Living the Dream vs. the Cost of Insurance
What kind of family do you live in? One that supports your small business dream, one that is indifferent to your dreams, or one that really thinks you are crazy and you had better keep your day job.
Well I am lucky. I mean, really lucky. I have a family of small business owners. Sure they wanted me to get a corporate job when I was younger, to get the experiences, but now at 53 they really are supportive in my business. For this I am blessed.
Of course they do not give me any slack. I have to have a solid business. I have to run it smart, and make money and do the things that one does with a successful small business.
But trust me, there are those around me that want me to keep my day job, or better, find a day job; the family members that value medical insurance over independence. The best way to show them is to really be successful. After all, once you make it, they cannot take it away. And only you can give it to them.
I was talking to a very successful business owner, and I brought up medical insurance, and he really said something that made me stand up and take notice. He said, “We limit our selves so often. We put limits and conditions of all sorts on ourselves. We do not really believe that we can be successful.”
That conversation keeps looping through my head these days as I scope out my medical insurance options for the coming year. The cost for the average family seems to be in the $400-600 per month range. That is $5,000 to $7,000 a year. Regardless of the justification for this cost (much debated these days), some small business owners have this limiting belief that they cannot earn that much in free cash in their business.
That’s where the big family disagreement lies. A corporate job in a large company will probably offer insurance, however small business owners must provide for themselves. As a father with children, health insurance isn’t an afterthought; it’s a pay-first priority. The way I see it, whatever monetary goal I have for next year, I have to add $7K to that number before I do anything else.
I realize we all have our unique priorities. Insurance is an area where I agree to play it safe and stay covered, but not at the expense (literally) of my more pleasant goals. So the lack of a sweet benefits package becomes a hot button: when you venture out on your own, that corporate benefits safety net vanishes. With planning and goal setting, though, your destination becomes clearer and more stable than any future where your career is ultimately in someone else’s hands. When you’re starting a small business, it’s a good idea to figure out what you cannot live without, and where you may need to tighten your belt a little…knowing what you value makes starting your business feel less like a high wire balancing act than a so-called “safe” job with all the perks.
How big of a dream do you have? Do you really have a dream that pushes you, that makes you stretch, and includes everything you’d term ‘success’? Trust me, if you cannot find $7,000 in extra profit in your business for insurance for your family, then you really have set your sights on a mighty low goal.
Maybe you need to get back to basics in business. I mean redo your goals, find your desires and find your dreams again.
More on small business goals tomorrow…
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