Achieving real financial freedom

Can you have financial freedom?

Research (and a trip to the grocery store!) show the American Middle Class is in trouble. The Census Bureau's annual report on income and poverty shows that median household income in 2010 was $49,445, after adjusting for inflation, a 6.4 percent drop in purchasing power since 2007. The typical family's take-home pay is now at 1996 levels. And the percentage of Americans living in poverty rose to 15.1 percent, the worst level since 1993. All of those numbers would be worse if not for billions of dollars in temporary tax breaks and government aid for the unemployed.

It’s not your J-O-B.

If you are like me, you grew up believing in a fairytale. We were told that if we went to school, learned a trade or got a college degree: we could go to an employer, offer them our services and be guaranteed a lifetime income. And for many people that was true. There were those who got factory jobs, perhaps in the auto industry. Once they were hired and joined the union, they were guaranteed a 40+ hour work week as long as they wanted. Layoffs were rare, pension and health benefits were great.

Many joined the corporate world. White-collar workers sitting at their desks pushing paper 48 hours a week. They too were secure. Good work was rewarded by increased pay, a health benefit package, and a generous retirement plan. Those days are over. Over 23 million Americans are either unemployed or underemployed.

REAL FINANCIAL FREEDOM

 Is not:

Working for someone else for 40 years, hoping to live long enough to retire

Building up another person’s business – making it more valuable

Being subject to the unpredictable nature of business; unemployed without recourse

It is:

Creating work and a lifestyle you enjoy living

Not being dependent upon one ‘boss’

Building value in your business - an asset you can sell or pass on to your children.

I’ve had my own business for 16 years; I could never trade it for a J-O-B. There were times I worked very hard to start my business, more hours than I might have put in for an employer. But, the rewards are worth it:

        1.  As a ‘baby-boomer’ I do not fear poverty in retirement,

        2. My children grew up working in the business: they are successful ‘self-starters’

        3. My children will never have to look for employment

Can YOU have Real Financial Freedom?

Yes, you can start your own office cleaning business with just a few dollars’ worth of supplies and equipment; buy more of what you need as you ‘grow’, and hire employees when and if you want to, etc.

Coming soon: My 200+ page book equipping you to start your own successful office cleaning business. Let me show you how you can enjoy real financial freedom.

 Until the book is ready (hurry up editors!) if you have any questions, contact me at thesmallbusinessguru@yahoo.com. Or, check out: http://makemoneycleaningoffices.com

Debt free college? Can Do!

Got a son or daughter heading to college? If you’re ‘rich’; probably not a problem.  And if you’re officially ‘poor’, there are grants, scholarships, etc.

But if you are Middle Class: Beware!

Just how badly middle-class Americans have been hit by college costs is difficult to determine, but nearly all sources point to college costs (tuition, fees, and room and board) that have increased between 400% and 600% percent over the past three decades – an astonishing three to four times faster than the overall consumer price index during the same time period.

Most big-name state universities will cost parents between $20,000 and $25,000 per year. Private colleges and universities range from $30,000 to more than $60,000 per year. Given ongoing high inflation rates – more than 8% at public institutions – we can easily say there’s almost no way a student can spend less than $100,000 for a four year degree. If you want to student to an elite institution it can easily cost parents more than a quarter million dollars and/or burden the student (and parents) with a debt load that can severely restrict their future  choices.

In 2009, the most recent data available, 67 percent of graduates had debt, averaging $24,000 per student, up 6 percent from the previous year, according to the non-profit Project on Student Debt. The numbers are even higher at private institutions.

The figures do not include the growing number of loans taken out by parents, and only limited data on for-profit colleges, where student debt is typically much higher, but relatively few institutions report it.

Americans now owe more on their student loans than they do on their credit cards—a first, according to FinAid.org. The organization figures America’s student loan debt is growing at a rate of $2,853.88 per second, estimated to surpass $1 trillion in 2012. And, unlike a mortgage, in which a borrower can refinance or—at worst—face foreclosure and bankruptcy, student loans do not go away.

I am a happy to say that my daughter is about to graduate from college without any student loan debt. No, we are not rich; and through a lot of hard work, we are not poor.

How did we do it?

First, my daughter used the CLEP program (check this out online) to acquire a large number of college credits. She was able to study at her own pace, take a test when she was ready, and do so for a fraction of what traditional classroom learning would cost. Then she transferred those credits to an online university and finished her senior year attending class on the internet. Her fully accredited college education has cost us less than $10,000.

