Why You Should Be Your Own Boss: 10 Reasons You Should Work For Yourself

Imagine a life in which you can live on your own terms, have the freedom to choose how you spend your time and the projects on which you work. With enough planning, patience and determination, this situation can be yours.

Let’s face it — we’ve all had a job that sucked the life out of us. The daily grind of working for a company that you don’t really care about is draining.

While self-employment can be a tough gig, as it comes with its own problems, stressors and setbacks, the sense of accomplishment and pride you’ll derive from it is worth the investment. Check out these 10 reasons you should get started today:

1. The flexibility to work anywhere

You can choose your location for working; one week you may be sitting on the beach in Greece with your laptop, while the next week may have you sailing the seas of Mexico. With today’s technological advancements, it’s possible to work from nearly anywhere.

2. Do work that you enjoy

Richard Branson reminds us that “some 80% of your life is spent working. You want to have fun at home; why shouldn’t you have fun at work?” If you hate your job, your negativity will spill into your personal life, making you feel tired and unmotivated. Life is way too short to waste time doing things you hate. Be an entrepreneur and get paid to do something that you actually enjoy.

3. You have the opportunity to create jobs

There is no greater accomplishment than being able to support others. If you create a small business, at some point, you’ll likely need to hire people to do jobs that you no longer have time to do yourself. As a result, you’ll help others pay their bills, feed their families and make a decent living.

4. Choose how much money you earn

Working for someone else really limits your earning capacity, and sadly, most companies expect you to work harder than ever with no extra incentive. Why put up with this when you can work equally hard but reap financial rewards for your efforts? Your earning capacity is limitless when you work for yourself.

5. You don’t have to answer to anyone

Chances are, at some point in your professional life, you had a boss who undermined your every decision. This situation is toxic and usually results in you losing self-confidence, self-respect and, most importantly, motivation. When you work for yourself, you call the shots. You’ll be more creative, determined and motivated as a result.

6. You will become more resilient

Working for yourself requires a lot of determination to push through the barriers and setbacks. However, over time you will learn and grow from those setbacks; you will learn what works and what doesn’t. You will become wiser and more resilient in both your business and personal life. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that in facing failure, the path to success will grow clearer.

7. You will develop self-discipline

Entrepreneurship is a stressful venture — the flexibility of the working environment can be hazardous without enough self-discipline. With no set start time, you’re free to work in pajamas, but the absence of a routine can be detrimental; too much comfort may reduce productivity. Instead of becoming lazy, develop self-discipline by sitting down and drafting up a routine.

8. You can live a more meaningful life

Ultimately, work-life happiness comes from doing meaningful things. We all want to work for a worthy purpose or cause and know that our work is actually making a difference. Working for yourself will allow you to define what’s meaningful to you.

9. You will develop business sense

Most day jobs have set tasks, and often, it’s a matter of repeatedly doing the same thing. Not only is this boring, but it also fails to teach you anything new. Becoming an entrepreneur requires you to wear many hats — product development, marketing, sales, customer service, accounting, etc. Over time you will slowly develop a keen business sense, which will result in you becoming a more confident and successful entrepreneur.

10. You will leave a legacy behind

Working for yourself is an adventure. It will provide you with great stories to tell, wisdom to impart and a reason for people to remember and to respect you.

Photo credit: Wolf of Wall St

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With Over $1 Million In Sales During The First Day Alone, The Launch Of Legal Weed In Colorado Has Been Successful

The Mile-High City has gotten even higher thanks to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in the state of Colorado, but some basic supply and demand principles have caused some headaches for stoners.

The legal high comes with high costs, as weed prices have skyrocketed since the legalization went into effect on January 1.

Sticker shock was a serious thing for stoners when legal weed went on sale on Wednesday, as Colorado residents found themselves paying up to $400 per ounce plus tax, much more than the typical $250 people have been paying for ounces at medicinal dispensaries over the past few years.

“I think people were a little bit surprised at the price,” said Rachel Gillette, executive director of the Colorado chapter of NORML. “We are concerned about that.”

Many dispensaries were surprised by the overwhelming demand for pot shortly after doors opened on New Year’s Day.

“Our most expensive strains sold the quickest,” said Toni Fox, proprietor of Denver’s 3D Cannabis Center, to The Huffington Post. “We’re closing Monday and Tuesday next week to reassess after the large volume of sales we are seeing.”

There are still a few hiccups as far as getting the supply ready for the insane demand, but all in all, dispensaries consider the launch a successful one, with some estimates of the state bringing in over $1 million in sales during the first day alone.

While the prices will adjust over time, like many things, the initial batch is being met with surges in pricing, as an eighth of an ounce at some dispensaries will cost up to $70 plus tax as opposed to the normal Colorado price of $25-30, according toThe Associated Press.

