This is the first in a series of articles that will hopefully educate readers and illuminate the process of doing business in a simple to understand, nuts-and-bolts way.

In the beginning…

Many people these days are either starting a business or are a part of a small business as a partner or original contributor.  The economy is such that many folks do it in self-defense as well as for the “traditional” reasons:  having a great idea, seeing a better way to do somethng they were doing as an employee, or creating a new service or product.

As a Business Consultant, I have worked with dozens and dozens of small and medium sized business, and they all started that way, which is not surprising.  Owners, for the most part, were ordinary folks that for many reasons either “fell into” owning a business or started one in their basement, bedroom, or garage and went from there.  And, as a consultant, I was there for one reason:  the business was in trouble.  Even the owners that were highly educated and experienced business people  – former sales directors, marketing experts, divisional VP’s – were having problems.  And every time, there was a pattern.

Why small businesses get into trouble…

The first thing to know is that there is no place I know of that actually teaches people about how to run a business on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis.  A Bachelor’s degree or an MBA is great, but these programs teach big, generic concepts.  What they don’t teach – and no one does – is how to tell if the bookkeeper is stealing, how to get the most out of your service crews, manage cash flow on a daily basis, motivate shop workers, set a pay scale, properly determine real costs, and set a price that makes sense.  And on and on and on.

These “little” things aren’t a problem when a company is really small, with 2 or 3 employees, but start to spiral out of control as an enterprise gets larger.  The owner(s) are generally there every day, working 10 or 12 hours a day and are a part of every action and decision.  They know where every dollar goes, know their customers, the market, what works and what doesn’t, and take care of it personally.  And this very thing is the core of the problem as the business expands.  It is nearly universal that this micromanagement style is how businesses start and begin to thrive, and that’s ok.  However, what works for a tiny startup definitely does not work for a company that is larger.  Why?

Owner as “The Juggler”…

As a business grows larger, all the things the owner(s) manage become more complex.  To use the juggler analogy, three balls become four, then five, then eight, then ten.  The owner works harder, works faster, hires people, buys technology, adds products or services.  All of these things require more customers, more vendors, more marketing, more expertise.  Things move faster, become more complex, require more time.  And this is where things begin to fall apart, because micromanagement doesn’t work in an environment like that.  It works for a while, and that traps owners into the idea that they are doing ok, and if they work just a little harder, spend a little more time, look at more details, dig in a little harder, tomorrow will be better.  I promise, it won’t.

Small business owners who fail to adapt their management style – and this is the hardest thing they can do because they have had the experience of success doing it one way – will eventually either fail or the business will stagnate at a level they can handle.  Now, I have no problem with an owner who wants to just maintain a certain level of trade.  I do not believe the “grow or die” paradigm that is heard so often.  Do a thing, do it locally, do it well, and stick to what you know works very well.  But even those types of businesses get into other kinds of trouble, mainly from lack of simple skills I will cover in future articles.

Asking the right questions…

In most of my consulting, after the first day or two and once I have a basic understanding of what the problems are (financial, managerial, or both), and I get to have a little rapport with the owner(s), I start to ask some unusual questions.  Before I give you a sampling, let’s go back to the beginning for a moment.

Most entrepreneurs don’t start a business to make a ton of money.  They have a dream aside from providing that perfect service or unique product.  They think about the life that a ton of money might bring, but it’s generally not about the money itself.  Some dreamt of – and still dream of – a vacation home, or a college education for their kids, or building a business that allows several vacations a year with their families, or a sailboat.  The specifics don’t matter… everyone that ever started a business has a dream like that, how they imagine their life will be once they hit some level of success.

And all of that gets buried somewhere along the way as they work harder and harder, try to do more and more.  Their lives are consumed with details and work, and as things start to slip, it gets worse.

So, for all you budding entrepreneurs and small business owners, here’s a question or two for you:

When you thought of starting this business, what did you imagine your life would be like?

What did you dream of having?

Do you have the family or fun time you thought you’d have by this time?

Are you any closer to fulfilling your dreams than when you started?

Answer those questions.  Be honest.

Then, find or make a picture of your dream.  Make it BIG.  Paste it on the wall in your office so you face it every day.  And focus on that dream.  Because that’s what you are in business for.

Not money.  Not fame.  Not respect.

That picture is your true dream.  That’s your true motivation.

Next time, we’ll start to map a path to get you much, much closer to your dream.

It won’t be easy, but it works.  I promise.

