The Savvy Entrepreneur

Talk about procrastination. In about 2 minutes, Blog Action Day 2008 will be over (at least in this part of the world). Better late than never, I guess.

I’ve been racking my brain for a month trying to figure what angle to take on the poverty issue.  Why I am so hesitant to write about this topic?  Maybe it’s because I don’t know enough about the issues surrounding worldwide poverty.  Maybe it’s because I think it’s a depressing topic, and I don’t want to think about it, much less write about it on my blog.

So what I’m going to do is get really personal, and hope that I make some sense at the end of it all.

I would like to preface this by saying I know what it’s like to be well off. Not rich, but comfortable. When my parents were together, we had a nice big home with big yard. I wore new clothes and got new toys. There was always more than enough to eat.

I also know what it’s like to be poor — poor as in my mother had no money in her account, was unemployed and we only one box of KD left in the pantry.

After my parents divorced, my mom was left with three girls to support, and my father wasn’t too fond about paying child-support. I remember handing my mom an alimony check of $75 from my father and thinking “That’s only 25 bucks per kid for the entire month. How cheap.” I can’t begin to tell you how that sort of information messes up the head of a preteen.

Shopping for new clothes meant going to the second-hand store during their bag sale — whatever clothes we could fit in a green garbage bag cost $10. We thought we were so lucky, coming home with this huge bag of “new” clothes. High school was tough, but I learned that what I wore on the outside was not a reflection of who I was on the inside.

There were times when we were so broke, my mother didn’t know where our next meal would come from. Friends would buy bags of groceries and anonymously leave them on our porch.

But you know what? My mother was a fighter, my mother was a survivor (and she still is today). She wasn’t going to throw her arms up and give in. And she certainly wasn’t going to play the victim. That meant getting creative.  It also meant swallowing her pride, and doing jobs others weren’t so willing to do, like cleaning.  She knew she had a responsibility to her girls and to herself. She would do whatever it took to make ends meet.

Through poverty, my mother taught me live a simpler kind of life and to use resources around me.  For example, we always had a garden. She canned every year. She taught me how to sew my own clothes. She showed me how to shop frugally and make food stretch. I learned to bargain hunt. I was taught to work hard and to be proud of a task well done. We enjoyed activities as a family that cost nothing.

As difficult as times were back then, we always had something to eat (even if it was just pasta and butter), we always had clothes to wear (even if they were hand-me-downs) and we always had a roof over our head (even if it was a dingy 2 bedroom apartment).

What practical application do these lessons hold for me today?

First of all, I’m not ashamed to shop for bargains. I don’t want my kids to grow up with the mentality that they have to have new clothes and the latest gadgets in order to be accepted or happy.

Second, I am versatile, adaptable. What I mean is if something isn’t working, I’m willing and ready to do something else. For example, my coaching practice is not bringing in enough money to be a valuable contribution to our finances.

I’m faced with a number of options, all of which I’m willing to do if it’s for the best of my family:

• Ride it out and hope for the best.
• Get a “real” job.
• Give up the whole entrepreneurial thing to be a stay-at-home-mom.
• Open my home for child care services.
• Change my coaching niche.
• Have a garage sale.
• Relaunch my Virtual Assistant business.
• Clean houses.
• Etc…. the options are endless

Unlike many people in this country who use their poverty as an excuse to get a free ride, I choose to let poverty be my guide, my inspiration and my driving force.

Being poor doesn’t mean being unhappy. While I’m not poor now, by any means, I don’t fear living with less.

I’m not sure if this post meets the objectives of Blog Action Day 2008. I don’t know if this post will make a difference in your life. But one thing I do know, is that as I reflect on all the lessons poverty has taught me I have much to be grateful for.

Thank you, poverty. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me to fight!