Making money online, an update.

My last post a few months ago suggested that one could "Quit their Job".  Of course, that begs the question "What am I going to do for money if I quit my job?"

• Unless you have retired with a nice fat bank account and a pension (something that is extremely rare these days), you will either have to find another job, start your own business or turn to working online from home.
    
• Maybe you're not retired and the current job you have just isn't paying the bills. It is rare to have a paycheck that actually keeps up with rising costs of living.
• Maybe you don't even have a job or lost the one you had. This can put one in some pretty dire financial circumstances. If you have a family to support, rent or a mortgage to pay along with other normal day-to-day bills, you may be in some serious financial difficulties. You need to do something NOW to get some money coming in the door!
• Are you a stay-at-home mom or stay-at-home dad so that you can tend to your children while your spouse works all day? The successful "single-income" family is pretty rare.
• Are you an "Empty Nester" whose children have moved out and you are bored to tears with nothing to do all day?

I know, for many of you, this is a unfamiliar concepts. For us older folks that were taught the way to be successful in life was to "get an education, get a good job, work 30 years and retire".  Nice fantasy my friends but "that dog don't hunt anymore". Companies, even big companies, are closing their doors and laying people off right and left these days. Is a very sad but not uncommon story to hear that someone got laid off just short of their vesting period in the retirement plan and ended up with No retirement money and no health plan. One day, you're getting along just fine and the next day you find yourself jobless, broke and with a very dim future.  It ain't pretty but also not that uncommon these days. 

What are your options? There are a few;

• Freak out and scramble around like crazy trying to find another job that will likely only pay you half of what your were making. (Been there, Done that.) 
• Try to start your own business. Do you know how to run a business? Do you have the resources to even start your own business?
• Look to the online world of Internet Marketing and take the plunge. Without a "Mentor" this is very much a hit or miss proposition. There are plenty of shysters out there with huge promises of instant wealth for no work. Please?… Have you lost your mind?  Without a proper Mentor to guide you, success in this field can take a minimum of 6 to 8 months and very likely quite a bit longer. It can be done if you find the right vehicle and have the fortitude (and funds) to stick with it and make it work.

There is a solution!

The solution is to involve yourself in some type of Network Marketing, Affiliate Marketing or some other aspect of online work.  There are a million different "opportunities" out there, some you may have already tried with little or no success. I know I have with varying results.  

Some were a total bust, others made a little bit of money but took way too much effort for the return. Even if it was a moneymaking operation, like most, the opportunity eventually saturates out and dries up and the money becomes harder and harder to generate. 

You find yourself scrambling every day to keep the whole thing afloat.  I have been involved in online businesses that literally made me thousands of dollars for a few months and then just faded away. Pretty disheartening I know.

One of the things I learned along the way was that one needs to develop multiple streams of income and constantly be creating to keep the money coming in.

If you have a single stream of income (like a regular job for instance) and that stream suddenly dries up you're going to have a rough time of it. The trick is to set up and maintain multiple streams running simultaneously so that if one dies you can ramp up your efforts in another area to increase the income from that one while you look for a new one to add to your stable.

So what do I do now?

After much "testing of the waters" and fumbling around with several programs on my own, unsuccessfully I might add, I came across a person that had substantially demonstrated success in this area that was willing to take me under their wing and show me the ropes.  Along the way I learned this maxim... 

You do not need to reinvent the wheel.  The best way to get ahead in business and in life is to find someone that has what you want and is where you would like to be and then find out exactly how they did it and do the same thing. It is a simple concept although sometimes not necessarily easy, it is still simple. It is simple because you have an exact pattern to follow and thereby avoid taking the lumps of trial and error along the way. Your mentor has already done that so you don't have to.

If you are interested in such a program, simply click on the link at the upper right of this blog (Favorite Links) and proceed. I myself am deeply involved in this particular program because...

• It has an extremely low threshold of entry, 
• Requires no recruiting, (but you can if you wish. It's nice to share the wealth)
• No selling, 
• No websites or capture pages,
• No phone calls-in or out,
• No bugging my friends and family to buy products they don't want, 
• No AutoShip programs that leaves you with a ton of products filling your garage that you can't use or sell. (been there, done that)

It is very simple to do, the training is provided online 24/7 so you can work it at your own schedule and you can make from $200-$2000 or more a month in your spare time, only working a couple of hours a day.

