Free eBook: The Assets Ladder
Find out now with your free Career Design eBook for the Future of Work
What if the problem was never the ladder, but which ladder you were climbing?
Most people spend their career climbing a ladder someone else owns, which is no longer working for most. Entry-level jobs are disappearing, and 94% of Gen Z don’t want to climb the Career Ladder.
I teach a different model: the Assets Ladder, one you build and own yourself, made up of Career Assets: skills, personal brand, content, products, networks, and know-how. One that compounds over time, while jobs disappear.
I’m the author of Learn Earn Own: From Career Ladder to Career Assets, a career strategy toolkit (maps, scorecards, templates, AI prompts) for anyone who wants to learn more skills, earn more income, and own more assets - without quitting their job or becoming a full-time entrepreneur.
I don’t think careers should be built solo. That’s why I created Collabie, a collaborative career experience: small groups come together to learn, build projects, and create new income streams, and leave with real, personalised next steps.
If you’re rethinking which ladder you’re climbing, or building career strategy for others, this book is for you. My career was by accident, but I hope I can help you craft yours by design.
Welcome to your future.
For thirty years, I did what I was told a career should look like. I got the job. I climbed the Career Ladder. And somewhere in those thirty years, I noticed the Career Ladder was breaking slowly, at the top, at the bottom, in the middle.
In 2010, I started working for myself full-time. I left the Career Ladder as I built my own company, Connector, from a personal blog and a handful of meetups into a business I eventually sold.
This book started as a question I couldn’t shake: if the old career model isn’t delivering what it promised, what replaces it? Not a faster ladder. Not a longer one. Something else entirely.
The Assets Ladder is my answer. It’s the framework I wish someone had handed me twenty years ago - not a better way to climb, but a way to own more of what you build while you climb.
I’ve since taught digital innovation to thousands of professionals across Ireland and beyond, from people at EY, Deloitte, Huawei, and Bank of Ireland, to small businesses and solopreneurs.
This isn’t theory borrowed from someone else’s slide deck. It’s the model I use myself - built from three decades building a career with one exit. It’s everything I learned creating Career Assets.
You don’t need permission, capital, or a masterplan to start. You need a different career map, a different ladder. This book will show you one worth climbing.
Read the full eBook, taken from my highly-rated new book Learn Earn Own.
Download 60+ pages in full colour from my website www.theassetsladder.com
