Do you find yourself trying to scramble to either get those last few contracts to add them to you 2009 income statements? BIG DEAL! I mean really, the bottom line is pressing the issue becomes and annoyance to your potential client, a distraction to you and unnecessary stress. One thing I can admit to, is that the drive I have at the end of the year sometimes drives me to be unproductive. I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but I find myself attempting to accomplish everything, thus only completing parts of lots of tasks instead of completing any of them. Staring off into the distant future, does nothing for today's task list. The holidays are approaching, which means time off work and closed offices, which equates to time loss. So stop worrying about tomorrow and focus on that pile of unfinished business that you could get accomplished starting today.
George, Dorian and I take a road trip to Mississippi every year, and instead of thinking of the items I need to pack, I'm thinking of the work I can get accomplished by taking my cell phone and laptop. We are staying with my sister-in-law, and she lives in an area that doesn't get internet service. Being technical savvy, I have made sure earlier this year I purchased a laptop that synched with my cell phone through bluetooth wireless technology so that I can surf the web via my cell phone connection. We plan to stay for a week, and while I can't take the entire time off class so I'll need this technology to complete assignments, it is perfectly okay to take the time off work. We will make a stop in Arizona to visit my mother and her husband, travel to Texas where we will stay overnight and begin our travel the next day refreshed. I would rather fly to save the time and aggravation of driving such a long distance, but George and Dorian love the drive.
While I want to focus on all the ideas and tasks I have for my organization, business and church, I would miss out on all the beauty that surrounds this time of year. We Californians have had the opportunity of an extremely long summer, but it has finally started cooling down and beginning to look like fall outside. The wind is blowing, the air is crisp, the leaves are falling, and we can actually see the mountains in the distance interrupting the blue sky. If you spend this entire season rushing to close out the year by gathering as many contracts as possible you will miss out on the beauty around you. What is the worst that will happen if you do not get those five contracts signed by the end of the year? Will the world suddenly spin off her axis? If you signed them in January, would that be so terrible? Then chill out, enjoy the ride to the end of the year and know that your business is still blessed and so are you.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Overspending produces higher prices
Okay, this post may sound like the mad babbling of a weary consumer, but really folks the more we spend the higher prices will go. While I'm not suggesting staying at home not purchasing anything at all to "stick it to the man", I am suggesting becoming extremely protective of your hard earned money. Economist call it "disposable income", and since when did any income become disposable. That's what we have become, the country who produces a small portion of what we consume. We are the worlds largest consumer, yet we have no where near the largest populated country. I had the opportunity to have a great conversation with my dad this morning, and we began to discuss the rise in cost of fast food. Certainly there is a rise in cost of of food, but not so largely a rise that my favorite combination meal at the local taco join has increased from $5.89 to $7.49. I am almost ready to purchase a cooler that stays in the back of my SUV and pull over to slap a sandwich together should I become hungry on the road. Although I may not be old enough for stories of when a loaf of bread was a nickel, I do recall when gas prices climbed up to $1.00. Clinton was in office, and I thought it was extremely crazy that our gas prices had gotten so ridiculous. Here I am today, having to pay a minimum of $3.25/gallon for premium unleaded (the price I pay for owning the vehicle I have) and I actually get excited about only having to spend $50.00 to fill up.
Being a society of locusts and leaches (plug in the word consumer if it makes you feel better, but we are what we are) we become susceptible to misuse and abuse. The last couple of years of Bush Jr.'s reign, people began to cry out for an audit of the major oil companies (as if he was going to do it being that his family is heavily invested in the market). We had reached record highs of fuel cost, in some areas hitting the over $5.00/gallon mark. The governmental explanation for it all was due to the "War on Terrorism." If that is/was the case then why with the changing of presidents did fuel prices drop immediately. I'm not suggesting it's all Bush's fault, but we paid the additional cost and oil companies reported record profits (after taxes) in the billions. Understanding simple supply and demand will help you to understand why the oil companies are making such large profits. They sell the oil on the NYMEX or other means to the refiners, refiners sell it to distributors and distributors sell it to us. When we demand more, they drive the prices up (because we will pay for it, just as I still paid for my favorite combination meal at the local taco joint all the while complaining). We as consumers have more power than we know.
