Archives for March 2018

Looking After Your Soul: Personal Development As A Solopreneur

March 29, 2018 by Guest Post Leave a Comment

Solopreneur - Looking After Your Soul Many Americans are self-employed, and as the Small Business Administration has found, there are over two million people working as solopreneurs here in California alone. With flexible working patterns, the chance to build something long lasting and rewarding for yourself, and that amazing feeling of being free from the grind of a dead end 9 to 5 job all on offer, it’s no wonder that self-employment is so popular. But there are some downsides to not working in a team, too, and that means you need to take the time for your own personal development.

Get learning

When you work in a traditional team or office environment, opportunities for learning and continuing professional development are often handed to you on a plate. But when you’re working for yourself, you need to arrange learning for yourself. For that reason, it’s wise to hunt out courses which suit your needs, and this could cover anything from basic bookkeeping to improved networking skills. Your local small business networking group may be able to help you find providers, while a nearby college may run courses perfect for your needs.

Become spiritual

Whether you’re religious or not, it’s a good idea to spend some time becoming more spiritual. Being spiritual encompasses everything from feeling more purposeful to having to the mental tools to process business events more quickly and efficiently, and as a result of this increased self-reflection, you’re likely to get through more tasks and save company time. Spirituality can be a way to do everything from reflecting on how well you are running your business to managing stress in the workplace, and as Inc.com reports, it’s endorsed by leading lights like Stanford business professor Scotty McLennan – so you’re in good company!

Speak to others

The clue is in the name: personal development is something that you largely do by yourself. But that doesn’t mean you can’t speak to others to help develop your own self, and sometimes it’s vital to do this to make sure you get it right. By reaching out to other entrepreneurs in your network, you can swap tips on how you can build yourselves up mentally. That way, you can use your peers to filter out ineffective or useless personal development ideas.

As an entrepreneur, spending time working on yourself and improving your sense of self-worth is vital. By investing time in making yourself into a better person, you will find yourself increasingly knowledgeable about yourself and more able to manage life’s issues. No matter how much personal development you’ve done before, it’s definitely worth starting today.

Why a Side Hustle?

March 19, 2018 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

Why Side Hustle [Article republished from “Mondays with Mike – 3/5/18” email newsletter ==> Subscribe to get weekly newsletter in your inbox plus FREE REPORT]

As you’re driving home from another day in the salt mines (no, it probably isn’t that bad…but at times it seems that way), you think about getting out.

No matter what industry you’re in or job you have within it, at some time you’ve probably thought, “I gotta get out of here.”

When it gets bad enough, or when reality slaps you upside the head, that is when I find people reassess things. And this is when the side hustle starts to come into the picture as a thought, as a possible path to freedom.

And whether that freedom is extra cash to make life easier, or being able to chuck the day job and work for yourself, it is the entry point that gives hope and breathes life into that new future.

So today I wanted to share a little about the why’s of taking on a side hustle, so you can know if it is right for you.

So what are some of the reasons?

Pay off Debts

This is a biggie. The Dave Ramsey Show on the radio is caller after caller sharing their struggle of getting out of debt.

Sometimes it is the credit card balance that got out of hand from extended unemployment, or an illness that racked up hospital bills, or just bad spending habits.

Or it is student loan debt. You know, that $80,000 of student loans you racked up while you were trying to find yourself or pursue your degree. Where the government gave you the ability to spend whatever you want and go wherever you qualified for and pursue whatever degree interested you…regardless of the financial viability of that career. And now you find yourself doing something entirely different than your degree (if you even ended up getting the degree at all) and still saddled with the debt.

Or it is the car loan. And every month they ask for their piece of the pie before you get yours. Yeah, you have the nice shiny new vehicle for the first year. Then you find a few years down the road it is worth half as much and you have no money for the next one. So the cycle continues.

Or it is the nice house. Its the American Dream of home ownership, right? But what happens when that house also comes with a steep price tag that takes a third or half your paycheck? Then you’re a slave to your house.

So lets say you’ve got this debt on your back. It creates real stress. You may not realize it but it is there. And if you have a job loss or other financial crisis hit, you could find yourself one paycheck away from having the whole house of cards collapse.

