The great recession we are still slogging through has taught me something critical: you can’t rely on one career or college degree to live.

Throughout my 20-year career, I feel truly blessed that I have been able to study and work hard to become an accomplished businessman, media company executive, journalist, public relations professional and professional photographer. Having multiple skill sets has helped me stay employed in past weak economic times and it has also served me greatly today to build successful businesses in the midst of a difficult economic climate.

I come from a blue-collar background, so believe me when I say I am not trying to show off by saying I’ve done this or that. Technology and bad economic times have recently ganged up on my thoughts and fully convinced me that it’s unwise to raise my three kids to rely on only one degree or a career to live.

The days of unchanging careers and lifelong degrees are long gone. The evidence of this is everywhere you look, including Silicon Valley, one of the most highly educated parts of the country.

A dear friend of my family, a teacher with a master’s degree my children know, is a case in point. He can’t find a full-time teaching job in public or private schools and the only gigs he can find are all part-time. There are many other unemployed college educated people like my friend out there right now. I can’t blame the universities because ultimately, people need to stay on top of their own skill sets. But one thing I don’t like about higher learning institutions is that most of them are set up in a linear fashion so they teach students only one skill set.

A couple months ago I ...