Take the Time to Invest….

Photo by http://973thedawg.com/ 

I am concerned about the economy of this country (USA), and I always have been.  There is a goldmine out there, and I do not think that over half of the people in this country is taking the time to do this sort of thing.  I will tell you in a moment what it is.  Yes, it has to with the title of this post.   Consider the following (I am paraphrasing a Facebook friend’s post from today-My comments in red Parenthesized):

·         68 of Macy’s stores are closing (Including the one ½ mile from my house)  

·         ALL of Limited stores are closed (one announcement on the news is all the everyone got)

·         108 Kmart stores are closing (the last one in the Central Ohio Area will be closed soon)

·         42 Sears stores are closing (not sure of the fate of the one ½ mile from my house, which is in the same location as the closing Macy’s store and already closed Limited store.  This Mall (Eastland Mall) will only Sears as an anchor store for now).

·         Companies are outsourcing and downsizing. (There is no surprise there.)

So, why am I telling you this?  More later….

Consider this…

1.      The largest transportation provider in the U. S. does not own a single car (Uber)

2.      The new largest hotel company in the world does not own a single hotel (Airbnb)

3.      Amazon just surpassed Wal-Mart as the nation’s largest retailer and they do not own a single store.

On this “Makeover You Monday” (Hopefully this is a new segment on my new blog, NOT on this blog), I hope that you have taken some time to think about what would happen if you lost your job due to layoffs, downsizing, outsourcing, or even something such as your boss telling you that you no longer “fit” with this company. (Was there ever such a term in the first place?)

I am not talking about if you have money in your bank, a 401(k) plan in place, a retirement plan, and so forth.  That is great once you retire or become sick, but if you are a seemingly healthy adult, and become displaced for even a moment in time, what do you have in place?  You could go back to school. There are plenty of scholarships and grants out there to use for your classes and learning materials, but there is a problem.  What if you did not get at least a GED once you turned 18 or older?  This is one of the major requirements for today’s college entrance for even a basic course.  What if you cannot afford to go to school (such as family obligations)?  Is your spouse or child going to allow you to study, or even your current employer.  More on that later….

Now for the reason behind this post….

I am talking about investing in yourself.   The backstory:  About a year or more, someone told me, “if I cannot invest in myself, who else would?”  I understood what he meant by that statement, and is true, no one else has your best interest at heart more than you do.  Other than God and maybe your parents and maybe your spouse, you are the best investor in Team You (Team Patricia, Team Phil, Team Natasha, insert your name after the word team).  This is something that money cannot buy, but it helps pay a lot of bills.  People can only help for so long until you can get on your feet.  After that, you are on your own, so why no invest into something that matters…. your career and life.

 So, what does this have to do with the stats I listed before my little talk….

It is merely a reality check.  I am reminding you that if you want a paycheck and want to continue to work for someone else, this is your reality.  Maybe you will be affected by this news and maybe you will not.  What I am about to say on this makeover you Monday can be life changing or it may not.  It is up to you but I have to ask you this question…. What are you passionate about?  If you could wave a magic wand to get you to your dream job, what will it be?  What does the future hold for Team You?

In other words, become an Entrepreneur (Work a home, own your own business, a side gig, whatever name you call it).  It can be in Direct selling, service, tech (which is part selling/ part service), anything.  Is there a service that your current employer does not offer that you wish they did?  Provide that service on the side.  Dissatisfied with the level of service you get at an establishment that you can provide for others?  Do it.  Have a skill that would be a perfect match to assist a company, but you do not want to commit to one company?  You can freelance. 

You do not have to quit your job right away.  Offer only a few hours at a time when you get home or on the weekends.  Your employer does not have to know about what you do in your spare time.  In fact, it is none of their business what you do after hours.  You are off the clock.  The only thing that it effects is the time you spend with your family, but you like everything else, there needs to be a little planning involved.  After all, they want to know when they can spend time with you, and if you have small children, it can affect them a lot. 

I will not go into what you can do to make extra money because that part has been covered (Directly Selling to You, How to Generate More Money to Live).  You can read these posts, read a few Pinterest boards, join a few Facebook groups, or do it the old-fashion way like having a few garage sales, working a second job (or 3^rd, or 4^th), or start a retail store. The last one requires a vender’s license and tax id, both which I have for my homemade business (P. Lynne Designs), which I got for a minimal fee according to each state ($0 for the Tax ID, $25 for the business Vender’s license, and $50 for the name registration for the state of Ohio-Check with your state or country).

