If their is something that a man has a relationship with that generally can’t be taken away its his relationship to his work. If he is not working its about what he could or should do next. Today we have as many women in the work force as we do men however that cant take away from the fact that the man feels an inate need to have a career.
Many friends and clients of mine are hard working women that give the impressions that their work is very important and it might be important to the extent it take cares of her core needs but after that their is usually a general disengagement. Its even more of a dis-attachment is she is a mother knowing her family comes first. I also know many women who are passionate about what they do and wouldn’t want to do anything else. I guess what I’m saying is that the journey in relationship to it is not completely the same.
Men approach things a little different. Work is a big part of life and until they either save enough money to not need to work or have a pension and social security to draw upon they do not see an end in sight. The primal understanding that it is righteous to leave your children a financial gift, “usually their home” keeps added pressure on him especially in the more formative adult years (25-35) while he is trying to sow his seeds.
As a good friend of mind told me once around a campfire, “When a man can’t provide for his family all bets are off”
When you venture out into the world of small business and you leave the W-2 paystub world this is a major mental hurdle. My experience with successful and not so successful entreprenuers is this. ” The feeling of financial insecurity is the same for people down to their last dollar as it is for a person with enough to purchase more than most. What this tells me is, their is always going to be a battle surrounding work.
One example is the man taking care of the family trust. One gentleman I conversed with was “worth” in excess of 5 million dollars, that’s only what I knew he had because we never know exactly what one is worth. I would like to add that no one is “worth” anything that has to do with money. Each persons value is equal in humanity.
He stuggled deeply, he felt so responsible to have to manage this money for the family. The rich man in general can’t help but being deeply tied up to his money. He did not know what to do with it and like all was scared to lose it. I learned being able to purchase anything that I wanted was not what it was all cracked up to be. He however was fortunate enough to be able to raise his children with a large nest egg at his disposal. I remember him telling me that he would tell his son when he was young boy, “Do what you love and make them pay you well for it” You can better deal with your work when its a labor of love, it keeps one from dreaming of retirement at an early age.
No one can perform a task over a long period of time well if they do not love to do it.
No matter who the president is, no one side can win. We are becoming a generation that is black or white when it used to be that the best information was found in the gray areas. However, one thing is being addressed that no one would believe could have been address by any other political figure head we’ve had in office since John F. Kennedy.
Our News
We are on the brink (if we are smart) as a nation to demand our media do more of a job reporting than just carry out their individual corporate agendas. News outlets conservative and democratic are dis-attached from well rounded view about news.
As a country that just finished enduring the most pathetic of political debates this century, how much of our angst and anxiety about the leaders and the future leaders of our country, hang on the breaking news coverage of the Corporate Cable Conglomerates. Ultimately, its corporate America feeding our minds and fears however they see fit all in the name of improving their ratings. They apply no sense of balance in news worthy opinions. It’s too painful for either side to agree.
The United States might be the only civilized culture that’s media is willing to compromise the security of its country to get out a story. Under the First Amendment not all speech is protected. Commercial Speech is an area of the First Amendment that is less protected such as advertisements that are completely misleading they can be prohibited entirely.
Who is doing what
See, we the people, meaning the enlightened human being, were under the impression that news media was a control of the government. The political news of the country such as security and intelligence is relayed by someone. Correct? Who gets the news about strategic US decisions and why is it public information? We are finding out that we’re wrong. News is not as government run as the hippies thought it was. Problem lies in the fact that it’s worse, it’s run by Corporate America a faceless coward.
We are playing this game of “dumb and dumber”. Americans cant get an objective story because in all honesty we hate each others differentiating opinions and views. Racism as we know it is not the pressing problem The problem is Democratic and Republican and all the ideology surrounding what it means to one or the other. A Republican in the eyes of a Democrat is a red-neck uneducated, anti-choice, anti gay and lesbian capitalist while a Democratic to a Republican is a big government, liberal baby killing socialist minority lover who wants men to be able to use womens’ bathrooms. It’s no wonder their is so much hate. How can anyone sit down at a table and have a decent conversation, work together to better improve society and culture or live out Martin Luther King’s “American dream.”
Fixing the problem
When we look around the country our infrastructure is old, the political system is old and no one is there to do anything about it. We need help. We need the media to actually work, listen to people, report the issues surrounding the country not air puppets with one hour shows entertaining their followers within the political party. We are over that. A journalist is supposed to get out into the community, engage humanity and tell the story. Journalism should do a better job bringing people together instead it’s tearing us apart.
The innocent days of communication
Remember the game we all played in kindergarten. You leaned over to little Susie while giggling on the inside, you told her the information that Johnny just told you. Now go back to that moment. You are sitting Indian style waiting to here whats going to be told to you. In a split second you are about to receive the message in your ear, you know its going to be good. Here it comes! Got it! From the moment you here it to the moment you relay it something happens. We want to mix things up a bit. It’s devilish but its what kids do but now its what media does and what politicians always do. Dishonesty shows.
In business class we learned “Caveat Emptor” – Let the buyer beware. Keep in mind when you read news articles and blogs from main stream media or even less main street media anybody can write anything. If you have a problem with this article that’s fine too it means I got my point across. Think freely on your own, gather information objectively, keep an eye out on the source of the information, battle test the content and let it go. Keep in mind very very few people know what is really going on. Chances are we are in the dark well.
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So often we hear about the men and women who start small businesses. Whether they need to rent a space brick and mortar style, or create a room in their house with an office and go virtual, the success and failure rate is hard to determine.
Let’s say one spouse doesn’t need the money as much as the other because that spouse is bringing in the dough to support the family. Unfortunately you don’t see too much of this in the under 40 crowd. Heck, I don’t see too much of this in the under 50 crowd as well! Let’s look at these folks as the “Hobby Entrepreneurs.” It’s just too tough to get hard numbers of the success rate on this group and the sole proprietor set up.
