StayStarted: business

Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

Passive income isn't a luxury any longer

Understanding the concept of passive income is as basic as understanding our need to eat. I like to eat. I have always enjoyed eating. Why would I ever think that I won't want to continue to do that in the future?

The process looks like: I work, bring in money, buy groceries. My parents bought the groceries when I was a kid And they worked and brought home money to have that happen. I really like that they did that for me, even if I didn't appreciate it until I had to buy my own.

Stay with me here. My Mom is 77 now. She does buy her own groceries still, but definitely not with the same process that I go about it. She doesn't work and bring home money. She takes her handy dandy SS check and my Dad's pension check that is directly deposited into her account on the 1st of each month and purchases the things she needs. As a matter of fact, she pays her taxes that way. She also pays her utility bills, phone bill, home maintenance, clothing, and even her weekly casino slot entertainment she likes to do to pass time...all from money that "just lands in her checking account."

Somewhere along the way most of us will be buying our groceries in a manner very different than how we do it now-assuming you are currently capable of working for money. We all must find a way to generate income through our entire lives. I have heard the famous "I will just work until I die" line over and over. That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, ...(read more)

There's a lot of people playing defense and the game doesn't get won that way. You might avoid getting killed or stomped on by defending yourself, but there will be no winning. It's human instinct to win, to compete, to want to be the best. We're born that way, and it just depends on how soon that instinct starts to get squashed.

Winning requires offense. Winning requires intensity and belief that if I put everything I have into my game then maybe -just maybe -I can overcome the competition. It's about perspective. Does defeat and losing convince you it can't be done, or maybe it starts to occur that you could give it everything you have and winning might still evade you? Winning is slippery, but it's also

Find out the details behind the most underutilized strategy in the U.S. today....side business tax deductions. Turn your hobby into a legitimate write- off and save $1000's each year!

Top 10 Reasons for Failure -#8 Seeking Balance Too Soon

Your new business is like a baby. It demands your attention. If you don't give the necessary attention to the baby, the baby will die. Sorry, I'm just the messenger.

If you are a parent, then you know that we have skipped many a meal, ate them cold, and missed uncountable hours of sleep. We have cleaned up messes we never dreamed of, lacked the time to care about it, and most of us actually decided to voluntarily do it again!

Your new business is pretty darn similar. I would highly suggest not doing both the baby thing and the new business thing at the same time, but some of you are masochists...or just bad planners?

I'm at a stage in my passive income-generating first business, that I have spent the time to get in balance with all the priorities in my life. They were always priorities, but it might not have looked like it from the outside.

Your current cronies are not going to pay your electric bill or your kids college.

New cronies might.

Yes, new ones just might do the trick. Did you know that the average income of the crowd you hang with will inevitably be your own? Ewww

Proven fact...not opinion.

So I'm thinking it might be time for a check up of your aging friends list. They have influence on you. A lot. And being unaware of the impact isn't

K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple Stupid

Self employment and small business ownership are not inconsistent, unstable, or risky. It is our actions that are inconsistent, unstable and risky. Manage yourself and you win.

When I started part time in my new venture 23 years ago, keeping my full time gig for awhile I had great mentors. They taught me focus and I listened. I had success (amongst the normal struggle) and quit my J.O.B. less than 2 years later.

Although I was training and

How many times have I had the conversation with someone about taking deductions for all their small business expenses, and then heard...but...I don't want to mess it up or but...I don't want to get audited.

The amount of money that people are paying the IRS because they are intimidated is obnoxious. It's like the IRS is the Mafia or something. Or a gang. Pay us money and we'll leave you alone. We'll let your children live.

OK people, time for a real live

Do you tell yourself this lie about your success?

When I made my jump from my own J.O.B. (just over broke in case you forgot) to my own business that I had been working for the last 18 months part time, I was worried. You probably should be too. It was a first for me, how would I really know how I would do? At 26 I was still getting to know myself, what was important to me, who I really was. I lost sleep from excitement as well as the unanswerable questions. Would I work as hard for...

Rise Of The Entrepreneur - Official Movie Trailer

The entire video, about an hour long, is worth a watch. You can find it here.
https://youtu.be/Ftm0zjQcPU0

Stop the Noise - the noise called other people's opinions

When I am working with people, training them, spending amazing quality time with them to get their business off the ground and running, I have an army to deal with. The start up process would be so much easier if I was just dealing with one person. But I'm not. I'm dealing with every person that has ever spoken to them and given their not-so-clever opinion about...(read more)

About

It’s been over 20 years now that I set out on this journey. Now, I am a veteran business owner, mother of 2 teens, a wife, and a grateful friend to many. My life is full of joy from all the people who contribute to me daily.

After many failed attempts during our businesses, picking ourselves up each time, learning, and then ultimately having some grand successes, I am choosing to share some of those lessons with you. Maybe these insights might help you navigate smoother than I did (or at least pretend better) . All in all, it’s been glorious. But most of us know that glory comes with costs...( read more)

I'm no stranger to hard work. In fact, this was the one virtue that I really believed would get me ahead in life. I didn't think I was overly bright. I definitely was not more organized than most. And naivety was my speciality.