Please contact me offline at microconsulting@aol.com with anycomments, suggestions or ideas for future articles that you may not want to share here.

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I am a small town boy from northern Wisconsin, who grew up in the quintessential American family. Dad was a carpenter, mom stayed home, two brothers and a sister. Our politics, and we were political, was always Democrat. My dad always said all you had to do was to look at what each side was fighting for, and it was easy to see, even as a kid, that Republicans were all about big money and rich businessmen, whereas the Democrats were more about social solutions. I spent 6 years in the US Army in the VietNam era as an electronic instructor for NSA, worked as a Field Engineer for a computer firm based in Massachusetts, spent another few years building paper mills around the world for a firm from Washington state, drove long haul truck for a while, did 10 years of servitude in NYC for a large multinational market research company as the Business Manager, spent some more time on the road as a Business Consultant, and the last bit as the Business Manager for a manufacturing firm here north of Houston. I am trying to start up my own consulting firm using all my experience to help small and medium sized businesses stay out of trouble versus waiting until they get into trouble. No one teaches people how to properly run a business. Business schools and MBA programs really don't. There are very basic nuts and bolts that are either assumed or are ignored, and like the house built on sand, businessmen and entrepreneurs ignore these solid foundations at their peril. (Now retired and doing some substitute teaching at a couple of small K-12 schools here in northern Wisconsin. Living in a small hamlet of 340 people, quiet, peaceful, serene.)

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Plutocrats really suck
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Plutocrats really suck

jdmn17

I know exactly what you mean. I was doing consignment for a while and that went nowhere. Then I opened a kiosk in a good location and started making money. I am now trying to break into wholesale and have had some success. There is a market for handmade things, it is a revival of sorts, you just have to go to the right places so you are not competing with crap from China. Trade shows are a great place to start, lots of boutique and shop owners come looking for unique things for their customers and appreciate artists.

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Consignment for me was a dark hole. I would take a piece over and they would immediately cover it with dinnerware and table cloths. Good for the dinner ware, bad for the table underneath. Plus everything I do is custom and when I sat down with the owners they wanted to up the fee to 40%. When I balked they suggested I raise the prices. I didn’t want to do that because my clientele have grown used to my price points and I didn’t see why I needed to raise prices across the board for one customer who might get me an order a month. My customer base is very specific. Mostly young people getting their first “real” piece of furniture, mostly “green” so they don’t have a ton of money. People with cabins in the woods who don’t want to pay an arm and leg for something for a second home and last and certainly not least, recently divorced, mostly women in their 40’s and 50’s who want to start over. None of them are high buck buyers. The other thing about consignment is damage (I’d worry about theft but it’s hard to shoplift a seven foot farm table). They would call me and I’d go over to see a huge scratch or scrape, pull the piece, repair it and bring it back. I last one year with a really nice couple but that was it. When I pulled out I sold the two display pieces cheap and left two couples who loved my stuff but didn’t have a ton of money very happy. Since then I’ve gotten three orders from their friends. So it does work out.

Plutocrats really suck
Member
Plutocrats really suck

Have you tried posting your work online? And I don’t mean ebay. Check out wholesalecrafts.com

MossyOak
Guest
MossyOak

Great article PW! Nice to find you here, I always enjoyed your comments on HP. My MBA nephew did a stint processing loans at the Small Business Administration for a few years. When I started up my small green business seven years ago he told me, “The major difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is passion. If you have passion and believe what you are doing is in any way good for the world, that will carry you through the hard times.”

Had to share that because he was right.

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

PW

I meant to write you earlier to thank you for the effort you are putting into these great stories.

I run a one dude shop – man but my son is into calling me dude these days because my hair is starting to look like the Dude’s – I hand build furniture and it’s a wild ride after thirty years of sucking on the corporate teat of bi monthly paychecks and paid health care and vacations.. Then again I’ve never felt as free and the stresses I do encounter are mostly with finding more sources for the reclaimed barn lumber I build with, getting my son to come over and help me flip a twelve foot table top or loading it into the moving van and of course the marketing business side of things. I did have thirty years of marketing experience so that wasn’t so bad but it’s hard at night when you’re pooped to remember or get motivated to go to etsy and update things there and then to my website and update there. That’s one thing for small business guys is the way google rewards your tinkering with higher placements in their search engine. I often make a simple change that takes fifteen minutes just to keep feeding the google animal.