I have recently stopped shopping at a local hardware chain simply because of their lack of customer service towards women. I walk in looking for something and I look lost...OF COURSE I DO!!! Yet no one will assist me. I tested this theory recently (at the same location) thinking perhaps I was exaggerating my experiences there. When a woman associate walked passed me to the man behind me (even though she made eye contact with me and I spoke). She cut me off and asked if he needed help with anything. I left my basket parked right where it was in the middle of the aisle and walked out. When my 6 year old asked me why we were leaving, I said in her earshot, that I refused to spend my money at an establishment that refused to assist me. Consumers drive the market. When we no longer like something, we don't buy it and we force manufacturers to come up with something else that we will purchase. If we decided tomorrow we were all going to use the public transportation service to save on gas, the demand for gas would go down thus driving the cost down, they would have to develop a better transportation service that would accommodate everyone, and Southern CA would see less smog filled skies and our environment would thank us. I am just as guilty, we like door-to-door travel, we want to go when we feel like it, and we respond to the current problem with public transportation rather than understanding we have the power to change it. So let's stop being gouged. I for one have not been back to one of my favorite taco places, I keep my driving to a minimum and attempt to schedule all appointments and/or errands on the same day. I search for the best printer to print my business materials (that's a whole other gouging issue, since when did business cards go from $35/500 in color to $134/500), and shop various stores for other necessary supplies. Let's continue to become smarter consumers, and not let the world of retail eat up our "disposable income" that can be better invested in other areas.
Being a society of locusts and leaches (plug in the word consumer if it makes you feel better, but we are what we are) we become susceptible to misuse and abuse. The last couple of years of Bush Jr.'s reign, people began to cry out for an audit of the major oil companies (as if he was going to do it being that his family is heavily invested in the market). We had reached record highs of fuel cost, in some areas hitting the over $5.00/gallon mark. The governmental explanation for it all was due to the "War on Terrorism." If that is/was the case then why with the changing of presidents did fuel prices drop immediately. I'm not suggesting it's all Bush's fault, but we paid the additional cost and oil companies reported record profits (after taxes) in the billions. Understanding simple supply and demand will help you to understand why the oil companies are making such large profits. They sell the oil on the NYMEX or other means to the refiners, refiners sell it to distributors and distributors sell it to us. When we demand more, they drive the prices up (because we will pay for it, just as I still paid for my favorite combination meal at the local taco joint all the while complaining). We as consumers have more power than we know.
I have recently stopped shopping at a local hardware chain simply because of their lack of customer service towards women. I walk in looking for something and I look lost...OF COURSE I DO!!! Yet no one will assist me. I tested this theory recently (at the same location) thinking perhaps I was exaggerating my experiences there. When a woman associate walked passed me to the man behind me (even though she made eye contact with me and I spoke). She cut me off and asked if he needed help with anything. I left my basket parked right where it was in the middle of the aisle and walked out. When my 6 year old asked me why we were leaving, I said in her earshot, that I refused to spend my money at an establishment that refused to assist me. Consumers drive the market. When we no longer like something, we don't buy it and we force manufacturers to come up with something else that we will purchase. If we decided tomorrow we were all going to use the public transportation service to save on gas, the demand for gas would go down thus driving the cost down, they would have to develop a better transportation service that would accommodate everyone, and Southern CA would see less smog filled skies and our environment would thank us. I am just as guilty, we like door-to-door travel, we want to go when we feel like it, and we respond to the current problem with public transportation rather than understanding we have the power to change it. So let's stop being gouged. I for one have not been back to one of my favorite taco places, I keep my driving to a minimum and attempt to schedule all appointments and/or errands on the same day. I search for the best printer to print my business materials (that's a whole other gouging issue, since when did business cards go from $35/500 in color to $134/500), and shop various stores for other necessary supplies. Let's continue to become smarter consumers, and not let the world of retail eat up our "disposable income" that can be better invested in other areas.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Funding My Business the Old Fashioned Way
I've decided to revisit some old friends. Earlier this year, around April, I interviewed for a director position of an after school program. The process required several expenses that were not reimbursed and not worth pursuing unless I was interested in a long term position. I received several phone calls after the interviews requesting I work with their company. While I enjoy working with the teenagers at my youth camp for behavioral challenged students during the summer months, working with staff and younger students daily was a much bigger commitment. The location was great, and only 4 miles from home but the hours were from 8 am - 5 pm. I was more interested in helping them to develop a program they needed to fully develop to fund a grant they had been awarded. During the initial interview process they had already began making plans to quickly promote me to the next level in their corporate office within 3 months of hiring me. Their corporate office was located 60 miles away, and the morning commute was a terrible one. I let the prospect of working with their organization fall by the wayside. Yesterday while running personal errands (my Mondays are typically reserved for personal business) I received a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. I let it go to voicemail, and checked the message when I got home that evening. It was the company I interviewed with in April asking me to please return the call and they were still interested in hiring me.
