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Reasons to Be Self-Employed

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I work hard.  I set my own schedule.  I make time for family.  I am my own boss (for now).  Yet I still appreciate all the things The Ornate Oxymoron listed as “What I Won’t Miss” when her job changes,

  1. BigBossMan.
  2. BigBossLady.
  3. The need to make everything important.  (It really isn’t the end of the world if the printer runs out of paper.  We have more paper.  We can fill it up.  Promise.  Ditto that on the copiers.  And staplers. We have more staples.  Don’t panic.)

Go read the rest. They ring very very true… sometimes the workplace has way too much drama in the form of too many chiefs and not enough Indians!!

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Looking for Seasonal Work? Some Tips!

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While there are a lot of great entrepreneurial jobs for people to do from home, sometimes it’s necessary for folks to just pick up and grab a part-time or seasonal job to help make ends meet.  While a great concept, landing that job may be harder than you’d think.

A friend of mine is a hiring manager at our area Target stores and she recently shared some really good advice.  If you’re applying online or at a store kiosk, they will ask when you are available to work.  Answer ALL THE TIME. This way your application won’t get automatically thrown out because only night hours are available that day your application hits.

Once you get your foot in the door and can get to the interview stage, your hours are negotiable.  If the store really wants you because you’ve made a great impression as a hard worker, they will negotiate the hours that you are scheduled to work.

Click here for more tips from MSNBC.com that could help, including:

Be positive and upbeat on job interviews. In the survey of hiring managers, three out of 10 said they viewed a positive attitude as the most important trait in any prospective employee. Employers also like to see previous experience — but an enthusiastic, can-do attitude can get you noticed more than you might imagine.

Good luck job hunters!

Photo from Eastern Washington University via Flickr Creative Commons.

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A House of Cupcakes

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Many people in the real estate business are looking for other opportunities to supplement their incomes while the housing market is down.  From making soap and selling it at a local market (also operated by a real estate agent) to painting rooms and laying tile, agents are staying busy, but perhaps not with real estate 100 percent of the time.

So the conundrum is what to do when the market is on a slow (albeit VERY slow) recovery, but an opportunity in the form of an idea begins to germinate. An idea that could potentially do very well, but it could take as long to come to fruition as it would for real estate co completely recover… one to five years.

The advice I would give to anyone is what a friend told a friend on Facebook. First she suggested that the potential new business owner contact someone else with a similar business to gain a realistic understanding of what the costs would be.  Then,

If she decides she still wants to pursue the business, she shouldn’t do it without first contacting an accountant and a lawyer (even though it will cost her more up front to do so). I hate to sound pessimistic, but people are constantly encouraged to pursue their dreams and turn their hobbies into businesses. While this is wonderful in theory, the fact of the matter is that more than 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% of them fail within the first five years. People invest their life savings pursuing their dreams and, more often than not, they lose everything. That’s the sad reality.

So I’m not suggesting that she shouldn’t research the business, but she needs to go into this with her eyes wide open and if she doesn’t have a strong financial/accounting background, she needs to seek professional advice right from the start.

Good advice.  Do you have a dream business you’d like to pursue?  Mine would be the House of Cupcakes, but I believe the best way to start this would be on a part-time basis to see if the demand is there.

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No More 9 to 5 Jobs

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When I worked for a government affiliated agency, my hours were 9:00 to 5:00, although my time there was actually more like 8:00 – 6:30. They were long, hard days punctuated by an occasional day off.  When I was off work, it always struck me how many cars were out and about and I wondered, “Doesn’t anybody have a job?”

So when Steve titled a post with this exact question, I had to laugh.

If you go to Costco or Bloom (a grocery store) during the day, there are a lot of people there.  There are cars on the road.  There are people out and about all day long, and I always wonder – are these people who don’t work, or who work irregular hours, or who work at home?  How can there be so many people out and about from 9 to 5?

While he doesn’t have an answer to that question, I think part of the reason is there are a lot of people who work different shifts.  I also really wonder about how many live on the government dollar – welfare, social security, disability, etc.

Steve also provides a link with tips on finding a job, including:

Sincerity is important when networking, as is helping others. You are looking for help from others, so you should be prepared to help others. If you can introduce people who might work out for each other, do so. You can also answer questions and mentor.

Very true.  They say most jobs can’t be found in the newspaper or on job boards, but form knowing people. Good luck!

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Building a Fan Base for Your Business

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You know that little thing called “social media”?  Use it!  My pal Les linked to this great story about how to build a fan base on facebook for your business.  The first rule? Ask people to like you:

Give them a reason why. In our case, Weekly World News has plenty of entertaining content about aliens, Michael Jackson, Elvis, you name it. We tried capitalizing the word “LIKE”, writing short versus long copy, testing dozens of images, and trying out different interest targets. Don’t make it complex– keep the language casual, as if a friend was telling you about something cool.

Read the whole article! Great advice!

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Get Rid of Clutter if You’re Working At Home

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If I worked at home all the time, the distraction caused by my sometimes cluttered house would be too much for me to concentrate.  I’m thankful to have an office to escape to on most days!  However, if you had no choice, perhaps these tips from Brip Blap will help you de-clutter.

  • Stuff packed away in boxes is not sentimental. I have a couple of keepsakes, knickknacks, doodads, etc. I have my Star Wars baseball-style cards from my childhood. They are in a box in the garage.
  • Take pictures. If there’s something you don’t need, but you want to remember it, take a picture. Put it in a screensaver. You’ll see it, the memory will trigger but you’ll still have less clutter.

Steve has lots more great tips, so go pay him a visit.

Photo from where I brutally went through my oldest daughter’s room
after she moved into the dorm last Fall. I was on a cleaning binge.

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A New Idea

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I think I’ll start my own series of posts entitled “Maddening Monday”.  Lately, I’ve had plenty of those.  We’re in the middle of a huge move, which is very difficult with no paid vacation days or PTO.  But when you’re self-employed, that’s what you have to deal with. 

Yesterday Patrick scheduled a job for after 3pm today, at the customer’s request.  That was convenient, as we figured we could get a lot done while our daughter was at school.  This morning the customer called, and told him that he could come anytime because his wife would now be home all day.  Patrick drops everything here, runs to Nashville to pick up the glass, and heads their way…because customers come first.  On his way, he receives a phone call from a woman saying she needed to cancel the job.  When he asked if she wanted to reschedule, she replied that they had called two companies, and they went with the company who arrived first!  Patrick just called to tell me that he was on his way home, after wasting most of the day and quite a bit of gas. 

99% of our customers are AWESOME…but it’s days like today that I long for some kind of mandatory “stupid charge” when we get screwed over!  Here’s to a better day (and smarter people) tomorrow!

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