As for growing. I’ve looked several times at extending my toe into the water of expansion but each time I’ve taken on what seems to be a great apprentice they really can’t cut the work load, or is it just they can’t hack me? Maybe I better revisit that 🙂

Regardless, I do all hand joinery so I get a lot of people who want to learn but they tend to try it, get frustrated and I can tell they are just marking time before they can get back to their power tools. So I think I’m stuck with me, which in the end is fine enough. It means I can’t take on large jobs like the eighty table order I passed on last month because they wanted cheap and fast and hand made and rustic. They didn’t seem to get the inconsistency in their request.

Regardless, thanks for what you are writing, there are a few people I’m going send here to read it. They think all I do all day is cut a couple of boards, sit around and admire lumber, go in the house at night and sip Merlot.

If they only knew it is a seven day a week life – and I don’t for one second regret it. In fact I’m secretly delighted

Plutocrats really suck
Member
Plutocrats really suck

Thank you, that was illuminating. I have a very small business. I am an artist and these things frustrate the hell out of me.

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Pluto, I had build furniture from reclaimed lumber so I think we have a lot in common. Art in wood, it’s fun but it’s challenging and moreover it’s hard to get people to appreciate that art has to cost something. OHOH, I might start whining.

funksands
Member

Great start PW. I have many many business owner clients and many many FORMER business owner clients.

The obstacles you describe are very common among both groups.

phread
Member
phread

Bravo, well done Sir. I look forward to more informative articles.

creole-girl
Member
creole-girl

Wonderful Article, Pocketwatch – as the conversation it provoked illustrates. I am quite gratified that we are in a space here, were we aren’t as wed to pure ideology, and vitrol, but rather, are having a meaningful conversation and acually hearing each other.

Parsifals
Member
Parsifals

Thanks for the article and your bio. It’s great to know who is behind a small avatar.

david p canada
Member
david p canada

Good advice, PocketWatch.

I really never had any goals other than to provide food and shelter for myself and my family. I just got lucky because the large amount of farmland I bought many years ago for $50-100/acre is now worth $10,000/acre.

Every small business owner is a gambler whose fear of failure is overwhelmed by the excitement of possible success. Many successful owners have failed numerous times but just keep going back to the well.

If you don’t like to gamble, get a union job, but don’t resent the people who gambled and won.

And never, never fly First-class unless someone else is picking up the tab.

Caru
Member

Luck favours the prepared.

david p canada
Member
david p canada

Very true!

Luck is basically an undeserved reward. And people who are “prepared” seem to be on the receiving end of good fortune more often than not.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

My father always said to us growing up, “You make your own luck”…which means you are aware, prepared and ready when the opportunity knocks.

Abbyrose86
Member

David, I think I like you better on this forum! 🙂

david p canada
Member
david p canada

Backatcha.

I may have Conservative opinions but I have a sense of social justice.

For example, I believe capitalism has it’s warts, but with proper regulation it’s the best economic model on Earth.

But if you guys don’t get single-payer health-care soon…well, there’s trouble a-comin’.

escribacat
Member

I echo what abby said, David. You’re much different! And I agree with your statements. I can’t remember who said this: “Capitalism is the worst system on the planet, except for all the others.”

david p canada
Member
david p canada

This is the real me.

Over at HP I would spend so much time responding to fanatics, I often sounded like one of them.

Hey, I like throwing the occasional dart, but if I offend anyone personally, tell me.

Or throw a dart back, either way it’s OK.

bito
Member

We don’t throw barbs at other posters. Disagree and discuss, but no barbs or darts.
http://planetpov.com/faq/terms-of-use/

KB723
Guest
KB723

This place is indeed a far stretch from HP Dave… Here you can actually think and take your time posting a comment… It’s not like there are going to be another hundred comments when they finally allow them, and your comment that had meaning, that you wanted folks to read and reply to was now ten pages back.

Abbyrose86
Member

I reiterate…I like you better here. 🙂

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

David p canada are you DavidPenner over there? The one who I so respectfully call Mr. Penner?

The true Northeastern conservatives that I have known in my lifetime, my dear late father being one of them, have always been for social justice and equal rights. They believed that it was not governments place to dictate what a person could and could not do in the privacy of their own homes.

They were also truly fiscally conservative, they were the Eisenhower Republicans, there was a role for business, but believe business should not be the end all, be all…they wanted a fair playing field.

david p canada
Member
david p canada

Yes, I am one and the same.

