Am I the only one confused?

I started to write something in answer to this...I have no answer! If anyone can provide some insight into what is going on in this video; I beg you to please help me understand!

Please!

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Generosity: The Perspective of a Bailout Skeptic…

Admittedly I’m not currently a top-bracket tax contributor; but I work very hard for the money I contribute annually to the general fund. I’m a small business owner who has paid taxes on paper profits several times over the years and has gone without health insurance to keep staff on the payroll and make ends meet. Like many of you I have a hard time spelling the word vacation in lean years and I sometimes laugh at words “week-end.” I don’t think the failure of any of my businesses would cause a ripple on even the local economic pond; so I doubt I will be eligible for any government bailouts any time soon.

I’m a little tired of people talking about “government” money spent on these bailouts. That’s my money, and it’s your money. We the people contribute to the general funds that support national, state and local government. We the people are getting hosed.

Have you ever had a friend in need who begged you for a loan, only to find out that friend used your hard-earned on some frivolity like a weekend bender or a new car stereo for a his junker? That’s what’s happening to us right now, but the tab is in the billions:

Days after receiving their bailout, execs from AIG Insurance splurged on a $440,000 corporate retreat including golf, spa treatments and banquets. Nice; did anyone invite you along?

Here are some more presents you just gave your friends and neighbors, allegedly to stave off the next Great Depression:

I hope some of you are NASCAR fans; you just gave $100,000,000 in tax breaks to race track owners. Maybe they’ll send you a thank you card with tickets to the next race.

Drink rum? You just paid for $192 million to rum distillers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Lord yes, we had to keep that precious stream of rum flowing; you’re going to need it as you read on!

Don’t worry about the high cost of heating fuel this winter, you also just paid about $150 million to wool producers; now you can buy cheaper sweaters to keep you warm!

Remember the Exxon Valdez disaster? Exxon will soon be sending you a thank you note. It’s the least they can do; you just picked up $49 million dollars of the tab for that one. This money is going to fishermen and other plaintiffs who were suing over lost fishing grounds and revenue. Maybe Exxon will give you a discount next time you fill up as a small token of gratitude!

Do you feel good yet? You should, after all helping your neighbor is what it’s all about. If you pay state income tax to help fund your school systems, you just helped your neighbors in states without income tax by subsidizing their educational costs with a federal tax deduction. That one zapped you for about $3.3 billion. I’m going to think about this one every time I pay my “use tax” in Maine for stuff I bought in states with no sales tax.

And folks, this is just the Quickbooks version of your generosity! You’re also funding a study of arctic squirrel hibernation, tax breaks for bicycle riders and a subsidy for manufacturers of wooden arrows for children. I suppose they may be preparing for the next generation’s version of the Boston Tea Party.

By now you be feeling as if you’ve done your part to prevent a repeat of the bread lines and Hooverville shanty towns that still remind of us of the perils of economic disaster.

I may have overlooked all of the above, but there was one pill too bitter for me to swallow. I suppose it’s obvious to everyone but me that America would be reduced to a third-world wasteland without the enormous contributions of our great Hollywood film and entertainment industries. This is not just a matter of keeping P Diddy in Cristal, Sheryl Crow in toilet paper and Matt Damon in private jets; no, this is a matter of national security. Where will our next generation of America’s defenders find inspiration without the next great recruiting film from the Rock? How will we know the truth without Michael Moore? How will we keep our population strong without the stimulus provided by Salma Hayek?

I suppose I’ll just have to concede this one. After all, along with you I just contributed $478 million to Hollywood in hopes that they’ll keep me from losing my home and living in a tin shack. Oh well, maybe just to say thanks they’ll send us all one of those $5.00 movie coupons or give us a dollar off our next $12 bucket of popcorn.

Movies, arrows, bikes, squirrels, rum and race cars; all important to someone I’m sure. I just don’t see how this stuff got tagged onto the “most important piece of legislation in our generation.” I don’t see how any of this pork does anything pull us back from the “brink of economic disaster.”

