Advantages and disadvantages of self-employment

YouÕve grown tired of commuting to a job where you sit in a cubicle and do someone elseÕs bidding. YouÕve got a better idea, you can build a better mousetrap, you know you have the knack for being in the right place at the right time, and so youÕre thinking of self-employment. But how do you determine if this is a pipe dream or an idea worth pursuing? Ask yourself these questions.

Can you handle it? Whether youÕre running your own business or working as an independent contractor, youÕll soon realize that working for yourself isnÕt just another job, itÕs a way of life. When youÕre self-employed, you must be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the job. YouÕre going to work long hours, which means that you wonÕt have as much time as you used to for family or leisure activities. And if the cash flow becomes a trickle, youÕre going to be the last one to get paid.

Can you get along well with all types of people? Being self-employed is all about managing relationships--with your clients or customers, your suppliers, perhaps with your employees, certainly with your family, and bankers, lawyers, and an accountant.

Are you a disciplined self-starter? Being self-employed means that youÕre your own boss. There may be days when youÕll have to make yourself sit at your desk instead of going for a long lunch, or place business calls instead of reading the newspaper.

Finally, do you enjoy wearing many hats? Depending on your line of work, you may be involved in handling marketing and sales duties, financial planning and accounting responsibilities, administrative and personnel management chores--or all of the above.

Your dream come true!
Think about how great it will feel to get paid to do what youÕd love to do anyway. If youÕre working for yourself, chances are youÕll be doing work that you enjoy. YouÕll get to pick who youÕll work for or with, and in most cases youÕll work with your customers or clients directly--no go-betweens muddying the waters. Such harmony between your working life and the rest of your life is what attracted you to self-employment in the first place.

Being your own boss means that youÕll be in control of all of the decisions affecting your working life. YouÕll decide on your business plan, your quality assurance procedures, your pricing and marketing strategies--everything. YouÕll have job security; you canÕt be fired for doing things your way.

YouÕll even have the flexibility to decide your own hours of operation, working conditions, and business location. If youÕre working out of your home, your start-up costs may be reduced. YouÕll also experience lower operating costs; after all, youÕll be paying for the rent and utilities anyway. If all goes well and youÕre making money, chances are you can make more than you did working for someone else. And since youÕre working for yourself, you may not have to share the proceeds with anyone else.

On the other hand . . .
When youÕre self-employed, particularly if youÕre starting your own business, you may have to take on a substantial financial risk. If you need to raise additional money to get started, you may need a cosigner or collateral for a loan. Depending on how much or little work you can line up, you may find that your cash flow varies from a flood to a trickle. YouÕll need a cash backup so you can pay your bills while youÕre waiting for business to come in or waiting to be paid for completed work. Since youÕll have to pay your own creditors, you may eat cereal instead of steak.

Remember that youÕre not making any money if youÕre not working. You donÕt have any employer benefit package, which means that itÕs going to be hard for you to go on vacation, take a day off, or even stay home sick without losing income. It also means that youÕll have to provide your own health insurance and retirement plan.

Because youÕre working for yourself, youÕre going to have to take care of everything yourself, from figuring your taxes to watering the office plants. YouÕll probably need learn some new skills, such as bookkeeping and taxes. Y
The bottom line....

If you can work long and hard, tolerate risk and stress, cope well with potential disaster and failure, and work well alone and with others, then perhaps self-employment is right for you. If not, then perhaps you should keep that job in the cubicle. Good luck!

Oklahoma Connection to the BOOTH Mystery & Legend!