Your father must have been a fine person, indeed.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

He was great, thanks, I learned the art of political debate from him!

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

David, I was raised an Eisenhower republican and became a democrat during the Viet Nam war when Nixon told us he was going to make peace and tried to bomb Viet Nam back to the Stone Age. Now I know Ike sort of gave us Joe McCarthy but all in all I think Ike was right about so many things (like beware the MIC, when the top ranking General of the Army tells you to watch out for them I think he was on to something).

Today he would be tossed to the left. Probably Nixon too (shudder as I say that) and even the grand old icon Ronnie would be way too centrist for most republicans today. The social justice comment you referenced got me a lot of negative responses from some posters on HP because I believe you can be conservative and care about the human condition. But I think you have to dig pretty deep these days for that in the US. Canada has always had a strong conservative movement not founded on religious ideology. Maybe that’s the difference here now, it’s all about catering to the evangelicals. Regardless, looking forward to your perspective.

Silentdances
Member
Silentdances

This is something I agree with. A conservative has a responsibility to their neighbors and community (this also includes ones society).

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

My mom said (85 and in the antique business since 1950) said the only difference between conservatives and liberals was the conservative would try to get you down to a fair price and a liberal would look but couldn’t afford it. She also said conservatives always wore plain color button down shirts or “Arrow” off the shelf, liberals wore checked dress shirts or flannels. She’s pretty funny about her own generation. I suspect she was real Rosie the riveter type.

zootliberal
Member

jdmin, my political arc mirrors yours. I too was raised in a Republican household – but when I returned from Vietnam I marched right over to the Vietnam Vets Against the War and have not looked back. I know exactly what you mean about Nixon, as I used to rail against him, but nowadays would welcome him as a member of the “loyal opposition.” I think the two parties in general and the Republican party in particular has forgotten the mean of that term: “loyal opposition.” In my naive mind it means we can agree to disagree while at the same time working toward the common goal of making this a better country (and world) for all, and not just the elite.
BTW, Bush 1 was the last Republican my father voted for, he choose Clinton in 1992, and Gore in 2000, Kerry in 2004 and would hav voted for Obama had he lived to 2008. He too lamented the same.

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Zoot, I think a lot of us changed political parties in the late 60’s. We did follow a remarkably similar path. I got back from USMC and was appalled at the antipathy of people back here. On the one hand I suspected a lot of anti-war dudes were getting close to graduation and had drawn a low lottery number and it was a good place to meet women. On the other there were some very sincere people out there. The low lottery numbers seemed to have gravitated to the right where I think they came from originally. It’s one thing to be anti-war when your own ass might be on the line, it’s another to have gotten there either because you lived inside the MIC in the jungle or were raised that war is wrong. I am amazed at how many people our age claim to have been at Woodstock while they hold their TP signs at a rally. For the most part our generation has been a huge disappointment in matters of social justice

zootliberal
Member

jdmn17 – a little off topic but when you have a few minutes take a look at this still montage of Vietnam war pics I put together a few years ago. I was working on a project that had access to scores of high quality pics from the National Archives and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass without marrying some of them to one of my favorite Dire Straits songs.

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Very cool, brought back some memories of course. We really had bad looking uniforms back then 🙂

And I remember how heavy the equipment was and got by the end of the day.

Ah gees, going back down the road again. Haven’t been there in a while. Took my son to the Wall two years ago, it still breaks my heart but it was cool because he so saw and felt the things I felt there. He called it a window of energy into another time. Talked about how once you walked in you were sucked in further and further until you got to the corner. Very powerful and he talked to several of the Veterans who were helping people find names. I think he got it though (he was 17 at the time)

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

David, Single payer health care is my biggest pet peeve. Why people who have lousy or no health care continue to scream socialism and reject something in their own best interest is beyond me entirely. Like the old folks, of which I am rapidly approaching – yikes, screaming about cutting government spending and how they hate socialism when they go home to make sure their SS checks are in the mailbox and then go to the clinic on Medicare. How they can whine about stuff and use the services is beyond me.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

It’s because those are the ones who have no clue on how the system works, how government works and or how the Corporate Insurance business works…and when you try to explain it to them, they stick their head in the sand. It is all too much for them to understand…there are people out there who truly have no idea how things work in this world.

I have a brother-in-law who swears that SS, Medicare and Medicaid need to be done away with. Then I ask him how would he like to have his 88 yr. old parents living with him and having to pay for their medical costs and RX’s? Because they ain’t living with me!

