Webinars and wiping butts

Gladly, my first remote session with clients I have seen face to face for years went well today and they are keen to do it again next week. I am hoping that while not ideal as the time schedules are shorter, this will at least mitigate some of the damage and I won't lose my company completely. I have been up and running as a one-man show for 7 years now, but I don't have the itch to move on at this point, especially with the current economic conditions and the financial needs of my family.

Having two work points (my company and as an employee at an IT firm) at least spreads the risk somewhat, but both jobs rely heavily on customer delivery and that is obviously being hampered globally. I took the IT training position for risk mitigation and out of interest in the firm as they have the potential to dive deep into blockchain when they are ready and I want to be part of that process. Currently however, it is about survival all round.

Company cutbacks are happening daily all over the place and this of course affects my own business, but it also affects me as an employee and my wife. Currently we are both "safe", but I do not put a lot of faith in that in the event of a protracted duration of global crush. Consolidation is the name of the game for survival now.

However, those who are able to adapt and survive the conditions will also be the ones who will best be positioned to take advantage of the recovery process and expand rapidly once things improve. This will also mean that they will have the opportunity to hire well at a reduced rate as people who have been laid-off, will be looking to re-enter the jobs market. This is definitely not a great position for would be employees though, as it means increased competition and therefore, less room to negotiate salary.

As said, consolidation is the name of the game, and this is the same for individuals and households. Those who have the potential to tighten belts and create a little bit of disposable income space during these times, will be able to get into investment opportunities at a much lower entry point. Choose well, time the leap and be patient, and the potential gains will be large. But, for most of us, it takes some potentially severe belt-tightening to be able to do this.

Money begets money, because those with it don't need more of it. This means that they can live within their means without needing debt obligations, which leaves them free to invest into opportunities as they arise. While the world economy can suffer heavily, those with the means are getting in to build their foundation for a future position. The more foundation they have, the great passive generation gets built on top of it and adds to the value mass, to attract even more.

The entire system is quite broken and is currently in the process of being replaced and I believe this current drive of destruction is going to instigate reactionary changes, that will look to adopt new processes, namely, blockchains and cryptocurrencies. But, while this has to happen, this is far from an overnight changeover process and will be met with fierce resistance from many sectors. However, during the changeover process, it would likely be worthwhile leveraging the opportunities as they arise and then moving that value to where the future will be.

While I would love to do more than write about investing, I don't currently have the possibility to do much about it as I am currently belt-tightening for economic survival, not for additional disposable income. But, as I have said earlier, I can still earn a small piece of my equity through sweat and fully intend to do so. I am not that young and the window to prepare for my inability to work is closing rapidly. This is further made problematic as I see that the future two decades are going to get increasingly volatile in the global economies as they collapse under the weight of poor distribution, corporate greed and the demise of some key industries. As normal, it will be the normal people who suffer.

Part of my drive for Hive is a reimagining of what it means to be a participant in an economy, one where most are not only able to consume, but contribute directly and invest into the community itself. The more that this happens, the more evenly the distribution of wealth and rather than immensely high peaks and abyss-like troughs, there is more of a "rolling hills" model of wealth inequality. Inequality in an economy is not a bad thing as it is this that drives innovation and incentivizes divergence. While people like to say they want equality of outcome, what they tend to really want is fairness of reward based on effort and skill - something that the current economic model fails at due to the way those with money can generate at a faster rate than those who can do.

Well, this didn't go in the direction I thought it would, but if you are wondering at the title, part of working from home with a three year-old, means occasionally having to wipe a butt. Even though less productive than normal, she has been quite amazing the last couple days and is taking care of herself much of the time without the incessant whining. Since the other morning - there has been no TV since either. Kids are far more resilient than adults - and tend to complain less about conditions as long as they have something to work on.

Perhaps this is the lesson for those complaining - do some work.

Taraz
[ an original ]