HOW TO GET RETIREMENT IDEAS AND SPOT IDEAL SITUATIONS - part 1

Articles In This Section:

· HOW TO GET RETIREMENT IDEAS AND SPOT IDEAL SITUATIONS - part 1

· HOW TO GET RETIREMENT IDEAS AND SPOT IDEAL SITUATIONS - part 2

· HOW TO GET RETIREMENT IDEAS AND SPOT IDEAL SITUATIONS - part 3

· HOW TO GET RETIREMENT IDEAS AND SPOT IDEAL SITUATIONS - part 4

· HOW TO GET RETIREMENT IDEAS AND SPOT IDEAL SITUATIONS - part 5

· HOW TO GET RETIREMENT IDEAS AND SPOT IDEAL SITUATIONS - part 6

A person or group who deals in labor is known by the genteel name of "employer." Employers are a cutthroat lot, on the whole. Besides their niggardly treatment of their employees on the whole they will not hesitate for one minute to reduce their competitors to the status of paupers if they could—and they often can and do. They continually wage economic war with each other. This is called competition.

This battle is won as a rule with those who command the greatest capital resources. A big competitor can suffer a loss leader for years until he commands the field. He can spend unlimited amounts on new and better capital equipment. He can spend a fortune in research developing more efficient production techniques, better systems and better utilization of that one commodity which is his ace in the hole—LABOR. You can never hope to compete with bigger capital. Your best enterprise may best be compared with that which the flea practices upon the elephant. You are insignificant but you can exist comfortably in your sphere. And, in principle, you can take advantage of certain situations just as much as the big fellow. One of the big secrets for the little fellow is how to deal in labor without owning the capital equipment normally required to employ labor. This boils down to, HOW TO BE AN EMPLOYER WITHOUT CAPITAL. This is a rare category but there does exist such a one. If you are adept at borrowing your capital requirements or of persuading others to invest the necessary capital in a venture of yours you will not actually have to have any capital of your own but, as easy as this may often be, it is not what I want to portray to you. There are many situations where you can employ labor without having to own tools or capital equipment of any significance. For example, I mentioned a short way back that, as a teenager, I employed help. Yet I had no capital. I merely had an agreement to perform certain harvesting services. I employed others for the most part to perform those services. As the middleman between the buyer of these services and those who performed them I acquired a nice stake, in fact, a share exceeding the combined proceeds of those who actually worked for me. There are many little businesses which require less tool and equipment capitalization than $1000. Many contractors are in this category. Most, however, own a lot of heavy equipment.

Let's take an example. Cesspools are a necessity in many parts of this country. Suppose you put a big ad in the telephone directory or list yourself in the service directory of your local newspaper. The advertising cost is cheap enough. You get calls from people who are interested in having a cesspool built. You, being knowledgeable in this field, look over the project, make recommendations or quote on the job. Many customers never bother to get more than one quote. So you have a job. And do you have a job on your hands! Or need it be? If you get a lot of jobs, more that you can handle, what will you do? The obvious thing to do if you had too many jobs would be what you would do if you had only a few too —that is, if you would consider this field from the retirement angle. Let's say I am sitting here in my home and I own a cesspool contracting business—which I don't. But assume so.