MN-Investor
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Post by MN-Investor on Apr 4, 2011 13:57:23 GMT -5
I had a friend who made quite a bit with a side business. During the day he worked in I.T., doing PC support. He was only so-so with that, but he really enjoyed the interaction with other people. His son was on the local peewee football team (whatever you call it, I'm not a parent). Apparently they have brochures with information on who's playing along with pages and pages of advertising. My friend was great at computer graphics, so he would do all the graphics stuff to produce these brochures. He had a full time employee who made the calls to businesses to get them to pay to advertise in the brochures. Apparently it did well. My friend made more in his side business than the CIO at our company made in salary.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Apr 4, 2011 14:07:05 GMT -5
I know a few people who own their own business whose spouse's work as an aide at the school or some such. At first I couldn't figure out why the wife or husband of a lawyer or architect would want a $16K a year type job. Then one told me that she worked just to get the benefits.
They lived mostly on there saving when the business was started but this took having to buy health insurance out of the equation. Where I live that can easily cost $25K a year for a family.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2011 14:57:23 GMT -5
Let's face it-- for men, it's a great challenge to overcome the lifestyle expectations of most chicks.
How did Paul get so much karma?
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Apr 4, 2011 14:59:24 GMT -5
Hey - warm places to stick it aren't cheap! And if you want them disease free, and readily available - that'll cost ya! Supply and demand - baby.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2011 15:11:41 GMT -5
In the age of the internet, there's no reason that you'd need to quit your job in order to start a business. I have a dozen different ways that I make money online that roll up to a handful of corporations. Some of them are more sophisticated than others i.e. harder to set up. Others are incredibly simple.
I worked full-time while I setup all my websites. Now it's to the point where I could not work on them for several months and still collect the income. I have 3 sites that I started in 2007 that bring in over $1500/month. ANd if you saw these sites, you wouldn't be all that impressed.
If you want to open a brick/mortar shop, you're missing the boat.
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Post by mtshastawriter on Apr 4, 2011 20:59:33 GMT -5
I agree with davebo's statement about "working" or "earning money" online. I freelance as a technical writer for a company across the country from me, as well as working on my other various projects that I find on wahm job boards around the web. If you stick to the main websites, you can avoid much of the scam activity and find some golden nuggets of opportunity. Since my DH passed away earlier this month, I seem to be in "earn and hoard money" mode, so I am going with it and trying to bank as much cash as I can. I "worked" about 5 hours today and billed over $600. I live in an area where government employees have WalMart salaries because it is a LCOL area. I made more in 5 hours today than I would in a week having to commute somewhere locally. There are a gazillion, legitimate ways to earn money online. I earned over $300 last week, in addition to the other projects, doing a keyword proofing job I found on wahm.com. It's a temp project, but the pay is good and I do the work while I watch TV. I also work for ask.com and answer questions for $0.31 per 150 character answer. (That's about two sentences.) The questions take me less than 60 seconds to answer and I can do about 60 in an hour. That makes my "hourly wage" equal to about $15 after taxes. Not bad for watching TV in the recliner with the laptop... I have started doing some article writing for HubPages.com and have seen about $100 in Amazon Associate sales from an article I wrote about purchasing a big & tall office chair. I literally wrote the article one day while I was buying a new chair online. It was a simple, hour project, and has seen a great return. And, the best news is that it will continue to earn me money over time without ever doing anything else to promote it, etc... It's like a great gift that keeps on giving over time. I set a goal (thanks Phil) last November on YM to earn at least $3000 a month in income. At that time I was still a full-time caregiver for my DH and couldn't see how that would really be possible. I am now working enough to be able to do it - if I put in the effort and stay the course for the long-haul. As Yoda said; "Do or do not, there is no try." While I would love to add new writing clients to my workday, I am happy with my hodgepodge of current gigs and can easily earn a living working in my sweats.
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AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP
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Post by AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP on Apr 5, 2011 0:45:25 GMT -5
Windy's right. It is a painful process to start a business. Anyone working 40 hours a week has a lot of time left over, say you work for 8, then work business for 9 still leaves you 7 hours for sleeping, eating and commuting. Its painful but doable if you have the drive. I remember ymers always giving advice to work two jobs for people strapped for cash, Its the same principle here just you are not strapped for cash. Also counting paid leaves and vacation time and weekends it can be done. Here I am agreeing with a Muslim again. Seriously, it's just a matter of priorities. I find that I do just about anything and everything that is important to me, and I do not do those things that aren't important. Let me ask you all something: If owning a collection of baseball cards was important to you- could you start a collection? If it wasn't important to you- would you do it? If riding a bicycle was important to you, would you own one? If riding a bicycle was of no importance to you at all, would you still own a bicycle? If getting a college degree (assuming you don't have one for this question) was important to you- could you manage obtaining a college degree? If it was not important to you, would you do it? If you've ever said, "Money isn't important", if you've ever had the thought, "Money just isn't that important to me"; or any variation of the thought, "Money can't buy happiness" (or love, or whatever)...then odds are pretty good you're broke and you're always going to be broke. If by some odd chance you break out and earn a lot of money, you will eventually lose it. The fact of the matter is that if it's important to you to have a lot of money- you'll stand a much better chance of obtaining your goal than if it is not important to you to have a lot of money. For the rich? It's a need. It's not a want. It's a must have. If you're having thoughts or running around making statements to the contrary, you're either broke or you're gonna be.