It's working very well for me and I make money from it every day. You can too!

Good Reasons to Quit Your Job

Good Reasons to Quit Your Job

Newsflash!  The field of employment and jobs has drastically changed over the years.  In the early 1900s, a significant change occurred in the United States.  It was called the Industrial Revolution.  Prior to that, most people either worked for themselves on a family farm or were in an apprenticeship program, learning a trade so that they could start their own business.

The Industrial  Revolution created a huge demand for something new called an "Employee", someone that would work for an hourly wage on a production line, producing the products for that particular company to sell.  The problem was, there was no infrastructure designed to produce this type of worker.  Most people did not attend school, at least not past the elementary grades.  Formal education was not in high demand.

This demand for employees was what drove the creation of the School System.   Rudimentary at first, the school system and its methods were formalized over time and stabilized on the standard of Elementary school, High school, and College or University level training. With only a few minor modifications, this system has remained in effect until present time.  Its end goal, however, has not changed.  It is still designed to create employees.

Why would you want to quit your job?  Here are a few reasons:

The middle class is disappearing and may in fact be dead! 

The American Dream never really existed.  It was, in fact, a marketing scam.  A carrot on a stick devised by Industry and Education that told the workers the way to happiness was to get a good education, get a good job, be a good "worker drone", slave away for 30 or 40 years until you are old enough to retire and then spend your "Golden Years"  being taken care of by the system.  In the early days, this may have been somewhat true but times have changed.  The carrot keeps getting moved, retirement age keeps getting moved and taxes, inflation and government fiscal mismanagement and political infighting have essentially destroyed the dream.

You are no longer an asset.  Employees have become effectively a liability for a company.
Outsourcing of jobs, a huge increase in the use of "temporary employees" (to avoid having to provide benefits), computerization and robotization of many tasks have all led to the end result of effectively destroying the middle class dream.

Corporations don't like you!
If you have half a brain, and are reasonably competent, you will soon realize that you are being exploited and demand more money.   This doesn't bode well for the bottom line of the Corporation.  They want nice, docile worker bees that never question and never cause problems. Just shut up and do the job you were assigned to do and don't make waves.  Effectively, "superstars" have a target on their back.  You are giving the other worker bees bad ideas and causing dissension in the ranks.  Incompetent and ineffective management often fear people that actually think for themselves and that possibly question management decisions.  This is not good!  There is an old business school maxim called "the Peter Principle" that one gets promoted within the corporate structure to their level of incompetence, where they remain.  Very few forward thinking companies will actually buck this trend.  Think about it, current management has risen to their own level of incompetence so of course they are not going to break that system that got them where they are.

Money doesn't necessarily equal happiness.
A common question among job seekers is "should I take the job I like or should I take the job that pays more money?"  Being an entrepreneur myself, I would question the viability of taking any job at all of course. Given what I know about this field, for most, a job is a dead-end in itself. 
Leaving that aside, studies show that an increase in salary offers little to no increase in "happiness" above a certain level. Why is this?  Because of one basic fact: people tend to spend what they make.  If your salary increases $5000, you will increase your "lifestyle" and quickly consume that increase.  Then you will ask yourself, "where did all the money go?"  You really didn't need the things that you blew the raise on and now you need something else, another raise!  playing at the corporate roulette table of salary increases is not a winning tactic.

Take a close, honest look right now at how many people can make a major decision that can ruin your life!
Personally, I don't like it when one person can make a decision that can have a major impact on my life.  If you are in that position now, and are controlled by time and money, you have to kiss ass every day to not lose everything you've gained up to this point.  That really sucks!  The way to avoid this situation is to diversify.  Create alternate streams of income that dilute or mitigate the power that person has over you.  I understand that this can't happen in a day.  Start planning now to create your own destiny.  Instead of allowing people you don't like to control it for you.

Is your job satisfying your "needs"?
How do you define needs?  Here is a suggestion: There are actually 4 "needs" that one may identify. 1. Your physical needs.  2. Your emotional needs.  3. Your mental needs.  4. Your spiritual needs.
Personally, I have had jobs in the past where I had to work far too hard and too long.  This was rarely satisfying for any of my personal needs.  The only thing it did was provide money. I have already addressed the issue of money not equaling happiness.
Yes, you can argue that not everyone is able to have all of those need satisfied at a job. Since we already know that the salary of a job will not make you happy, you can easily modify your lifestyle and at least work to satisfy more of your needs. The more these needs are satisfied, the more you will create a condition of true happiness and abundance in your life.

