Turn on the news, read the headlines, and listen to people talk. It’s easy to get discouraged about opportunities for success in the job market. But if you harness what is right at your fingertips, in many ways, the opportunity for exposure and ultimately success is greater now than I have ever seen in my lifetime.

This article Hot Pod introduces us to a college student who created his own newsletter about the booming popularity of podcasting. With a clever title to grabs attention and the content to back it up, he has thousands of subscribers and is looking to parlay it into a money making business. How did he do it? He simply pulled out his computer and put his thoughts out there for all to see.

That’s really all it takes these days. Our computers give us a world of tools at our fingertips to produce videos, podcasts, blogs. You provide the content and with one simple click it’s out there for all to see. And if it’s good, it will spread. That is how many people are making a name for themselves these days and I think that is amazing. Gone are the days of sending your work through the U.S. mail to potential employers hoping they will even see your work. Every TV station I worked for the news director would have boxes, piled high with resumes tapes (later as technology progressed, DVDS!) The majority of them were never viewed and tossed into the news room for anyone who wanted to take them home and record their favorite shows on them for viewing. I am dating myself here. Obviously this predates on demand recording on your cable. It was tough to get noticed no matter how talented you were.

I encourage everyone to find their voice be it through writing, videography, podcasting, or photography. Put yourself out there and find your audience. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.