Category Archives: Health and Fitness

Financial, Lifestyles

How to Divorce Your Job and Keep the House – #1

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Let’s have a virtual show of hands, “Who hates their day job?”

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Click to take the poll. See the results in the next post.

Everyday at mine, I encourage youths to really think about what job they will have and make sure it’s something they enjoy while my distaste for my job slowly grows. Believe it or not, I actually was excited when I began about what I how it would help me reach my personal goals and enjoyed it up until bureaucratic changes sapped all the joy from it. It’s become an abusive relationship. So I think it’s time to divorce my job just like I did my cheating, abusive ex.

(Was that TMI?)

Of course you should never rush into a divorce with a spouse and the same thing goes for your job. I’ve been contemplating this change for about the past three years and researching how to do it successfully,  keep my house (the job can keep the kids and the pets), and progress towards full-time self-employment. My (Blogging 201) goal is for this to be a new biweekly post series, filled with tips, research, and my own personal experiences. So on to the first tip.

ECVtalkbubbleTip 1: Have a side-hustle, side-gig, or alternate income stream.

Most everyone is looking for ways to supplement their income these days. I’ve been doing it myself for about 10 years now. While there have been good and not-so-good years, I’ve persisted which is a key trait when your goal is to be self-employed.

Don’t know what you might be able to do?

Well if you’re reading this you might be a blogger. Fellow blogger Charlene Oldham talks about opportunities to get paid for your writing. She also suggested the site Elance.com. This site actually suggests work based on the skills you enter when you register. Check it out for ideas or do a web search for similar sites.

Check back in two weeks for a list of side-gig suggestions.

Financial, Lifestyles

“I Want to Start My Own Business” Day

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Today is “I Want to Start My Own Business” Day. If you’ve followed this blog, you’re familiar with our Divorce Your Job & Keep the House series. If not, don’t worry because we’ll be reposting them starting next week Friday. But to intro the reboot we want to recognize this special day and share this wonderful article written by Ben Guinter on figuring out what business to start.

While we recommend starting your own financial services business due to the incredible opportunity that exists because of the unique set of circumstances that exist, we know that
isn’t everyone’s dream. So see the full article below for tips on how to find your idea and move forward.

Watch the video to find out 7 things that make a financial services business a great idea.

Source: Chapter 12: The 7 Elements of an Ideal Wealth Building Opportunity — Wealth Wave

September 11th is “I Want to Start My Own Business” Day

– See more at: http://benguinter.com/iwanttostartmyownbusinessday.html#sthash.b0Et8kJ9.dpuf
If you’re looking for something to do today then stop procrastinating because it’s “I Want to Start My Own Business” Day! If you’ve ever said that statement before, today is the day to take your first step toward that goal! Let’s get right into celebrating “I Want to Start My Own Business” Day!

WHY IS THIS A HOLIDAY?

Well, think about how many times you’ve heard people say that phrase before… there’s a reason why it’s in quotation marks. 😉 People say it all the time and never act upon it, whether or not they have a strong desire to own a business or not. They mention it and forget about it before taking a step toward that goal. So sure, we could just spend today pointing our fingers at procrastinators or we could make it a day of action where you finally put into play a plan on how you’re going to reach your goal of running your own business. It can be a struggle to get started but if you don’t have a plan to achieve your goal then it’s just a passing dream. And if it’s really something that you want, you’ll just end up beating yourself up over not taking any action. But if you were to at least look into what it would take to get started, write out your definite goal and start mapping out your steps toward it then you’ll have a new purpose in life.

You won’t be a procrastinator, you’ll be doing what you want and before you know it you’ll have as much freedom as you desire. Can you imagine what it would be like to be your own boss? You set your hours, you decide what work you want to do and give the rest to your employees. Image what it will feel like to reach your goals! Just don’t abuse your power. 😉

HOW TO CELEBRATE

So, how can you celebrate today? Well, if you are one of those people who really do want to start their own business then your first step is to write down your goal. What is it you want to do with your business? What product or service are you going to offer? How are you going to make it unique? When you get it on paper you can start to mold it into exactly what you want your future business to become and it will be a constant reminder every time you see that paper. The next step would be to write out a plan of action. How are you going to reach that end goal? What are the steps you need to take to ensure your business succeeds? What kind of resources are you going to need and who can help you along the way? You can break these steps down to the simplest of tasks and put them in order so you know what you need to do from start to finish. And by the time you’re done you’ll know exactly what lies ahead of you. Can you guess what the next step is? DO IT! You have your goal mapped out, you know how you’re going to get there and now all you have to do is actually start doing what you planned to do. If you broke the steps down into individual tasks then just start trying to tackle a task a day or each week. Stick to it even when you are a little discouraged and you’ll have your business up and running before you know it! Have a great day and I can’t wait to see the grand opening of your business!