Excuses.
"I'm too old."  "I'm not creative." "I need the insurance." "I have to provide for my kids." Winners make things happen, losers make excuses.  Which do you choose to be?  I once ran into a person I hadn't seen for several years.  I didn't even recognize him at first.  When we had worked together on a job years ago, he was always looking bedraggled and beaten-down.  Life was not being kind to him.   Now, you is a totally different person.  He looked 10 years younger, was nicely dressed and had a big smile on his face.  So what had changed? About six months after I left that job, he got fired.  I'm sure at the time, it was devastating to him. .  He related this story to me; For the first couple of months he was frantic, trying to find another job so that he could support himself and his family.  Then one day, he had an epiphany.  He realized that he had actually been set free from the zoo!  He was no longer trapped by the virtual bars of an extremely stressful job that paid too little and satisfied none of his basic needs other than providing some money. He had chosen to make use of his experience and talents to start his own business.  At first, he wasn't making a lot of money but the freedom was exhilarating.  His happiness and exuberance soon allowed him to generate a large customer following and he was now making a substantial income, as well as handling all of his 4 basic needs very well.

It's okay to take baby steps.
"I can't just quit!" people will say. "I have bills to pay."  I understand.  Nobody's saying just up and quit one day and walk out the door and let the chips fall where they may.  One must plan their exit strategy and then implement it carefully. Before one can run a marathon, one must first learn to crawl then walk and then finally, run. Sit down right now and make a list.  List every dream that you ever had before life intervened and you were forced into being a drone.  These are not GOALS.  They are more like "themes".  Something to look at and be guided by every day as you decide what it is you need to do to make them happen.  The most important thing is to START.  Dreaming is not action.  Things happen when you actually take action.  And that is the key point.

Abundance will never come from your job.
Only when you make the decision to step out of your prison, your job, will you start down the path to abundance.  You may not be able to see it now, it's hard to do when you're looking through prison bars.  Abundance only comes when you're moving along your path toward your dreams.  When you are truly enhancing the lives of the people around you.  The money you make is simply a measure of your value to society.  When you increase your value to society, society will reward you.  It may seem counterintuitive, but it really is that simple.  You must give to then receive.

Make Money Online? Absolutely!!

Can one really make money online?

You absolutely can!  I put money in my bank
every day working online and you can too.

I began my online money making efforts a couple of years ago.  At first, I spent most of my time weeding out the scammers and less than ethical attempts of some to fatten their bank account at the expense of my own.  I fell into the trap of the "amazing magical secret" for only $97 to get started!  It soon became apparent that that was only the tip of the iceberg and that these guys would continue to reach deep into my pockets as often as they could. The $97 was just the beginning.  Upgrade offer after upgrade offer soon followed.

This process actually has a name;  it's called a "Traffic Funnel" and it is designed to take someone from a relatively low cost entry point into higher and higher cost programs.  It's all good though, these things work fine and often the programs are valid and can be amazing money makers.  They also filter out the "tire kickers" from the real players.

The real question is "Are you ready to actually receive this information?"

You see, the thing is, your head has to be in the right place in order to actually "see" the value of one of these programs.  If you are at heart a "wage slave" and consider that having a job, any job, is the best thing going for you, you probably will not be very warm to one of these programs. It would mean that you would have to do something you are not comfortable with.

To actually change your situation in life
you must change You first. 

You are where you are in life because that is where your mental outlook allows you to be and that is where you are most comfortable.  To change things, you need to actually step into your area of uncomfortableness.  To have the things in life that you really want you must be willing to do things that others are not willing to do.

Are you ready to step out of the box?

If you are ready to take a look at a real opportunity that pays you every day straight into your Paypal account or by direct deposit and has NO START UP COST then give me a call at my toll-free number 877-466-8504
or drop me an e-mail at YourGoodMoneyLife@gmail.com

Talk to you soon!
Dana

Is Now a Good Time to Start a Business Online?

Is Now a Good Time to Start a Business Online?

Actually, almost anytime is a "good" time to start. Some are better than others.

