I have shaken my head at some contractors' bills too, but I do remind myself that if I call a small electrical company, they may be paying a receptionist to take my call, office space, trucks, equipment, insurance, advertising, not to mention health insurance, payroll tax, etc.
This post really appealed to me, as I look at my parents' generation. I worry about the aunts & uncles who chose trades because their bodies can't keep up anymore and it is harder to find manual labor as you age. Also, self-employed or sub-contractor type jobs don't usually come with pensions or offer 401ks. It requires a huge amount of self-discipline to save without the structure already set up for you.
Great, thought-provoking post. You might find it interesting that one of the businesses that helped make Millionaire Mommy Next Door (an entrepreneur and investor) wealthy was a plumbing and heating business.
It does depend on the degree you get. Certain degrees might not put you above (or even at) the salary of a plumber. Other degrees will net you 60k+ your first year.
My dad is an electrician, but he wasted no time encouraging me to go to school. It's hard work, while going to business for yourself sounds great, that requires business skills that non-college grads may not have. Well, at least that my dad didn't have, I'm sure there are plenty of happily self employed trade workers.
That being said, he would have supported me going into a trade as well. As long as I was happy, my parents main advice was to learn how to do SOMETHING that will make a living, whether that be fixing plumbing or fixing broken bones.
While I agree that some of the blame for the housing crisis should be shared, I think it ultimately comes down to personal responsibility. We seem to have a "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality in this country, and we want everything to be bigger, faster, newer the guy's across the street. The current housing crisis is the result of that.
They're searchable by keyword, and high-res digital images are available.
There's some great work there--many of these photos were taken by some of the best photographic artists of the day, and since they were being paid a salary for their work by the government, the images they created are in the public domain.
The Flickr site is a big step forward, though. There are downsides to the memory.loc.gov site that a Flickr site won't have. For example, I couldn't figure out a way to get a permanent link back to a specific image. Flickr won't have that problem.
My county library system has tons of Cd's, and an inter-library loan system. So I go online and request a CD I want (the most recent being a Springsteen box-set and Spoon) and have it at my local library within a couple days, play it in iTunes and Voila!
Legally sketchy, but no more than some other options above.
I started working for a home party based company 3 years ago and have had a wonderful experience with this type of business. I don't think you specifically addressed home party companies, but I'm frequently asked if i'm involved in a pyramid scheme or mlm so i thought I'd add my 2 cents.
I currently manage a team of 80 women
I think this kind of business can work very well as an extra source of income If certain criteria are met, some of which you've already covered
1. Low start up cost. you can start with many companies for under $200, and you should be able to make back what you've invested within the first party or two.
2. Sponsoring manager should have a well designed, free new start training guide or program available to help you get started.I try to teach all my team members NOT to invest a lot of money on sample products or to go "upside down" in their business financially, but to buy product samples a little bit at a time as they see that their business is actually going to take off.
3. Look for a quality product from a company that allows customers to return items they don't care for for a cash refund within a reasonable amount of time after purchase.
4.Look for a company or product where you can actually bring home a reasonable paycheck after business expenses without recruiting anyone to join the business and sell with you.
5. No one should be getting paid just because they are the first one in. A good company will have increasing sales goals and requirements as reps move up into the different levels of management, and those who don't work to meet those goals should lose the opportunity to earn a paycheck from the teams they manage.
Most of the women on my sales team are not interested in making big bucks with this business. They do it to earn cash for a specific goal like paying off a credit card, or paying for something outside of the family budget, like their child's ice hockey or dance bills or that trip to disney that they've always wanted. Many of them state that their sales goal for the year is an extra 4 or 5 thousand dollars in income for their family, and they can easily do this with 3 or 4 parties a month a no recruits, assuming they keep their business expenses in check.
Another reason people decide to try this is because they like the product and are looking for something to do, and having their own small business becomes a hobby for them that they enjoy.
Home party businesses are not for everyone, You have to like working with people, like your product, be willing to provide good customer service, and have a thick enough skin to not take a potential customers "no" personally.
Honestly 1/3 of the people who start this type stop within 6 months, because it's either not a good fit, or they couldn't get it to go anywhere.
Many people work this only for a season in their life and are done once the specific goal or two are met
I left a well paying career in Health care to stay home with my kids. We made specific financial plans before they were born so that we could achieve this goal. After 6 years at home I was going out of my mind with boredom and wanted something to keep my mind occupied. I started looking for a very part time job for the mental stim and for some extra cash for "fun " money for my family. I started this business and it much to my surprise, I found that I really enjoyed it, was good at it and now 3 years later I'm able to work from home ( which is honestly not easy, but worth doing for me) and bring home a significant income for my family.