– See more at: http://benguinter.com/iwanttostartmyownbusinessday.html#sthash.1z1FR93G.dpuf

Financial, Health and Fitness

Money Mistakes to Avoid – 3

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The last two posts in this series have been primarily about saving early and wisely. But what if you didn’t do that in your past and now have a lot of debt? What should I do first, save or pay off debt?

It’s a question commonly asked by clients and friends facing this dilemma. If you have enough income our first suggestion is to do both. Develop a plan of systematic debt payments and saving contributions that you can manage within your budget. But many people who pose this question feel that they are not in a position to do both simultaneously. In this case, saving money instead of paying off high-interest debt would be a huge mistake.

True if your only savings is your emergency reserve, paying off your debt first can be risky. But it’s a risk you have to take if you ever want to be debt-free. Here’s why. Once again it comes down to the math.

Notice we referenced HIGH-INTEREST debt. If you put money into a typical savings account (with the “high yield” ones currently offering about 1%) instead of making larger payments on a debt that has an interest rate of 30%, you’re still paying 29% and not doing anything to shorten the length of time you’re paying that debt off. Unless you pay the debt off quickly it doubles in about 2 and 1/2 years according to the Rule of 72. By saving instead of paying off the debt quickly you would be trading freedom from debt for a sense of security that depending on other financial circumstances may not be genuine.

So how do you take this risk of paying debt off first responsibly?

One option is begin by focusing on paying off the smallest debt first. Pay more than the minimum on that debt while maintaining minimum payments on the others. Once the first debt is eliminated, you can either roll that payment amount on to the next smallest debt or split the payment amount between your savings and the next lowest balance. Repeat this process until all your debts are gone. An alternative strategy is paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first thus saving yourself added interest payments.

Other options to consider when eliminating debt is consolidation to zero or low-interest rate credit lines or debt relief programs. At the end of it all there is no one size fits all approach to the question of whether to save or pay off debt first. If you are unable to decide which method would work best in your situation, consult with your banker or other financial professional for a personalized plan.

Financial, Health and Fitness, Internal

How to Divorce Your Job and Keep the House – THE REVIVAL

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Wow it’s been 10 months since our last Divorce Your Job post! embarassed emoji

Unfortunately the personal quest to divorce my job occupied my time and while new blog postings were made, none pertained to this series.

The following infographic from an Entrepreneur.com article shows why this Divorce Your Job series is still relevant despite it’s most recent extended hiatus. In case I haven’t complained earlier about the millenial title that I feel has been inappropriately applied to too wide a span of birth yearsEntrepreneur infographic

In my experience, the two years to entrepreneurial independence is an accurate average. While I haven’t fully divorced my job, I did manage to divorce my job location in favor of somewhere that will better serve my entrepreneurial endeavor.

If you have been following this series, tell us what steps have you taken so far in divorcing your job.

Health and Fitness

14 Ideas for a Comforting Care Package for a Sick Loved One (+ A Giveaway!) | The Health Sessions

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I had been thinking lately about something I could do for the many individuals I came across in my volunteer work that were sick. After my light bulb moment delivered the thought ‘care package’ it was off to the internet to borrow others ideas. This article happens to have some terrific ones.

14 Ideas for a Comforting Care Package for a Sick Loved One (+ A Giveaway!) | The Health Sessions.

Since I’m looking for more generalized ideas, I’m sticking with the following items:

  • heating pads
  • brain games (inexpensive and readily available at your local dollar store)
  • mug filled with green tea and honey (don’t forget a little brewing guide as I, a long time green tea drinker, recently discovered I had been over-brewing it)
  • a journal
  • some reading material
  • a handwritten message, likely inside of a greeting card

Of course for friends and family members I know more intimately some of the other suggestions in the article would be easier to use.

What things do you choose to give or would like to receive when you’re not feeling well?