Does Self-Employment Lead to Happiness?

Posted on April 18th, 2008 in Happiness, Inspiration by Tim

I have resisted blogging about every interesting topic discussed at the Freakonomics blog, but I could not let this topic pass by. I am a big fan of Levitt and Dubner. Their book Freakonomics has been instrumental in making economics, my undergraduate major, into a cultural phenomenon.

Relative or Absolute Wealth?

Recently Justin Wolfers started a series of thought-provoking posts about the correlation between wealth and happiness. The conventional wisdom, known as the Easterlin paradox, has been that only relative wealth matters. In other words, as long as you have more than the people that you compare yourself to, you will be happier. Even though Easterlin studied populations, many self-help books apply the same reasoning to individuals.

Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson have reexamined the idea that more wealth makes you happier using more recent, more complete data. Not surprisingly they found that in general the richer you are, the happier you are. It is true for people with higher incomes too, but the correlation was slightly lower. Despite what many people tell themselves, more money may make us happier even if admitting it makes us appear less enlightened.

Happiness seems to require a modicum of external prosperity. — Aristotle

Studying population data is never going to give us a formula for happiness in life, but clearly it is easier to be happier with the added freedom that wealth provides. Whether it is because life is less stressful without having to dodge bill collectors, there is a sense of well-being from not being dependent on your next paycheck to cover the mortgage payment or it just feels good to be able to provide support to causes you care about, having more money and the independence it brings should make you happier.

What would be even more interesting to me is a study of the differences in happiness between entrepreneurs and high income earning employees. Both wealth and income positively correlate with happiness, but income slightly less so. I think that the added autonomy of being self-employed would add to most people’s satisfaction, but then again having to make payroll during a downturn can also be a great stressor. What do you think? Does having your own business make you happier?

To read the series, read: New York Times: The Economics of Happiness

To read an article about the research, read: New York Times: Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All

Start Blog, Write <100 Posts, Collect $300K

Posted on April 3rd, 2008 in Inspiration by Tim

I have no idea if Christian Lander started his latest blog Stuff White People Like with the intention of getting a book deal. Who knows. Maybe it was part of his New Year’s Resolution. 46 of its 93 articles were posted in January, so he either wrote content ahead of time or he is just very prolific.

No matter how he got started, Lander created an entertaining and sometimes thought provoking blog. When I first saw the blog, I wondered if he would ever be able to sell ads on it. Maybe he knew all along that his only chance at monetizing SWPL was to turn it into a book deal. Regardless he must be quite the negotiator to get a $300,000 advance on his first book. Kudos to him.

Why Blog? Reason No. 92: Book Deal - New York Times

Image by Ingorrr

Sell Your Products on a Massive Scale

Posted on April 1st, 2008 in Inspiration, Start Up by Chris

Please take the time to read this article about how to sell to the “Big Boxes.” I found the article very informative to say the least. After finishing all eight steps, you may feel a little bit intimidated by the process. Watch the video to help keep things in perspective.

Landing a Spot in the Retail Big Leagues

Trying to play ball with Target or Wal-Mart? Follow these eight steps for selling your product to a large, multiunit retail outlet.

Getting into the retail major leagues is something many entrepreneurs dream about. Have you ever envisioned your products on the shelves of a big box retailer but wondered just how to get your company ready for the prime time?

According to experts–and some entrepreneurs who’ve already made the leap as vendors or suppliers–there are some basic principles that can help guide you through the process. If expanding into the retail big leagues is your goal, these eight steps can help you get placement for your product.

1. Begin with questions. Before you try to make the leap to multiunit retail, ask yourself these basic questions: Does your product fit a demand just waiting to be tapped? Have you already found a multiunit retailer that’s a good fit for your product? What is it about your product that would make a buyer see fit to take a chance on your product? If you land the deal, can your production handle the volume? Do you want to sell your product directly to the retailer, or do you want to license your product to a manufacturer who’ll then distribute it for you?

To read the complete source article click here.

Refreshing Video

Review: Getting Things Done - A real-life case study

Posted on March 28th, 2008 in Reviews by Chris

Nearly all books I review will have been the audiobook version. Listening is much more efficient for me given that I drive quite a bit.

My Background

In order for you to appreciate how effective David Allen’s book is, I must tell you a little bit about me. I used to keep all of my appointments in my head or if they were really important, I would tell the secretary to remind me. I used my desk calendar to draw pictures while I was on the phone as well as to perform calculations. I have been known to have stacks of paper on my desk. On a final note when I was implementing my GTD filing systems on January 15, 2008, I opened some mail from 2003.

After I Read the Book

It’s been two months now since I first read the book. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I am more productive than I was 60 days ago. I have and use a filing system at work and at home. Although I still have to find time to process my in-basket, I do not find the task as daunting. I use my Google calendar faithfully to keep my appointments and my list of incompletes. Now that everything has a place, I am more relaxed and in control of my workflow.

The Book Review

Getting Things Done By David Allen

Getting Things Done was written by a life coach guru who trains people how to work more efficiently and effectively. Today more than ever, we are bombarded by incoming mail, email, text messages, requests, appointments, tasks, etc. Unless you have a system in place to process these tasks, they will be forever stuck in your mind as an “open loop“. This book gives you the tools to close these loops thereby emptying your mind of tasks.

Here is a list of a few key tools that will help you achieve “mind like water”:

  • You must have infallible collection buckets.
  • You must have a way to remind yourself of what needs to be done.
  • In order to accomplish anything you have to know what is the exact next step.
  • Anything that takes less than two minutes to accomplish should be done immediately.
  • A calendar must be an integral part of you work flow management.

I do not wish to go into detail on these points given the brevity of the book. This is not your typical business book that you passively read. Getting Things Done is more of a guide that you must work with as you read in order to reap the benefits of the advice. You will find yourself wanting to read it again and again to refresh your enthusiasm for organization. The information contained could be life changing for anyone. In my humble opinion, colleges should add David Allen’s principles to the curriculum for all incoming freshman.

The Phenomenon

David Allen’s teachings have spun off almost into a culture of their own. Here are some links to GTD groups and sites. The last one is David Allen’s site.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Getting_Things_Done

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GtD_Palm

http://googlegroups.com/group/43Folders

www.43folders.com

www.davidco.com

Here is a sample of Mr. Allen’s seminars.


Getting Things Done and Entrepreneurship

No matter what life you live, organization is an integral part of success. Wether you are a stay-at-home mom or the CEO of a fortune 500 company, GTD can help you. These skills are especially important for anyone who aspires to be self-employed. When you are organized, you can relax; once you relax, creativity flows freely. Going with Tim’s rating scale, I would call this book a buy. Buy a copy for yourself and share it with a friend when you are finished. You won’t be disappointed.

Finding Health Insurance if You Are Self-Employed

Posted on March 27th, 2008 in Issues by Tim

Here’s a recent article on health insurance that includes links to some helpful resources.

New York Times:

If there is one thing that separates the self-employed from those employed by others, it is their preoccupation with health insurance.

I was reminded of this on Feb. 14, when I wrote a post on the Shifting Careers blog asking small-business owners and would-be entrepreneurs what they were doing about health insurance. Within hours, scores of people posted comments about their own experiences and, if they had managed to find good resources, shared those. I have been reading e-mail messages and trying to make sense of the subject ever since. In short, it is not pretty out there.

 

The unluckiest are those with chronic illnesses or the dreaded pre-existing condition that results in a denial of coverage. Many of these people abandon dreams of entrepreneurship altogether because they need jobs that come with a health plan and they cannot find a way to self-insure.

Photo by xferedgg

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