Hope this post isn't too rambling. Thanks for a fair look at MLMs
This reminds me of an idea I've had for several years - without doing anything about it.
How about if someone with an extensive local social network worked out a deal with a supermarket to buy some outrageous amount of groceries at a discount.
People in the network would order through you, you'd make one trip (more perhaps if you don't have enough vehicle capacity), bag orders sepately ehren you get home (you'd need space at home), and then your friends would come over and pay for their stuff.
This would probably be more appropriate for, say, a church, but why not?
But didn't the electrician help you? Aren't you a person of the community? I bet the electrician actually goes home feeling like he really lit up some lives, some days, pardon the pun :)
Now, if you figure in things like health insurance and life insurance benefits, paid time off, getting paid on rainy days when a tradesman may not be able to do an outdoor job, other benefits, as small as free office coffee - the tradesman pays about a buck for his coffee in gas stations and convenience stores...
Well, if you figure all that in, you have a point...
But to say that professionals feel good about their contribution to society and to suggest a tradesperson may not? Yikes!
And for the record, I'm a software developer, who on a daily basis considers hanging it all up and opening a vintage motorcycle restoration shop and spending the rest of his days in a puddle of oil and wrenches building restorations for rich professionals :)
So who knows. I think it's all in making sure you can live on and with and like what you do.
I picked my college major on my way to orientation, which means I didn't put much (read: ANY) foresight into the future job market. I was also in a hurry to get out of college, so between Advanced Placement credits and summer classes, I was out in 3 years. I floundered for a year or so, when I discovered that a degree in Conservation doesn't get you anywhere.
I found a job with horrible pay in an even worse working environment. Within a few months, I knew I had to go back to school to get my Master's Degree at some point, but I wasn't quire ready. I had the idea to do a carpentry apprenticeship through a local trade school. My plan was to get my Journeymans' certificate (4 years), then go back to grad school. I wanted to get involved in 'green' building, and I figured if I had the carpentry background, I'd be a lot more valuable as a professional.
I found a GREAT small company, which allowed me to learn a little about nearly everything about working on a house, including some plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and laying concrete. I should mention that I'm female, and not an entirely unattractive one, so I really stood out both on the job site and in the classroom (the apprenticeship calls for some class work). While my boss was fantastic, I ran into other tradesmen who didn't take me seriously or mistook me for the homeowner.
While the hourly rate for trade work may seem high, there are some things about the work that is completely unappealing. I was a union worker, so I had it better than some, but we didn't get sick leave or paid vacation. If you get the flu and can't work for a few days, you are out 3 days' salary. Also, if you have one of those days when you're just feeling worn down, you don't have the option of coasting through the day at a desk. You need to be at attention so you don't hurt yourself with a power tool or fall off a ladder.
My first roofing job was in November (in the midwest) during a sleet storm. That's when grad school started sounding a LOT nicer. Within weeks I took my GRE test and applied to school. My boss was sad to see me leave, but I took some very valuable skills with me. I remodeled my mom's bathroom and years later as a homeowner, my husband and I were able to finish our basement.
I managed to land a good job with my M.S., but I am SO glad I did the carpentry thing when I did. Luckily, I was young and had the guts to do something like that. It's also very comforting to know that if all hell breaks loose, I can always fall back on those skills.
i am a single mom and ihave a lot on me i have $14.99 dsl but instead of getting that rate i would love to have $10.00 can some body be able to change that for me i will be so happy, so can you be so kind and chaeng that for me,thanks so much.
If you pay yourself first, how do you know that you're saving the largest amount possible? If you budget carefully, you may have a pretty good estimate of how much you can save, but it's still just an estimate.
If you pay yourself last, you can save everything you didn't spend.
This strategy probably won't work well for people who badly want more stuff. However, it worked very well for me.
If you pay yourself first, then when the opportunity comes to buy something you don't need, you don't have the money--it's already been saved. That's great. But what if it's some little thing, and you do have the money? It would be very easy to say, "Well, I paid myself first and I have a little money left over and I want that thing."
I find it better to wait. When the opportunity to buy some thing (small or large) comes, I have the money to buy it--but I choose not to make the purchase so that I have the money to save. Frankly, I find saving the money to be more fun than buying the thing is, for a very wide range of things I might buy.
If you're not like me, this may not work for you. But I think my point is valid. It doesn't matter whether you pay yourself first or last, as long as you do pay yourself.