I recently read an article that stated less people are venturing off into their own businesses today than those of 10 years ago. With the recent recession, it seems as though there is a broad fear that has swept the nation.
If you think about people you know, can you name a few people that went past this decade and started a business on their own?
From a broad economic and sociological stand point we must take a look the reasons why we are seeing less people leave their jobs to live the “dream.” First and fourmost we have lost a vast amount of industries over the last few decades. When was the last time you saw a mom and pop video store open or even a computer repair place? The idea of renting retail space for a business is slowly going by the wayside unless you are a larger corporation or franchise.
Nowadays anyone can advertise as a small business on sites like Craigslist or your local Pennysaver. It would be absurb to rent retail space in many instances. Some businesses will never go away and seem to be thriving such as the restaurant and hospitality businesses. Here in Southern California we have seen a rash of Microbrew Eateries jump onto the scene over the past 10 years. Although were always told it’s the hardest business to succeed in, the entertainment/eatery business has a great chance to make it if you are delivering what the local population is looking for.
Getting back to my topic. Why are we scared to barge into our bosses office and tell him to “take this job and shove it ?” Well, let’s write down a number of factors as to why this is tougher to do today.
- The cost of living is much higher than it was in the 1990’s. Investors during the last real estate bubble took to individual housing like never before. The old way was “if you wanted to invest in real estate you went to the wrong side of town to purchase a 4 family home that needed some repair work.” The possibility of capital gain on the unit was small but the tax difference along with the possibility of positive cash flow was attainable. The 2008 way of real estate investing was with hedge funds purchasing foreclosures and short sale properties which were single family primary residences. If you take a look at California where much of this was done, there was a rebound in the real estate market by 2011. These percentage gains out performed much of the rest of the country. Now, once again it’s very hard to own a home in more desirable parts of the country.
- Salaries are stagnant. I can remember my father telling me in the 90’s, “Son, I was making $700 a week delivering bread in the 70’s It’s hard to make that today.” The old man said this 20 something years ago. Here we are well into the millennium and I still think this holds true. We can take a survey around the country as to how many people can bring home (after taxes and health insurance which is somewhat of a tax now) 700 bucks a week. My gut says it’s not as high of a percentage of American workers than it should be.
- Fear. This topic encompasses the last two points. It cost so much to live and my salary is so low that it leaves me no money to save should I become unemployed. Let’s say you have to send your kids off to college. Starting a business with that weighing on your shoulders would keep anyone strapped to their seat at work. If you are willing to go without “extras” in your life by living a very modest to meager lifestyle, you could counter balance fear and attempt becoming a self starter. The truth is, most people are into security even more so today with the unstable economic environment we live in.
There is an answer to all this. Something else can be done. This something is in our control which can make (almost) everyone happier. Lower taxes. What more can be said? If you put more money back into everyone’s pockets then everyone has a better chance to accomplish their goals. If government wants to regulate, then regulate salaries of government officials, overtime pay and frivolous spending. With all of the obstacles that are faced in starting your own business, at the least, they need give everyone a better chance to succeed.
One ha
s to assume that in today’s environment, it is a little harder to start a business then let’s say in 2003. Back in the roaring 2000’s (2003-2007 more or less) it seemed like you could purchase a website and a Voice over IP and you were on your way. The real estate market was flourishing….. or so we thought. Flipping houses was easier than flipping pancakes at IHOP. I can remember a mortgage broker giving me a loan without needing my financial information. They called it a “No Doc” loan. Try that today.
As the World turns
Let’s spin forward 14 years to 2017. We can look at all the economic indicators we learned in college (Consumer Price Index, Product Price Index, GDP…… the list goes on) but what is happening on the ground floor? Well, we know a few things.
- Jobs are being consolidated. The value of your service might be shrinking. Today, its very easy to find a website designer or even an SEO person who charged twice as much for their service 5 years ago.
- You cannot just create jobs for the sake of creating jobs. Is a small business owner struggling just to make ends meet going to hire someone because its good for the country? Is corporate America going to stop farming their services overseas because they want to see Americans with jobs? Never happen (barring legislation).
- Uncertainty is high. Generally speaking, people do not like uncertainty. Security is paramount. If you can find a job that pays well with matching 401K contributions or a government pension, you’re on your way to a comfortable retirement.
How do you know starting a business is right for you?
With all of this said, why would someone be so pessimistic about business and the economy. Well, I’m really not. There is only one way anyone can become an entrepreneur and that is if all of these factors do not matter. The risk taker doesn’t care what the job market is doing or where the real estate market is going or even what their pension is going to look like at 65.
Breaking life down
Let’s say you’re 40 years old. You are smack-dab in the middle of life. If we check the numbers, you have lived about half of your life on God’s green earth. It just all seems to go so fast. Are you worried about life and what it looks like at 70, 75 or 80? These are questions you need to ask yourself. How many years do you think you have left here?
An individual should venture on their own for this one primary reason. You do not want to reach your golden years having regretted not taking a chance. If you are reading this and are over 65 years of age ( I have at-least 100 clients over 65) the best things you can do is stay healthy, smile and do service to the people who need you. It is not the wealthiest person in retirement who is the happiest, it’s the person whose finances have become a “moot point.”
Don’t start a business for money. It’s so much more than that.
For all the Mark Zuckerbergs’ and Steve Jobs’ in the world there are millions of people who trekked down the road of entrepreneurship only to find out this was tougher than originally expected. My own story has its stange twist and turns. I can remember a few years into having started my business www.TaxGroupSD.com, I hit a stumbling block. That boulder was called “I’m broke.”
A good friend of mine said when help