Fed Up With Being Paid Less?

Bad news all round - many private sector jobs are still not providing pay rises in line with inflation, women's pay is still less than for the equivalent male employee in many industries ... and now there's bad news about self-employed income - if you're a woman.

According to official statistics, between 2007 and 2012 over 50% of self-employed businesses were owned by women, yet the average income for a self-employed woman was under £10,000 per year, almost half of the average male self-employed income.

That could be because of the type of business that women choose, or it could be due to the need to manage a business around children, family, elderly parents, etc. It could also be due to the rise in zero-hour contracts as well as the increasing number of temporary jobs.

Whatever the cause, one thing is certain. The gender pay gap needs to go.

This is where a business like my Kleeneze business comes in. You can start it alongside whatever other business you're running, and everybody, male and female, is on the same earnings plan. If you're interested, ask me for more information.

Cause and Effect - The Small Business Perspective

2 out of the 3 main UK political parties have pledged to raise the income tax threshold to £12,500. That means that, if they go through with it, anybody on minimum wage under 21 won't pay tax and anybody over 21 will need to do over 37 hours per week before they do.

And that's the problem right there. If my friends and family's experiences are anything to go by, it's well nigh impossible to get a minimum wage job that guarantees more than 30 hours per week. That's not enough to survive on without benefits in many cases.

Then there's the self-employed. How does the income tax threshold affect them? It differs depending on whether you're a sole trader or a director of a very small limited company.

But what many of us in network marketing will point out is that running a business in parallel with your PAYE earnings is a good way to minimise your tax burden, as well as netting you that extra money to drive down debt or just save up for a new holiday/car/washing machine/whatever.

And if you're unemployed, then there are benefits that you can claim whilst you're getting your business up and running.

Let me know if you want more information. I'm here to help.

Mything Link

I've always loved dragons. They were my favourite mythical beast as a kid, although I did fancy the idea of myself as a were-tiger once...

But I wasn't "allowed" to have that preference. My younger sister was quite clear on that - she and my mum were born in the year of the Dragon according to the Asian calendar, so that meant the two of them had one more thing to bond with. Maybe she meant for me to feel excluded, maybe she didn't. I took the easy way out and let her have her way.

Living a life of keeping the family peace can erode your self-worth, to the point where no amount of positive thinking can truly compensate.

Turns out, I'm just as strong-willed as my mum and sister. My superpower seems to be patience. That stands me in good stead now, as I slowly but surely carve out gaps in an overpacked schedule so that I can grow my business properly.

And you know what? I'm beginning to believe in my ability to soar.

Here's to dragonflight ... and weretigers!

Life and Other Distractions

This quote was just one of the motivational gifts from my wonderful sons for my birthday.

After the last six months we've all shared, it was a much needed reminder that there's more to life than the daily distractions, crises and all-round general levels of chaos.

I'm still a long way from being in control of my work/business balance, let alone my work/life balance, but I'm taking the first few steps back towards the starting line.

Thanks guys.

Illegitimis Non Carborundum

Worst. Year. Ever.

Come to think of it, not even close to my worst year ever, but definitely up in the top 5.

That doesn't matter though.

My mum's health is improving, finally; my partner's degree is finished and awaiting final marking and my home life is about as stable as it ever is.

We won't talk about the non-Kleeneze work life. There aren't enough adjectives, let alone imaginative expletives. 

So, I'm starting again. From scratch, but with added scars experience. Time for a new 104 day plan.

You know what? I've missed this so much...

Normal Service? Well, It All Depends On What You Call Normal...

Originally posted on itsnotanattitude.blogspot.com

Have you ever had times where you're convinced that there's some sort of fiendish plot to keep you from achieving your goals?

Me too. In fact, every single time I try to build a business that will fulfil my ambitions and goals, my family or my work life conspire to derail my progress.

You couldn't make this up - since I decided to stick to a 90 day plan and dual-blog:

- A second car has had to be replaced at short notice. My first was in October 2011, courtesy of a charming woman who ran into the back of me, gave me false details and then disappeared, leaving me with a written-off  Volvo. So I bought my partner's car off him with the insurance payout and that promptly threw part of its gearbox linkage within 10 weeks. I'm now driving a carpeted Transit Van (aka a VW Sharan) that drinks fuel.