The OMB, in its Mid-Session Review to Congress released Friday, projects unemployment will drop gradually, to 7.7 percent in 2013, 7.3 percent in 2014, 6.7 percent in 2015, 6.2 percent in 2016, 5.7 percent in 2017 and remaining at 5.4 percent from 2018 to 2022. The national unemployment rate was last at 5.4 percent in May 2008, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. 

 Given this news and the somewhat "wild and woolly" political climate these days, the attractions of an online business are compelling.

• There are millions of people looking for an opportunity to supplement their income somehow.  Many are turning to the online arena as a solution.
• A downturn in the economy always puts extra pressure on everyone's finances. They need to generate more cash outside their normal work situation.
• Retirement funds and equity in a home have been severely impacted by the poor economy. Many people have been counting on their retirement funds to support themselves when they stopped working and now those funds are gone or significantly reduced.  Equity in houses has tanked with the real estate market crash.  Many are actually "upside down" and now owe more money than house is worth. What was once an asset has now become a liability.
• Uncertainty in the future due to political issues.  Economies historically stagnate during an election year as everyone waits with baited breath to see who gets elected and what economic policies with be put in place. 
• High speed, broadband Internet connections are becoming ubiquitous. Wireless Internet connections are everywhere. Social, shopping and entertainment is now centered around a computer and/or a mobile device. Having a "presence" online is almost mandatory for a successful business.
• Size does not matter!  With today's technology, a small, one person business with a properly designed website can hardly be distinguished from a mega-corporation .  A package including a "shopping cart" and the ability to accept credit cards makes fulfillment easy.  Many times a "drop ship" system eliminates the need to have a inventory on hand, thus eliminating a expense of the conventional brick-and-mortar establishment.
• Access to a much larger customer base is possible. The limitations (and expense) of a physical walk-in location naturally restricts your customer base to those that can come to your establishment to do business.  Anybody can shop online and never have to even leave the comfort of their home.

This list can be quite extensive and goes on and on.  I will not bore you with all of that now.  Suffice it to say that now is a good time and almost anybody can be involved in an online business program.

Building that financial wall - Part 2

Building a financial wall - Part 2

What is a "financial wall"?

A financial wall is a metaphor for a physical wall. A physical wall separates and protects. A financial wall does the same thing. It protects your lifestyle and your family from the vagaries of economic flux. Once it is established, effectively you are insulated from economic changes that would normally affect the typical wage earner.  It is income that is now permanent and ongoing, often called "residual income".

Are you a wage slave?

Myself included, most people find themselves only a few paychecks away from a shopping cart.  Due to the protracted downturn in the economy worldwide, most of us have exhausted any reserves and may have also maxed out any credit lines we may have had.  At this point, there is no safety net!  If you stumble for whatever reason, you can find yourself in pretty dire circumstances.

• Lose your job?
• Suffer a medical condition either short or long term that impact your ability to earn a wage?
• Suffer a vehicle accident that disables your transportation and therefore your ability to get to work?
• Illness or death in the family that requires you to take a protracted period of time off from work?

There are many, many reasons that can adversely impact your ability to make a living and pay your bills. With no financial reserves and no "financial wall" there are not a lot of options.

How does one build a financial wall?

Building a financial wall, in its simplest form, is merely putting in the work needed to create a residual income stream that no longer depends on your physical ability to produce it. For some people, this means "investing".  Investing means taking money that you do have and putting it to work. This can be purchasing Real Estate, rehabbing it and then renting it out or simply "flipping" properties. This particular method is quite popular these days with all of the foreclosed and "distressed" housing available on the market.  Nice work if you can get it but it requires money. Money that most people don't have.

Another way might be investing in the stock or bond market called "equities" or shares of stock.  Obviously, given the current volatile nature of the stock market and the economy, this could quickly turn a millionaire into a "thousandaire". Unless one is highly skilled, is very experienced and has a knowledgeable broker, this is not a great way to go either.

Yet another way is to get all entrepreneurial and start your own business. This particular avenue is quite popular these days.  In many cases it's a last-ditch effort by an out of work professional to salvage something from their corporate experience. In some cases it's a dream they've always had to be in business for themselves and to "fire their boss".

