Many can be weeded out by looking into it a bit. Many by following up and it’s literally not a real person. The phone number they give for an interview is a voip number is a big hint we’ve found.

Some will have a real person show up to the interview, but it’s not the person from the application.

Folks are using AI to just submit hundreds of different applications to each opening with generated personas and fielding any callback. Many of them seem to be in another countries.

The noise is so bad we’re removing the post and switching to only personal recommendations or recruiter leads. It’s wild right now. AI has ruined everything?

OP’s asking for solutions.

I have a knack for repairing tech, so I put out advertisements - newspaper, store noticeboards, town hall - with an email and a promise to charge far less than out-of-warranty shops. I work locally and get quite a few folk who message me, from those who have simple problems but no tech-savvy family, to those who commission prebuilt PCs, or ask me to research and find quality products in the sea of trash because they just don’t have hours or days to research for themselves.

The HMRC gets a Self Assessment tax return once every April, I claim rebates, and regularly help local stores with donations to fund, sell or recycle.

It’s the best way I’ve found to work on my terms: with as little interference from governments as possible; not profiting from corporations or conglomerates hellbent on servitude, profit and extortion of the poor, neglecting employees or destroying environments*; and earning enough to afford breaks and occasionally give advice ehe

This is why I don’t work with or use the Job Centre or its affililates, Meta, Amazon, or Google.

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That’s thinking too big, too fast.

Don’t over-complicate it. Just start.

You don’t need loads of capital to get rolling. There’s a kid and his sister that walk the neighborhood knocking doors and mowing lawns. They seem to be doing well and the boy is especially persistent. Too broke, but I paid him one time just because I was impressed with his gumption.

My wife makes a couple of hundred a week picking up crap on the side of the road and shopping FB Marketplace. Sells it at the flea market most Sundays. She hardly works at that at all.

Being on LinkedIn and running a successful business are two very different things in my experience.

I’m 42 and taking classes at the junior college on how to be a farmer. I know this won’t work everywhere, as the place I live is extremely willing to support small, sustainable/ regenerative local farms.

But there is probably info to be had at your local JC about what ever businesses would do well in your area. Or even just business classes. They’re about $300 per class, and scholarships abound.

There are one year certificate programs that are more manageable than a degree.

Man, it took me a long time of trying lots of different things until I found the thing that worked for me. I guess looking at it now, the turning point was when I understood what makes me tick finally. So in answer to the question about what starting your own business looks like, it depends on what vibes with you the most. You want to try and have an equal balance of doing what you’re good at, what the world needs, what you love and what you can get paid for. The rest is paperwork.

I don’t know how it works in your part of the world but here in the UK you can just decide that you’re a “sole trader” to begin with. You don’t need to make a company and you only need book-keeping rather than corporate accounting which is cheaper and simpler. I guess a good first move might be to go visit a business networking group. I’d avoid BNI if I were you and go check out one of the many groups created by people who escaped BNI groups (not kidding). They’ll give you a TON of free advice and you’ll start building some good relationships. Don’t try to grow in a vacuum by going solo. You’ll likely get lonely, sad and overwhelmed.

I meant that thing earlier about not believing anyone. There are so many people with “in your face” grindset mindset BS advice who’ll try to sell you on the idea that you’ve got everything wrong and you need to do it their way. Ignore them. They’re either trying to make a buck out of you or desperate for validation.

Also don’t create unnecessary hassles for yourself. There are loads of things you don’t need when you start off, but it’ll be tempting to want to put money down because it will feel like you’re “taking control”. Only invest in stuff you’ll need immediately to make stuff work for you.

As for the type of business itself it doesn’t have to be super qualified at anything. A lot of businesses amount to doing stuff for people that they just don’t want to do themselves because it’s scary or a hassle. You don’t have to invent anything. Just find a metaphorical bucket someone is tired of trying to carry and get good at carrying it for them. That’s basically all it is. I’ll do X so you don’t have to and I’ll do it better cos it’s all I do.

Last and most important bit of advice that literally took me 30 years to figure out. Make every service you provide a monthly subscription. One off jobs SUCK cos, Like Sisyphus, you’re going to have to keep rolling that boulder up the damn hill, over and over, finding endless new clients. You’ll also have to chase payments over and over which isn’t good for your blood pressure.

Make everything a monthly subscription to 25-50 people you’ve nurtured good relationships with. If you set it up right you’ll get paid before you do the job, never have to chase slow payers and easily pay your bills and put food on the table without a boss above you, grinding you down.

Do that for a couple of years and that will teach you what you need to know for the next step.

Hope that helps.

I’m saying, at the end of the day, make your own mind up about things. Don’t blindly follow anyone’s advice. People are constantly trying to tell you which way is up and 80% of the time it’s matrix style horseshit.