I'm in the process of Innovating.  Unfortunately, my current plan won't come to full fruition for another two years.  Then, I'm seriously cruising on easy street, financially self-sufficient.  Beer is still involved.

Writing a business plan isn't very much fun.  But, it's worth it.  Or, that's what I keep telling myself.

But freaking A, the one time I sit down and formulate a 10-year plan, my one-month plan gets shat on. 

Weeeeeee

Last edited by Wells (2009-06-30 11:54:49)

I know this sucks and I have nothing to offer other than hey, hang in there. Both of you. What happened with Fled?

George Orr wrote:

Wells wrote:

So hello, High Street, how are YOU doing today?

Well, about like you're doing.

Then, a pair of jobs fall in my lap.

Okay, on that front, you've been doing WAY better than me.

So here we go again, about to be gainfully unemployed for the second time this year.

Second time this year?  Yup, same here.
Bright side:  If the job does die (as opposed to your resigning) you can get unemployment.  Mine's run out.
Wells, let's wish each other luck in finding bill-paying gigs, shall we?

Not you too! Fuck!

Sorry, Smoochie.

You know you're smart enough to find a new gig.

Don't look on craigslist. Lotta weirdos there.

The funny thing about unemployment, as I see it:

We get 99% of our funding from the state.  If the state decides we aren't worth giving money to, that we aren't doing anything, our funding gets cut.

Then, we go on unemployment, and the state pays us still, again for not doing anything.

Talk about a Catch-22 for them, right?

George Orr wrote:

Thanks, sofa.

I have a couple-three prospects going this week, so optimism is high.  At the moment.  (And as you can see, they haven't shut off my Internet just yet, so don't pity me too much.  I'm not hungry or cold or anything.)

I'm gonna throw an idea to you, based upon something I've been dealing with for awhile.

In my business, I'm too busy to do certain things (insert fucking around on High Street all day joke here).

Seriously, though, I'm usually so busy brokering various loads, and Mr. Sofie drives and shit, we can't do certain things for our business.

Enter my savior, Sandra. She has a business that does different administrative functions for many businesses. I pay her $24 an hour. That might seem like a lot, but she only does about 8 hours of work for me a week. I don't have to pay her benefits, and she's a 1099 consultant. She fills a need for a lot of small businesses that need administrative help, but don't want to hire on another employee. She makes fuckloads of money, and her clients (including me) ADORE her.

I found her on craigslist, which kinda negates what I just said before.

You could almost certainly follow Miss Sandra's business model (at least give it a try - like put an ad up, and see your response).

Also, she has more work than she can handle. All the business owners she deals with try to refer her to their friends, and she's swamped.

That is a very interesting idea, sofa, which would never have occurred to me.  I might just look into that.

Wells wrote:

The funny thing about unemployment, as I see it:

We get 99% of our funding from the state.  If the state decides we aren't worth giving money to, that we aren't doing anything, our funding gets cut.

Then, we go on unemployment, and the state pays us still, again for not doing anything.

Talk about a Catch-22 for them, right?

Unemployment, while the check is written by the state, is a state mandated insurance funded by employers in that state so it doesn't deplete state money.

My business is having its best ever year. My close people ask me how that is possible in this struggling economy, not to mention the horrid coal market which makes up 90 % of my sales.

Here's how, plain and simple: Beat on doors, make huge promises and work 24/7 to keep them. The 9 to 5 days are done. If you really want a job , there is one for you, you may have to make your own.(See:Sofies Idea)

I was scared to death at the start of this season so I became very aggressive and went miles beyond my normal reach. Result is a 20% increase in sales YTD. These are the times that seperate the lions from the lambs.

I believe I read on here once a saying I tell my employees weekly: " When the meek inherit, the cruel shall dine" It has become my creed. Make it yours.

Last edited by Bigcat (2009-06-30 19:23:19)

Amen Amen.

First of all, with all due respect to you, Mr. Outthere, I couldn't make it on $1000.00 a month. Mad props to you. Mazel tov. But you do have one thing I really like going, and that's that you adapt to whatever needs to be done when you do go earn money.



The rest of us, we gotta hustle like hell.

Awesome fucking thread, beginning to end. Outhere, I'm right there with you. In fact, I got you beat.

tojo2000 wrote:

I suppose this would be a bad thread to point out that I have a kick-ass job that I love, pays me very well, and will be there for the foreseeable future.

Yes.

Asshole.

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

choad wrote:

Awesome fucking thread, beginning to end. Outhere, I'm right there with you. In fact, I got you beat.

It just goes to show that there are more then one way to get along.

Do you live off the fat of the land? Or do you gather what another man spills?

It now looks like I am old and curmudgeonly enough to start going all crotchety on the young, ambitious,  collateral damaged and evermore actually hungry younguns to say I have lived high in the mansion on the hill and down by the side of the tracks. I can get by either way

I am now in Sofie's position again. In need of contracting various administrative and other technical services for small businesses I have. These businesses will not see increased growth till later in 2010 or 2011 depending on the economy, so I am not looking to bring on additional full time staff. In the meantime I am looking to contract some of the load out.

Too bad I do not live in LV. I would be talking to Sofie about just how good her Administrative assistant is.

