COACHING & CONSULTING

Is it Time For You To Become An Entrepreneur?

By Minimalist CEO

Posted on August 6, 2020

The Report Is Out, The Numbers Are In.

100 Million Entrepreneurs and Businesses Shut Down, 55 Million Americans Lost Their Jobs, 30 Million Evictions, US (GDP) Down 32.9% 2^ND QRT. All Despite A $66 Billion USD Stimulus Program.

WE WERE WARNED.

America, circa 2008: We had –what we thought- was the biggest recession we could imagine, numbers ranking with The ‘Great’ Depression. After the dust settled in America, Titans of wealth crashed and were never heard from again.

Mega global corporations collapsed. Then, the ‘big’ banks and financial institutions we thought were solvent, were caught to have inflated the books and their net worth.

In some cases- the scams were so massive, that they were accredited as part of the cause of the recession. The biggest players in the airline, banking, automotive, and insurance industries got US Government bailouts –but we got nothing.

I had a neighbor in Long Beach, California, USA, commit suicide; the first attempt, I was there to reach him and help him, then, the second time, he succeeded –he hung himself in his home.

2020 SECOND WARNING.

Now, in America, 100 million entrepreneurs have lost their side-hustles; like massage therapists, make-up artists, stylists, drivers, housekeepers, personal chefs, soccer coaches, and personal trainers, who lost their hustles because they catered to the gainfully employed.

And, 55 million of you lost your jobs due to the Coronavirus, 30 million Americans are facing eviction, and the US GDP has dropped 32.9%, (despite $66 billion USD in US Government allocated ‘Paycheck Protection Program’ money for small businesses, of which $1.6 billion USD remained untapped in June when the program expired).

Normally, what you may not know, is that in the US there are about 1 million –formal- evictions annually, and there were 3.7 million eviction filings in 2016 -before the COVID-19 pandemic.

About 40% of US renter households are at risk –according to Forbes.

There are certain business models, sales models, and subsequent industries, professions, and sectors which were hit more than others; such as,

Hospitality & Leisure (29% Now, Last Year 5%),
Mining, Oil & Gas (17.8% Now)
Transportation & Utilities (12.9% Now Last Year 4.1%)
Information 12%
Wholesale, Retail & Trade (11.2% Now, Last Year 4%)
Construction (10.1% Now, Last Year 3.2%)
Manufacturing (9.1% Now)
Education & Healthcare (8.6% Now)
Personal Business Services (8.6% Now)
Self-Employed, Unincorporated & Unpaid Family Workers (8.1% Now)
US Government Workers (7.3.% Now)
Agriculture (5.4% Now)
Financial Services (5.1% Now, Last Year 1.7%)

Yet, there are others which have maintained their incomes, despite -or even boomed because of this global pandemic.

ARE YOU GOING TO WAIT FOR THE 3^RD STRIKE & YOU’RE OUT?

One thing I realized in ‘The Recession of 2008’ was that it was the best time to re-invent myself, my businesses, my priorities, and to ultimately walk away.

Everybody was going broke, and though I never did, many were filing bankruptcy, -and some were evening taking their own lives. Over money and stress.

If you walk away right now, no one will blame you. No one will judge you. It is not your fault, the entire world has been shut down. The entire world is rockin’ to the same ‘Re-Boot’ soundtrack right now.

20 Million of you, lost your jobs in America, from March and April 2020 alone.

Now you’re asking yourself…

Is that job going to be there –when it’s safe to go back?

Will they have a vaccine, and if not, are you healthy enough to go back to work?

Maybe you already hated your job anyway. You were just working for the money, and you know it.

Perhaps you dreaded the drive, the commute, the hours, the pay, and you needed this to set your quest for freedom in motion!

You heard Ivanka Trump last month, right? “It’s time for something new…” and whether you like her, or hate her, you know that she’s right, it is time. (See my video link.)

THE OPPORTUNITY. HAPPINESS, NOW, NEEDS TO BE PART OF THE EQUATION.

If you do not seize this opportunity to take a long hard look at your situation and make the needed lifestyle changes, upgrades, and value reassessments, then it will be your fault next time.

HELLO, AMERICA!

Next time, you won’t be able to blame, Republicans or Democrats, the government, your boss, your industry, or the sales team, and not even China. Nobody but yourself.

If you needed; really needed, that stimulus checked signed by President Donald Trump.

If you needed those free groceries, free COVID-19 test, and it was your first time ever needing a government handout?

Especially, if you have ever criticized anyone on welfare, food stamps, or unemployment in the past.

Then you need to ask yourself some long, hard questions about your lifestyle.

You have literally been warned twice. This is ‘Strike Two!’ we’re in right now.

Believe me, there will be a next time. And this is the ‘new normal’ globally. This recession is bigger than America now.