Work ethic though? That was in my bloodstream. I was brought up to view hard work as the one thing that would put me ahead in the workforce, and I'm not disputing the lesson. It stuck and I'm grateful my parents instilled this in me. There is a very large portion of our country that simply need to work harder. But there was something quite obvious

Job Security -A New Oxymoron.

The term "security" began to lose it's meaning in reference to jobs years ago. It was a slow slide for a while, if it ever was a solid term. It was meaningful possibly in certain environments, but as a general term I'm not so sure. I have been in the workforce for over 30 years and have very little recollection of ever feeling secure. Whether or not I was insecure by nature and have a personality that tends to want to be in control - I'm not clear. That may just be me.

Part of my job description in my first business was as a recruiter. I could write an entire book on the interesting and psychotic people I met.

Through the 90's I heard many many people say "Why would I look for other work? I'm an engineer!" Then some of those same people 10 years later answered the same question with "Yes I am open to looking! I'm an engineer!!!" Their demeanor (btw it wasn't just engineers) took a swing from confident and even cocky to down right desperate. So maybe I was strange for my seemingly inherent belief that I was never safe and secure, so be it. I looked pretty smart later!

People were caught off guard. They were flat footed; asleep at the wheel. Life was great at the time and it was never going to change. And while so many people were coasting along, I was working my butt off to secure a future- one where I hoped I had at least a little control over. I can't control mother nature, the economy, and numerous other variables....but I was determined to control as much as I could.

Most people are dealing with what they can find, pay cuts, little or no benefits, no retirement plans and are either hoping or resigned about the future. My friends and family think I had really lost it when I left my "good" job, and struck off on a course that wasn't even related to my field. I was young, had two degrees, and the economy was rocking. I get it, it seemed odd to them.

Today, people are being forced to consider other options when they are fully rooted in a past that they don't want to give up. The Millenials know they need a different route, but are lacking the guidance.

The point to this post is this. Are you still looking for work, asking for something that just doesn't exist anymore? Let me loosely quote what I have heard thousands of times, " I'm looking for a secure job, long term, with full benefits, a pension, flexibility and vacation pay". Stop regurgitating something your parents told you, when the economic climate is demanding you think for yourself.

Could there possibly be enough "secure" jobs out there that you should hold out for one? Are there enough that someone should never consider other alternatives? Most don't.

We're in a new era.

We're in a new era. Making money may never look the same again. It's time to dump the past and move on to a better alternative.

Self employment is our heritage. My mom grew up on a farm (self-employed parents), my dad had one of those good jobs, and my husband and I have owned two businesses for 20 years. That is (1) generation of employment, and if I have anything to do with it, my kids will never depend on a job......only themselves. I am clear I might be a little in front of the curve, leaving my career in a decade (90's) that most could do anything, and do it really badly -still making a lot of money.

Corporate America has only been fully around for two generations. It was new to our country during my parent's lifetime, and it is now sinking fast. In the entire history of the US covering hundreds of years, this is a very short period of time. Unfortunately anyone who was born into it now has a set viewpoint that is the best option. No- its not. It didn't work. It didn't sustain itself very long at all.

With that said, just because self employment is our heritage does not mean it shouldn't change or be tweaked. Self employment can be exhausting. I hated self employment, not for the work I was doing, but the never-ending-hamster-on-a-wheel-existence I led. 70-80 hrs a week doesn't kill you for a few years, but a life time of it might.

I chose to be in a self employed status working around the clock for a finite amount of time to accomplish something very specific. I would do it all over again. In fact, I am at the start of doing exactly that again. What I was after with those long hours and intense short term effort was the passive income I enjoy today. Doing all that and ending up with very little is insanity. You can see the post titled Passive Income for more on that.

How do we educated the public on maneuvering this (new) era?

StayStarted was created exactly for that. We all need a mentor, a leader, a team. We'll fill that gap while you are starting out. StayStarted.com that will lead you step by step in the field of your choice, and our book launch is close. In the mean time keep reading, learning, checking out our other posts by subscribing to email updates.

Just remember it's a marathon, not a sprint. Keep moving forward.

Your Business Pipeline...It's Just Math

There is entirely too much winging it going on out there. No wonder the general consensus is that self employment or business ownership is not stable. It is known to be inconsistent and as I've heard ad nauseam...not a "real" job. Well, thank goodness for that, since I never want to have a job again, ever.

I was self employed for years and a business owner for years after that. As a self employed person I relied on myself, and as a business owner I relied on my team. I dreamed for so long that there would be a day when I could rely on an income that wasn't solely generated by me.

While I was self employed I had fluctuations in my income. These fluctuations had nothing to do with my industry. They also didn't have anything to do with my clients. What causes fluctuations? The economy? The weather? Is it random?

If so, then what we are implying

Let's see how many of you can read the next sentence all the way through before you think "no not
that". If people knew all the advantages to having any type of small business, especially a part time one that incorporates the things you are doing all ready: the things that you do in your spare time and do for free and could easily make even a small profit, they would take advantage of what the IRS itself has claimed to be their best tax write off available. If you read on, we are going to address why so many people shut down this option in their life and how most of the reasons are garbage. Getting started in a business is thought of as intimidating. Fast forward a bit and the bonus ...

Here’s a checkup for you to see if this applies to you or not. Some of you are convinced right in this moment there is no way this is you. That means there is even a higher chance it is! One of the biggest symptoms is dismissing an idea immediately. So you should keep reading.