Why You Should Quit Your Job

Why you should quit your job!
Issue 2

Every day I would wake up more sick and tired than the next. Although I was a little sick and tired from the winter weather and the season, I’m was more sick and tired of working for someone else.

The thought of going to work for someone else every day made me sick to my stomach. I woke up in the morning, got ready for work, and headed out the door. I’m was always in a good mood when I’d leave the house and was away from work, but as soon as I walked in the door at my job, the happiness subsided and the frustrations arose.

The following situations are not intended to be complaints (because I did something about it), but rather situations you can relate to in order to motivate you to quit your job. I’m very confident that everyone reading this article has experience similar situations in the past.

Situation 1
Even though I worked very hard and did a great job month-after-month, I still had my managers riding me every day to do better because nothing was ever good enough for our company. As employees, we were constantly scrutinized.

One day I got so sick and tired of it and not being paid the money I knew I was worth. I finally told my boss to get off my back because he was constantly breathing down my neck and there was no need to ride me the way he was. I’ve always been a very self-motivated person, and the way he approached me was hands down the worst way to get someone motivated to do a better job. He told me that if I didn’t change my attitude, I could go home. For fear of not having a job the next day, I changed my attitude and went about my business.

Situation 2
My family is spread throughout the country and my boss told me that I couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving nor Christmas because I HAD to work the following days. If I wasn’t at work bright and early the day after the holidays, I would be out of a job. If it weren’t for a few great friends who knew I was far away from home, I would have had to sit at home alone on Thanksgiving & Christmas.

That was the last straw!

I had to sacrifice a ton of fun, friendships, and enjoyment of life for the greater good. I made a commitment to myself that I would not quit pursuing my dreams until I was able to quit my job and live the life I have always wanted to live. I had to put my life on hold for a short period of time which was very difficult. My friends constantly asked me to go out and have fun. If I didn’t go out, they would get very upset. Finally, I had to ask them to be supportive of my goals.

I received a lot of grief in the beginning because most people couldn’t comprehend the thought of working for themselves and what it takes to be successful. Most people have been programmed from an early age to work 40 hours a week for 40 years for someone else, but not me. I was re-programmed in my early 20s and vowed I would quit my job before I was 30. Of course, I wasn’t able to before then because I never sacrificed enough.

If you really want to quit your job and accomplish the goals you have set for yourself, you must sacrifice and become obsessed with your business. You must become well known in your business community and be the first person every potential customer or client thinks about when they are ready to purchase the product or service you provide.

In my opinion, obsession is success’ predecessor. To quit your job and become successful, you must wake up early in the morning before anyone else is awake and work on your business; you must get off work in the evening and come home to work on your business; you must talk to everyone you run into about your business; you must pass out business cards to everyone you talk to; you must write down all your thoughts and ideas; you must share your expertise with the world; you must subscribe to my eZine; and lastly, your must stop what you are doing right now, and ask yourself whether you are doing what you love.

Whether you are doing what you love or not, please visit CloakA.com to subscribe to the CloakAzine, learn about our wireless products, promotions, and the CloakA Coaching Program.

CloakA President,
Shane Russell

Getting Out of Debt

12/18/09

CloakAzine

Getting Out of Debt

Issue 1

I am on my way home after a long weekend of goofing off in the great city of Chicago. As I sit here gazing out the starboard window of the airline jet at the crystal clear winter sky, I am looking down at the blissful, snow-covered earth and am asking myself whether or not I woke up this morning with a purpose. I took a break from my work and had a very eventful weekend visiting with my childhood friend, Joe, but it’s now time to get back to business.

My mind is cluttered with all the new and amazing memories I created this weekend. I am thinking about the hockey game, the comedy club, the pub crawl, the shops, the food, and all the new friendships I created while in the city. Even though I am exhausted from the wonderful weekend, I want to feel a sense of accomplishment today so I decided to pull out my laptop and begin writing.

We have all had a weekend we can remember for the rest of our lives, and this past weekend was one of mine. I work extremely hard every day so that I can afford to travel to new places to meet new people and learn about different cultures. One of my long-term goals is to see the entire world. Although I may never be able to travel to every place I want to, I’m definitely going to give it my very best shot.

I have owned many nice things in my life, but nothing has ever made me feel the way I do about experiencing life. When I’m old and gray I want to be able to reflect back on my life and be thankful for being able to make a difference in many people’s lives, no matter how miniscule it may have been; I want to be thankful for being able to make many new friendships and relationships all over the world; I also want to be thankful for being a better person because of it.

In my opinion, too many people focus solely on material possessions, but the true treasure is found in adventure and experiencing life. Not only do people admire others more for the things they have done, rather than the things they own, but there is so much more self-fulfillment involved. I love being able to share my experiences with other people. I always encourage my friends and family to go with me, but most of them are living paycheck to paycheck and are so deep in debt that they can’t even afford to miss a few days of work.