In America, whether you like, love, hate, or do not care about Trump, he has set the trend for responses to Pandemics in America.

Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or some 3^rd Party, black, white, brown, yellow, or green, and whether you think President Trump was right, wrong, late, or indifferent, we know, in the USA, they will,

Shut it down –all be it a late egotistical attempt to save the economy,
Reluctantly, wear masks,
Close the schools,
Issue –but not follow- Social Distancing Guidelines,
Front liners will be activated, and
Essential, or most-necessary jobs, and businesses will be designated.

MAKE A DECISION. Decide, right now. What will you do?

According to our global research here at KA&CO America:

Small Business Entrepreneurship interest is up 300%
Data Privacy Officers Jobs, up 500% globally

(see the ebook I wrote on Data Privacy in the Philippines: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kareemantonio.app.dataprivacy&fbclid=IwAR1xRRQDlmVOBWAIaFw1bVSkGyN9OceNUMqxZertvZJVA88r26JAO9s14CA)

Online Tech is up, 200%
Online Dating soaring to 350%
Outsourcing up 500% (see the Outsource Everything! Ebook to learn more: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kareemantonio.app.OutsoureEverything)
Anything Online is up 500%

10-Years ago, I made happiness my business plan. I inserted freedom as my strategic strategy.

FACT: Happiness in America is very, woefully undervalued and underrated.

Money and materialism have become my possible outcomes, my treats, the icing on top of the cake. Because no longer was ‘money’ going to dictate my success and steal my happiness. Nor was it going to keep me trapped in a life I didn’t LOVE!

In order to do that, I took drastic, life-changing measures. I became a minimalist CEO, outsourced my entire business, went digital, embraced working online, and moved to a place where I could live (if I wanted -or needed to) for $500 a month. I did a couple of highly-controversial videos about it. (Live For Just $500 A Month –And Be Happy Doing It! and Shed Your S**T.) You should go check them out.

So; whether it is a new career, industry, taking the leap to launch your first business, or reorganizing your existing one, you need to make sure, this time, you are both recession and pandemic proof.

August is my birthday month!

So, all this month, I will be giving you insights, videos, having guests, and promotions on our special tools and services to help you achieve this “new normal success.”

Starting with how you can…start your own business, part-time, of fulltime, or in-between time, with no money, and no excuses!

BEING BROKE, IS YOUR ADVANTAGE.

The secret is, to just start! This is part of my quest to help 10,000 people around the world achieve their dreams of being an entrepreneur, getting free from the rat race, to stop being a slave to their businesses, and shed the entrapments of wealth.

Start Your Business –NOW! Even with NO MONEY! NO Excuses!

First and foremost, I want you to realize that being an entrepreneur is your birthright.

Jesus was an entrepreneur, a carpenter, working from his home, specifically, he was a solo-preneur; had no staff, no bank loans, now SBA approval, and was supporting his mother and family.

Microsoft was started in a garage, Mc Donald’s began, as a BBQ joint, owned by two brothers, Maurice and Richard McDonald. They have 6 branches by the time, Ray Kroc walked in and ultimately pitched ‘the franchise’ concept.

I sat down with Herbert Sy, son of Henry Sy, after an event of mine he and his wife had sponsored. Herbert, invited me to his home for Thanks Giving Dinner, in the Philippines, and he explained to me, that; though his father had always had a vision for retailing, ‘SM’ started selling 1 pair of shoes, in the Philippines.

FUBU was a sideline business, started by Daymond John, and his homies, who were teachers at the time. Daymond mortgaged his home and built a production factory in half of it, and their early ‘mission’ was simply to employ local youth.

They attended The MAGIC Men’s Apparel Show in Las Vegas, USA, sold $300,000 in sales, with no means to produce it all. Daymond’s mother had an idea, to advertise for investors in the New York Times.

In 1995, Samsung (yes the one in South Korea who makes cell phones now), stepped in as their first investor. At is 1998 peak, FUBU grossed more than $350 million USD in global, annual sales.

Facebook was started in a college dorm room, by a college dropout, with less than $5,000, he borrowed from a classmate.

YouTube was started in a small office space, above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant, specifically as a video sharing platform, by former ‘employees’ ay PayPal!

Oprah Winfrey turned her segregated south, housemaid beginnings, and broadcasting ‘job’ into a multi-BILLION USD mega business.

And, I can go on and on…

But, those are the successes, and we tend to celebrate those who ‘make it big’ but that has all changed now. It’s a New World, a New Normal, and the rules and success goals of yesterday, no longer apply.

Today, post-COVID-19, worldwide, there are more than 100 million people who are now unemployed. More than 55 million people in The United States; who were employed 6 months ago, making their Christmas lists, valentine’s dates, then, planning for their summer vacations, now, find themselves in a whole new jobless world.

Who are you going to be?