Many people make the mistake of assuming that just because they have a degree, that they're entitled to make more money in the job market. All the degree shows is that they have at least four more years of schooling. To get a degree just to make more money is the wrong reason to go to college. To get a degree because of wanting to obtain knowledge and skill sets (that could be used to make more money POSSIBLY)--that's the right reason.
Earlier this month, (while returning my gown for graduating with an electrical engineering degree, no less!) I locked my keys in my truck and had to call a locksmith to get them out. Although it took him about 40-45 minutes to drive to where I was (and he said he had been stuck in traffic), he literally had the door open in less than two minutes, and I handed him his $45.
I don't think it's fair to exactly count the transit in his hourly wage, because I would have been charged the same if he had been there within 5 minutes.
And I thought the exact same thing - why did I just waste 4 years studying engineering when I could be out there making the equivalent of ~$1350/hr?
Maybe in my later years I can get into consulting, at least :)
I sent my application to them and they rejected it, I am a 16 year veteran in IT working in many major IT positions. I dont know who they are looking for - but they must be IT freaks.
Whats made me mad is that they have my Resume data and I cant log back in to delete my profile - I have no idea what they did with my data and where its stored.
They allowed me access to login - upload my details and then promptly deleted my account without my approval.
I think its abit rich that they can suck out data from linkedin and populate their own site.
I would stay away from these guys - I am not at all impressed how they treat people and their data.
Ultimately I feel that if you are in a job with physical demands - bending over, lifting things, turning wrenches - there is a limited time you can do that before it all catches up with you and your body will likely revolt in your fiftes. Wheras all the "white collar" jobs you can do for much longer. You can go abuse your body in the gym.
And that said, anybody who takes out a whole ton of student loans or a huge morgtage without taking a realistic look at what they'll earn at said profession - is just asking for trouble no matter what profession it is.
I have shaken my head at some contractors' bills too, but I do remind myself that if I call a small electrical company, they may be paying a receptionist to take my call, office space, trucks, equipment, insurance, advertising, not to mention health insurance, payroll tax, etc.
If you're not looking for big-label stuff, try emusic. It works as a subscription for a certain number of downloaded tracks per month, and no DRM.
That is by far one of the coolest things that I've heard in a LONG time. Thanks for the information!!
This post really appealed to me, as I look at my parents' generation. I worry about the aunts & uncles who chose trades because their bodies can't keep up anymore and it is harder to find manual labor as you age. Also, self-employed or sub-contractor type jobs don't usually come with pensions or offer 401ks. It requires a huge amount of self-discipline to save without the structure already set up for you.
A very interesting post.
Great, thought-provoking post. You might find it interesting that one of the businesses that helped make Millionaire Mommy Next Door (an entrepreneur and investor) wealthy was a plumbing and heating business.
It does depend on the degree you get. Certain degrees might not put you above (or even at) the salary of a plumber. Other degrees will net you 60k+ your first year.
My dad is an electrician, but he wasted no time encouraging me to go to school. It's hard work, while going to business for yourself sounds great, that requires business skills that non-college grads may not have. Well, at least that my dad didn't have, I'm sure there are plenty of happily self employed trade workers.
That being said, he would have supported me going into a trade as well. As long as I was happy, my parents main advice was to learn how to do SOMETHING that will make a living, whether that be fixing plumbing or fixing broken bones.
Pollen's lengthly article in the New York Times is worth reading.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=2&ei...
While I agree that some of the blame for the housing crisis should be shared, I think it ultimately comes down to personal responsibility. We seem to have a "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality in this country, and we want everything to be bigger, faster, newer the guy's across the street. The current housing crisis is the result of that.
When I was looking for a depression-era photo to illustrate a story, I found this site:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html
with over 160,000 public-domain photos.
They're searchable by keyword, and high-res digital images are available.
There's some great work there--many of these photos were taken by some of the best photographic artists of the day, and since they were being paid a salary for their work by the government, the images they created are in the public domain.
The Flickr site is a big step forward, though. There are downsides to the memory.loc.gov site that a Flickr site won't have. For example, I couldn't figure out a way to get a permanent link back to a specific image. Flickr won't have that problem.
Pandora is Free and Legal. Granted you can't actually download the music or rewind but, it's tunes.
I leave it going all day at work.
My county library system has tons of Cd's, and an inter-library loan system. So I go online and request a CD I want (the most recent being a Springsteen box-set and Spoon) and have it at my local library within a couple days, play it in iTunes and Voila!
Legally sketchy, but no more than some other options above.