Or his sister, my sister-in-law, who relies on Medicaid to pay for the nursing home she is in and her thrice weekly dialysis…take her off dialysis and she is dead in a matter of 10 days…that woke him up.

Abbyrose86
Member

BigDogMOm, it is amazing how many don’t understand all this.

I had an argument a few months back with the SO’s sister about business and how everything interrelates, she would have NONE of it..she wouldn’t even listen.

It all started with a conversation about Walmart….and global trade and how what walmart did affects MORE than just the prices you pay at their store…

Now mind you, she knows what I do for a living. She works as a customer service rep at a large insurance co. and has a BA degree in English. It’s not that she isn’t intelligent, but she has 0 training or education in anything related to big business.

I was like, WHY argue with me? Especially because my argument wasn’t just mine, but came from ideas espoused by both Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman?

As I told her…she was like, WHO? Then I told her who they were and she still insisted on arguing (they are elitists) in her mind!

Whatever!

🙂

Abbyrose86
Member

I have no problem with conservative opinions. Truly I don’t. What I have a problem is when the conversation turns into a pissing match…You know what I mean? And that what usually gets my goat.

I actually like the REAL exchange of ideas especially where economics is concerned, that don’t ignore the problems inherent in the system or that don’t pretend that those problems are easily wiped away, with platitudes.

I like much of what I see being done in Canada. Is it perfect? No, but Canada does seem to have a better understanding of how the mix of socialist ideas and capitalist ones need to work.

For example, the health care system, as you mentioned.

I’ve had lots of dealing with Canadian business people over the years. 21 years to be exact. At least 75% of my clients were Canadian businesses. I also have many Canadian colleagues and we have discussed at length the differences in our systems and what we like about each system and what we don’t like.

It really is interesting to really compare the differences, especially from a business perspective.

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Canadians managed to survive the effort of the people of Quebec to separate from the Union. And I suppose bi-lingual is a real hassle out in the western Provinces but all in all that was a crisis and they managed to come together and I give them credit for it. They seemed to get what was at stake. Down here it feels like the US is getting closer and closer to another fragmentation as several states continue to challenge the role of the Federal government. I suppose we’ll have our day of reckoning soon enough

Abbyrose86
Member

I think you are right…we are SO divided. It’s concerning.

phread
Member
phread

proper regulation, which is desperately needed now…

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Yeah, I’m in MN and of course ethanol is back in the news here. More subsidies coming. Coupled with the farm subsidies the farmers around here are still happily flying off to Hawaii for two weeks on their government checks while they bitch about entitlement programs. Very tough not to grind my teeth at night

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

David – I spent almost 35 years in the medical field, as a clinician and then in the med device industry. I always had a love of antiques and restoring furniture. When I burned out on the med device field I was looking around trying to figure out my life and a friend suggested I start building furniture. The first year was horrid because I was still thinking from the 70’s as to what people liked. I stumbled onto some reclaimed lumber, made a couple of pieces that the varnish was barely dry on when they went out the door and just like that I was building from reclaimed wood. It coincided nicely with the new “green” movement so I was able to catch that wave and keep going. Like you said, I had no preconceptions. I just wanted to be home instead of constantly traveling and I love working with wood. So sometimes you do what you love. The money is not as good, or at least as predictable but in the end I don’t wake up in some strange bed in a strange city and have to orient myself to where I am and what I’m going to do that day. Instead I walk out to my shop and pick up where I left off the day before. And I never fly first class, actually I never fly anymore. I have become MN centered, nationally expanded (to include Canada of course so I can honor my family roots) for travel and purchasing materials. It’s not a huge contribution but I feel it’s important to support North American made products where I can.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

jdmn you sound like my husband and I, we both run our own small businesses, we do it out of love and to have time to live….the money that comes is not much, we’re not millionaires, but we are happy and content with what we do.

I think too many people are scared to go into their own business, because it really is easier to work for someone and have that paycheck and health benifits, with out all the small hassels that owning your own business can have.

Then there are others who never should go into business for themselves….

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

I was talking to someone the other day I knew from my other life. They were asking me how I could stand the uncertainty of the income stream (hard to say it’s not scary, esp with the economy being what’s it’s been lately – things are improving though) and I tried to explain the economics of not having dry cleaning bills and fancy clothes and expenses that never get reimbursed so we moved on and for the next half hour all she did was complain about politics and all that stuff from corporate America, when she left I gave her a long hug, I am sure she had no idea it was a sympathetic hug for her and still being stuck in the grind.