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AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP
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Post by AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP on Apr 5, 2011 0:48:40 GMT -5
Very sorry to hear about DH. You're in my prayers and I wish you the best.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2011 7:56:02 GMT -5
Windy's right. It is a painful process to start a business. Anyone working 40 hours a week has a lot of time left over, say you work for 8, then work business for 9 still leaves you 7 hours for sleeping, eating and commuting. Its painful but doable if you have the drive. I remember ymers always giving advice to work two jobs for people strapped for cash, Its the same principle here just you are not strapped for cash. Also counting paid leaves and vacation time and weekends it can be done. Here I am agreeing with a Muslim again. Seriously, it's just a matter of priorities. I find that I do just about anything and everything that is important to me, and I do not do those things that aren't important. Let me ask you all something: If owning a collection of baseball cards was important to you- could you start a collection? If it wasn't important to you- would you do it? If riding a bicycle was important to you, would you own one? If riding a bicycle was of no importance to you at all, would you still own a bicycle? If getting a college degree (assuming you don't have one for this question) was important to you- could you manage obtaining a college degree? If it was not important to you, would you do it? If you've ever said, "Money isn't important", if you've ever had the thought, "Money just isn't that important to me"; or any variation of the thought, "Money can't buy happiness" (or love, or whatever)...then odds are pretty good you're broke and you're always going to be broke. If by some odd chance you break out and earn a lot of money, you will eventually lose it. The fact of the matter is that if it's important to you to have a lot of money- you'll stand a much better chance of obtaining your goal than if it is not important to you to have a lot of money. For the rich? It's a need. It's not a want. It's a must have. If you're having thoughts or running around making statements to the contrary, you're either broke or you're gonna be. The people saying "money isn't that important, etc" typically mean "a LOT of money isn't that important". I beg to differ that most of those people are broke. A lot of people are happy with being able to provide with themselves and/or their families, having a decent amount of savings and enough to retire on. They don't feel the need to spend their lives chasing the all-mighty dollar. I sure as hell don't feel like being a slave to money and I'm not broke.
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Post by tea4me on Apr 5, 2011 8:39:49 GMT -5
It might not be so bad for someone like a teacher (regularly, predictable time off) Slight hijack - I am repeatedly told that teachers NEVER get time off. They are constantly meeting with parents, grading papers, making lesson plans, etc. During the summer they are taking classes. It never ends.
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8 Bit WWBG
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Post by 8 Bit WWBG on Apr 5, 2011 12:56:41 GMT -5
...:::"The people saying "money isn't that important, etc" typically mean "a LOT of money isn't that important". I beg to differ that most of those people are broke.":::...
Pretty much the same as when a woman says "money isn't important". While she may genuinely not be looking for a rich dude, there is certainly still an implied basic minimal level that a potential suitor must have.
But yes, I agree that not everyone cares about the accumulation of significant wealth. Others find fulfillment in other areas.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Apr 5, 2011 12:59:41 GMT -5
I agree. I feel like money isn't important now - but that is because I have what I need. I wouldn't give up additional time to build a secondary business that would bring in more money that I don't need. It might make my life easier 10 years from now - but I don't want to make the sacrifice now, while my kids are living with me, so I can be a multi-billionaire when I die.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Apr 5, 2011 13:00:12 GMT -5
Maybe I didn't do a very good job getting my point across.
Let's try again.
Right now I get up every week day and come into work for 8 hours. I rarely have to take work home with me. I rarely have to put in more than those 40 hours. For that time I get $2k a week in salary and health, dental, disability, and life insurance. I have no stress from having to track down new customers, new opportunities, etc. I have no liability worries, I didn't have to risk any of my savings, I didn't have to go a year or two with no income in the beginning. I come in, do my 40, grab my check, and go home. No muss, no fuss, no stress.
So, if I decide to start a business the downside is giving up what I've already got. I'd give up a salary that's more than 90% of the population earns, put a hole in my work history, which would make getting a similar job back if the business failed that much harder, and I'd be doing it knowing that whatever business I start has a better chance of failing than succeeding. My other worry is that there are plenty of small business owners out there that are making less than I am right now. I could give up my easy stress free job and start a business that makes me even less money but requires a lot more work.