I started working for a home party based company 3 years ago and have had a wonderful experience with this type of business. I don't think you specifically addressed home party companies, but I'm frequently asked if i'm involved in a pyramid scheme or mlm so i thought I'd add my 2 cents.
I currently manage a team of 80 women
I think this kind of business can work very well as an extra source of income If certain criteria are met, some of which you've already covered
1. Low start up cost. you can start with many companies for under $200, and you should be able to make back what you've invested within the first party or two.
2. Sponsoring manager should have a well designed, free new start training guide or program available to help you get started.I try to teach all my team members NOT to invest a lot of money on sample products or to go "upside down" in their business financially, but to buy product samples a little bit at a time as they see that their business is actually going to take off.
3. Look for a quality product from a company that allows customers to return items they don't care for for a cash refund within a reasonable amount of time after purchase.
4.Look for a company or product where you can actually bring home a reasonable paycheck after business expenses without recruiting anyone to join the business and sell with you.
5. No one should be getting paid just because they are the first one in. A good company will have increasing sales goals and requirements as reps move up into the different levels of management, and those who don't work to meet those goals should lose the opportunity to earn a paycheck from the teams they manage.
Most of the women on my sales team are not interested in making big bucks with this business. They do it to earn cash for a specific goal like paying off a credit card, or paying for something outside of the family budget, like their child's ice hockey or dance bills or that trip to disney that they've always wanted. Many of them state that their sales goal for the year is an extra 4 or 5 thousand dollars in income for their family, and they can easily do this with 3 or 4 parties a month a no recruits, assuming they keep their business expenses in check.
Another reason people decide to try this is because they like the product and are looking for something to do, and having their own small business becomes a hobby for them that they enjoy.
Home party businesses are not for everyone, You have to like working with people, like your product, be willing to provide good customer service, and have a thick enough skin to not take a potential customers "no" personally.
Honestly 1/3 of the people who start this type stop within 6 months, because it's either not a good fit, or they couldn't get it to go anywhere.
Many people work this only for a season in their life and are done once the specific goal or two are met
I left a well paying career in Health care to stay home with my kids. We made specific financial plans before they were born so that we could achieve this goal. After 6 years at home I was going out of my mind with boredom and wanted something to keep my mind occupied. I started looking for a very part time job for the mental stim and for some extra cash for "fun " money for my family. I started this business and it much to my surprise, I found that I really enjoyed it, was good at it and now 3 years later I'm able to work from home ( which is honestly not easy, but worth doing for me) and bring home a significant income for my family.
Hope this post isn't too rambling. Thanks for a fair look at MLMs
Kim
My mom loves this book, and I will be inheriting it after she does her second read-through to take notes!
intitle:"index.of" "name.of.song" (mp3|wav|m4a)
so yeah. type exactly that into your google search bar, and you'll have some luck. use periods between words for best results
This reminds me of an idea I've had for several years - without doing anything about it.
How about if someone with an extensive local social network worked out a deal with a supermarket to buy some outrageous amount of groceries at a discount.
People in the network would order through you, you'd make one trip (more perhaps if you don't have enough vehicle capacity), bag orders sepately ehren you get home (you'd need space at home), and then your friends would come over and pay for their stuff.
This would probably be more appropriate for, say, a church, but why not?
But didn't the electrician help you? Aren't you a person of the community? I bet the electrician actually goes home feeling like he really lit up some lives, some days, pardon the pun :)
Now, if you figure in things like health insurance and life insurance benefits, paid time off, getting paid on rainy days when a tradesman may not be able to do an outdoor job, other benefits, as small as free office coffee - the tradesman pays about a buck for his coffee in gas stations and convenience stores...
Well, if you figure all that in, you have a point...
But to say that professionals feel good about their contribution to society and to suggest a tradesperson may not? Yikes!
And for the record, I'm a software developer, who on a daily basis considers hanging it all up and opening a vintage motorcycle restoration shop and spending the rest of his days in a puddle of oil and wrenches building restorations for rich professionals :)
So who knows. I think it's all in making sure you can live on and with and like what you do.
I picked my college major on my way to orientation, which means I didn't put much (read: ANY) foresight into the future job market. I was also in a hurry to get out of college, so between Advanced Placement credits and summer classes, I was out in 3 years. I floundered for a year or so, when I discovered that a degree in Conservation doesn't get you anywhere.
I found a job with horrible pay in an even worse working environment. Within a few months, I knew I had to go back to school to get my Master's Degree at some point, but I wasn't quire ready. I had the idea to do a carpentry apprenticeship through a local trade school. My plan was to get my Journeymans' certificate (4 years), then go back to grad school. I wanted to get involved in 'green' building, and I figured if I had the carpentry background, I'd be a lot more valuable as a professional.