- My partner decided to live in Rugby from Monday night to Thursday morning, because it's more convenient when he's decided to do a Masters degree in London to have a personal taxi service that is prepared to pick him up after 11pm and drop him off at the station before I go to work. Oh, and have a housekeeping service that provides him with breakfast, sandwiches, does his washing, loses his socks, etc. After a discussion where, apparently, it's my fault if I'm late for work because I'm not getting up earlier and managing the family better, he's decided to spend the next two weeks in West Oxfordshire, to sort out his tax returns and write his essays. I presume the wild-eyed, manic Harpy that dropped him off at the station at the end of that discussion may have had something to do with it...

- My eldest son has decided to move back in, with all the hassle that entails. I need to convert my office/music space back into a bedroom, move furniture into other rooms, etc. All whilst doing a full-time job, a two hour commute and failing to run a Kleeneze business.

- My mother is having serious kidney problems, which mean we're now stuck with a cycle of visits to GPs, specialists, etc. I'm scared it's kidney failure this time - her legs are swelling up and she seems to be permanently on antibiotics.

- Then there's this year's flu, which knocked me out for several weeks. I haven't felt this weak and lethargic since I had glandular fever in my early 20s.

All in all, it's been an interesting 90 days. Something had to give, and that was the blogging. However, I'm already drafting the next 90-day plan, whilst sticking to the remains of my original one to give me some forward momentum. 90-day plan blogging will re-commence in two weeks.

I Should Be Dead!

Or insane. Or both.

© Lyn Baxter

Since the beginning of July, I've had the following life events to deal with:

• Partner's career change (he's going to university for a year)
• Partner's lack of funding (I need to support him to the tune of an extra £10k)
• Partner's 3 months of indecision re pursuing his master's degree due to his lack of funding
• Partner's daughter and grandson moving back in with dad
• Partner moving half his furniture into my house, due to daughter not liking it
• Partner stressing over daughter moving back in, and there being nowhere in my house for his furniture
• Daughter's split with her partner, who is my granddaughter's dad
• Daughter's house move (mainly performed by me and partner)
• Daughter's ex-partner's house move (95% performed by me and partner)
• Eldest son's change of address (wholly performed by me and partner); it took us 8 weeks!
• Youngest son's psychological reaction to being the only offspring left at home
• Redecorating larger bedroom (including new carpet, new bed, new desk etc.) for youngest son, funded by partner before he realised how limited his financial reserves were
• Needing to pay back best part of £750 to my partner
• Moving some furniture into smaller bedroom, soon to be part office
• Middle son's ongoing battle to show loyalty to his dad, which has led to some seriously hurtful texts, facebook messages and a general air of distrust on his part
• A holiday with partner and my youngest and middle sons (!)
• Mother's ill-health - ulcers
• Mother's ill-health - thrombosis
• Mother's ongoing ill-health, which was a background issue before the extra problems, including heart failure, scarred kidneys, etc.
• Mother got burgled
• Partner's best friend died aged 54 (same age as partner)
• Partner's other best friend dealt with his grief by being so horrible, partner has now refused to have any more to do with the guy, so partner now mourning loss of two friends rather than one
• My day job work responsibilities changing
• My day job's team responsibilities changing
• New day job boss
• New team member, sitting next to me, who twitches whenever he's worried and knuckle-cracks whenever he decides to do some work. He's worried about 95% of the working day, including when he decides to start something new.
• Reshuffle of desks around the office, to suit the new boss's idea of how the team should be structured
• Notification of new team job (tailor-made for me) which I would have to interview for, which has spun off some good quality office politics amongst others who want their preferred candidate to be selected
• Car shunted by woman director in company BMW who refused to provide insurance details
• Car written off
• New car immediately developed the ability to stop the engine whilst driving along in third gear.
• Laptop - with all of my Kleeneze routes on it - spontaneously combusted the day my written off car was due to be collected.
• Had to buy new laptop and am still catching up with recreating my lists a week later.

According to the Holmes & Rahe Life Stress Test, I ought to be extremely ill by now - and the test hasn't kept up with today's stresses - half my stress triggers aren't even on the list. I've had to "best guess" what certain triggers would cost. My stress count for 2010 was around 850, where 300+ is bad news. My stress count in the past 3 months is 437! My partner's reaction when I told him was to point out that he'd got worse stress than me! I'll give you three guesses how that improved my stress levels...

Needless to say, I've had to focus on all of the above instead of building my Kleeneze business. So much so, that I'm effectively starting again from scratch.

I don't see that as a problem. It gives me  a chance to plan properly for the rest of this week, to better make use of the limited time available to me right now whilst making sure I have a decent plan to maximise income.

Any suggestions on how I can do better? Comments are always welcome. I'm just glad to be back!