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Is Your Income Controlled By Outside Sources

Written by: Debbie Ruston

Article Overview: How challenges can affect traditional businesses.

Is Your Income Controlled By Outside Sources

I just had an interesting experience…..early on Sunday morning the power went out in the area I live in….now, at the time, we were in a drive through line up for coffee. Fortunately, we were at the front of the line, and our coffee was handed out the window. But here is what happened….the manager of the establishment came outside, her headset for taking orders was not working, she went car to car and turned people away, their tills wouldn’t open, the drive through window wouldn’t stay open, and I’m sure many other things on the inside were not operational.

We were just heading up to the lake in our convertible to go out for breakfast at the lake, so I am not sure how long this lasted.

But, as we were driving, my husband Barry and I got into a conversation about how something like this really affects traditional business, and thought about all the spin off effects. If indeed it did last any length of time, the staff would probably have been sent home.

There is also a little breakfast diner just a couple of doors down from that coffee shop….if this lasted, they couldn’t cook breakfast, and Sunday morning is their biggest day of the week. That means, not only would that staff be sent home and not make their hourly wage, but the servers who rely on tips, wouldn’t have any tips from the biggest morning of sales for the week.

There is a department store just down from that as well, and it employs dozens of students saving for college and university…..now, it is the beginning of August, with not many shifts left for them, and this would affect their savings for school, not to mention all the adults that work there for a measly hourly wage – how would this affect supporting their family?

Now, I don’t know how big an area this actually affected, but think about this for a second….gas stations would have to turn business away, grocery stores would not only have to turn business away, but I have seen this happen before (Barry used to work in the grocery industry) and when there are power outages, they often lose thousands and thousands of dollars in frozen merchandise. Factories would have to close down and therefore lose production and the workers lose their pay for that time.

This list is endless on the affect on business revenue and employees income when something like a power outage, that seems so minor, occurs.

This week I have been having a challenge with my internet and phone system…technical support has been working on it all week, and still no resolve…...but here is the difference……I work from home, as long as I can get an internet connection somewhere and I use my cell phone, I can conduct business! I do not lose out on revenue…..I am still in control! I take my laptop and find a wireless connection somewhere around town, and with my cell my business does not miss a beat! Yes, it may be a little inconvenient….it means I have to get out of the pool which is where I normally do my work, but that is no big deal! I still have complete and total control of my income and the business that I generate!

Wow, again I have realized how grateful I am that I made the choice to be self employed, take control of my life and not be controlled by employers or outside circumstances! As a matter of fact, I just had an extremely profitable week! I’m sure that these other traditional businesses can not say that.

It all comes down to a choice…..do you let circumstances control your life and your income?

In Your Service,

Debbie Ruston

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Article Tags: challenges, circumtances, traditional businesses



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