Cough, Sneeze, No Voice.... but I can still work!

I have no idea what it is that is going around, but whatever it is I got it!  It all started out as what I thought were allergies with a stuffed up nose, scratchy throat and coughing. Then it progressed down into my chest, wheeze, wheeze as I breathed in and out. Then the other morning I woke up and guess what?  Opened my mouth to speak and all that came out were little squeaks of what should have been my voice! Gargling and hot tea with honey didn't help one bit.

If I had a conventional job, I would have been calling in sick but since I work from home and have a few options open to me, I was still able to work. Now granted I wasn't able to get on the phone and speak with customers but I could sit here and do transcriptions till my heart was content. If I needed to get up and go get an aspirin for my fever, needed to stop and cough my head off, there was no one to be the wiser.  I could work a couple hours and then take a break and come back later.  It is so nice to be an independent contractor!


Now I do have to tell you that I don't make as much doing transcriptions as I do when I am speaking with customers and filling their orders. But by the same token, I am still able to work and not have a total loss of income like I would if I worked outside my home.

So many times when we are sick and work in a conventional work environment, we are really forced to go back to work before we are fully recovered and it isn't unusual to relapse in a week or so. We worry about infecting our coworkers but we also worry about losing our jobs if we stay out longer than management thinks we should.

Thankfully I am on the mend and hope to be back up to full speed here by the end of this coming week!

High Expectations and Tight Job Markets

As our unemployment figures continue to soar and not many people able to find work, getting discouraged in this job market is hard to overcome. I can tell you all kinds of things about keeping a positive attitude but it has to come from down deep within yourself. 

A lot of people who are unemployed seem to think that they are going to be able to find a position at the same salary as the job that they left or even more than what they left at. With such a large pool of people to choose from, unless you are in a very specific highly skilled and highly needed area of expertise, don't count on it!  I hate to throw a wet blanket on your expectations but it is true. 

I can't begin to tell you how many people I've heard from who have been told "you are over qualified" for this position.  That is true, you may be overqualified, now you have to convince them that you are willing to accept less pay and that you will be staying around even after the economy does turn around. I have heard of people negotiating a hiring contract, where they agree to stay a certain number of years and accept a specified increase of salary per year during that time.

Even stay at home positions are becoming few and far between as people are looking into this venue to bring in income as they continue to search for a "brick and mortar" position. Since many work at home positions are Independent Contractor status, they find that they can have great flexibility with their hours, working around interview times and continue to earn money. 

In all my working years (I have worked since I was 13) I have never seen as many people searching for work at one time. In October 2009 average unemployment surged to 10.2%, the highest it had been in 26 years!  You have to go back to the Great Depression in the year 1933 when the unemployment rate was 24.5% and that depression was also world wide just as our current situation is.

Who knows what the answer is going to be to reverse our current worldwide situation as well as what we are facing locally in the United States. I certainly don't have the answers, I'm riding this one out just like everyone else!

I am presently reading this book, Rich Dad Poor Dad Prophecy and finding it very enlightening. You might want to pick up a copy, it is fascinating reading.

OK So You Have To Get Dressed!

When you reach a certain age, it is really difficult to find work in a regular "brick and mortar" environment. Many "senior citizens" either have retired or have health problems that make it very difficult to work in a regular, structured environment but they have the desire to either stay busy working part time or do so out of necessity to supplement their other income. There's nothing like being self employed no matter what your age is!

Lillian is lucky to have a green thumb and she earns extra money by starting seedlings which she sells at the local farmer's markets starting every spring up to early fall.  She has invested some money into grow lights, good growing medium and little pots.  Not only do her plants supply her with additional income, but she enjoys going to the market and visiting with people and sharing her knowledge of growing healthy vegetables and plants. You can also find local farmers there selling their produce.

You will find Jackie and Hank at the local craft shows. She makes jewelry, from bracelets to necklaces and earrings and he makes handcrafted cutting boards and old fashioned wooden toys.