This is where a side hustle that generates $1,000 to $2,000 a month could be what helps you banish that debt for good and regain your freedom. You could wipe out the credit card debt in six months to a year – working Dave Ramsey’s “Baby Steps”. For student loan debt it could take a couple years and might require lifestyle changes as well. But the side hustle will generate the momentum and the excitement as you see yourself cutting those balances and creating a “Debt Snowball”.

Home Purchase

So maybe you’ve got your debt handled now but you need cash or extra income to help you buy your first or next home.

I’ve been there where the home you want to buy is just out of reach for your income or the amount of down payment you’ve saved up.

And you feel that if you keep saving and waiting, home prices (with or without inflation) will keep your dream home just out of reach.

So how do you close that gap?

Well getting side income, whether working a second job, or freelance work, or a side hustle (where you have a mini-side business that costs almost nothing to start), separately, or along with significant cuts in your monthly spending, will start you down the road to getting that home.

When you add income without adding significant expenses, you radically change your money situation. And you find those things you thought were out of reach (including home ownership or living in your dream home) quickly become possible.

Vacation Fund

Maybe collecting expensive toys or living in the nice house isn’t your thing. But traveling to exotic destination or just getting away from the day to day dreariness of work life is something that makes life worth living.

But you spend your entire paycheck each month from your day job. You just don’t have any wiggle room to pay for that vacation. So what do you do?

Some people take on a second job in the evening, especially over the holidays when the retail industry is hiring temporary help that time of year.

But why not do it all year long and build the cash for amazing vacation experiences you’ll cherish for a lifetime? Whether that is swimming with the dolphins, or seeing the Great Wall of China, or going on a safari in Africa, or seeing the great architecture of the great cities in Europe. The world is out there for you to explore.

And building several thousand dollars a month in a side hustle or part time job can often create the opportunity for you to take that awesome vacation every six months. Or you could save up for an over-the-top, once-in-a-lifetime vacation experience by saving up for a year or two.

Or if you like to do freelance work, you could even work that into work and travel for several years by building up a side hustle freelance business.

Building Your Retirement Nest Egg

As you enter your 40’s it begins, in your 50’s it is starting to become real, in your 60’s it has arrived. That retirement thing is looming.

And if you’re like most people you haven’t saved enough and are looking at the real prospects of having to work in retirement. And those prospects aren’t pretty as age discrimination becomes real and health issues could derail your ability to work.

According to the research, the average retirement savings for families aged 50 to 55 is $124,831. For families aged 56 to 61, it’s $163,577. Those figures are far less than the $1 million that many experts recommend as a target for retirement savings. While Social Security can supplement existing retirement savings, the average monthly retirement benefit of $1,329 may not be enough to fill the gap.

Here’s where the side hustle can help you in a couple ways.

First is you create income that builds your nest egg so you can hit your target retirement savings goal so you don’t have to have a job in retirement if you don’t want to.

Secondly you can start a side hustle that you could continue into retirement. That is a great option for something that can create a passive income. Then, coupled with savings and social security (assuming it isn’t bankrupt) you could have enough income to muddle through. Or even live well depending on the success of your side hustle.

And if you start now. Whether you’re in your 40’s or 50’s, you could have this business rolling right along by the time you hit your 60’s and retirement.

Create a Cool Lifestyle

So maybe you just want to live better. Have the toys – the boat, the RV, a plane. Or have the country club membership. Or provide for your kids’ education – whether that is private school, or moving to a better school district for public school, or building their college fund.

That is one of the great things about having money. It opens doors and creates opportunities that otherwise would not be available.

Or you can have cool experiences. It could be reasonably priced things even – like taking the kids indoor skydiving or doing indoor cart racing. Or going skydiving or hang gliding or ziplining.

Life is too short to not have fun. So build that “Fun Fund” and go take life by the horns.

Hopefully you got a few ideas from this article. If you did, I hope you were inspired to consider taking on a side hustle.

Is now the right time to start? Well if you listen to side hustle podcasts at all the guest they have on often say the one thing they’d tell someone who is considering a side hustle that they wish they were told when they were starting out was this.

The best time to start your side hustle was 20 years ago. The second best time is NOW. Things will rarely get better than they are now and by starting you’ll begin your journey.

And your side hustle will likely evolve as your career has evolved. But until you start you won’t really find out what your best side hustle will be or where it will lead you.

So start today!

Thinking a side hustle might be worth checking out? Shoot me an email and we can discuss your situation specifically.

