Working For Others, Working For Nothing

As home-based entrepreneurs, we have made our own way to avoid the poverty of working for someone else. We have decided to strike out on our own for any number of reasons, such as not wanting to have a boss, short commuting time, flexible schedule, or just extra money. Many of us are in network marketing or affiliate programs where we must continuously build our businesses by recruiting new people to help us. The ideas in this article will help you build a convincing case for people to join your business. For those who need no recruits, it will reinforce your passion about what you are doing so you will never look back to the old days of working for others.
WORKING FOR NOTHING
The dictionary defines poverty as, “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor. Synonyms: privation, neediness, destitution, indigence, pauperism, penury.”
Today, in America, however, poverty is nothing like it was during the 1929 depression, or the days of the dust bowl. Today there are homeless shelters, soup kitchens, food stamps, unemployment insurance, and other welfare programs which help people when they are down. The bad thing about this is that many government agencies are being forced to cut back their services. There may, once more, be millions of penniless people on the streets. Some of these could help themselves by becoming home-based entrepreneurs. Perhaps some of us can introduce them to an income producing program.
This discussion portrays one man’s impression of poverty. Most of what he says I totally disagree with; you can draw your own conclusions. What he does, however, is make as accurate a description as possible, by one who has not lived in poverty, using observations of some people around him.
The author begins by dissing Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed. He accuses her of trying to describe a life in poverty without actually being in poverty herself—he says she always can get out of her poverty condition, whereas those really in poverty have no way out. I have not read the book, so I won’t argue with him. However, any simulation of poverty can show some aspects of it, at least for discussion; so, it seems to me he should let her conclusions alone.
He says poverty isn’t about a miserable job, or high rent, or any of the other things associated with the concept of poverty. Instead, he says it is the very air you breathe if you are in that situation. He attacks social welfare programs that provide a floor for the poor, saying they are just a method of providing workers who are so desperate they will work essentially for nothing. He obviously feels some jobs are so menial they aren’t worth doing, and those who do work in them are just providing wealth for rich people with nothing for the poor workers.
Nothing could be further from the truth. No work that is honest should be frowned upon. It is said by some farmers that they hire Mexican workers because Americans will not do that kind of work. This may true to an extent, but my thinking is if they can’t find workers, perhaps they need to adjust working conditions or pay a little more—if none of this works, perhaps the farmers should do something else. I live in a rural area and the farmers around here never seem to have trouble finding local help. Other jobs the article’s author is talking about are so-called menial work in fast food restaurants, janitorial services, and the like. He says employers simply use these workers for a short while and then throw them away like trash.
This is absolutely not true. Social welfare and fast food jobs provide a floor for people who live in poverty and make it possible for them to regroup and find a better life. The writer says most Americans can’t ever understand poverty because it is such a hopeless state with no place to go. I know from my own experience when I lost everything, I often did not know where my next meal was coming from, and I was very close to being homeless; I did several things many people look down on, but they provided time for me to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. I had nowhere to turn and no sure way out of my problems, but I managed to pull myself out of the hole and get going again. So here I am, telling you how to stay out of poverty with a home-based business. Yes, I know exactly what it’s like to live in poverty.
MODERN AMERICAN POVERTY
Do you really know how people in poverty live? I’ll bet you don’t; I, too, had the wrong idea until I read this. The American press has misrepresented American poverty; because that’s the only information most of us have, we see these people as homeless, without the means to adequately clothe or feed their families. The Census Bureau says one in seven Americans, 40 million, live in poverty. This is great news for our international enemies like Russia, China, Iran, and others. But what does this mean in real terms? Because of media reports, most people have in their mind extreme material deprivation for these people. Maybe not.
Data supplied by the Department of Energy and other agencies paint a far different picture of the poor, showing them as better off than most of us imagine. The data are for the year 2009, the second year of the current depression. It’s true that about 4 percent of these people actually became homeless, at least for a time. Here’s what the data revealed for the average poor family:

• Lives in a home that is in good repair, not crowded, and equipped with air conditioning, clothes washer and dryer, and cable or satellite TV service.
• Prepares meals in a kitchen with a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave as well as oven and stove.
• Enjoys two color TVs, a DVD player, VCR and—if children are there—an Xbox, PlayStation, or other video game system.
• Had enough money in the past year to meet essential needs, including adequate food and medical care.

