Some of the Hardest Jobs to Make Money In

There are just some industries which are both impossible to get into and more impossible to sell. This is primarily due to a few factors which vary by industry.

1. SEO - there are only a few truly good SEO firms out there and the problem is that for every good SEO company, there are 50 bad ones. This is not to mention that ranking highly in the SEO world is like shooting to be a NBA star. I could not imagine just how hard it is to rank within the top 3 pages for a relevant search; that is, if they are starting from scratch. I am not an expert, but my first inclination would be "impossible."

Good SEO firms have been beaten down by poorly run, unethical SEO companies around the globe. Additionally, almost immediately after signing on, many of the companies which have purchased search engine optimization services from reputable firms complain that they have not seen optimal results yet. They don't quite understand that this is partly due to a few variables. The first is that SEO, especially after the switch in the Google Algorithm, ranking highly takes more than just building links from any highly ranking PR site. Second, the companies "clients" are not proactive throughout the process. SEO is a "help me help you" service. It takes a lot of writing and research on both ends.

2. Insurance sales - this profession speaks for itself. If you are not working for a really, really reputable company, you are hitting the phones all day long. These days, nobody wants to be cold-called. If somebody needs something, they go to the web. This is part of the reason as to why the aforementioned industry is still very popular. The odds of a "big fish" wanting to even get on the phone with an insurance sales representative are almost nil. Combine that with the odds of that same person needing insurance at the same time the sales professional calls and you have a lottery type situation.

3. Stock brokers - this is almost a mirror image of the above profession. Not only are people not going to take stock tips from a random person calling over the phone, even if they would entertain a conversation, they probably have no money left from 2008. To pile on top this, there are so many mediocre stock brokers that people have become very weary of equity sales representatives outside of the major brokerage houses.

4. Print and copier sales - I don't know why anyone would go into these industries in the first place, but HP's copiers used to compete with the copiers manufactured by Ricoh. Now they both have to compete with the internet. Also, nobody is going to find it acceptable when a copy or print salesman or saleswoman knocks on their door. Paper is a thing of the past and this puts quite a strain on the people (especially the sales people) in the industry.

5. Software sales - these days, software is so easy to program. As a matter of fact, check your spam email sometime and, surely you will find a bunch of offers to buy hundreds of different software solutions being offered. Twenty five years ago, software was the hottest thing in the market. In 2010, to start a business based around any particular software solution is exceedingly difficult.

Ken Sundheim is President and Founder of KAS Placement "KAS Sales Recruiter"

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