If you have a useful skill or trade, why not turn it into a business? This can be a great idea if......... and it's a big if, if you actually do your due diligence and find out what it really takes to start and operate this kind of the business until it becomes profitable.  Statistically most new businesses fail within the first two years.  The most common reason is lack of capital to keep it afloat until it starts making money and secondly, lack of knowledge on the part of the business owner on how to actually run the business.

The second part, lack of knowledge, can be overcome by plugging into a pre-established business system such as a franchise.  Here, the business plan and all of the operating steps have already been worked out.  You just need to add money, sometimes lots of it.  These days, it costs something like $1 million to open a McDonald's or other big-name franchise.  Smaller franchises like a UPS store or other small business still run into the many thousands of dollars start up costs.  That option is off the table if you don't have that money.

How about an online business that can be started for little or no start up costs? These do exist (I'm running one right now) and the start up costs can be $500 or less. The main drawback to these is that there are literally hundreds of thousands of "opportunities" on the Internet. Unfortunately, a high percentage of them are scams and the only one that makes money is the scammer.

In my experience trying to "get in on the bottom floor of the latest hot thing" is usually doomed to failure.  A true "bottom floor" opportunity is rarely offered over the Internet to the general masses.  If it is a new, groundbreaking technology or idea, they will get their funding through Venture Capitalist investment companies. The latest million-dollar idea is not going to be handed to an average Joe for only $49.95 start up costs. Get over it!

All of this being said, there are genuine and viable business opportunities on the Internet.  Multilevel marketing is one of them.  This tried and true business model has been around for a long time and it works. It provides everything one needs to get actual business started.

• Low initial start up costs typically.
• A proven, duplicatable business plan.
• Mentors/trainers to help you get started.
• A solid, proven product line that people want to buy.
• A proven track record of success for many an "average Joe" making it work for them.

As mentioned in a previous article  Starting your own business - Are you the reason it didn't work? the primary reason these types of businesses fail is not because the business model or the products were bad, it's because you didn't do it properly.  You didn't change you!  What you've been doing up to this point in your life is the reason you are where you are in life financially or otherwise. If you are not willing to change, willing to learn new things, willing to be teachable and willing to duplicate a proven system you will likely fail. If on the other hand you're willing to take an honest look at where you are right now and make a decision to change, these multilevel businesses have a proven track record of success. Are you willing to change? Are you willing to accept guidance from somebody who is actually done it? Are you ready to fire your boss?

If you wish further information on a more personal level about this area please feel free to contact me through the comments section.
If you are truly serious about firing your boss, just go here>Your Future

Going into business for yourself.  How realistic is this and what are the pitfalls?

With the World's economy, including that of the United States in somewhat of a shambles, many long-term unemployed are exploring options.  These options may include retraining such as going back to school and finishing that degree they started 10 years ago or seeking specific training and/or certification in a specialized field.  Another option is to fire up one's entrepreneurial efforts and start their own business.  In previous articles I have briefly explored some of the pluses and minuses of pursuing some of these options.  Today, I wish to expand a bit on that topic.

"Brick-and-mortar" or online?

Having actually operated businesses in both venues (and still do), I have a few thoughts on the subject.

Starting up your own business can be challenging.  Doing so in a physical location has its inherent limitations and extra expenses.  A physical location, traditionally called a brick and mortar business referring to the fact that there is a physical structure at a fixed location, is by its very nature  very locally oriented.  One's customer base tends to be people that visit your storefront and make physical cash and carry purchases.  This often brings with it the need to interact with the local political entity and it's many rules and regulations such as parking requirements, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessibility, liability and other insurances for the physical property and its contents etc., etc. If one is selling a physical product, there is also the logistics of stocking product, moving product and displaying product to deal with.  All of this can require a considerable expenditure of money before the doors even open and one customer even sets foot in your business.  This may be one of the contributing factors to the statistical fact that most new startup businesses fail within the first two years.  These failures are typically attributed to two things; lack of capital and a lack of knowledge.  Getting a business off the ground on a shoestring is almost impossible to do.  Believe me, I've tried and failed more than once! 

On the other hand, a "virtual" business, operated online, often eliminates many of the start up hurdles and cost one encounters with a fixed location.  Since one is not typically delivering a product to a customer at the business location, things such as parking and ADA access and business licenses are not an issue.  An offsetting factor can be shipping and handling of the physical product and getting it to your customers.  This can involve some considerable expense should you choose to handle this yourself. 