Money can’t buy you love. It can by a lot of things but not a welcome stress reduced plop onto the pillow every night when you go to bed

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Funny that you mention dry cleaning and fancy clothes…came from the Corporate world myself, I think the last time I had anything dry cleaned, was my husbands suit last year, cleaned and pressed for a wedding we were going to!

I just gave away the last pair of my “Pumps”, held on to them “just in case” I would need them.

Good Lord did I have a shoe and suit colection…now it’s strictly jeans/casual pants!

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

I sat down and did the math on how much it cost me to have a suit job. I was appalled. Now I have about six pair of jeans, two work, two “nice” and two flannel lined (for MN winters). When the “nice ones get stained – inevitable, I put them into the work and toss out one of them. Shoes are even better. I just tossed out a half dozen froo froo loafers and bought some new hiking boots. I also tossed out (to the homeless shelter along with the shoes) a couple of large trash bags of dress shirts and ties and about twenty sport coats and suits. Dry cleaning? I can’t remember when I was there last. I should probably look at the one suit I have left since we have moths up here. That would be funny to get ready to wear and have it fall off the hanger

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

@jdmn, did you know that you can write off your jeans, boots and work shirts, whatever you wear to perform your job at you business, as uniforms.

I don’t do it for myself, but I do write off my husbands workclothes as uniforms since the life expectancy of them is 3 mos…he has a marine fiberglass and paint repair shop…his sneakers last one month…we buy them by the 1/2 dozen.

Pay for them out of your business checking, just keep the reciepts and charge it to the line item “Uniforms”, all perfectly legal and tax deductable…just don’t go overboard with the writing off in order not to send up a red flag with the IRS.

jdmn17
Member
jdmn17

Thanks for the tips. It’s so weird to write off things like that since I often end up in them at the grocery looking like Pig Pen from Peanuts with sawdust clinging to me. I do keep track of them but I still can’t shake the guilt, if that’s what to call it. Same thing with phone, internet etc. I put a 2 1/2 car garage workshop out back and that killed me to write off the cost. Guess I’m more conservative than I thought.

KB723
Guest
KB723

WoooHoo David P… Great Post..

david p canada
Member
david p canada

Thanks, KB.

I am a realist and I believe you’ve got to play with the cards you’re dealt. When playing poker, don’t envy the higher hand your opponent has, just bluff the hell out of him/her.

Capitalism is the economic model which allows you to get in the game. But even in the cut-throat game, custom dictates if a player is tapped out, every other player tosses him a couple hundred bucks so he won’t have to beg.

That is voluntary socialism, the best kind.

You have much to contribute here and I’m looking forward to it.

KB723
Guest
KB723

David P I will be sure to keep an eye out for you… Glad you may be feeling a bit more at home…

SueInCa
Member

David
I think if you look at alot of different people you are going to find they may be conservative in some areas and liberal in others. I am conservative when it comes to finance but liberal when it comes to social justice. I am conservtive when it comes to how I live but liberal towards religious beliefs. I believe that entitlement programs are needed because you cannot count on individuals in our society to be consistent in giving, but I also believe that someone recieving welfare should have to work in some capacity in order to recieve the benefits.

I think people put too much emphasis on the actual terms rather than the person behind that label.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

PW it was great posting with you, not every day I get to talk shop with someone who knows what I am talking about…other than the CPA’s I work with!

I’m off to one of my clients, one of the many who hired the wrong person for the job @ $10 per hour….need to catch up four months of entries and bank recs.

I believe having you here at the Planet will be quite inspirational to all of us… 🙂

escribacat
Member

Thanks for the illuminating article, PW. I look forward to reading more. I have been toying with the idea of starting up a small business but what I dread are those long hours and spending my time running the business instead of spending my time making the products that I would be selling. This quandary is why I haven’t made any moves. I have someone else to sell my “products” right now but I am making almost nothing. Arrg!

Thefoxislaur
Member
Thefoxislaur

Bravo PW…..your first at bat and you hit a home run. Great article, this site is tailor made for you. I’m enjoying the back and forth between you, Abby and Big Dog, and learning more in the process. Kudos to Maggie for inspiring you:-)

On the mend here, will be in touch later. Playing catch-up right now, I had to nurse my hard drive yesterday as well.

Caru
Member

Nice article. I can see that this series of yours is going to be good.