Once you get started and you see profits going in your direction (should take about 6 months to 2-3 years), then take the plunge of quitting your 9-5er, but keep your options open, because you will never know what might happen.  If something happens during that trial run of earning a living with your business, you do have something to fall back on.  This is the reason why you should never let your employer know you are making extra money on the side, plus if they find out, you may get a warning to stop or be fired.  BTW it is not illegal to own a business, companies want to know who they can count on in a crisis. 

That is all for now.  I will be coming back to this subject on both this blog (only covering writing opportunities) and the new blog (for other extra money opportunities) from time to time.  I am not here to talk you out of a 9-5 job.  It is not for everyone but that is not for me to decide.  Who knows, you may find an opportunity that I need to know about (no illegals or scams please).   

Get the Job Done Right the first time

(c) 2015 P. Lynne Designs

Today’s post is somewhat of a bittersweet moment.  I am not going to always post things like this, because, for one, it is not in my DNA to upset my readers.  I want the post to be a teachable moment for all, including myself.  The second reason is to inform, not put down, which leads back to the upset part. 

I have mentioned for some time how I was going to switch up my blogs.  Not so much with the format, I am pretty happy with that, even though the format could use a little updating every now and then.  I was going to change from Blogger to WordPress, mainly because I will have more control with a WordPress blog (self-hosting) then with Blogger or the other WordPress platform (yes there are two WordPress formats).  Do not get me wrong, I love Blogger, and it is great for those who are just starting a blog, but it is being controlled by Google.  Google has this tendency of being a bully, and if they feel that you are not following their rules, they can delete your blog in an instant, without so much as an email on why they feel that your wisdom is not worth their time anymore.  Besides that, Google feels like they can change the Algorithm (fancy word for code) any time they feel the wind blow.  It frustrates many a blogger who happens to have the blog on Blogger.  I will explain later in another post.

The point I am trying to make is, when I started out on this blogging journey, I thought I could just create a blog, and that was it. All I had to do was to keep it up, and for the most part I did, but again I was getting restless with the format and Blogger, and I was hearing horror stories about blogs and whole account being deleted by Google, until I had to do something, before I would not have a blog.  So I started creating the format with Host Gator, but I was not getting anywhere because I did not know how to code.  I still do not know how to code very well with HTML, and Joomla is just a foreign language to me, so I started inquiring for some help.  

I am not going to mention any names on here, because they could be reading, and I do not want their rep to be totally ruined, but there is something called integrity and doing the job right the first time.  The first person I asked was actually the results of a contest I won locally.  The person emailed me to congratulate on winning her giveaway, and that she will create for me a custom website.  A $200 package that she was giving away.  I told her what I needed, and she said that she would get back to me.  She never did.  A few months later, I had her as a Facebook friend, and I explain in my status that I was having an issue that needed solving in regards to the website I was creating, and she chimed in that she could help.  I explained that it had to be for free, and she actually explained that she owed me for the contest, so I agreed.   I took to email and explained the situation, and once again she said that she would get back to me, and she never did.  I was devastated and moved on.

Next, this came at the beginning of this year, and with the same blog, which is my Simply Organized Crafts blog, and I donated $10 for an international charity that the blog creator was contributing to.  I found this out by the emails I was already getting from her.  In turn, she was supposed to create this blog for me through Web Hosting Hub.   I gave her the information, and I was not sure of my password on my Google account to access Blogger.  She needed it to transfer files onto the new site.   It is now September, and I have not heard from her since my accident.  I went on Web hosting hub and I cannot get into the account.

My point in all of this, and this is my takeaway for the day is:

·         If you are in any kind of business, make it a point to spell out from the very beginning what your products and services are.

·         If you are in service for someone else, make sure that you do the best job you can possible for that customer or even that friend.

·         Follow through and follow up with everything. 

·         If you cannot do it, tell them you cannot, explain why.  You do not have to make up the why.  Tell the truth.

·         Know your resources.  Is there a business person who owes you a favor or has a service that you do not offer?  Point your client in that direction.  That client may actually come back to you for a service that you DO offer.

·         Finally, if you make a mistake, own up to it.  Correct it by making it right.  Offer to fix it, or if you cannot, offer some sort of compensation (example; a discount, an extra product, refund).

I am sure that to these two people I talked about in this post, what they had to offer me was a drop in the bucket to them, but to me, it was a delay at the start of or continuation of my business.  I could have given them a note of thanks for helping me with my situations, and without them, my business would not have gotten started the way that it should.  Now, if they ever ask me to review their services, I may not give them a fair feedback.  So if you are looking for some sort of feedback on your products and services, do all you can to win over that customer or of it is personal, keep a friend.