The prices should, however, level out over time.

“It’s a new industry, a new market,” said Gillette. “I think things will work themselves out in a few years. We saw the same thing happen with the medical marijuana industry before prices came down.”

The unprecedented market for legal marijuana proves how popular and lucrative it can be if legalized, and other states are surely watching intently to see if legalization is something that should make the ballot this November.

With residents being able to purchase up to an ounce at a time and tourists able to purchase up to a quarter ounce, expect tourism in Colorado to rise significantly this year, with Denver gaining an Amsterdam-like appeal.

If you’re wondering how legal marijuana is packaged and sold, check out these photos below!

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Why Learning To Keep Track Of Your Money Is The Best Resolution You Can Make For 2014

Whether it’s published by Forbes, the Guardian or New York Times, there’s usually one study that is certain to be quoted time and time again when it comes to cynicism regarding New Year’s resolutions. Out of the 45 percent of Americans who make resolutions for the New Year, only eight percent of them actually follow through, research from Scranton University suggests.

Whether that’s a valid reason to have a lack of interest in resolutions or not, it does suggest that it might be more worthwhile to make simple gestures leading up to the bigger habits, which one wishes for the discipline to practice. We’ll call these smaller successes “gateway resolutions,” the steps before the big step.

Take budgeting, for example. It’s a big habit that few people really desire to enforce, never mind actually do. Making projections, estimating how much you’ll spend next month on that or next week on this, is hardly the most exhilarating task. Let’s just be real about this: You’re more likely to be tempted to check your Instagram timeline than to spend an uninterrupted hour crunching numbers and calculating percentages.

There’s no doubt that learning to manage your money is important, but it can also be a pain. Thus, we bring you back to the reason an alternative should be considered: the all-important gateway resolution that will make your life easier and you a bit richer.

“The essence of building wealth requires someone to spend less than they bring in, and tracking your spending against a budget is the scorecard to which you can hold yourself accountable,” says Greg McBride of The Wall Street Journal.

Tracking your spending, if only for a month, is a simple practice that can have a big reward. It is, by no means, difficult — all it really takes is a pen, pencil or phone that was made during this century — and allows you to see, before your eyes, the effects of your spending habits that you might otherwise dismiss at the instant you leave the register.

“We’re talking about everything from housing, food and clothing to movie-going, dining out and getting manicures and pedicures,” writes Jennifer Waters of Market Watch. “It’s pretty simple to calculate if you’re spending more than you’re bringing in. Now you can see just how, where and why you’re doing it. Acknowledging the problem is the first step to solving it.”

Once you have the facts down, you’ll see what expenditures you can make room for, what has to go and what purchases have to be limited. That, in essence, is what budgeting is, and when you begin to track your spending, you just might find yourself doing it subconsciously.

At that point, you’ve basically tricked yourself into doing the responsible thing, the trying task you knew was important but were not interested in doing. Tracking your spending can prove invaluable in the long run. Just try it to see. After all, who wouldn’t change their habits after realizing that all those dates with that girl last month — which were only kind of fun — were really a huge waste of money?

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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The Simple Ways You Can Avoid Going Broke In Your 20s

Now that you’re out on your own, you’ve had to get a job (maybe your first) and you may have a legitimate income (maybe for the first time). But, maybe you’re like me and you consistently spent every penny you earn on… oh, I don’t know… alcohol, online shopping, alcohol, a brand new car — and let’s not forget — alcohol.

But, at least to a certain point, I’ve come to face the harsh reality that my purported standing in life means that I can no longer subscribe to the same behaviors that have been habitual since high school. Gone are the days when loans covered all expenses and parents supplemented when necessary. With the real world comes real responsibility.

In an effort to avoid drowning in debt by age 25 and filing for bankruptcy by 30, I’ve come up a few ways to avoid going broke in your 20s:

Live below your means

This is the best way to avoid being poor, but the hardest rule to follow. No matter how little money you’re making, find a way to spend less. It might mean living with your parents until your debts are settled and it might mean skipping nights out with your friends because they want to go to expensive bars while you’re struggling to afford $1 wells at happy hour.

Living well takes sacrifice and discipline — but the biggest long-term favor you can do for yourself is to establish good habits. Learn to pay off debts and to prioritize building your savings account. You’ll have more money in the future to spend on things that matter more.

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Pay off your school loans as soon as possible

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that you’re young and the “I’ll pay for it later” mindset feels easier, but it’s not sustainable and it’s time to stop it. Deferring on your loans should be the last-ditch effort to avoid falling behind on your necessary expenses. Spending 40 percent of your income at the bars is NOT an appropriate justification for putting off your responsibility to loans.

