We Are All Self-Employed

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As we have found out, in today's economy, there is no job security. Large companies like General Motors and Ford can close up. Many companies are going bankrupt and their employees are now looking for employment  elsewhere.  Business are on shaky ground because of the economy. Your are no longer guaranteed your job. You will eventually lose or leave your job.  But was that ever not true? .

  

 When you are employed you think that by doing your job and doing it well you are thinking you have job security. The idea that you work for an employer is an old attitude. You may find out that there is no such thing as a secure job. We are finding out the great autoworker jobs maintained by a strong union are not so secure. Even the Post Office may cut off Saturday delivery to reduce losses. Even the city and county workers in California are living with 15% wage cutbacks. 

You must reexamine the notion of you being an employee.  Don't see yourself as one. You should see yourself as a one person company, providing services to one customer. You are now self-employed. You are your own boss. This entails all the details of running a company. The first is providing a product to sell. That product is you.  The product must work correctly and provide the service need by you customer. If it doesn't fulfill the necessary requirements the customer will not continue to buy the product. You will be fired.

Second you must provide good communication with your customer. A necessary and timely interaction on the quality and delivery of the product. Is your performance in line with whats required for your work.

Third you must provide customer service. This entails follow-up on your products quality. Is it performing up to  advertised specifications. If its not your fired.

If you like you can always stay the employee. But you can also take on new challenges and think like a Boss. There is always time to express your purpose and passion for your life. Cliff Hakim in his book "We Are All Self-Employed" says "Believing that you work for an employer and acting as though by doing your work, your job will be secure - is a relic of an era long past."    

               

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Teaching Kids About Work and Money

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Kids are dumb. You have to teach them everything. Except to eat and watch TV. We have to teach them many things in life and one of the most important things is to work. Teaching your kids to work and having a work ethic is not easy. We had 6 kids in the house at one time. Giving them all chores to do was a time consuming task. Some did there chores well and when they were supposed to and some didn't. It was a job to keep on top of them.

Some parents give ther children an allowance. But in our case it wasn't practical. Handing out money to six kids would force us to get a bookeeper to keep track. We figured they had all they needed so no allowance. They didn't seem to suffer because of it or ever complain. It just wasn't done. You may decide to give your children an allowance yet it seems unnecessary. When I was young we never got one either. We didn't miss it.

Now when they were older their chores increased. Now they started to look for money. They also wanted cell phones. It was starting to get expensive. My Wife and I decided they needed to get jobs. It took some time but they did. Now they paid for there own cell phones with their money. The jobs also filled their time and kept them out of our hair. But don't forget they had to be taken to and from work. More time spent on our part.

They were taught how to spend and where to spend their money. Teaching how to buy things always looking for getting the most value for there money. They also learn the idea of preparedness. Getting somewhere on time. Preparing there clothing and seeing their uniforms or clothes are washed and ready for work. If your kids learn anything, I hope the one thing they learn is Work = Money. My Father always says "You don't work you don't eat."

Todays kids Have many bad examples of people on television, having plenty money and things, but you never see them going to work. They see people just having money. To see on TV an example of someone working hard is rare. If you don't teach your children good habits who will.

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Debts True Effect On Your Self and Family

We all know the problem with debt. It all starts simply when you buy something with that little piece of plastic. Its all so fun and innocent. Its a mindset that you need somethimg now. you don't have time to save for it. Get it now and worry about the bill later. Maybe you don't have the money, but you'll just make the payments

The short term effects of debt are you have to make your payments with your finite amount of income. This bill arrives in the mail with a small monthly payment, you pay the bill and go on with your life. It still feels good, your paying it back. You see the credit card is your friend, it helps you live a better life. You continue this cycle of credit and it works for a while. Till it doesn't. You eventually don't have enough money to pay your debt. You get behind and here comes stress, fear and worry. Credit has made your life better.

That's only the beginning. Think of all the things you do and can't because of all this wonderful debt. I can relate in my life the many things I miss out on because of debt. For starters my mortgage is 40 percent of my income. Dave Ramsey's rule of thumb is that it shouldn't be more than 25 percent of your income. I can see why my house is keeping me poor. My mortgage is keeping me from saving and paying other bills in my life. The lack of of cash has made me go into further debt when an emergency comes up. A lot of things around the house get neglected like repairs and maintenance. As the debt payment rises, taking more cash from our budget, we don't do a lot of other activities, namely vacations. If we do vacation its put on debt making the situation worse.

More effects are you have to work more. I had to start working on the weekends just to make ends meet. I can't go back to a 5 day week I need the money, guess why, my debt payments. Its incredible I have to give up my Saturday to pay my debt. I'm not working for me but I am working for the bank till I pay them off.

Your quality of life reduced. Your in a bondage to your debtor. You have to do things you don't want to do, your choices are limited when you are in debt. How would things be different if you were not in debt. Think about this carefully. For me I could work one day less per week. I would not worry about getting sick and missing work. For most of us we are one week from financial disaster. Think what your life would be like if you had no debt.  I would have a great reduction in stress. My family would have more stability and security.I could be using my income  to build an emergency fund or build a Roth Ira.

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