Personal Growth, Life Change, Work-Life Balance
More Americans than ever are becoming “free agents” and choosing self employment part time or full time, according to a recent report by Kelly Services (with a hat tip to ere.net).
Over the last three years, the number of self-employed Americans has skyrocketed from 26% to 44%.
So why the big move to leave the 9 to 5 for the life of a freelancer, consultant, entrepreneur or contractor? [Read more…]
I just watched a video (click above to view it) from MSNBC on two entrepreneurs who were driven to make drastic changes and cuts in their businesses.
Was it the bad economy that led them to cut back? Â Or uncertainty about the looming debt crisis in America?
No. Â It was the desire to gain more sanity and balance in their personal and professional lives.
In the five-minute video segment, Mary Leonard, owner of Chocolat Celeste, and Dan Wedge, owner of Dove and Hudson Old Books, each came to the point where they needed to reinvent themselves and their businesses.
They realized that they could continue to build and grow their business in the way they had been doing it, but it would come at a great personal cost of them investing more time in their business. Â
So they made radical change instead. [Read more…]
If you’ve ever wanted to start your own business, either full or part time, you know that one of the biggest obstacles to starting a small business is raising start-up capital.
Last week, in an article entitled, Peer-to-Peer Loans Grow, the Wall Street Journal shared how a growing number of small business owners are getting loans through the use of peer-to-peer lending sites such as Prosper and Lending Club.
According to the WSJ, these sites “work like eBay-style marketplaces, matching prequalified borrowers to lenders.”
Together, Prosper and Lending Club have generated more than $500 million in loans over the last five years. [Read more…]
Should I become an entrepreneur and start my own business? That’s a question more people are asking today, for a few reasons:
How do you decide whether or not entrepreneurship is right for you? [Read more…]
Have you ever wanted to do something, but then decided it was too risky? Like make a big change in an area of your life, or pursue a dream you’ve always had?
From time to time, people will tell me “I’ve always wanted to start my own business, but could never do it now with the economy being so bad,” or “I hate my job and really want to find the work I was meant to do, but can’t do it now with all the lay-offs that are happening.”
It is natural and important for us to consider the potential risk or cost of any decision we make, especially the major ones that impact our income, wouldn’t you agree?
But we need to look at the situation accurately, and have the proper perspective, in order to weigh these decisions correctly. And I’ve found that many times, we do not.
Sometimes, the option that we think is the best may actually be the worst. [Read more…]
In my last post, How to Start a Business with Little or No Money, I told you about an inspiring book by Cameron Johnson called You Call The Shots.
I devoured the book in just one sitting and was inspired by the simple business and life wisdom that can only be shared by someone who became a millionaire by the time he graduated from high school and who, by age 21 (when he wrote the book in 2007), had already started 12 successful businesses.
In You Call the Shots, Johnson shares how to “Succeed your way – and live the life you want – with the 19 essential secrets of entrepreneurship.”
Here are 7 Simple Tips on How to Start a Small Business that I gleaned from You Call the Shots:
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