Knowing they are anxious to work with me gives me an advantage that I don't plan on letting pass. While I dislike the commute into Orange County from the Inland Empire, I will gladly make it after
10 am (when traffic has died down some), and only 3 days per week maximum. This will allow me to have a steady flow of disposable income that can be put directly into the businesses for further development. I would love to be able to walk into a bank with my business plan that would blow away any loan officer, but the fact of the matter is banks are even more skeptical these days and are not lending to start-ups. So I have to fund my business the old fashioned way, by working for it. This is how most of us start our businesses, we save we work, we borrow from friends and family who believe in what we are doing. Funding a business (that is not a non-profit organization) can be a challenge and you must sit down and develop a way to fundraise just as you drew up how to start your business.
So I returned the phone call, and received a call back within 15 minutes. The two woman who originally conducted my first and second interviews, were so impressed by the interview portfolio I put together (that left no room for questions wether or not I qualified for any position within their organization), they want me to start immediately. Apparently the school program has received more funding and an elevated status. Therefore they are no longer requiring I go through the extra expenses they were not willing to reimburse me for, and I was not willing to eat the cost. I was informed they would be calling me back to inform me of "any" open positions. I quickly dispelled the myth that I was desperate and still searching for employment after all this time. I reminded the woman that I still had my own businesses, and unless the position fit my needs, I would not be interested. It seems they are in a bit of a jam to find someone who is available still (after all this time) that has the educational requirements to fill the needed positions. She offered me a teaching position and I respectfully declined. After I hung up, I immediately began to develop my consulting proposal that I would submit to the corporate office for review. It's well worth the shot, after all I now have advocates on the inside of the company that can speak regarding my professionalism and educational background.
We'll see how it goes! This is one method of funding my business, I'm currently working on several others that are further along than this one. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, instead of always hiring yourself out as an employee, consider asking for a consultant contract instead. It allows you to set your own hours, make more money, and it saves the employer in insurance expenses, payroll taxes, etc. They will enjoy that part, and admire your for being businesses minded enough to consider their expenses. Be smart, at the end of the year they will 1099 you, and you will have to do your own business taxes (which you will be able to write off way more things). You are worth more than the paycheck you earn!!
Knowing they are anxious to work with me gives me an advantage that I don't plan on letting pass. While I dislike the commute into Orange County from the Inland Empire, I will gladly make it after
10 am (when traffic has died down some), and only 3 days per week maximum. This will allow me to have a steady flow of disposable income that can be put directly into the businesses for further development. I would love to be able to walk into a bank with my business plan that would blow away any loan officer, but the fact of the matter is banks are even more skeptical these days and are not lending to start-ups. So I have to fund my business the old fashioned way, by working for it. This is how most of us start our businesses, we save we work, we borrow from friends and family who believe in what we are doing. Funding a business (that is not a non-profit organization) can be a challenge and you must sit down and develop a way to fundraise just as you drew up how to start your business.
So I returned the phone call, and received a call back within 15 minutes. The two woman who originally conducted my first and second interviews, were so impressed by the interview portfolio I put together (that left no room for questions wether or not I qualified for any position within their organization), they want me to start immediately. Apparently the school program has received more funding and an elevated status. Therefore they are no longer requiring I go through the extra expenses they were not willing to reimburse me for, and I was not willing to eat the cost. I was informed they would be calling me back to inform me of "any" open positions. I quickly dispelled the myth that I was desperate and still searching for employment after all this time. I reminded the woman that I still had my own businesses, and unless the position fit my needs, I would not be interested. It seems they are in a bit of a jam to find someone who is available still (after all this time) that has the educational requirements to fill the needed positions. She offered me a teaching position and I respectfully declined. After I hung up, I immediately began to develop my consulting proposal that I would submit to the corporate office for review. It's well worth the shot, after all I now have advocates on the inside of the company that can speak regarding my professionalism and educational background.
We'll see how it goes! This is one method of funding my business, I'm currently working on several others that are further along than this one. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, instead of always hiring yourself out as an employee, consider asking for a consultant contract instead. It allows you to set your own hours, make more money, and it saves the employer in insurance expenses, payroll taxes, etc. They will enjoy that part, and admire your for being businesses minded enough to consider their expenses. Be smart, at the end of the year they will 1099 you, and you will have to do your own business taxes (which you will be able to write off way more things). You are worth more than the paycheck you earn!!
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