This aspect of selling products can also be handled in a better way.  It's called "drop shipping" in which someone else actually warehouses, handles and ships the product to your customers for you.  One can simply offer the product or service online through a website with a shopping cart and then automatically forward the orders to the "fulfillment center" to take care of the physical aspects of getting a product to the customers. 

There are innumerable variations and combinations of these schemes.  There are many "turnkey" options available to open a store.  Amazon and eBay come to mind.  Both of these retailing giants offer one the ability to open your own branded store and host it within their overall system and website.  Since this is a turnkey package deal, one does not even need to actually create one's own website.  It's all included in the package.

Are you a business owner or are you owned by the business?

What is the difference between an entrepreneur and a business owner? 

Entrepreneur -

A definition: a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

This standard dictionary definition does not really paint an accurate picture in my view.  The same definition could be used for "business owner" as well since they perform the same functions.  In my view, a true entrepreneur is already looking at the endgame when they start the business.  They have an "exit strategy".  Few modern entrepreneurs have the intention of starting a business and then dying in the traces 30 years down the road.  They are not following their fathers business model.  They have a game plan which includes researching their markets, nailing down proper funding, "single handing" the functions of the business as they work out the kinks and then gradually passing off control (called delegation) to someone else and then stepping away and starting the process again. 

Some of the most successful business people one hears about these days are essentially "serial entrepreneurs". They have started businesses, gotten them running smoothly and then moved onto a new game.  The whole point from the beginning was to get the business going and train someone to take over.  Success is a journey, not necessarily something one achieves and then stops.

If one becomes bogged down in the everyday minutia of running the business and trying to micromanage every aspect, the business owns you!  If your business plan did not include replacing yourself, you have essentially just paid a lot of money for a job.  Was that your intention?

Leveraging time

What the heck does that mean?  By applying the concept of leverage to business and career success, you can, with a little thought, accomplish very much more than you can without it. Without leverage, you may work very hard, but your rewards are limited by the hours you put in. With leverage, you can break this connection and, in time, achieve very much more.

Time Leverage

Using the leverage of time is the most fundamental strategy for success. There are only so many hours in a day that you can work. If you use only your own time, you can achieve only so much. If you leverage other people's time, you can increase productivity to an extraordinary extent.

To leverage YOUR OWN time.

    Practice effective time management. Eliminate unnecessary activities, and focus your effort on the things that really matter.
    As part of this, learn how to prioritize, so that you focus your energy on the activities that give the greatest return for the time invested.
    Use goal setting to think about what matters to you in the long term, set clear targets, and motivate yourself to achieve those targets.

To leverage other people's time.

    Learn how to delegate work to other people.
    Train and empower others (through team building).
    Bring in experts and consultants to cover skill or knowledge gaps.
    Outsource non-core tasks to people with the experience to do them more efficiently.

Providing that you do things properly, the time and money that you invest in leveraging other people's time is usually well spent. Remember, though, that you'll almost always have to "pay" up front in some way in order to reap the longer-term benefits of using leverage.

Click on "follow" to be notified of the next installment in this series.

Building a Financial Wall

Building a Financial Wall 

Alas, Long gone are the days of our parents and grandparents when one could work at the same job for 30 years and then retire with a decent pension.  This pension combined with Social Security was enough to live comfortably for the rest of one's life.

Bad economic times, financial disasters and outright fraud have gutted most pension plans, leaving a huge number of honest people financially destitute. Now they are attempting to live on Social Security alone and that is a joke, although a cruel one. I know this because I'm one of those.  As a result of choices I made throughout my life, I must keep working or start looking for that packing crate that will be my new home.  Not a great position to be in.

Hang on! There is hope!

Regardless of your age or current financial state, there is hope. In this day and age of technology and the internet, there are opportunities to launch a business that will make money come in the door that do not require one to reenter the workforce and take another "job."  There are numerous online "work from home" opportunities available.  Yes, yes, I know, scams abound.  Many are designed to lighten YOUR wallet and fatten theirs.  Been there, Done that!  Not even a crappy T-Shirt to show for it.  With some careful "due diligence" one can find legitimate work at home businesses that do very well IF one follows the path of other successful people that have done well in the same business.

