Do you think you will lose your job because of the economy?

[fireworks]

I lost my business when the economy went south. My customers quit paying their bills and I could no longer afford mine. We closed our doors in early 2009.

I was able to get a new job a few months later, but in the same industry- which I'm now thinking was not the smartest idea. I'm barely making ends meet with this job. My pay is commission-based, and when customers don't order or don't pay their bills I don't get paid any commission. It's better than nothing, but still a lot of work for the money I make. I don't even want to calculate my hourly rate.

All of that said, I'm now going back to school! Looking forward to starting school in the fall to finish my degree. When I get out (in three years) I should be much more marketable. I had a nice opportunity last week until they found out that I have no degree.

[banca rotta]

Just be careful with the student loan debt fireworks if you are taking any on. Hopefully you either have the GI bill or some other reasonable means to take care of college without the dreaded debt.

Good luck

[tess_bk]

Just chiming in to say banca rotta is right ... I took on too much student loan debt and I have no idea when it will be paid off. Saying "I will pay off my student loans some day" to me is kind of like saying "I will take a cruise around the world some day" - possible, but not likely.

As for the topic at hand, I also work in a university, so does my DH. He was a fairly recent hire and so his job is not the most secure, however he is very well liked and I believe they'll find a way to keep him. My job is paid for by a grant that will run out in a few months unless new funding is forthcoming, so I'm in finger-crossing mode.

[Jackdog]

We're safe. I'm a waitress so no matter how bad the economy gets people do still go out to eat. Business has slowed a little but not much. Boyfriend is a mechanic so he is very secure especially with more and more people keeping the cars they have and not as many people buying a new one every few years.

[banca rotta]

We're safe. I'm a waitress so no matter how bad the economy gets people do still go out to eat. Business has slowed a little but not much. Boyfriend is a mechanic so he is very secure especially with more and more people keeping the cars they have and not as many people buying a new one every few years.

I used to think this too. I think a better way to put it is "we're lucky". I am very glad you are lucky, but I don't think anyone is safe not even some of the wealthy.

[helpmeout]

The company I work for opened quite a few stores last year and will be opening at least 3 more this year. They also added a new position in the accounting dept and gave everyone at least a 3% raise in 2009 and a 2.5% raise this year. I don't have to worry about losing my job because of the economy.

[smithjake03]

Unemployment rate is definitely increasing and we can really feel that we are having a bad economy nowadays. But I would say that there are a ton of little part time jobs out there, and hardly any educational administrative jobs within a reasonable commute.

[AMISLANDER]

Lost my job last month. Replaced by someone they could pay less. Par for the course!

[Xue]

Sorry to read that AMISLANDER. Me too...I'm in a mess...my brother hasn't lost his job yet, just more and more furlough days for him (unpaid of course).

Some folks are doing this:



Excerpt from The Athens Banner:

The three men started making chicken tractors about a month ago to make a little extra money in the sluggish economy.

Wade lost his job working on tractor trailers because of a lack of business and while Maxwell, a decorative concrete finisher, and Gibson, a carpenter, still have jobs, they say they have less work than usual.

They sell the tractors - usually priced around $150 to $200 - from the side of U.S. Highway 441 just inside the Nicholson city limits, and say they regularly run out of coops.

"We did not foresee the amount of people who were looking for them," Maxwell said. "People wanted chickens in their backyards."

Backyard farmers flock to a new twist on the chicken coop

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/050610/new_634535886.shtml

I'm wondering if I need to do like Bruce Campbell says: "The way I see it #65: If you're worried about getting a job--or keeping one---start a company of your own. By doing so, you'll reap the rewards of your hard work and you'll only fired if you fail. This is the land of opportunity. Live in it."

According to one commenter about the chicken coops, the materials don't cost much and the markup is high: "$20 of materials may have even been a bit high. After taking a good look at the photo, there's not more than $15 worth of materials in each one. Rip your 2x4's, buy your roll of wire, hardi-board, screws and nails and crank 'em out. No more than $15 - $25 tops in materials and an hour of labor. Plans are on the internet. Google the plans, take your $20 to Lowes and get your materials, and make your chicken coops. Save $180!"

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/farmlife/msg012021337003.html

http://hubpages.com/hub/Chicken-Tractors

If it's just for yourself and your family, you can just raise all the veggies you can eat and sell the surplus. Just charge 30% less than the stores and you'll sell all you can raise.

You could supply every restaurant for miles around. Organically grown fresh garden vegetable taste ever so much better than those trucked in from out-of-state. Tomatoes, alone, grown in real soil, locally, have a taste no industrial tomato factory can match. Organic Gardening has had several articles about people who make a good living growing nothing but tomatoes.