I spent the majority of my twenties in the same situation as most. I missed out on many trips and events because I couldn’t afford to miss work, especially since I worked in sales and had to work 99% of all weekends for more than a decade. However, I woke up one morning and decided to do something about it. I shredded my credit cards and decided to get out of debt so that I could build the financial future I have always dreamed of. I got sick and tired of making other people rich by paying high interest rates and compound interest.

Compound interest arises when interest is added to the principal, so that from that moment on, the interest that has been added also earns interest. This addition of interest to the principal is called compounding (i.e. the interest is compounded). A loan, for example, may have its interest compounded every month: in this case, a loan with $100 initial principal and 1% interest per month would have a balance of $101 at the end of the first month, $102.01 at the end of the second month, and so on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_interest

In other words, if you make the minimum payments on your credit cards every month, interest will accumulate from the interest of the previous month, and so on. It’s even worse if you’re falling for all the schemes of the credit card companies and making consistent purchases without paying off the principle balance every month. Credit card companies want you to stay in debt to them forever, which will be your fate if you don’t take control of yourself today.

In the beginning, it was very challenging for me to live within my means since I had had a credit card from the age of 18. If I wanted something, I always purchased it without thinking about the long-term ramifications of my decision. I always justified my purchases with excuses and promises I couldn’t fulfill. Every time I bought something I promised myself I would pay off the charge at the end of the month, but that never happened.

I always made all my payments on time, which was usually the minimum, and every few years the credit card companies would give me a “reward” for being such a great customer. This led to a disaster. They had me right where they wanted me. They had me deep into debt with them. I am just thankful I learned what they were doing and caught myself before it was too late.

I was lucky enough to meet people in the financial realm and quickly learned what the term Compound Interest meant and decided I wanted it working for me instead of against me. My financial friends also taught me the Rule of 72. This is a mathematical formula used by financial experts to determine how long it will take for invested money to double. It’s solved by dividing 72 by the rate of return. In other words, if you have a rate of return of 12%, you can expect your money to double every six years (72/12 = 6). It’s a very simple, yet powerful formula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_72

Learning of this formula changed my life forever. I realized that if I had invested (and never touched) $20,000 by the age of 25 at a rate of 12%, it would be worth approximately $1,280,000 by the age of 61 (25 = $20,000, 31 = $40,000, 37 = $80,000, 43 = $160,000, 49 = $320,000, 55 = $640,000, 61 = $1,280,000). Even if you are starting out at the age of 40, it’s not too late. That same $20,000 will be worth approximately $320,000 at a rate of 12% by the age of 64. As you can see, the money grows very little in the early years, but exponentially later in life, which is why you must begin investing as early as possible.

Another fact of life most people don’t think about is inflation. The average annual rate of inflation is approximately 4% per year. In essence, your money is worth less and less as time progresses, and if you don’t stay ahead of the game, you will lose big time! Most bank savings accounts yield a return of about 3% and CDs 5%. Just to make it worth your while, you must work really hard to find investments no less than 12%, which is pretty conservative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

In 2007, I calculated how much money I would have to begin investing at that moment if I wanted to retire at the age of 65 in 2044 with approximately $4,000 a month in 2007’s dollars, which would equate to $14,000 a month in 2044’s dollars due to inflation. I was astounded to find out that I would have to invest approximately $500 a month from that moment forward to accomplish my goal.

You may be thinking you don’t have $20,000 to invest, which may be true at this very moment, but if you take control of your life now, you will have the money within the next few years. It’s never too late. Most people spend a ridiculous amount of money on vehicles and get a new car every few years; I was there too. Before I learned of the Rule of 72, I had two vehicles and spent $1,000 a month between the two car payments and insurance. I was making everyone else rich, except myself. I finally sold one of the cars, and paid off the other, but not before realizing that those two cars alone cost me over $1,500,000 by the time I retire. Ouch!

If you start thinking about the long-term ramifications of your purchases before you spend the money, you will quickly realize how much money that new car in the driveway, that new flat screen tv, that new pool table, and all that new furniture is really costing you.

By no means am I telling you not to own those things, but a few years ago I was taught to buy investments to pay for my toys. There are two types of purchases you can make: an asset and a liability. An asset is something that puts money into your pocket (stocks, bonds, storage facility, apartment or home rental property, etc.) and a liability is something that takes money out of your pocket (car, boat, personal home (until the day you sell it and make a profit), etc.).

Instead of going out to buy a new car every two years, why don’t you spend the money to purchase an investment property? Let’s say, for example, you purchase a small home in a quiet neighborhood and are able to yield $300 a month profit from the tenants. You decide to buy a vehicle with a car payment of $250 a month. After making your payments for five years, your car is paid off and you are still making $300 a month indefinitely. Then, 20 years later, the real estate market is up and you decide to sell the house and make a hefty $50,000 profit.

Although this example may or may not happen, it’s a tool to get you thinking differently about money and to help you get out of debt. I am not a financial expert, but I have a team of experts available to me. I highly recommend you do the same.

Please visit CloakA.com to get subscribe to the CloakAzine, learn about our wireless products, promotions, and the CloakA Coaching Program.

CloakA President,

Shane Russell