Labor Day Perspective

I just wrote this for a woman who is doing a Labor Day radio show and wanted my perspective on being self-employed and network marketing vs. having a job. This will also be the focus of my part of the National Call tomorrow, but I thought it was worth posting here for your consideration:

Being "Self employed" is another way of saying "applying the most valuable resource you have - your time - at doing something which not only can generate cash flow (salary) but which also builds residual value (equity aka ownership)."

Think of it in terms of renting a house vs. buying a house.

Having a job which pays you a salary is like renting an income. You get to stay there with no risk except that someday you could lose the job. But as long as you pay rent ("work") you continue to get the salary ("shelter").

The rent you pay is work, which contributes value to the business, but you never know how long you'll have that job. When it's done, it's done with no residual value to tap into. All the contribution you made stays with the company. Just as if you tended to the lawn and gardens and household improvements while renting a house. Once you leave, you leave the value of those improvements behind. The only value you got out of your rent was the temporary benefit during your lease.

Self employment, which is basically the same as business ownership, means every bit of effort you put toward excelling and improving your business is both of service to your customers while it builds value for you in the business. Every bit of effort can bring cash flow (salary) and underlying value. But it does come with risk and additional headaches, just like owning a home does.

It's not easy for a business to get off the ground much less compete to grow. It's quite possible to get wiped out. That's why so many people intent on owning a business opt to buy a franchise business because there's both demonstrated demand and a business plan to follow. Still expensive and risky, but less risk than starting with an all-new idea in an unproven business.

Network marketing is similar to a franchise in that there is a system to use, demonstrated demand for a product, but it is far less capital intensive. For less than a couple hundred dollars a month plus your focused effort, you are building cash flow and that residual value of ownership. I've noticed that a person's network marketing business actually has real ownership value once it gets momentum. Like any company, that is value that can later be sold, or donated, or willed to heirs, or just used for its remaining cash-flow if you decide to do something else. Like any business it has to get strong traction before it has that value, and that requires work, persistence and the desire to overcome obstacles. But once it has traction, there is real value there, and it's all yours!

When I look at how there are over ten coaches who have already built million dollar income streams with Team Beachbody I am impressed. But look deeper, and you can see that they and many others have also built underlying value in excess of a million dollars if someone wanted to buy them out. That's pretty incredible since getting started cost a whopping $39.95 plus the ongoing costs of staying active in the business. Still less than any franchise or other prospective business venture, with a demonstrated demand and system for success called the Game Plan. The risk, is time and fortitude. And those commodities are available to anyone who makes the decision and commitment to go for it.

So as you celebrate Labor Day, don't just be grateful for the workers that keep everything running. This Labor Day, consider how every conversation you have with a person who is now "renting" their salary, can lead to helping them also "build a second income without a second job" and also build underlying value that is ALL THEIRS.

Home ownership is only a part of the American Dream. Financial independence is the real goal. That usually comes from ownership. And the first step of business ownership is as simple as starting a Team Beachbody business and working the Game Plan.