Say you have a fairly large garden space of 100x100 feet. For an initial investment of a few hundred dollars, you could lay out a couple of hundred tires which could compete with any wholesale seller of vegetables.

I'm not going to teach you how to garden. Your library has dozens of good books covering every step of the art. I might suggest, however, that you specialize in just three or four vegetables, get a reputation for quality and freshness and make an excellent living growing and selling them. But you might rather sell tire gardens themselves. Start with 10 tires, four cages (two for tomatoes, one for cucumbers and one for squash). Add the planting medium.

The tires cost nothing. The cages cost $4.08. The planting medium (two parts soil to one part compost) may cost up to $5.00 per tire, or considerably less. Paint, may be a dollar, and your materials cost is under $60.00. Of course, there's labor. But if you have a couple of buddies, or make it a family business and sell the 10 tire complete gardens for $250.00, you'd get about $190.00 profit or more. Aside from processing, delivery and setup shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.

Marketing tire gardens is easy.

They would sell mainly to older people who couldn't go get the tires, cut them and fill them but would be delighted to plant, care for and harvest them. Most older people would shell out $250.00 in a minute to insure a large portion of their food for the rest of their lives.

So even if you don't appreciate this idea, older people will. And there will be a market for all the tire gardens you can produce. But there are a lot of mature young people, too. Not all of them are physical enough to gather the materials for the gardens but would welcome them ready-made.

It's no trouble to get soil and compost. Look up "landscaping" in your Yellow Pages. They'll deliver soil at well under 50 cents a cubic foot, compost and whatever you need, by the truckload. If you just want to set up a tire garden for yourself, your local nursery and garden supply can sell you everything you need at a reasonable cost.

To run such a business, all you need is the simple, cheap and easily available equipment described in this article. You will also need a standard pickup truck, which you may already have. If you don't have one, get one. If you drive a car, trade it in for a pickup. If you're going into any kind of business involving hauling, you need a pickup, anyway.

Now to selling the service.

First you set up sample tire gardens, featuring all the ideas in this article and ideas you will come up with. You might even stock a supply of bedding plants, seeds, garden tools, etc., when you've become established. But with your sample gardens, it would be best to have them already started, plants and all. Then contact your local newspaper and they'll be glad to do a feature story.

Put an ad in the same issue saying, "Come and see our tire gardens and let us set up one for you! " People will start coming around and you'll have all the business you can handle from then on.

Don't be afraid others will compete with you. You'll have the jump on any competition if you do a good job, and people will choose you over the competition.

--Kurt Saxon

PS-I'm posting this stuff for me as much as anyone else. I've got a lot of problems right now, health and economic wise, and also, since I'm not posting in the news forum, I didn't feel the need to post the whole news article or the whole piece by Kurt Saxon, or all the quotes ever made by Bruce Campbell. I'm just trying to help myself and maybe someone else might be able to use some of the information. I'm not posting conspiracy theories or engaging in an ad hom attack.

[ladyjenn]

Share your feelings...

I did in Sept 2008, after 13 years there!

[Xue]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-homegrown-20100521,0,3748074.story

[Steve08087]

poll question is incomplete !!!

This Poll question is missing a key word ? Didn't anyone proof-read it ?


Poll: Do you think you will lose your because of the economy?

Poll Options
Do you think you will lose your because of the economy?
Yes
No
Maybe
Already Did

[zenia]

I want to read your story but I cant find it ?

[copper2]

Yes

If your job uses the internet...think again. Manufacturing was the beginning. If someone had English as a required language growing up, and has Internet, you have a problem. The day will come when even financial planners in the US will be traded for financial planners in India, watching the global market, at 1/8 the commission. We are stupid in this country to think we can outsource one level, as solution, given what we see on the globe.

[jjim120]

Lost my job and my business, my husband lost his job and his business, my son lost his job and his business, we are all three in bankruptcy, employees who had been with us for over 20 years are now unemployed in their 50s and 60s, 15 businesses and suppliers that worked with us for over 20 years are in distress and laying off their employees, at least two smaller banks are damaged. We went from a net worth in seven figures to nothing but social security and a small annuity when a big bank cut off a guaranteed loan on a great construction project at the 85% complete stage and apparently aided a a con game being perpetrated by a lawyer who had been fired by one of the previous owners of the property who had sold his interest and was carrying back part of the purchase price. At least we have a small income and our health. Looking toward living in a travel trailer when the bankruptcy is cleaned up, but the younger people who worked for us and can't find a job don't have that option. One of the ones bankrupted by the scheme says his wife is making threats of suicide.