Sue on the other hand, finds it very difficult to get around so through word of mouth she has built up a business right at her home. People bring her their clean laundry for her to iron and do hand mending. She is able to work at her own pace and take breaks whenever she gets too tired.

Cindy has a unique job. She started a personal shopper service. Some seniors at her church were homebound or didn't enjoy going shopping. She has some people that she does their grocery shopping for them every week. They give her the grocery list and the money and she does their shopping for them.  She charges for her time and the gas for her car.  She also has several customers that will call her and ask her to pick up their perscriptions for them.

There's an elderly man at one of the local senior apartment complexes that hires out his services as a dog walker.

There are some pretty creative seniors who also design websites, write for the internet, write and publish books that all work from home.


So you have to get dressed for most of these jobs, but while you are growing your seedlings for sale, creating your jewelry or woodworking projects, you can work in your jammies!

Changes Often Equal A New Life Style and Occupation

Did you ever stop to think that out of what you perceive as a disaster can actually be an opportunity and a blessing in disguise?

In my many years of working in a variety of careers I've meet many people who were stuck in a job that they didn't like.  They stayed for the security of the paycheck, because they had a family to support or they needed to have the insurance coverage that came with that position in order to care for a sick spouse or child who had long term illnesses that would make it difficult if not impossible to get insurance if they changed jobs.

Some were just treading water in their jobs, not really comfortable where they were at but too afraid to step out with a leap of faith and look at other opportunities.

Back in the early 1980's there was a major downturn in the economy. At the time I lived in Austin, Texas and I was working as a Personnel Officer for a temporary agency that placed people in jobs. Major companies were laying off people right and left, including Engineers and other Management officers. Construction companies had built subdivisions of homes in anticipation of a major company's plans to move there and then they halted the clearing of the land they had purchased and the building of the company. Car dealerships that sold large expensive cars were closing up and shuttering their dealerships.  Interest rates on homes skyrocketed to double digits and many of those new home contractors with those subdivisions of speculative homes were now broke and filing bankruptcy.

I had people coming in applying for temporary jobs that were high powered engineers with Master Degrees that couldn't even find a job flipping hamburgers at a fast food place.  It was bad! People were losing their homes and their jobs right and left. Some people had seen the warning signs of this collapse coming. They planned ahead and had put away a savings account for a rainy day. Others had purchased large RV's that they used for vacations but also had the foresight to know that this could become their homes if they should lose their property and they would still have a roof over their heads!

So when this economic downturn happened, many who lost their jobs and/or their homes, looked at this as an opportunity to make total career path changes. They realized that now was the time to follow their hearts and do what they wanted to do rather than continue down the road that they were on. At this point, many were forced to take that leap of faith whether they wanted to do so willingly or not!

Some took their unemployment benefits and tried to out wait the downturn. Others found positions in a totally new career and others found it necessary to pack up their families and move out of Austin to other cities in Texas to look for work, while others totally left the state looking for greener pastures elsewhere.

I have to say it was a time of much soul searching. People redefined their needs vs their wants. They reevaluated what was really important to them in their lives. I would venture that most of them if you asked them today, would tell you that they came out of the situation happier and more satisfied with their lives today than they were back then.

So even though things may look very bleak for you you right now, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel. You do have choices and you have family and friends that can help you through these difficult times. If you are young, I would advise you to seek counsel from someone who's wisdom you trust, perhaps someone who is older who has already been through past difficult times. Ask for their opinions and their advice. Just knowing what they went through and how they handled it can give you the energy and courage to press forward.

 

It's Time To Tighten Your Belt

As I hear of more and more people being laid off from their jobs or cut back in the number of hours they work, forced to take "comp" time without pay in order to retain their positions, I realize how important it is that we discuss preparing ourselves for the possibility that we may not have a job to go to next week.

I think it is time that we talk about tightening our belts now, so that we have a cushion to fall onto if the rug is pulled out from underneath us.

