Life by Design

It's Not Just You, Life Is *Actually* Getting More Expensive How far does your money go at the moment? Have you started to wonder why you don’t seem to have that much of it left at the end of the month? Do you ever google ‘online banking conspiracies and/or scams’? Have you ever thought that your bank account might be ‘leaking’? If the answer to any of the above is yes, you might not actually be as bad with money as you think – life really is getting more expensive and, in real terms, your earnings almost definitely can’t keep up. Newly   released official figures show that average wages are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of goods for the first time in two and a half years . As the pound remains weak and Britain embarks on trying to get a Brexit deal, real people are feeling the pinch in real time. Inflation is currently at 2.3% if you look at the consumer prices index (CPI). Food prices have risen at the fastest pace in three years, up 1.2% from las...

Forget Job Security - Take ownership and design a better life The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember:  Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career! — Earl Nightingale For better or worse, the days of having a steady income at a 9–5 job for decades are dying. Entrepreneurs and freelancers understand this more than anyone. Creating your own career naturally leads to defining your own day to day activities and creating a workable, scalable plan for your retirement years. Because those later years depend so heavily on the financial decisions you make now, your career choices carry a heavy weight. Richie Norton recommends you ponder over these questions and self-reflect to change how you get paid in life. — When do you get up in the morning? Why? — When do you come home? Why? — If you had a different job…you...

The importance of a Plan B in business! A politically charged, but historically documented term, the idea of having a 'plan B' or a back-up plan is often times viewed as being prepared for the worst-case scenario. But in the world of business, where entrepreneurs deal with daily struggles and risk it all just to succeed, having a plan B might also be considered a weakness or seen as a lack of commitment to a current plan.  It's important to think about crafting your plan B in a strategic, intentional, and sometimes in multiple ways.  Just as great, not second-rate Having a contingency plan is nothing new to entrepreneurs, especially those willing to take great risks for the chance at even greater gains. Dating back to the Civil War, the art of crafting a "plan B" required developing a contingency plan in case the ideal plan of attach did not work out. Like soldiers going into war, entrepreneurs, have the opportunity to plan in advance, taking into acco...