How Common Writing Errors Can Affect Your Resume

March 15, 2018 by Guest Post Leave a Comment

Writing the resume is one of the leading issues that a majority of fresh job seekers face. Writing resume can be a tricky task. Adding too many details to your resume can potentially hurt you, on the other hand, too few details can make your resume look unimpressive.

Then there are the catastrophic grammatical or writing errors that can instantly catch the eyes of a headhunter. Employers get hundreds of resume for a single position, hence they are constantly looking for reasons to reject applicants and call a selected few for further sessions of the interview process.

One of the most obvious ways for employers to filter applicants is to look for typos or grammatical errors in their resume.

In written communication, one of the most common mistakes is the incorrect usage of words that sound similar but have completely different meanings. These type of words also have different spellings, such as the words affect and effect, bare or bear, and more. Such mistakes can totally change the meaning of a sentence and make you look ignorant.

This infographic from WalkerStone elaborates on 8 common writing errors that make you look unprofessional and tips on how to avoid such mistakes. This quick read would hopefully help you in your resume writing to come across as an impressive applicant.

Is Life Too Convenient?

March 12, 2018 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

Convenience, Smart Phone — Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash

[Article republished from “Mondays with Mike – 2/26/18” email newsletter ==> Subscribe to get weekly newsletter in your inbox plus FREE REPORT]

Convenience is the most underestimated and least understood force in the world today. As a driver of human decisions, it may not offer the illicit thrill of Freud’s unconscious sexual desires or the mathematical elegance of the economist’s incentives. Convenience is boring. But boring is not the same thing as trivial. – The Tyranny of Convenience

Your smart phone is your external brain. Or maybe it is a mini-You.

It can recall useful information (Google search). It can capture life’s important moments (pictures/video). It works for dictating your thoughts (audio recorder). It keeps you on schedule (alarm clock and calendar). It’s your social connection (phone, text, instant messaging, Facebook, Instagram). If is your business rolodex (LinkedIn). It is your phone/address book (phone contacts). You use it to write letters (email). It is your calculator. You bank with it instead of going to the bank. You track your finances with it for your personal life or business (Mint, Quickbooks, Quicken). It is your go to source for entertainment and problem solving (YouTube).

You name it, your phone does it.

But what happens with all this convenience?

Convenience often creates or subsidizes the monopoly.

We’re in an age of influencers. The whole point of an influencer is they can guide your decision making without having to do the hard work of evaluating things.

That is why even though people could spend a lot of time price shopping on Google, even in the store with their smartphone, people would still prefer the convenience of relying on other people’s suggestions rather than have to wade through pages and pages of reviews and comparisons online.

They just want to decide and get on with the rest of their day.

This is why, as Perry Marshall (promoter of the 80/20 rule in marketing) says, we’re going from 80/20 to 90/10 on the internet. 10% of the businesses control 90% of the sales.

You used to see this with Coke vs Pepsi (notice that Tab or RC Cola were not even in the discussion). Or it is Starbucks vs ??? or iPhone vs Android. Typically there’s #1, #2 and no one else matters to the conversation.

So I guess the question is,

“What are you giving up with all this convenience?”

People don’t often wash their own cars. They shop online at Amazon instead of going to the mall. You go out to a restaurant and while they’re waiting for their dinner, time that typically was the time for conversation and connecting before eating, now you’ll see families where everyone is on a phone or tablet. The mom gives the tablet to the toddler to keep him quiet.

We also used to complain that kids wouldn’t know how to do math in the real world because of calculators or if they got a job at the grocery store they wouldn’t know how to count change because everything was scanned and payment electronic.

Now I’m not saying the past was better than today. I enjoy much of this convenience myself.

And when I go off into the mountains backpacking with my kids I really grasp the power that convenience has given us as I leave it behind and get outside cell coverage range and have to use things like a map and compass and not always have the cell phone in my hand.

So the article I referenced wraps up with this challenge (notice I pulled from the original article so you wouldn’t have to read it – for your convenience).

So let’s reflect on the tyranny of convenience, try more often to resist its stupefying power, and see what happens. We must never forget the joy of doing something slow and something difficult, the satisfaction of not doing what is easiest. The constellation of inconvenient choices may be all that stands between us and a life of total, efficient conformity.