Get Going 2 Get Growing

Don’t get the impression that I take pleasure in “I told you so” comments, particularly about a subject that brings so much pain to so many people.  Bottom line is the supposedly recovering economy is a farce to somewhere between 15,000,000 to 22,000,000 people who are unemployed or underemployed.  Unemployment continues to rise even though the stock market is up and factory productivity is up!  Its not supposed to work that way. By the time these indicators improve (sales and productivity), layoff’s should have stopped and hiring should have re-started.  Not this time!

Early this week the Feds announced that the United States is officially out of the Great Recession simply because we had one month of positive numbers in consumer sales and factory productivity!   Yet on Thursday (pretty much obliterated by the news of the massacre at Ft Hood) Feds announced another 190,000 job losses in October raising official unemployment to 10.2%.  Government forecasts predicted only 175,000 October job losses, but they missed that call like they’ve missed every prior month this year.

The explanation for why its happening this way can be found in my prior blogs (below),  “7 Reasons US Economy Doesn’t Favor Traditional Employment”

Why do I write all these ‘doom and gloom’ predications?  My mission is to advise you what I see evolving for America and to warn of a dramatically changing economy and how to cope.   So far, I havent provided much in the way of coping advice however I will begin to do so shortly. Self employment and entrepreneurship is at an all time high.  Mostly driven by not having jobs of course, and that is precisely the point….when good job prospects aren’t abundant, people turn to themselves to survive.

The very same influences that are changing the US economy to be unfavorable to traditional jobs, are positively influencing the entrepreneur.  Technology and the Global Economy are two of the biggest reasons entrepreneurs can be succesful much more easily today that ever before.

I will continue to keep you abreast of the economy and employment trends AND I will begin to comment on alternatives for survival and success in the New US Economy.  As the unemployment roles grow, many who have set out on their own, forgetting traditional employment, are doing just fine independently.

Till next time.  [Please see prior blogs below for a full explanation of the influences on the US Economy and how these are permanent changes]

Welcome to the first blog on the Get Going 2 Get Growing site.  To introduce you to GG2GG, I want to give you some background as to how this site and concept came into existence.

If you read “About Us”, you’ll see a bio on my partner, Geo, and me.  As you can see we have very different backgrounds and quite a gap in our ages.  The first question everyone asks is “how did you two get together” in this venture?  Answering the one question essentially explains how GG2GG came into existence.

Geo and I met originally at an Enlightened Wealth Institute conference.  EWI is the organization created by best selling author, Robert Allen.  EWI offers extensive training in various aspects of real estate investing as well as multiple streams of income.  Although I had ten years investing experience the wealth of training interested me enough to sign up for several programs.  Geo, who I met at a break, signed up for coursework as well.  Even though there was a wealth of available options, such that we should not have seen each other again, as it turns out, Geo and I bumped into each other at the next two training programs almost as if by divine intervention !

As we talked and became friends we realized we were on the same path.  Geo’s job was helping others deal with their issues hopefully to be better able to cope in society.  Like most in those roles his income certainly wouldn’t allow for any but the most basic necessities and not many of those…and there was no upside…ever !  Geo was ready for a complete life change in terms of how to make a much better living and not be hostage to a low paying job and the whim of an employer.

Conversely, I had just been “early retired” from a corporate career spanning over 30 years.  Although I had good earnings, savings and investments, I wasn’t ready for retirement for several years, particularly with a “201K” and real estate holdings (land) where values dropped like a rock and buyers disappeared overnight.  I had created over $1,000,000 of wealth in the stock market and even more in real estate in relatively short order yet lost it both times.  Losing 75% of your wealth approaching retirement will get your attention.  With little ‘runway’  and a financial plan in shambles, I was seeking safer ways to rebuild my wealth quickly so I would still be healthy and young enough to enjoy it.

Geo and I were on a collision course with destiny. During a Total Prosperity seminar in Orlando early in 2009, we decided to do something about our plight and the plight affecting so many others who did not have the income, wealth, freedom or independence they deserved.

As Paul Harvey would say….”Page Two”, however in the blogosphere, I must say “To be Continued on Blog Two”

Till next time and to a life of abundance.

Al Sauvageau