Legend tells that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, using the name David E. George, committed suicide in Enid, Oklahoma Territory, in 1903. Booth, a popular and talented southern actor, accomplished his task of assassination on April 14, 1865, and following his escape into Virginia, was shot by Sgt. Boston Corbett of the Sixteenth New York Cavalry. Conflicting stories still exist about the identification of BoothÕs body, and there were errors made in the identification process and supplying information to the public. Within a short time rumors began to circulate questioning the true identity of the corpseÑdoubts and rumors that continue today among Lincoln/Booth scholars and enthusiasts.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 13, 1903, in the Grand Avenue Hotel in Enid, the screaming of a guest who had occupied room number four for three or four weeks brought others to his side; David E. George was soon dead. A doctor diagnosed the cause of death as self-administered arsenic poisoning. The body was taken to PennimanÕs Furniture Store, also a funeral home. A coronerÕs jury soon heard stories about this strange, locally unknown man: he was a house painter who did not know how to paint, who always had access to money but died penniless, who frequented bars and loved alcohol, who often quoted Shakespeare, who knew no one but was known by many outside Enid, who was quoted as saying, ÒI killed the best man that ever lived.Ó

After George was embalmed, he was placed in a chair in the window of the furniture store/funeral home so that the public could view him, and a photograph was taken. It was believed that he had a Òremarkable likenessÓ to Booth and that his leg had been broken above the right ankleÑthe same break that Booth had suffered in jumping from the FordÕs Theater balcony. However, the doctor who had set BoothÕs leg reported it to be the left leg. Many Enid citizens believed that if George was Booth, the body should be burned. 

Finis L. Bates from Memphis, Tennessee, arrived in Enid. Bates identified the body as his old friend John St. Helen.  Bates had been a lawyer in Granbury, Texas, and claimed to have known St. Helen (George) as a client and friend in the early 1870s. After about five years of friendship St. Helen became seriously ill and believing that he was dying, confessed to Bates that he was Booth. He recovered and later gave a detailed account of his life, the assassination, and the escape, to BatesÑinformation that only Booth would know.

The body, which had been embalmed well enough for long-term preservation, was turned over to Bates, who then leased it to interested parties for specified time limits.

The George story created enough attention to have the body displayed during the St. Louis WorldÕs Fair in 1904; then the mummified cadaver was displayed in different places from time by time by different people, such as carnival sideshow promoters. Shipped by rail to California in 1920, the body was stolen after the train wrecked. Bates later recovered the remains and kept it until his death; his widow sold the mummy. It may today be stored in someoneÕs basement or closet.
The Booth Legend has been perpetuated by articles in journals such as HarperÕs Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, Life, Literary Digest, and many others as well as in numerous newspapers throughout the years. 

As a young boy growing up in Enid, Henry B. Bass saw the body on display and became fascinated with the story. He became a Lincoln poetry collector as well as a major collector of Booth artifacts. He also became an authority on the actor and the legend about Booth, or George, having lived in Enid. Bass, a widely known and respected building contractor, is the man who discovered and reported the strange coincidence that Sgt. Boston Corbett is buried in Enid.



Oklahoma Did you Know?

Oklahoma has about 55,646 miles of shoreline, which is pretty impressive considering weÕre smack dab in the middle of the contiguous U.S.

Oklahoma was once found near the equator, and was a hot and dry place Ñ during the Triassic Period (206 to 248 million years ago).

You have an Oklahoman to thank for voice mail (you know, that thing your mom keeps leaving messages on but you never check?).

Oklahoma City is one of only two capital cities to include the stateÕs name. The other capital? Indianapolis, Ind.

The Saurophaganax maximus is OklahomaÕs official state fossil. A fossil of one was first found in the early 1930s in Cimarron County, and a reconstructed skeleton can be seen at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

Guthrie was once home to the National Lighter Museum, which had 30,000 pieces on display.
The first yield sign was invented by Clinton Riggs and Paul Rice. Riggs was a Tulsa police officer.

The first tornado warning and the first official tornado forecast in the United States happened in 1948 at Tinker Air Force Base. The base was struck by two powerful twisters within a span of five days, March 20-25.  The tornado that dropped March 20 produced more than $10 million in damage. ThatÕs nearly $100 million in 2014 dollars.

ItÕs true: Oklahoma has an official state meal.  The year was 1988 and, apparently, everyone was hungry, because the state meal consists of: fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken fried steak, pecan pie, and black-eyed peas.

Just how many calories is that? If you ate the average serving size of each item listed, youÕd consume about 2,200 calories  And about 260 grams of carbohydrates, 90 grams of fat, 70 grams of protein and 3,700 milligrams of sodium.