Don't wait until you hear those dreaded words "I'm sorry we have to cut our workforce back, or we are closing the business."  Prepare and protect yourself now!

Sit down with your budget and a really sharp pencil and start deciding what you can get rid of right now.  Then take the money that you would have spent for that item and put it into a safe place. 

Some ways you can begin to cut expenses:

1. Get rid of Cable TV.  If you just can't bare the idea of parting with it, at least cut back to just the basic plan. Once you have been able to go back to the basic plan for several months you might find that you are ready to go ditch it entirely and go to just a converter box!

2. Go back to a basic phone line or a pay as you go cell phone. Ditch the call waiting, caller id, call forwarding. You don't need all that extra stuff. If someone wants to get a hold of you they'll call back. Go back to the element of surprise of the good old days when you didn't know who was on the other end until you said hello.

3. Stop buying your lunch. Start carrying your lunch to work.  Also stop buying that cup of coffee on the way to work, or the soda on the way home!

4. Make Changes in your car insurance. Increase the deductible, drop some of the different types of coverage, go to just your state minimum coverages for awhile in order to give you more money in your pocket.  If you have an older car, you may want to drop the comprehensive coverage. Instead of carrying uninsured motorist, go to the medical coverage instead. Look into changing companies for a better rate.

5. Increase the deductible on your house insurance. Raise the deductible from $500 to $1000. Look into changing companies for a better rate.

6. Stop buying prepared foods at the grocery store. First of all, most of them are loaded with preservatives that really aren't good for you and for the cost of having prepared foods, you can make them from scratch for about 1/3rd the cost!

7. Start shopping at discount stores,thrift stores and garage sales for clothes. Especially for children's clothes.  They outgrow their clothes before they wear them out and you can pick up lots of really nice things at the thrift store or at garage sales.
8. Freecycle. Type in freecycle.org and insert your zipcode, chances are you are going to come up with a freecycle group in your area. People list all types of items that they are giving away free, all you have to do is let them know you want it and go pick it up. I am continually amazed at the variety of items that are either offered or asked for.

9. Think about possibly refinancing your house. Depending on the interest rate on your home, how many years you still have to pay on the present mortgage, it might be wise to consider refinancing to a lower rate.If you are able to reduce your interest rate by 2.5% or more, and you don't have to come up with money to refinance, it may be worth looking into. With the present lending guidelines of most banks, you will have to have an extremely good credit rating to do this.

If you are pretty close to paying it off (say within 15 years on a 30 year note) it might be wiser to consider putting more money onto each principal payment every month and pay it off early. If you decide to do this, be sure to make a totally separate check out and write on it that it is to be applied to principal only. By doing this, you will also decrease the amount of interest that you are paying on your note.

10. Pay off the Plastic!  Get rid of all your credit cards except for one. Only keep that one for extreme emergencies and hopefully you can ditch it too down the road.  I don't care what the interest rate is that you are paying on your cards, start with the one with the smallest balance. Get it paid off as quickly as possible. Then move to the next card, adding the amount you would have paid on the previous card as a payment along with the amount that you have to pay as a payment on this card and do it religiously every month until paid off.  Do this with each and every card you have until they are all paid in full!

11. Get a part-time job if you are able to find one or create one in order to help get you out of debt.

12. Put in a garden so that you can grow some of your own food, seeds and water are a lot cheaper than buying at the store.


13. When you do have to make purchases, BUY AMERICAN! Help improve our economy by supporting those who keep their businesses here in our country.

14. Wait 24 hours before you buy and pay cash. Plan your purchases don't be an impulse buyer. Be a tightwad now so you can continue later with a life style you want to have.

Believe it or not, the amazing thing is, you are going to find out that it is really great to be able to make a few changes in your lifestyle in order to save money and you will not even consider going back to the way you did things before.  The peace of mind that will come from being debt free and having time to spend with your family will surpass any "stuff" that you thought you had to buy!

