Building yourself means building your skills, your credentials, and your network. It’s about growing You, Inc. into new markets. It’s about expanding your brand. By doing this, you keep your options open. You reduce the chance of unemployment. You also reduce the length of unemployment—which will minimize employment scarring and its terrible effects on long-term earnings. Remember my father-in-law: he went from contractor to nurse to hospital purchasing manager. It was a career run, but made possible only through building.