Are you going to be a chef, or a cook, a barber, stylist, or an online seller, a driver, landscaper, housekeeper, or simply deliver goods for other entrepreneurs?

What are you going to do?

B2B, or B2C, or perhaps a combination of the two. Will you run the business, solicit and outsource, find the customers and drop-ship, partner with someone and split the duties, will you launch a website, sell online, master social media, and/ or will you support the needs of other entrepreneurs?

What do you want to have?

I choose freedom, every time. But, you decide for yourself. I am specifically talking to people, who want –or need- to replace their high-taxed, job income, with business earned income. WOKE people who now, realize that perhaps their sideline businesses, could be full-time livelihoods.

What’s your name going to be?

A name can be an inspiring first step. A name turns into a logo, then a slogan, business cards, a Facebook Page, a website, t-shirts, online Ads, billing, and ultimately deposits into your account.

What aspects of your current lifestyle can you minimalize?

Many people who work jobs, especially now amidst the global pandemic, have realized the massive amounts of waste surrounding them. From crap in their garages they never used, oversized homes they do not need, suits they no longer desire to wear, and even clothes in their closets with the price tags still on them. All of that represents hours, upon hours of time lost forever, their children’s inheritance, and unless you plan to open a thrift store, it’s all worth-less now.

Get Started –NOW!

Entrepreneurship is a birthright and it is our truest form of creativity. Before the industrial age, everyone was considered an entrepreneur, the land was king, hence ‘royal’ or real-estate, and so, just start now today. Claim it. Understand, the overwhelming, unrealistic, fake news, burden of entrepreneurship, needing to be big, or make you rich, looking like millionaires, and living a perfect life, are all not true, nor realistic anymore.

What can you do later?

Get Started. It is your right. By default, in the United States, you are automatically considered a ‘Sole Proprietor’ anyway, and you can backdate, your business license, taxes, and so on. However, later, make sure you consult a legal, tax, and other professionals as needed.

Bonus: IT DOES NOT TAKE MONEY TO START IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

We can all name a dozen, or more, entrepreneurs, businesses, products, celebrities, and so on, who ‘started’ with NO MONEY. A true-real-self-made-entrepreneur knows that entrepreneurship is about creativity.

Otherwise, how would the Jews from Egypt, by Moses, have survived? How would my great grandparents, have made it, in Jim Crow America, despite lynching’s, racism, racism, and murders?

Neither of those groups had money to start with.

Let me explain.

Money, Greenbacks, Pera, Mula, Nira, Pounds, and even Shilling’s, are relatively new. Not just a new thing, but a new mindset. Before that, it is gold, gems, land, and silver.

Ok, so let us abolish ‘money’ for now, in our minds, because, it can be a confined way of thinking. No one needs money. Money just makes it easy to get/or buy, the things you really need.

I know, it sounds insane, but keep with me…

Accountants, do not know how to track money. Accountants track ‘things’ and ‘time’ for us -that’s why they call them ‘bean counters’ actually. They may give things a ‘value’ in cost, depreciation, appreciation, in-kind, trade, etc. in order to make their books balance.

Accountants assess assets and liabilities, and if you do not know what those two terms mean, then, that is why you think you need money to start as an entrepreneur.

Ask yourself…

What is ‘the money’ for?
Why do you need it?
What will you do with it?

And, those things, assets, tools, and such which you need, is what you need. Money, can be a business plan for some people, to others, it can be OPM or an investor, it could be a specific skill, or ‘job’ –which you can sell, trade, and/or turn into money.

But, the mentality you need, to get started as an entrepreneur, is that MONEY, is the outcome you desire (maybe), by doing other things right.

Stay Focused. No Matter What.Material wealth, outside justification, and shopping are all distractions and will put you right back where you were before –a slave to your job. You end up working for ‘things’ you buy from other businesses, and freedom goes out the window –until the next financial crisis. Make sure that you keep your eye on the prize. FREEDOM.

Entrepreneurship today is becoming more about happiness, survival, and freedom.

I travel the world, and I meet some of the most amazing entrepreneurs. I am here to tell you, you can relax, because, no one cares about, bling-bling anymore, materialism has been seen for the addiction that it is.

People are now finding out that just opening your own business, to replace your lost, working-class income, is all they need.

Additionally, they are finding that the freedom, which inherently accompanies even the minimally successful entrepreneur is life-changing.

You do not need to make $1 Million USD. For most; around 75%, of employed people in America, with 30 million people facing eviction from their homes and apartments, just $3,000 to $5,000 a month, earned from a small business venture could be enough.

So now, it is the perfect time to start your business and to get on the road to entrepreneurship. The world needs more entrepreneurs, more independent contractors, more business nomads, and the ‘laptop CEO’ is the new aspiration.

Want your business to boom after the Coronavirus lockdown? Watch this: Why your company need a website, right now.