That's a lot of risk.
Now, let's look at what my wife would be risking to start a business. She currently doesn't work. Her only real responsibilities between 7:30 am (when the kids go to school) and about 3:00 pm (when the kids get home) is cleaning up the house a bit and maybe doing some grocery shopping. She currently fills a lot of that time with volunteer activities for which she doesn't get paid and receives no benefits. If she stopped doing those to focus on a business the financial downside is literally nothing. If the business only makes $100 a month the first year, that's still $100 more than she's making now. If the business fails, she can go right back to the volunteer stuff she was doing before with no problems. She wouldn't have to pay for benefits out of pocket until the business made enough to buy them. She wouldn't have to worry about supporting the four of us from savings while she got started. She's under no non compete clauses.
Her risk is much smaller than mine.
That's all I was saying. Let me repeat that I'm not against telling people to start a business. It is a proven wealth builder. However, it's also pretty risky. For every one person that build a decent life for themselves through their business there are several that lost their savings, have gone through a bankruptcy, set their careers back by several years, etc. Let's not ignore or gloss over the risks involved. Especially for a single person, who doesn't have somebody to live off of while they get started.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2011 13:14:01 GMT -5
don't get me wrong, I've thought MANY times about getting into rentals as an income generator. But now is not the time. DH and I don't have the savings to invest in that right now, plus he's job hunting and we may have to move. He's also extremely risk-averse, so I can't see it happening for many years, if at all. And that's okay. My aim would be to make enough that I'd only need to work part-time and retire early. I don't need a ridiculous amount of money to be happy - I'd love to maintain our current lifestyle with 2-3 kids.
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trytofindbalance
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Post by trytofindbalance on Apr 5, 2011 15:12:01 GMT -5
My parents own a small successful business. They started it 17 years ago. All of the kids were out of the house. They were both working full time sales jobs. My mom quit her job to be at the business full time, Dad had to continue to work at his job to carry the benefits for both of them and also to have an income coming in and then he worked at the business when he wasn't at his full time job. They used credit cards to start the business because they couldn't get conventional loans. It took 2 years for Dad to be able to quit his job. The business is successful, but they are far from rich. They are finally both able to take 6 figure salaries, but not that much more than you Dark. They are able to write-off a car through the business and do some traveling (business related) as well. They have carved out a comfortable lifestyle for themselves, but they work VERY, VERY hard and they are responsible for bringing in new business and salaries and health benefits for 15 employees. They love what they do and I don't think they would change it for the world, but I can tell you that I make almost what each one of them individually makes and I work my 8 hours, collect my check, have benefits, 401k match and I don't have to worry about the risk and stress that they do.
As you probably know from other posts, my DH is in the process of starting a new business. It has been a long, stressful process. He has been in business for himself most of his adult life. He has had some success and some failure. I have been able to accumulate much more wealth for myself over that same period of time. At this point in our lives, my income and benefits are allowing him to start his new business. Also, money I have saved over the years will be used for seed money for the new business.
I think that when you have a family that is dependent on you and you don't have a lot of savings to fall back on or seed money, you will have to continue to work a job, while starting your business. I know many people that did it that way. It was a tremendous amount of hard work and long hours, something you might not be willing to do, with a young family. There are a lot of a factors and I agree that while Paul may have found his nitch and he may be doing very, very well, working very few hours, that is not the norm for a small business.
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startsmart
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Post by startsmart on Apr 5, 2011 17:26:25 GMT -5
Easy transition: freelance and build up your client base before shifting to your own full time business
I don't know about building a brick & mortar/product based business but if you're in a service field then you can absolutely mitigate risk by having a money map. yeah, yeah, lots of hype around that term but if you know exactly how little money you need to make, and the money you would prefer to make then you can plan and you'll know how many clients or packages you need to sell at what price.
If you're freelancing and have two clients making 80% of your goal and five people who want to work with you that's mitigated risk. Typically it takes 3-5 years to learn and really grow a successful online business. Most people will dream while hating their boss/job/coworkers/commute and never actually build what's needed.
You can fund your own growth until the business grows to a point where you can leverage a business line of credit if it's needed.
Edit - yeah rereading makes this sound really fake so I'll point out that this was the path I took to earn an additional $5500/month from Feb 2010 to Feb 2011. I set my own hours, love my clients and enjoy my business which is constantly growing.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Apr 5, 2011 18:19:51 GMT -5
I understood what you meant Dark. I just have never know anyone who dropped their only income and up and started a business. Like I said most started off gradually.
The spouse also helped by getting a job even if low paying that had good cheap benefits. A lot have been with the school district that their kids go to. It allows them to have the same days off and still be there to get the kids out the door and when they come home. For most it is a decent job for the pay plus benefits.
Even the single people I knew who started their own company had some period of transition where the both worked a regular type job and did their own business on the side.
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