Day #7 My Mentor told me to do this difficult exercise...

2/6 Sunday-- I did the super bowl thing for an hour and then got back to work.

And, here I am. I replied to all of my business and personal e-mails. The hardest e-mail of the evening was the one I had been putting off for about a week to our mentor. I expressed to him my doubts and fears about the business and he asked me to sit down and really think about what I want, where I want to be, and what I want to be doing when I am 50. He said not to worry about if I thought my wants were possible or not, just to write them down anyway…

I responded with the following:

Ideally, I would live in a house with my husband in a mid-large town (not small town) where it is warm most the year. My house would have a room with built-in bookshelves and I would have an office space to myself. I would have a pool, but I would be able to afford to hire people to take care of it. I would do the domestic duties along with my husband, so I wouldn’t hire anyone to clean, cook, etc. My house is not enormous, but I have a walk in closet and a big tub. My house would include an in-laws quarters that would be fully functional so my parents could be there without even coming into my house.

My husband and I would be able to take vacations at least 4-6 weeks out of the year and it would not be a struggle for us to go to dinner 1-2 a week. We would have the disposable income to go on weekend getaways if we want maybe 1 every 2 months. We would have 3-4 kids and we have the money to let them each do 1-2 sports/activities each year and we are also able to afford me staying home with them and having some babysitting help at least 15 hours a week. We can pay our bills and credit cards in full every month without having to worry about it. We still have money left over to save and to spend on things we want to do.

Ideally, I would have passive income from this company or something else, so I had the opportunity to get involved in other projects that I am really interested in. I want to be a writer and a teacher and a businessperson. I want to be a mom who can stay home and work around the kids’ schedules instead of being bound to a 9-5 job. I want to buy investment properties and hope to have a few by the time I am 50.

I hope this doesn’t sound too crazy. I am willing to work really hard and live meagerly as I have been doing to get all of this. I don’t expect it to be easy and I don’t expect anything to just be given to me.

This is probably way too much detail, but I am a writer, so I get carried away! Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about me.

I look forward to hearing your response.

AA

Day #6 Credit Cards are the Bane of my Existence

$400.00 down for my 90,000 mile check up on a car I don’t really want, but have to keep for now. $276.14 on Citi Business credit card—29% interest hike up because the last payment was late. ALL of my work last week as a tutor went to pay these bills. C forgot to pay the bills last month, two other ones (in addition to the Citi cards) were late. Their interest rate was hiked up to 22%. I freaked out on C about not remembering to pay the bills and then he was able to do the same thing to me today when I forgot to pick up the check on Friday that was going to get us out of this mess. We have one big account. When this restaurant is busy, they buy a lot of product and their one account pays all of our monthly minimum balances. This was a huge feat for us when it first happened. Now, it’s old hat and it’s not good enough and it is taking too long for us to dig ourselves out of this crazy business hole we got ourselves into.

(Obvious) Lesson of the Day: Pay your bills on time every time. Don't leave it to someone else to take care of ever, especially not someone who you don't completely trust to do things on time. Track all of your money and APR interest rates and keep it in mind at all times. I think it is too easy for people to just keep swiping their cards without realized that the shoes they just bought "on sale" are going to end up costing them tons more when bought with a credit card that has a balance and a high interest rate. Don't let this get out of control ever. It is very easy to get in the credit card hole and very hard to find your way out.

Finally, Citi Business is actually a great company to have a business card with. They hiked up the interest rate this particular time, but I called and explained the situation and they put it back down to 6% and refunded me money back for the fees. Plus, they were really nice and helpful on the phone.