These facts defining poor indicate there is a large market out there who should be interested in a home-based business. We all are probably overlooking this market segment.
WHAT ABOUT CHILD POVERTY?
Here is a discussion about the effects of poverty on children in the United States.

• Families in America experience poverty when they are unable to provide running water, electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephone service. Families in poverty need much more than material aid. Things other than material requirements, like education, basic life skills, and employment experience are necessary to help poor families regain their feet and get out of poverty. Some families go into poverty for brief periods of time, while a small minority fall into chronic poverty.
• The US Department of Health and Human Services defines poverty as an income of $22,050 for a family of four, and $18,310 for a family of three. These guidelines are used to determine eligibility for public assistance programs. Many research projects indicate families need about twice the income established by current Federal guidelines. The European Union measures the poverty level as income below 50 percent of the median annual family income. All of these measures ignore other resources necessary for the nurture of children like a safe neighborhood, access to good schools, basic services, and access to basic life skills.
• A research study showed children born between 1970 and 1990 showed about 35 percent were in a poverty situation at some time in their childhood, but only a small number had persistent, chronic poverty.
• Economic hardship often has a definite effect on children, especially their prospects for the future. Those at greatest risk experience economic hardship when very young, or those who are subject to severe and chronic economic hardship.
• Economic mobility, moving from one income group to a higher one, is on the decline in the US. This means the American Dream is increasingly out of reach for many Americans; here is a major opportunity for home-based entrepreneurs. Having your own business is a great way to provide upward mobility; don’t overlook this opportunity when talking to potential prospects.

GETTING OUT OF POVERTY
Here is a unique idea to help people get out of their poverty situation. There is a program in Boston which provides ways for very poor families to help themselves and their neighbors to lift themselves out of poverty. It is called the Family Independence Initiative, which we will refer to as F.I.I. The group is quite different from the traditional ways of handling social service problems in America. It is more like the collective system used by many communities in America over the years to allow community members to rise from the ashes of poverty. It helps poor families establish a sense of control over their lives, and a quest for self-determination, defined as freedom to live as one chooses, or to act or decide without consulting another or others. The group also provides mutual support for other members of the community in the same situation. The originator of this system was originally from California where he worked with poor Mexican immigrants. He realized that, contrary to traditional social programs, most poor people need more than simply material help—rather they need a springboard to enable them to bound upward out of their condition.
The F.I.I. takes a position quite different from the first discussion we talked about in our article, where the author said people in poverty are there to stay with no way out because the government and rich people want to keep people poor so they will continue to work for nothing. This idea is way off base, and the results of F.I.I. prove it. By challenging its families to achieve and take charge of their lives, the families in F.I.I. Boston had their incomes increase by 13%. Just by showing community members what some other members have done to lift themselves up, many of them have decided to return to college, or reach out in other ways to show how it is possible to improve their standard of living.
Some of these people started side businesses, as well. Does that not sound like a fertile recruiting ground for Strong Future International or other network marketing groups?
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this article is to reinforce the idea that Internet businesses, and other home-based businesses, provide a way for any self-employed person to help themselves to stay out of the American poverty zone. Most of us who became home-based entrepreneurs before 2008 started our businesses because we wanted to get out of the unpleasant political environment of large corporations. We wanted to cut out long commutes, to get away from bosses who had no idea what they were doing, or to get into something meaningful about which we were passionate.
Many of these reasons have influenced home-based entrepreneurs who have begun their businesses since 2008, but there are a large number of new businesses started by those who have lost their jobs and need something to provide for their families. I am surprised that more people in the 20 million unemployed/underemployed group have not gone into some kind of home-based business. Some of these people are stuck in the idea they can’t possibly succeed in their own business which has been instilled in their minds since birth. A few more really are incapable of running a business because they lack training, they are unwilling to assume any risk, or they have decided to ride unemployment insurance as long as it lasts.
To me, this seems many opportunities are being lost to recruit these people into our own network marketing business, or at least show them the opportunity that is out there. Some areas of the country, as well as areas of your own state and community, have groups of unemployed people you may be able to reach. By all means try to reach them with appropriate advertising. You will not only help them, you will also help yourself and your business. Even if reaching this vast number of unemployed people does not directly help you, it may help a few of these people who need a lot of financial relief. Any time you help someone without expecting anything in return, you will often receive unexpected benefits.