Sunday, February 28, 2010

Shoeshine Boy


People often lament that they're aren't any jobs available.
The same people complain that they cannot live off of $7.25 an hour (minimum wage).
Odd - many of these same people are living off of zero dollars an hour.
I just caught a story on the CBS Sunday show which featured a middle aged woman who runs a shoe shine company.
The lady only hires women and she even shines shoes herself.
When no one else is hiring - hire yourself.

9 comments:

Freeman said...

Man UBJ I got people arguing with me that making 300 a dollars a week with their small business. Saying it's not worth it when they are sitting around catching unemployment doing nothing. I'm telling them all kind of NO Tax hustles that they can do and they still don't want to do them. Someone even told me the Time Value of Money LMBAO! People are smart enough to know they are too smart to Hustle and Do for Self!

This recession is like dealing with the aftermath of a A-bomb! People are disoriented and the sky is orange. All kinds of logic is going out the window and someone is speaking Japanese to me.

uglyblackjohn said...

I keep having my young cousins doing manual labor (Lobor that someone named "Manual" is supposed to be doing.).
When their freinds see the money in their pockets and the new kicks on their feet (Not all new all the time - they have to pay for them themselves) they stop talking ish.
I've had some messed up jobs before.
Everything from pulling weeds for a dollar an hour as a kid - to making boxes on the graveyard shift.
It wasn't cool but my bills were paid.
The thing is - I'm TERRIBLE with money. (I've just always had people around me to bail me out when I squndered resources.)
I'm actually a lot better now that I'm trying to teach responsibility to others.
Sometimes it time to get back to basics.

CNu said...

really really good shoe shines...,

uglyblackjohn said...

Ummm. THAT'S something different...
But still - they're paying their bills.

Anonymous said...

So, you just figured out the root problems of the urban crisis? "Just go hire yourself, young buck." Somebody call William Julius Wilson.

Reggie said...

My grandfather used to always say, "when you can't make a dollar, make a dime".

If I started a shoeshine business, I just might hire women too, it's a good idea. There are a slew of men out there that would rather a woman shine their shoes than a man.

Val said...

Yep, self-employment is a joy! Btw, did you know that Black women have been starting their own businesses at a higher rate than any other group over the last decade?

brohammas said...

Not to defend the lazy but the modern model of specialization makes self employment difficult. Dentists are notorious for opening their own practice and quickly going broke in an industry where people normally make 200K working for someone else.
We are taught to do one thing and focus on that thing.
Artists think being a salesman is sacrelige, Corperate hacks think anything artistic is a waste of energy and resource, and most of my football players only give one answer when I ask what position they play.
Dang it, you are a better dentist if you can balance the books, you will starve if you dont sell your art, art is only a waste if you don't capitalize on it's value, and for heavens sake if we only have 15 guys on the team SOME OF YOU PLAY OFFENSE AND DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!

Makes it hard to branch out when we are all sold that we should focus on one thing.

uglyblackjohn said...

@ Anon - Yep.

@ Reg - You're egrandfather was a smart man.

@ Val - Yeah... I wonder why?
Maybe these women have been conditioned to be more independent.

@ brohammas - Nah man...
If no one is hiring you, start a business.
I think Kobe, Lebron and Tiger are doing better as employees than they would as owners of their local corner store.
This post was addressed to those who say there are no jobs.