And, this is the best part; my daughter earned her tuition by working in our family office cleaning business. You see, we knew college was approaching, and unlike a traditional job where my earnings were limited; I was able to contract with additional clients for office cleaning services. During one six-month period we actually doubled our gross family income.

College without debt? You bet! And you can do the same: I’ve condensed 16 years of business knowledge into a handy downloadable PDF document. It's being edited right now, and when finished will be available at http://makemoneycleaningoffices. Whether you have a student in college or know that college is part of his/her future; you can reduce or eliminate college debt with your own office cleaning business!

Customer Retention is Essential for Profit!

After some time in the office cleaning business you will learn that not all customers will be happy customers. There are many reasons for this.

Most problems are the result of a lack of communication from the beginning.

Unhappy customers will manifest themselves in different ways.

1. Sometimes what the customer asks of you during the bidding process is not really what they want done. For instance they may say they just need “light” cleaning. You soon realize that “light” means more than you ever thought possible. Before long you’re expected to be working in areas that you were never supposed to clean.

3. At other times the person that walked you through and told you what needed to be done had no real clue as to the cleaning requirements. In this case you are making the person who walked you through happy but not the individual who is writing the check. Not a good situation to be in. YOU think you’re doing a good job, the person who hired you is getting complaints from on ‘HIGH’; someone is going to get blamed- guess who that is!

3. Some other examples include asking for work you never contracted to do such as window blind cleaning, not merely dusting:

A great way to diffuse these misunderstandings is to refer to the work schedule that was created in the first place (of course this assumes you carefully constructed a work schedule that mirrors what the customer wanted at that time). Tactfully discuss with the customer that the  issues that are being raised were not mentioned at the time of the bidding.

Having the bid in front of you while you discuss this is key. State that you are looking at the agreement and see no mention of these issues being addressed during the bid process. Make sure to leave an “out” for the other party by mentioning that you would be happy to work up a price to address the increased responsibilities.

Provided the customer is reasonable, this approach should work. Most people understand how misunderstandings can occur and will work to straighten it out.At the end of the day communication is paramount. Go over the work schedule line by line with the customer before ever starting work. This alone will prevent most of these type issues from ever arising. Making sure everyone is on the same page will make the customer happier and your life much easier. AND, a retained customer is a profitable customer!!!

More FREE hints are available at: http://makemoneycleaningoffices.com

Middle Class Fail? Make money cleanig offices now!

Most Americans don't need to be told this, but the middle class is falling behind.

New data confirms the downward mobility of the typical family. The Census Bureau's annual report on income and poverty shows that median household income in 2010 was $49,445, after adjusting for inflation, a 6.4 percent drop in purchasing power since 2007. The typical family's take-home pay is now at 1996 levels. And the percentage of Americans living in poverty rose to 15.1 percent, the worst level since 1993. All of those numbers would be worse if not for billions of dollars in temporary tax breaks and government aid for the unemployed.

So if you feel like you're falling behind, you're not imagining things--and you've got plenty of company. The fading fortunes of the middle class are probably the top factor fueling vast dissatisfaction with government and a pervasive sense of national decline.
But it’s important to remember that nobody is captive to national trends. Every individual has the ability to improve his or her own fortune, no matter how the rest of American society is doing. Some people are waiting for Washington policymakers to fix the problem, but if you'd rather take matters into your own hands, here are some ways to get ahead, even in an unforgiving economy:

Get the right skills. A mismatch between the skills employers need and the skills Americans have is perhaps the biggest problem in the U.S. labor force. There are roughly 2 million unemployed construction workers, for instance, and lesser-skilled assembly-line jobs disappear daily. But there's a shortage of plumbers, electricians, and welders in some places. A lot of people figure they're better off waiting for jobs in their field to return instead of learning something new. But this is a deadly, outdated mentality in an economy that's changing with record speed.

Get the right education (or make sure your kids do). Too many college grads get degrees in soft disciplines like arts, literature, and social sciences, while there's a shortage of math, science, and engineering grads. Diplomas aren't created equally, and if you're not learning stuff that employers are willing to pay for, then you may not be getting the best return on your education investment. Good technical schools and community colleges are also a valid alternative to college for many teenagers, especially if they teach marketable skills and offer internships at local businesses.

