Zig came onto the stage with his Texan accent and bouncing enthusiasm, which got my attention. I sat up straight in my seat to listen attentively to Zig Ziglar when he stated, “Everybody should write a book of their life, but, everybody should not get the book published.” I thought that was a strange statement which startled me to wonder if I had things to write about.
During the previous twenty years, I had worked in corporate America in one of those good telephone company jobs. I had a marketing director’s responsibility with a manager’s pay and title. After a good weekend, I came to work on Monday to find that my good paying job and jobs of many fellow employees had vanished to another city or in thin air.
This event caught me by surprise, since I had bought the idea of a corporate career path. In the past only people in factories had experienced downsizing. My initial goal had been to work for someone else only five years, then start my own home based business.. But I got caught up in the false security of working forty years for the gold watch. As most of us, I had been blinded to forget my original goal of self employment in my home based business.
There are many good reasons why all employees and retirees should consider a home based business. I have decide that there are seven primary reasons which I want to share.
7 REASONS WHY
1. Security. Did you hear and accept this career line as I did? “Go to school, get a good education, get a good job with big company and keep your nose clean, work forty years, and everything will be okay and you will receive a gold watch ”. I followed that entire prescription but, my job/career in corporate America did not last 40 years. Job security has since passed with the change of times and a new corporate commitment. The old career philosophy worked for our parents and fore fathers. Those days are gone, never to return. Many have built a home based business to replace the security they thought was sacred.
As a home based business owner, I have never been concerned about being fired nor laid off. When I work hard, I get the pay and don’t have to split it. If I want more money, I just work harder or find another deal. My job did not provide these benefits. Well what about social insecurity? This is a tax levied by the federal government which you can still make contributions
When owning your own business. We recommend that you consult your accountant concerning SSA taxes.
Well…., what about risk? Risk is when you are not making the decision. At my good telephone job, I made only a few decisions, not those decisions concerning my pay, vacation, nor length of employment. As a business owner, I make these and many more decisions. As an employee, someone else makes the decision for you. Who is in control and where is the risk?
2. Taxes - Many people believe that, comments of taxes should not be made openly, like the subject of sex. Did you know that as an employee, one can not take advantage of the tax laws. In fact have you ever wondered why you are not trusted to pay your taxes directly to the government and why businesses can. Tax laws are better understood by persons in business. Through the Tax Code of the United States, entrepreneurs are rewarded for creating jobs.
Your tax expert can best tell you the tax advantages of a home based business income versus employee income. Paying more taxes is a privilege for those persons who earn more money. Which do you prefer more taxes and more money or less money, less taxes? The choice is yours. I have chosen to have more money and pay more taxes. The poor pay less taxes while the rich pay more taxes.
Robert Kiyosaki states, in his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, that average Americans work five to six months for the government before they make enough to cover their taxes. Employees are taxed on the gross revenues. Business people determine their profit first, then according to tax law, taxes are calculated on the profit of the business, not the gross revenues. You must have a home based business in America to take advantage of benefits in the Tax Code of the United States.
3. Freedom As we look back at history, let’s picture the pilgrims ascending down the gang plank after months at sea, trying to escape the imperialism in England. This new land offered
unlimited opportunity to escape the shackles of oppression. Now, do you think those pilgrim fellows approached the first Indians and asked, “Where can I get a good job?” Or ”Where is the nearest union hall?”
No! They saw this new freedom as unlimited opportunity to do better than they had ever experienced. Freedom is how and why America became great and continues to be the one place where most people from other lands want to be. Several persons from other countries have said to me that only America offers the opportunity to start your own business and become rich. Yet,
those of us, who were born here, appear to like the bondage of employee slavery. We feel safe and not responsible for ourselves, under the protection of a job or the government.
Your own home based business offers a degree of independence. With a successful business, you no longer feel like you are in jail or in slavery. Control of your time is the first freedom you experience. Freedom to make your own right or wrong decisions is the next freedom and financially benefiting from your labor by paying yourself is the greatest freedom.
4. Self worth – Starting your home based business provides a personal feeling that is almost indescribable. While working in corporate America, I started a small company vending postage stamps. Now you really can’t become rich nor wealthy selling stamps. Knowing that I had another source of income created a good feeling of independence and selfworth . My walk was taller, my smile was more evident and I felt more confident. Each new business enhanced that good self worth feeling without arrogance. Being successful on the job only brought short term satisfaction.
5. “Show Me The Money” A billionaire friend told me that he got started in business for five reasons. Money, Money, Money, Money and Money. Now money does not cure all problems. But, why do most of us get up at the break of day, leave our homes (good bed), go some place where we don’t want to be, and be with a group of people that we don’t want to be around just to get a pay check for a certain number of hours.
Does money really matter? Most people don’t go through that process for free. We expect to be paid. But do we get what we are worth or do we accept what the job pays. Having your own profitable home based business provides unlimited opportunity. There is no cap nor ceiling to the amount of money that one can earn. My good paying telephone company job, which I enjoyed, did not provide for me to make more than what the position paid. When working for the corporation, I asked and was told,” We can’t pay you more than the salary band.” Salary bands, evaluations, cost-of –living raises, and other bureaucratic jumbo have not come up since starting my home based business.
6. Leverage - As an employee, I could never leverage my salary nor my time on the job. The maximum time that I had as a employee was 24 hours. I could work 24 hours, but, I could never accumulate more hours from the efforts of others. That meant that dollars I received would always be in direct proportion to my time worked. This system is fair, but not financially smart. Trading time for dollars means that one’s income is limited to the amount of time available and the maximum time available is 24 hours.
How do the rich think? The rich will determine how to multiply their time and money exponentially. Let’s look at Bill Gates business model for an example. Bill writes a software program once. He then copies it millions of times onto CDs. He then sells them and pays others to also sell his CDs
Let’s say he used 8 hours producing the first CD , but sold 2 million duplicate CD’s. If Bill Gates is paid $100 per CD, he income is $200 million for 8 hours work. Is that a good pay day?
One time Bill Gates was not in business and he got paid as any other employee. Gates and Allen
decided to start a home based business in a garage and leveraged their time and income.
Only a business person can leverage their time and multiply income exponentially. A home based business is a good place to start.
7. Prestige – One’s self worth can only be felt. No one can explain for you how they feel when success is experienced. The feeling of winning in an athletic event is probably the closest to that exhilarating feeling. In sports, the feeling is an event. In business, the feeling is usually a process. You get that warm feeling of accomplishment when you are recognized by others or you know that you have won.