When you defer your loans, you are still accumulating interest. This means that principle amount you borrowed is continually growing as you’re irresponsibly blowing your salary on unnecessary materials and nights out with your friends. Do your future self a favor and start making payments as soon as you possibly can.

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Avoid the credit card trap

Your credit score is what lenders use to determine how trustworthy you are. Your credit score determines the interest rate you will get if you apply for a credit card, a loan, a mortgage or a new car — a good credit score is generally considered 720 or higher. But, the misconception that the only way to build good credit is to acquire a credit card, use said card then pay the monthly minimum balance is false. Using (or rather, abusing) a credit card is the easiest way to end up drowning in debt.

Yes, credit cards CAN help you build credit, but the best way to raise your credit score is simply to make timely, consistent payments on all purchases. Federal student loan payments are a great way to go. If you’re past college age and still want to raise your score without giving in to the plastic devil, you can easily take advantage of a credit builder loan. This is essentially a pre-paid card that you treat as a debit card, but it helps you build your credit rather than just draining your bank account.

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Do not wait to begin saving for retirement

When you’re just beginning your career, it’s easy to put off saving for retirement. After all, how are you supposed to save for retirement when you can barely afford the expenses you have now? But consider this: those who begin investing in their 20s – even as little as $25 a month – are proven to end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars more by the time they reach retirement age than those who begin saving hundreds (or even thousands) per month in their 40s and 50s.

Start saving now while you still have time on your side. Interest compounded on a smaller investment over a longer period of time ultimately adds up to more money than interest on a larger investment over a shorter period of time. Time is your greatest asset right now – take advantage!

It’s tough to abandon the habits established in high school or even earlier. But, it’s time to grow up and make responsible decisions that will protect you and your future quality of life.

Now that you’re in the real world, embrace that you are your own responsibility. You can do anything you want, but you have be able to plan and cover the expenses. Establish good financial habits while you’re young enough to recover quickly from your mistakes and you just might be able to avoid going broke in your 20s.

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This Open Letter To The Makers Of ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ Will Change Your Perspective On The Film

A daughter of a former business partner of the real Wolf of Wall Street has penned an open letter to L.A. Weekly to alert movie-goers of the part of Jordan Belfort‘s story Martin Scorsese chose not to include in his film: the effect his crimes had on the families of the investors involved.

The girl’s name is Christina McDowell, and she was just a freshman in college when she attended the trial of her father,Tom Prousalis.

Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is described as the government’s “star witness” to testify against Prousalis. Belfort had just pleaded guilty to money-laundering and securities fraud, and would go on to avoid years of jail time by ratting on a whole slew of criminals similar to himself.

As McDowell writes, Prousalis and Belfort “were in cahoots together with a list of ‘seemingly innocuous, legitimate companies’ that did not actually exist yet were all taken public to con unsuspecting investors and make the pair along with many others at Stratton Oakmont Inc. millions of dollars richer.”

The letter then takes an ugly turn as McDowell describes the day her father went to prison.

She recalls her mother locking herself in the bathroom and throwing up, not only because her husband was going under but because he had taken the family down with him.

Prousalis laundered money in his daughter’s name and hid what was left of the family’s assets in a Wells Fargo account.

McDowell, just 18, was receiving multiple phone calls from creditors and investors threatening to sue her. Her father had also left her her nearly $100,000 worth of debt.

The family was left almost penniless after the entire Wells Fargo account was liquidated. Her younger sister ran away at 17, and McDowell lived on other people’s couches and out of her car for roughly two years.

Starving and ashamed, McDowell barely survived on tips from her restaurant job. She even had to change her name because her father technically stole her identity by setting up the aforementioned account.

“It’s a pretty confusing experience to go from flying private with Dad to an evening where he’s begging you for a piece of your paycheck so he can buy food for dinner,” she writes.

The worst part, McDowell says, is that she still believed her father was innocent and that the government and Belfort were the bad guys.

“I believed that by taking out all those credit cards in my name, my father was attempting to save me. I believed him when he got out, and when he told me everything would be OK. I believed him until he tried to do the same thing all over again — until I was at risk of being arrested myself (and I’m saving that story for the memoir).”

McDowell then lays into the director and actors of “The Wolf of Wall Street” for painting such a positive picture of Stratton Oakmont and leaving out what these people and their co-conspirators did to their families and clients.

She calls Martin Scorsese “dangerous” for making movie-goers believe that Jordan Belfort was not an evil human being, and that his schemes are entertaining rather than the real-life tragedies.

“Come on, we know the truth,” she says. “This kind of behavior brought America to its knees.”

McDowell labels lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio a disgusting hypocrite for claiming to be a model humanitarian who then glorifies Belfort’s crimes as well as the film’s frequent misogyny.

