In an uncertain economy plagued by unemployment and insecurity, the idea of working for yourself can seem as appealing - and remote - as winning the lottery. How do you get started? What kind of work can you do? Is it expensive to get started? Faced with all that, the lottery starts to seem like the safer bet, even though you probably don’t know anybody who has won the lottery....
It won’t surprise anybody to hear that the recent recession caused average wages in the United States, Canada, and around the world to take a beating. Workers everywhere have been suffering through a period of what economists optimistically call “wage adjustment,” with wages stationary or even decreasing almost across the board. With unemployment still elevated in the developed world, there’s plenty of opportunity – and incentive – for corporations to...
Any retirement professional can tell you that you need to invest your earnings in order to retire in comfort. They might tell you to look at bonds – debt issued by corporations or municipalities – and shares of stock, which are pieces of individual companies that entitle you to a portion of the profits (known as dividends). And it’s true – investing is essential to stay ahead of the curve....
It's an all too common tale: you're at a convention, panel, or meeting and you spend the day making new connections. It's an exciting feeling and you can envision all the ways the new contacts can help your business. But when you get home, you're exhausted from the busy day and you drop right to sleep. Then the next day you get caught up in business and making up for...
When it comes to running your business, the last thing you need is extra complexity. Whether you're dealing with customers, tracking your accounting, or placing ads, every layer of complexity is another layer between you and success. Think back to the last time you were on a website and said to yourself "man, this thing needs to be a little more complicated to make me happy." Has that ever happened?...
Picture this: you’re at your job, working on a typical day’s work. Your boss comes over and says that something major has happened, and the company needs you to take on an extra task. What do you say? There isn’t much opportunity for you to say no – in a very real sense, your job is to simply do what your boss says. Neither is there much opportunity to negotiate...
We've talked before about the need to build your company out so that you're doing more earning, and less working. One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a business venture that will quickly get you where you want to be is the notion of scalability. Originally an electronics term, scalability is the capacity of a system to handle increased traffic - to "scale up," so to speak. It's...
It should come as no surprise that a majority of the developed world’s workers would prefer to be their own boss. If you’re reading this blog, you’re no doubt interested in the same thing. The reasons are as many and varied as there are people. In Europe, increased profit potential is frequently listed in business polls on the topic; in the United States, personal freedom is usually the number one...