If you’ve got it figured out; please let me know. In the meantime, I’m going to barbecue a squirrel I’ll shoot with a wooden arrow, drink some rum, watch a movie and wonder what the hell just happened to my money.

How to Make a Million, without Spending MORE…

A few years ago I sat at my computer performing the excruciating but necessary year-end bookkeeping review for my martial arts business. I was fully immersed in the tedium of correcting account assignments, reconciling bank statements and trying to remember what the heck I spent $49.95 on that ended up somehow in unassigned expenses.

Just for fun I punched up a profit & loss statement and entered “ALL” in the date range. I thought; let’s take a quick look at the big picture. To my surprise and I must say, with a tinge of pride the gross income total was just a whisker over one million dollars. I had made my first million!

It didn’t seem to make sense. I still hadn’t drawn a real paycheck on any consistent basis. I had no cash reserves and the only profits I’d made existed only on paper. Thankfully before I put a deposit on my Learjet, I took a good look at my gross expenses, debt service and balance sheet. I had indeed made my first million; but it had taken a million and a quarter to do it!

Here are a few tips from my How to Make Your First Million as an Entrepreneur without Spending More than a Million to Do It seminar, whew! I share my experiences and offer some advice with the hope that you’re your day of becoming a millionaire will be a little more satisfying than mine!

1) Ever hear the scalded frog story? Debt works the same damn way!
Borrowing a large sum at once may be a challenge to a new entrepreneur, but it’s all too easy to borrow small sums and those small sums can add up to big debt. It’s very easy to use unsecured credit, lines of credit and credit cards to dig a big credit hole.

If you dropped a frog into a pan of boiling water he’d jump right out. Put him in a pan of cool water and slowly turn up the heat and he won’t notice the gradual change; despite becoming a par-boiled frog! In the same way short borrowing can turn you into a par-boiled entrepreneur.

Part of the problem is that debt service on your principal doesn’t show up on your profit & loss statement. It does reduce the liability on your balance sheet, but only interest is an expense. Be sure to create full cash flow reports with all debt service, principal and interest included, to see where your money is going. This is how you can inadvertently create “paper profits.”

2) Family business is above all, business.
You’ve no doubt had someone tell you never to do business with family or friends. From personal experience I may be inclined to offer the same advice; but for many of you involving family and friends may be a great way to get started or expand your business. Before accepting help from family and friends there is some business you should take care of.

In matters of business treat family like strangers. That means above all get everything in writing. Nothing can destroy a business or a family faster than leaving business matters to trust. Blood may be thicker than water, but ink is thicker than blood.

In writing establish how the business relationship will start and how it will operate. Clearly define rolls, responsibilities and distribution of revenues. At the beginning, establish in writing how the business will end. Provide clear exist plans for each person involved or investing in your business.

3) Contrary to popular belief, your passion does not always make a great business and you need more than passion to succeed.
There are a lot of books, seminars and speakers that teach that the key to success is to find your passion and pursue it relentlessly. Well, not exactly bullshit but not exactly true every time. Your customers don’t necessarily have to care about your passion as much as you do; but they have to care enough to want to buy it! If there aren’t enough customers who want what you love and you still want to pursue your passion; you better be prepared to move.

The next problem with this line of thinking is that there are people who are extremely passionate about something, but just plain suck at it! An essential part of creating your vision of success is to identify your talents and abilities. You’ll also need a good inventory of your material, emotional and spiritual resources to make sure you’ve got what it takes to get where you want to go. If you find you lack the talents and abilities to make a living at your passion, make it hobby and enjoy it! Hobbies are an important component of emotional and spiritual wealth. Chasing off creditors and worrying about keeping your home while you try to save your business of passion is stressful, unhealthy and just plain sucks.