Reduce relience on government. Anybody who relies on government subsidies of any kind is living on borrowed time. Deep cost cutting at every level of government seems inevitable, and that will affect welfare, Social Security, and Medicare recipients, homeowners claiming a mortgage-interest deduction, municipal workers relying on government pensions, and many others. Anybody whose livelihood is dependent on "discretionary" federal spending--such as funds devoted to arts, parks, highway construction, community development, and dozens of other nice-to-have things--should make backup plans, because this is the type of spending that seems most likely to get whacked over the next few years.

Get used to starting over. Old think: You'll have a stable career in a single field: New think: You might have three or four careers over the course of your working life, as you respond to rapid changes in the workplace and the global economy. Getting fired or laid off can often seem like a setback from which you'll never recover. But there's ample evidence that one key determinant of success is how well you respond to tough challenges. Determination and resilience can even be more valuable than a high IQ or a fancy degree.

Save more/buy less. Many Americans are trying to live more frugally--but our commitment is wobbly. The savings rate, for instance, is now 5.2 percent, which is better than the near-zero levels of a few years ago, but probably not high enough. Americans have also been paying down record levels of debt, but still owe far more than historical averages. Paying off debt and building savings is crucial, because doing so provides a cushion during rough times that many people lack. That provides the kind of flexibility that's sometimes needed to try something new—such as starting your own business.

Reduce your own living standards. The net effect of falling incomes for many people is a lower standard of living, which can be characterized in many ways: More work, more stress, less money, less free time, less stuff, and falling satisfaction. But a lower standard of living doesn't need to be disastrous, and many people make the mistake of clinging to every gizmo, convenience, and club membership they've ever enjoyed, as if entitled to such things in perpetuity.

Start a business: Checkout  http://makemoneycleaningoffices.com today

Land of Opportunity?

As I went online to check my bank account I noticed a debit to Compassion International; it was my monthly contribution for a small boy in the Philippines. His father is a part-time laborer; his mother works in Saudi Arabia. They eke out an existence and my giving helps with his education, clothing and medical care.

It is on a day like this that I realize how fortunate I am. As in the case of many Americans I get caught up in the pressures of life: the economy is not what I want it to be, I worry about my children's future and the future of our nation. I worry about interest rates, inflation, increasing taxation to pay off our government’s excessive borrowing.

A 98-year-old friend of mine once told me that he started every day with what he called an attitude of gratitude. The first thing he did as he got out of bed was looking around him and thank God for all that he had: a loving wife, children, a comfortable home and a business that provided him with the resources he needed to live the life he wanted.

How about you? Think you're having a bad day? Let me share from an August 2^nd, 2012 post by author and speaker Michael Hyatt, Titled WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU’RE LIVING IN A BUBBLE.

“On the last day of our trip we visited a small village and met Wosne, a beautiful woman with a tragic story. Her husband had died suddenly, leaving her with four children in a one-room hut.

Without a husband, she had no way to support herself. She grew discouraged and desperate. She prayed God would take her life. Thankfully, God had other plans.

World Vision found sponsors for two of her children. This gave Wosne just enough margin to begin eking out an existence. Over time, she bought some chickens, sold the eggs, and bought more chickens. Eventually, she was able to buy a cow. She sold the milk and bought more cows. Then, with the help of her children’s sponsor, she was able to buy a modest four-room house. It wasn’t much by American standards—just a few walls on a dirt floor with a tin roof.

The day we met Wosne she was radiant. Her children encircled her and quietly sat as we spoke through an interpreter. She shared her story of hardship yet beamed as she recounted God’s provision for her family. She had become so prosperous, in fact, she had adopted two other children in the village. She even had a couple of pieces of used furniture and electricity—a single bulb hanging from the ceiling.

By our standards, she was still living in abject poverty. By the standards of her village, however, she was one of its wealthiest citizens.

Max (Lucado) was so moved by her story—and how much she still lacked—he asked, “Wosne, if you could have anything else, what would it be? How can we help you?”

Her answer stunned us.

“Nothing,” she declared. “Nothing at all. I have everything I need. I am the happiest woman in the world.” And she meant it.”

Look around you – compared to the woman; you, whoever you are – are rich! If you’re having a temporary ‘pity party’ or are bemoaning the unfairness of life; STOP!

Need more money in life? Start a business; I’ll try to help with some tips on a low cost start-up.

Want a brighter future for your kids? A low-cost start-up business can provide resources for now and life skills for the future. Retirement worries? Put your life and business skills to work ‘building’ a secure retirement; don’t wait for the government to do it for you - it’s BROKE!

Take advantage of the opportunities available to you:

Check out    http://makemoneycleaningoffices.com