Working A Temporary Job Through Agencies

I just finished reading an article on the Yahoo financial page regarding temporary work  in case you would like to read it. The article states how in other downturns of the economy, as we began to pull out of the slump, companies would hire temporary workers to fill in the gaps and with the idea that they would become permanent employees in a short period of time.

Things are different this time around. Employers are still very concerned about the stability of the economy so if they are hiring temporary personnel, they are keeping them as temporary at this point in time.

It used to be if you worked for a company as a temporary for about three months, you could almost be assured that you were a good match with the company and would be hired on a permanent basis.

Some reasons that companies are hiring on a temporary basis, is that they do not have to match your Social Security and FICA funds, they do not have to offer you health insurance benefits, they do not have to give you vacation time or enroll you in their retirement programs and they don't have to worry about unemployment benefits if they wish to let you go.

Even though they have the additional cost of hiring someone through a temporary personnel employment agency, it is worth it to them to save all the other expenses of a permanent hire.

After reading the article and with my past experience as a personnel officer for temporary employment agencies, I can see how this type of employment is going to be on the increase for many years to come with our present recovery mode of the economy.

If you are out looking for a job, you can look at this in either a positive or negative way.  I hope you will look at it as an excellent opportunity for you to be able to explore new occupations that you may not have considered in the past.

One of the great things about working as a temporary is that you can get out of an assignment if it isn't a good fit, just as well as the company that needed a temporary!

There could be positions available that are only a day in length to those that are months long. The variety of positions available are numerous and your agency will try to match your skills to those positions that are available.

One of the drawbacks is you never know when you will be called for work and that there can be times between jobs where you will not work and you will worry about having income to come in. That is why many people who work as temporaries will sign up with several different agencies in the hopes of having work through one of them at all times.

If you have been unemployed for any length of time and your networking hasn't seemed to be working and you aren't sure about working from home on your own, perhaps this will be an alternative way for you to find some employment.

**** Please let me know if this article was helpful*******

Farmer's Markets And Other Ways to Sell and Make Money

Another source of income that you may not have considered would be selling produce, herbs and handmade products at your local farmer's markets, which will be opening up soon.

We have a lot of Farmer's Markets here in Oklahoma not only in many of the small towns but in the large ones as well.  You can usually find anything from fresh produce and eggs to bouquets of fresh flowers and fresh local honey. Some will also have booths where people sell homemade items like baby clothes, quilts, candles, potpourri, homemade soaps, and wooden products like cute plaques for your walls and garden stakes to cutting boards.

You might start checking in now to see what might be available in the way of booth spaces and what other requirements might be needed in order to sell your goods. Some states will require that you have a business license whereas others won't.

Also with spring right around the corner, we will start seeing people having yard sales, or in some parts of the country they are called "tag sales."  Some people have found this to be a very profitable way to get rid of things in their house that they don't really want. Sometimes several neighbors will all go in together and have a big sale which is great because it increases your customer traffic up and down the block.

Others may find it more financially rewarding and less of a hassle to just clean out their closets and take things to either a consignment store or a pawn shop to be put out for sale. Now granted, the consignment store and the pawn shop will take a percentage of the sale of the item, but you will have longer exposure to customers than with a yard sale (some cities only allow you so many per year and also charge you a fee to have one) and the stores also will handle the pricing and the actual sale and all you have to do is come pick up your money when it sells.

Some people have found a little storefront internet site called Etsy.com that has proved to be very profitable for them. There are certain requirements about being homemade items only advertised, but if you are talented and make things it would be a great venue to look into.

Others will advertise on Craigslist.com. This is something that I have never done personally, but I do know others who have had tremendous success with this.

There are quite a few books out about starting your own home based businesses including















When I started my gift basket business many years ago, one of the books I purchased was this one by Barbara Brabec
I used it to help me decide what type of business I wanted to go into and gave me a ton of valueable information!