with their underwater basket weaving degree.

 

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[Johnny boy]

Case in point: @Johnny boy brings home half a million a year by cutting grass.


It's all about supply and demand.

The economy will pivot once again, as soon as enough people realize they can make more money cleaning roofs, than working at an office with their underwater basket weaving degree.

Just wanna add that I did not bring in 500k in net income last year*

It's like a good lawyer's salary but with 1/10 the work.

 

[heavy_industry]

Just wanna add that I did not bring in 500k in net income last year*

It's like a good lawyer's salary but with 1/10 the work.

Thanks for the clarification. I've edited the comment.

I've pulled that number from here, and I assumed it was net.

But I'm pretty sure you'll hit this milestone soon.

 

[wyattnorton]

This post is me mostly sorting through some thoughts that have been kicking around in my brain for the past few months. Forgive the stream of conscious nature of this, and I would love any feedback the forum has on this. Poke holes in it. Tell me where I'm wrong in my thinking.

The people of my generation had a lot of benefits on their path to wealth. But I see the world changing. We're not going to have low interest rates anytime soon. The internet was our world changing/business changing opportunity.

Losers complain that doing business is getting harder. Please don't turn this thread into "that" kind of thread.

I'm trying to figure out what the opportunities are for that next generation that's just getting started. I'm trying to go deeper than AI iS so aMazIng.

There's a lot of angles to that, but for this post I'm looking at shifts in the labor market.

Most every country has a baby boomer generation.

For most countries, that is a big group of people that is going into retirement. Leaving the workforce.

Most every country has Gen Z entering the workforce. And I believe in most countries, that is a much smaller generation.

At a macro level, boomers are leaving high paying jobs, and there are not enough people in Gen X to fill them. But those new guys at the top of the pyramid are looking at the incoming generation and saying to themselves, there's just not enough.

From my microview here in Phoenix, hiring people is one of the most difficult thing my clients are dealing with.

They can't find drivers. They can't find welders. They can't find roofers.

And they're starting to throw ridiculous money at people just to get jobs done.

Entry level for a welder is 40K. That's with 6 months training. That's not much. But inside two years, switch jobs a couple times, with two years experience you're making 80 to 120K.

So 19-year-old looking to make it could take 6 months to learn, and by the time they're 22 could be making 80k a year.

Can you take a small detour on your fast lane sock away some cash and develop a skill?

But then what?

Well then you've got a skill. And you've got an insight into an industry. You spent a few years seeing what problems that industry has.

One thing you could do is start a company with a slightly different business model. If all your competitors are having trouble keeping employees, can you solve the problem of keeping employees? The companies that are able to do that in the future are the companies that are going to win.

And I think there's something to the idea that young people want to work for young people.

Let's go back to the macro level. The writing is on the wall. People have less kids now. The era of ever growing populations is stalling. Once the baby boomer generation actually begins to die off, death rate will exceed birth rate in many places.

And when that happens, emmigration from those places sets in also.

What will businesses do then?

Turn to automation.

A lot of people try to learn coding. But the factories of the future are going to need more than just coders. They are going to need engineers. Should you consider college?

There is a grand shift taking place in the world. As just one example, thanks to COVID lockdowns, companies are pulling out of manufacturing in China.

Thanks to demographic changes, Chinese labor costs have increased dramatically over the course of the last 20 years.

Where is the manufacturing of the future?

Here in Arizona, for the first time in memory, real estate and construction are not the top job producing industry. And it's not tourism either.

It's manufacturing.

People say America doesn't build stuff anymore. But we're starting to build stuff again.

How can you position yourself to take advantage of this? Shoot I'm in this state and I feel like the opportunity has been passing me by...

Where else is the next up-and-coming manufacturing locations? Latin America? Africa? India?

The other day I saw some textiles and when I did my research it was coming out of an African manufacturer. I'd have to go back and look, I think it was Nigeria. I never noticed that before.

Maybe we should be learning 3D printing? Study CAD? Maybe that's the shift that takes over? Creating your own products and becoming your own supplier?

Going back to my situation in Arizona, I can give myself a little grace because I'm not in aerospace or semiconductors.

Then maybe I should be positioning myself to sell shovels to the companies that are selling shovels to aerospace and semiconductor companies.

With those high paying jobs come into this state, real estate prices go up.

More little businesses are going to be built up. Maybe I should start an accounting firm for those businesses and build a synergy with marketing agency.

Everywhere in the world the basic way of doing business is changing right now. Take a look at your area. Is it growing or is it shrinking?

One of the best things I did was move to Phoenix. So this place has been growing so fast ever since I got here, that it makes my odds of success so much greater.

Look how many people went fast lane just being in this city.

Dear reader, what is your Phoenix?

And it strikes me as strange that this is a place where people are moving to, we continue to build. we continue to grow. And yet my clients are still struggling to hire people. Everyone is complaining that employees aren't loyal anymore.

We are fastlaners. We look at the world differently. How can we use this to our advantage?

A labor costs are going up all over the world, and not just because of money printing, but because of basic supply and demand, what are you in for if you're starting a high labor business?

Can you innovate a high labor business to achieve greater efficiencies? Out hustle your competition?

Anyways, I don't have the answers. I'm not here to tell you what you should do or how you should spot opportunities in your region.

I'm hoping to spark a discussion. I'm hoping to get somebody's brain going. Maybe you can look at the world a little differently and spot some or create some opportunities of your own.

Very interesting, allow a Midwest landscaper to have a take.

Number 1): What is my Phoenix? Southeastern, Wisconsin. All the Chicago money, Cali fornications, Coloradoans are moving here and bringing their money. (Their politics too but that is besides the point).

Number 2): Work force. Most of the people that work the jobs I hire for (Landscape construction and design) are Mexican. Now this brings up an interesting dynamic of "Who's going to be roofers, pave the roads, cut the grass, do the construction.

Well, it ain't gonna be us gringos. In the US, we allow people from South America to just walk on over here. After that, we give them plenty of free shit. Now, where is this going... Mexican families (my workers) both have over 3 kids because they receive bonuses from the government on every kid they have. (My one guy has 9 kids, the other 4)

American families (doesn't matter the color or culture) have 4 kids MAX. Most have 1-2, or none at all. This means that there is not only an age change occurring in the work force, but also an ethnic change as well.

One opportunity here is to start a construction-style company (as I did) and utilize this workforce. Pay them well, treat them right, and continue to hire more of these guys. Roofing companies, lawn care companies, etc.

 

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