I found a GREAT small company, which allowed me to learn a little about nearly everything about working on a house, including some plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and laying concrete. I should mention that I'm female, and not an entirely unattractive one, so I really stood out both on the job site and in the classroom (the apprenticeship calls for some class work). While my boss was fantastic, I ran into other tradesmen who didn't take me seriously or mistook me for the homeowner.
While the hourly rate for trade work may seem high, there are some things about the work that is completely unappealing. I was a union worker, so I had it better than some, but we didn't get sick leave or paid vacation. If you get the flu and can't work for a few days, you are out 3 days' salary. Also, if you have one of those days when you're just feeling worn down, you don't have the option of coasting through the day at a desk. You need to be at attention so you don't hurt yourself with a power tool or fall off a ladder.
My first roofing job was in November (in the midwest) during a sleet storm. That's when grad school started sounding a LOT nicer. Within weeks I took my GRE test and applied to school. My boss was sad to see me leave, but I took some very valuable skills with me. I remodeled my mom's bathroom and years later as a homeowner, my husband and I were able to finish our basement.
I managed to land a good job with my M.S., but I am SO glad I did the carpentry thing when I did. Luckily, I was young and had the guts to do something like that. It's also very comforting to know that if all hell breaks loose, I can always fall back on those skills.
i am a single mom and ihave a lot on me i have $14.99 dsl but instead of getting that rate i would love to have $10.00 can some body be able to change that for me i will be so happy, so can you be so kind and chaeng that for me,thanks so much.
If you pay yourself first, how do you know that you're saving the largest amount possible? If you budget carefully, you may have a pretty good estimate of how much you can save, but it's still just an estimate.
If you pay yourself last, you can save everything you didn't spend.
This strategy probably won't work well for people who badly want more stuff. However, it worked very well for me.
If you pay yourself first, then when the opportunity comes to buy something you don't need, you don't have the money--it's already been saved. That's great. But what if it's some little thing, and you do have the money? It would be very easy to say, "Well, I paid myself first and I have a little money left over and I want that thing."
I find it better to wait. When the opportunity to buy some thing (small or large) comes, I have the money to buy it--but I choose not to make the purchase so that I have the money to save. Frankly, I find saving the money to be more fun than buying the thing is, for a very wide range of things I might buy.
If you're not like me, this may not work for you. But I think my point is valid. It doesn't matter whether you pay yourself first or last, as long as you do pay yourself.
You must mean: "Is it broke?"
Many people make the mistake of assuming that just because they have a degree, that they're entitled to make more money in the job market. All the degree shows is that they have at least four more years of schooling. To get a degree just to make more money is the wrong reason to go to college. To get a degree because of wanting to obtain knowledge and skill sets (that could be used to make more money POSSIBLY)--that's the right reason.
Earlier this month, (while returning my gown for graduating with an electrical engineering degree, no less!) I locked my keys in my truck and had to call a locksmith to get them out. Although it took him about 40-45 minutes to drive to where I was (and he said he had been stuck in traffic), he literally had the door open in less than two minutes, and I handed him his $45.
I don't think it's fair to exactly count the transit in his hourly wage, because I would have been charged the same if he had been there within 5 minutes.
And I thought the exact same thing - why did I just waste 4 years studying engineering when I could be out there making the equivalent of ~$1350/hr?
Maybe in my later years I can get into consulting, at least :)
That's interesting. I am not familiar with the application process, but I will write an email to them and see what they are doing with your data.
I sent my application to them and they rejected it, I am a 16 year veteran in IT working in many major IT positions. I dont know who they are looking for - but they must be IT freaks.
Whats made me mad is that they have my Resume data and I cant log back in to delete my profile - I have no idea what they did with my data and where its stored.
They allowed me access to login - upload my details and then promptly deleted my account without my approval.
I think its abit rich that they can suck out data from linkedin and populate their own site.
I would stay away from these guys - I am not at all impressed how they treat people and their data.
Ultimately I feel that if you are in a job with physical demands - bending over, lifting things, turning wrenches - there is a limited time you can do that before it all catches up with you and your body will likely revolt in your fiftes. Wheras all the "white collar" jobs you can do for much longer. You can go abuse your body in the gym.
And that said, anybody who takes out a whole ton of student loans or a huge morgtage without taking a realistic look at what they'll earn at said profession - is just asking for trouble no matter what profession it is.