“Did you think about the cultural message you’d be sending when you decided to make this film?” she asks.

“You have successfully aligned yourself with an accomplished criminal, a guy who still hasn’t made full restitution to his victims, exacerbating our national obsession with wealth and status and glorifying greed and psychopathic behavior.”

McDowell sees Belfort’s true face because she was exposed to the same luxuries and privileges he was. She drove a Range Rover in high school, “snorted half of Colombia,” and got every guy she wanted because her father would regularly take them for rides in his private planes.

But then she discovered who her father really was: a cruel, soulless money addict obsessed with wealth and fame. Scorsese’s film makes Belfort look like a good person underneath, but McDowell is positive that like her father, he’s less of a man than the homeless guy they pass on the street every day.

Some of McDowell’s father’s victims lost everything. They cannot afford to send their kids to college, pay their medical bills, and will struggle to pay off their debts until they are dead.

“Let me ask you guys something,” McDowell writes as her letter comes to a close.

“What makes you think this man deserves to be the protagonist in this story? Do you think his victims are going to want to watch it? Did we forget about the damage that accompanied all those rollicking good times? Or are we sweeping it under the carpet for the sale of a movie ticket? And not just on any day, but on Christmas morning?”

McDowell ends by urging us not to support “The Wolf of Wall Street” because it only provokes people like Belfort to go even farther with their crimes. The film lacks the reality of their wrongdoings, she says, and every time we celebrate Scorsese’s film, the more wolves we help create.

Via: LA Weekly, Top Photo Courtesy: Screencrush

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Defining Blurred Lines: How To Differentiate The Relationship Between Friends, Business And Money

It is believed that two things define you: your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything. In either extremity, it can be difficult to maintain perspective. Let’s be real: whether depreciated or amassed, your wealth and status matter in today’s social caste system.

Wealth can extend your resources. It often determines the opportunities that you’re presented with, the people that you come in contact with and the goods and services that you have access to.

Sometimes, however, it’s not the wealth that you accumulate, but the influential people that you meet along the way. These people can either help or harm you in today’s sink or swim environment, and as Millennials, we place a major emphasis on the relationships that we foster. What’s more difficult to define, however, is the boundary between our friends and finances.

The Beneficial

Everyone loves a beneficial friend. It’s the friendship that you actually gain from, whether socially, economically or spiritually. These people generally enhance your life, and you hold them in high esteem.

Though advantageous, these friendships can be the easiest to damage, primarily because we often neglect to express gratitude and take these helpers for granted. We get comfortable and simply begin to expect these friends to be there.

Our generation has a serious issue with entitlement (we’ll save that for another article), and sometimes we fail to realize that no one owes us any favors. Moreover, entangling money in this equation can be disastrous, especially if the friend has more of it than you.

If you elect to start a business with this person, you could potentially create a hostile environment. Consider a business plan that fails. Perhaps you expect the wealthier friend to sustain more of the financial loss because of the marginal effect. Though unfair, this illustrates one simple case of unhealthy expectation caused by this relationship dynamic.

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The Benefactor

Take everything said about the beneficial friend, and reverse it on yourself. This is the individual that needs aid every time you turn around. He or she is always experiencing some situational hardship. This person drains you in every aspect and most of the time, maintains a negative outlook on life.

Woe to the world. I think it’s quite overtly clear why money involvement in this relationship can be detrimental. This person may end up spending the start-up funds on some other venture that you weren’t even privy to. Maybe that’s a stretch, but I’ve seen it happen all too many times.

I like to label this person as someone with good intentions and bad decisions. These people label life as an antagonist by failing to realize that they are the masters of their fate.

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The Bendable

Don’t ever be a bendable. This person is the absolute most annoying because you honestly can’t gauge them. They are the downright followers, with no backbone, opinion or pride. They waver with the crowd like tumbleweeds, following the cool kids and never focusing on the task at hand.

This person could be an asset one day and a liability the next. Severely unreliable, you don’t want to waiver your wealth with this individual. Instead, hire him or her for PR or marketing. This person will be at your side as long as you remain in a high position, but don’t look for him or her if you fall off.

Honestly, who would entrust a person of this nature? You need a faithful business partner, one that will perfect the craft for the long haul.

Friends, money and business can create a complex atmosphere. My advice? Know your friends and their core beliefs before you entwine finances with your companions. Money is a powerful element that takes a responsible individual to handle it properly. Too many times, we let finances fuel our behaviors.

Though a definite motivating factor, some things should prevail. Good friendships, for instance, and more importantly, family. Money often strains and even ruins these invaluable relationships, so do yourself a favor, and choose wisely.

Top Photo Courtesy: Fubiz/Wolf Of Wall St

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