Fed Cuts Fund Rate

The Fed cutting the fund rate could be good news for entrepreneurs. That means that interest rates just got lower for someone who is looking to take out an unsecured loan that is tied to the fund rate as an index. Also, credit cards and HELOCs can be tied to that index as well.

Start a Business In Your Spare Time

If you want to get out of the rat race and you know that building a business is key, start a business in your part time! Make it a business that you can eventually sell one day! That means you should build quality clientele, a good name and reputation, and good business systems that will easily allow someone else to take the reigns. This is a basic exit strategy of building a business. If you can't quit your full time job, then start a business in your spare time. It will require long hours and a lot of hard work, but it the long run it will pay of if you do it right. One of the most attractive business models for a spare time business is network marketing or multi level marketing. Despite the bad rap some of the early pioneers gave the business, network marketing has a distinctly positive win-win-win business model! Many respectable companies have used it as their marketing strategy. The business that I've just signed up with is called YTB (your travel biz). With YTB, you can pay to become an online travel agent and sell travel directly on your web site. You can also become a referring travel agent, where you refer other people into the company. Obviously you get paid for both activities. Click here to check out the company.

Employer or Employee?

Okay, do you want to be an employer or an employee? If you are an employee, then it is hard to be an employer and harder to get out of the rat race. Some great employers started their companies in their spare time. If you have a passion for something that fills someone else's needs, go for it! Do what you can to start meeting a need and getting compensated for it! Then, build a business system that allows you to take less of a role in the every day business operations. I know, it is a lot harder than it sounds. Stay tuned for more.

Three Kinds of Businesses

In general, there are three kinds of businesses: traditional, franchise, and network marketing. Traditional businesses are businesses started from scratch by an entrepreneur, or inherited from a parent. It's the job of the entrepreneur to design the entire business system. Franchised businesses are ones where the business system and name recognition are already established. But the owner has to run, and promote the business. Network marketing is the kind of business where the business systems, name recognition are both already established. Also, with network marketing the cost of entry is far less than with franchised businesses. Some network marketing opportunities are even FREE!

More Time with Family

One of the reasons I want to get out of the rat race is so that I can have more time with the family. Relationships (if they are to be healthy) require a lot of time and engergy.

Most Important Skill You Need

What is the most important skill you need to get out of the rat race? Well, according to Robert Kiyosaki (whom I believe) it's SALES skills. That's right, according to Kiyosaki, in order to build a business and/or acquire income producing investments, you need sales skills it is "everything" in business. Now, I myself am not out of the Rat Race (I've been working on it for nearly 10 years now) so I can't speak from experience, however as a student on the road - I have to say that I agree.

Investing Basics

Some Basics of getting out of the rat race are as follows. Basically, your objective is to acquire enough passive income to more than cover your regular monthly expenses. Passive income is income that you don't have to work for, you earn it passively. For example: positive cashflow on a real estate investment, or limited partnership, or dividends on a stock. If you have to work for it (like you do at a job) then it is active income.

Exit Strategy!

Let's all get out of the rat race ASAP! The mission of this blog is to give you ideas, insights, and encouragement on exiting the rat race! What is the rat race? It's when you have to constantly WORK for MONEY instead of having money WORK for YOU! That's the short, short version of it. How do you do it? Well, that is a GOOD QUESTION! There is no one right answer for everyone - we all have to find our own path! But, my objective is to give you lots of tools to help you along the way! I hope to interview real people in Tampa Bay who have already exited the rat race, asking them how they did it. I want to explore different tools including the three kinds of small businesses (traditional, franchise, and network marketing). And I want to provide you with as many resources that I can find that will help you! To start, let me tell you about a book I read about 10 years ago that changed my life. You may have already heard of it because it has been a NY Times best seller since that time: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This book is great! It talks about the childhood lessons that Kiyosaki's rich dad gave him - secrets that the rich teach their children that the poor and middle class do not.