The key to success is Duplication

Long ago, I was taught that the key to success is duplication.  What does this mean?  Duplication means; Find someone that has what you want, be it a lifestyle, a nice car, a successful career or whatever and find out how they got it and then do exactly the same thing.  One does not need to reinvent the wheel.  There are plenty of successful people that are willing to share their methods and tools with others as a form of "paying it forward" and helping others dig themselves out of the ruts they were once in and that you have created for yourself.  I am now involved in one such business myself and it is gaining momentum rapidly thanks to the mentoring I am receiving and the tools I have been given.

Good Day!

Unless you have been living on the moon for the past three or four years, you know that the economy has been in the pits.  Unemployment has screamed to an all-time high.  Although the government reports improving conditions, that information is highly suspect basically due to the fact that the figures have been "spun" for political considerations.  On the surface, the numbers appear to be improving.  Those figures are likely highly skewed based on exactly what is being counted. Many workers that are actually unemployed are totally ignored for various reasons.

The unemployment figures reported are inaccurate!  Who'd a thunk it?

Many times the unemployment figures one sees reported are based on the number of workers actually drawing unemployment compensation.  It totally ignores the fact that there is a huge number of workers that have exhausted their unemployment and have fallen off the rolls and are no longer collecting unemployment.  They are still unemployed but have become invisible to the powers that be that make up these reports.

Today, I read a report that the true unemployment numbers are at an all-time high.  When one looks at the overall population and compares it with the number of workers that are actually unemployed, whether they are drawing unemployment compensation or not, the figures reveal that the number of workers with a job is hovering at an all time low of around 58%.  That's a huge drop over the last four years.

Unfortunately, I must count myself as one of the members of the "42% club" of people that are truly unemployed or underemployed.  This has been going on for me since 2008.  In my case, as a self employed business owner, I would never be counted in any of the government studies that generate the unemployment numbers in any case since I am not eligible for unemployment compensation in any form.  So basically I fly under the radar.  People like myself do not get counted and there are millions of us.

Owning one's own business is a two edged sword.  

Given the long-term nature of this crisis, many people are trying to cope by starting their own businesses.  Unfortunately, historically, most start-ups only survive about two years. Many barely last out the first year. If they do survive beyond that, they gradually succumb to the debt load and fail in the second year. 

There are pluses and minuses to going into business for one's self.

On the plus side, 

• One does not have to answer to a  boss.
• No punching a time clock.  
• Your income is more closely associated with your efforts.
• Suffer from age or sex discrimination.  (At least within your own workplace)
• There is no "income cap".  There is a potential to make as much money as you possibly can, with no artificial ceiling based on age, gender or education.  If you have a brilliant idea or concept, market it properly and people actually give you money for it, the sky's the limit.

On the downside;

• There are no guarantees, compensation wise or effort wise. Guarantees come with toasters, not with life (or business).
• In spite of your best efforts, you can still come up at the end of the week with no money in your pocket. Or worse yet, in the hole! You may effectively be moving backwards.
• No punching a time clock.  You don't get to go home when the bell rings.  If you operate your own business, even if it's a brick and mortar operation with posted hours, when the front doors close the work doesn't necessarily stop.
• If you employ others in your business, you carry the burden of supporting not only them but all the people that depend on them for support.  If you make a bad decision. it can have serious consequences for literally dozens or even hundreds of people.
• There can be a serious financial impact on your life and your business due to the additional expenses you now incur for being in business for yourself. If you have a "brick and mortar" operation with a physical location, you have all the expenses that go along with it.  Rent/lease, insurance, security, building maintenance and upkeep, utility costs, physical assets such as equipment, inventory "flooring" expenses if you don't own the inventory.
• No health insurance.  Buying your own health insurance for yourself and your family can be quite expensive since you are not part of a "group". 

 So....what's a person to do?  The only guaranteed failure is to do nothing. Inaction is the true killer. Someone once said "Do Something, even if it's wrong!"  at least you are moving and trying.  Inaction breeds more inaction.  Hopelessness is contagious and will bring down the ones closest to you. It's a downward spiral.
Get up every day, shower, shave and dress. Be ready to do something.  It's a mind set, an attitude you assume.  You will be surprised the opportunities that suddenly appear when you are ready to take advantage of them.  Success is when preparedness and opportunity come together.  Be ready for it.