By Brian Shane Smith
Most people would agree that the news media likes crisis. They tend to overstate and inflame, not so much to share information so much as to sell more advertising or some more of their publications. Media hype creates a buzz that in turn sells more media which is precisely the goal of the publisher or the organization that owns the broadcast stations. For this reason many people lose trust in what the media is reporting, and take these stories less than seriously.
But to underestimate the implications of the global economic meltdown because one thinks it is simply media hype would be a grave error. The economic troubles and pressures facing not just our nation but the entire world are serious and very real. Regardless of your social status or station in life, this economic meltdown will have a direct effect upon you and your family both now and well into the future. There’ll be potential impact to your job and income, as well as to your accumulated wealth, your ability to create new wealth, and even your ability to maintain the wealth that you have already gathered.
If you’re not prepared for the economic meltdown, now is the time to start. There are many ways to do this, but the first and arguably the most logical is to take a detailed assessment of your life as it exists today. First assess your finances, particularly your income, your expenses, your accumulated wealth, as well as your goals and objectives for the future. You need to understand where you’re trying to go, and then assess the risks that you will face in achieving those goals.
Experts generally recommend that you start with the most critical areas first. If your income is at risk-and if you work for any company or any person, it is-you first need to take steps to secure your income in case the worst happens. If your company goes out of business, must release you, or even if they reduce your rate of pay, you need to have a contingency plan in place to deal with the crisis.
As a hedge against potential employment disaster, many people are turning to self-employment in order to create the kind of security and income that they need to survive anything that the economy throws at them down the road. Very often self-employment takes the form of a home-based business that leverages the Internet for direct marketing.
There many opportunities out there that provide this type of security to an individual, and require very little capital investment or prior experience. It simply takes a desire to move forward and a commitment to do so. As the economic meltdown worsens, it’s something you should probably consider.