She saves my ass constantly.

It's like you have a choice. Pay a fucktarded temp agency slightly less (like $17 an hour) for an incompetent person who is only angling to be hired on permanently, and doesn't understand what I need her to do without me wasting the same amount of time teaching her/checking her work, or have Sandra, who has worked in Corporate America for 20 years, and doesn't need explanation for $24 an hour.

It's a no brainer.

Here are some more reasons my solution works:

I don't have to pay to have somebody complacent who will stretch the work out over days. I know the amount of time needed to complete each task she does, she has many other projects for people to complete, and she wants to get paid. I'm not stuck finding busywork for the temp to do.

She takes the work home with her, so I don't have to hang out with her. I can fax/email her what I need done, or she comes and picks it up, when she picks up a check from me.

If I don't have much work for her to do, I don't have to pay for it. If I have a lot of work for her to do, I know pretty much what it's gonna cost me upfront.

It's the wave of the fucking future.

I often catch shit for my lifestyle, and some people have a hard time understanding, but it works for me and many others, as I have learned.
   The foundation of my lifestyle is simply not worrying about stuff.  People constantly ask me “what if?”…as in “what if you get in an accident?”, “what if your house burns down?”, “what if you get sick?”.  I don’t know what I would do, but what I don’t understand is why people think like that.  They are all frantic and panicky.  They seem desperate and worried all the time.  I just don’t worry about it. Shit happens, and I’m not afraid.
   I just want people to know that there is another way to live, and it’s OK.  I have no stress and plenty of free time. I promote this lifestyle to anyone who is willing to listen. It’s wonderful, but it’s not for everyone.  You do have to make sacrifices, but it all depends on what is important to you. The biggest hurdle is being confronted and berated by “regular folks” when you tell them you don’t have a credit card or phone or when neocons blame you for “destroying America”. One soccer mom recently accused me “putting my kids life in danger” because they don’t have their own personal cell phones. I see this type of thinking all over the place and I think it is a product of the constant fear mongering that our society is bombarded with.
   One thing that influenced my escape from the rat race was when my father died and one of my brothers didn’t come prior to the funeral because he “had to” work.  The rest of my family accepted that excuse, but I was disgusted by it.  I was disgusted by their attitude that work was more important than their father’s death and that my brother’s fear of his boss controlled his life, his morals, his ambition and his very purpose for living. I never wanted to be like that, and began that very day to eliminate the things in my life that I felt enslaved me.
   Just as some people would wish Wells success in his business ambitions, I wish for him an end to the stress and worry, and I hope he finds peace, fulfillment and contentment.


I have never heard anyone laying on their death bed saying: “I wish I would have worked more.”

BTW - Choad, I can get you a running car for about $400, guaranteed to last at least a couple of weeks or a couple hundred miles, then any junk yard would buy it for a couple hundred.

outhere wrote:

BTW - Choad, I can get you a running car for about $400, guaranteed to last at least a couple of weeks or a couple hundred miles, then any junk yard would buy it for a couple hundred.

Johnny_Rotten is right. Enterprise sucks balls. My next door neighbor is getting the $200 I'd have paid them. I'm a better than average driveway mechanic but loathe the expense. Also, I have "stupid cow" issues and more often than not, not a happy motorist. I live in a beautiful place. Who needs the stress?

Outhere, the most surprising thing about your account is your family's apparent acceptance. I live a happy and productive life. I contribute. They won't put my name on shit when I croak but only because it's already there.

Except for Frank Thorne, my family have disowned me. I'm a commie nogoodnik, only worse.

icangetyouatoe wrote:

I know this sucks and I have nothing to offer other than hey, hang in there. Both of you. What happened with Fled?

No pay for work since jesus b-day.  I lived off a pretty nice severance for six months but that well recently ran dry.  I've done some fun stuff as a volunteer but just because it was stuff I wanted to do.  I'm limping along, looking for a paying job but wondering if there is much point in jumping back in the white collar world.  The legal business is just too tedious, and I may have lost my mojo for the game.  Not that anyone should cry for an instant, but there are a hell of a lot of lawyers out of work in the DC area now.  I thought about opening up my own consulting business but that would take a lot of marketing, which is not something I relish.  There is a lot of appeal in just getting off the grid.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/29-2

First step: do you have a LinkedIn profile? It's like facebook for professionals. I'm a bit jaded on the social networking thing, but I've seen that it can have good results. Of course, it goes without saying that your resume should be up-to-date. Actually, I'm liking CV's these days, as they allow for moar self-aggrandizing goodness (trying to fit one's career on a single page is bullocks). You should also have someone with mad copywriting skillz (hint, hint) take a look at said document to see if your verbiage can be massaged in any way.

You'd be surprised how many folks overlook the basics.

Hmm, I like having many eyes look over my resume and marketing verbage. As George can attest, it sorely needs it. Give me an email if interested Karen.

Check your H-S messages. I don't have your email addy.

Last edited by karenw (2009-07-06 22:12:34)

Laid off this morning, effective end of the week.  Decided to get a little shitty for no good reason tonight.  WOO-HOO

Not just me laid off; whole damn operation shut down.  I'm... conflicted.