I’ll support the theory that passion is an important part of success. Rationally assessing your passion in relation to your talents, abilities, resources and market is just as important.

I’m not throwing water on your entrepreneurial fire. If your talents and abilities are raw, your first step may be to develop those talents. If you’re lacking in resources, you may set short-term goals to increase these resources. If you truly believe in your ambition and you have the courage to risk failure, you’ve got most of what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur. You can learn the rest.

Passion without balance becomes obsession. With focus, timing and some planning your passion can fuel your greatest success.

Join Jim Bouchard, America's Black Belt Powervator for a special webinar on Business Expert Webinars:
How to Make Your First Million as an Entrepreneur…Without Spending More than a Million to Do It!

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Are You Sick of it Now?

Here’s how today’s headlines should read: “Congress Devolves into Name-Calling, Hair-Pulling Clutch of Petulant Children.” Of course, that might not be too far off the mark on any day in Congress.

I’m not picking sides; they’re all making me completely sick. We’ve got to try to figure out what the impact of the banking meltdown is going to have on our own businesses and on our neighbors. As someone who prides myself on being a student of politics and current events I have to admit painfully that I throw up my arms in frustration and disgust.

Hourly I’ve listened to partisan pundits blame the other side for current conditions, or brag about the heroic efforts their side is making to bring this wildfire under control. For the record, I’m a registered Independent and this is why. I’m absolutely sick to death of the constant petty partisan bickering, name-calling and accusation that is in fact the root cause of this entire debacle.

I’m sorry to shatter any illusions, but in legislative bodies legislation is not created in a spirit of bi-partisan interest in the American public. Articulate arguments and well-crafted oratory are not what seduces members of one side of the isle to the other. The fact is that on a national and state level, our laws and regulations are the result of a vestigial and wasteful quagmire of constant deal brokering, vote exchanges, earmarking and pork trading. Let’s throw in a healthy dose of nepotism and insider favoritism and we’ve got the system that has devolved to our current state of affairs.

The greater fact is that nearly everyone we’ve elected to office is complicit in this criminal abuse of our trust. There are some who claim they didn’t create the regulation or de-regulation that led to this crisis or those who did or didn’t carve out personal deals on loans, under the table compensation and favors and campaign contributions. Shame on you for not keeping your eyes on the ball; shame on you for keeping quiet when you smelled the leaking gas and didn’t warn those of us who put you in office and most of all, shame on you for not trusting us to understand this problem. Stop your selfish squabbling, stop your foolish CYA maneuvering and tell us what the hell happened, in plain English with names and addresses attached.

I have one more finger to point: To everyone of you who has said at one time or another that your vote doesn’t count, that the government is going to do whatever it wants anyway, that you don’t have time to get involved, that you don’t read the papers or watch the news; shame on every single one of you.

A single vote is not statistically significant when dealing with the vast numbers associated with a national election. When you do not exercise this responsibility the lack of your single vote resonates across the country. Your single vote may not decide an election; however by refusing to participate you surrender the one power guaranteed to you that makes you different than the citizens of most of the world. You surrender your voice; the voice that gave birth to our nation.

America is facing pressing problems. There are many issues on your state and local ballots that can make the difference between prosperity or bust in your communities; and in these elections a single vote just might be the difference. Vote your conscious; I don’t care if you agree or disagree with me. If you responsibly vote your conscious and your position is different than mine so be it; I respect your point of view and we have a basis for discussion. If you don’t vote, I don’t want to hear it!

I have faith that we will persevere and we will prosper, but only if you participate. It’s your responsibility to vote. It’s your obligation to learn as much as you can so you can vote responsibly. I know that’s difficult, but let’s do the best we can.

This November if nothing else let’s take back what’s rightfully ours: government by the people.

Jim Bouchard is America's Black Belt Powervator: speaker, coach and author of Dynamic Components of Personal POWER. Learn more about Dynamic Components and Jim at JimBouchard.org!