During the last recession in the early 1990s, secondary income opportunities were springing up like molehills. More and more people were looking for an additional income that could be earned outside of working hours, incomes that would ease the pressure of financial worry. So why not swap a bit of telly time for a few extra pennies if it can relieve the burden of financial stress?
Several years ago I made a decision to write a feel-good story for teenagers. I knew I had a story to tell. I wanted to incorporate the benefits of believing in our abilities and promote the importance of having a dream. I also wanted to articulate a warning for the young by exposing the misleading promises that falsify the reality of success. Hope feeds an emotion in everyone; it naturally raises our level of expectation and leads us to believe that something good may happen. It also makes us vulnerable to the seductive promises that disguise a scam.
As young adults my husband and I could be forgiven for being extremely naive when we ventured into a secondary income business opportunity. We were young, impressionable and very receptive to the rewards on offer. Can the same be said for the thousands of others who also caught the same believability bug? Many were professionals, competent and educated. The common denominator between all of us was a need to generate additional income and a desire to achieve a dream.
With another recession looming, many households are already feeling the pressure of higher living costs. House prices are falling and credit is no longer so readily available. We’re advised to spend less and look for ways to increase our income. All good advice, but without overtime or part-time jobs to take, many people will feel trapped and maybe susceptible to the seductive rewards from income opportunities that promise to create a secure financial safety net..
The wise words of my grandma “ If you can’t afford it then do without,” still ring true and remind us that people from her generation didn’t get into a financial muddle because they simply had to make do. Credit wasn’t available and families weren’t pressurized by society into buying the latest ‘must haves’ for themselves, their children or their home. I remember as a child having to wait until my birthday or for Christmas to have that special some-thing that I wanted. It was the same for everyone and the anticipation leading up to those important days was magical. It also taught us the virtue of appreciation.
Without credit, progressive acquirement is a natural, if somewhat slow advancement if we’re fortunate enough to find a good job or succeed with a business of our own. So what happens when we’re offered the chance to better ourselves, to short-cut the system, to earn a nest egg for the unforeseeable rainy days – are we tempted to give it a go and invest that bit of telly time and the odd weekend, or do we just rub along happily with the way things are in the hope that the tough times will soon pass?
If you are considering a part time secondary income business, always look very closely at all the underlying facts to make sure the rewards actually do exist. Also, carefully assess the amount of time and effort that’s realistically required to achieve the desired results.
My husband and I traded a big segment of our past in pursuit of a promised illusion. We saw less and less of our young family and incurred substantial debt to meet the running costs, part of which was a training programme that guaranteed success. Thousands of others traded their most precious commodity too –their time. Children grew up with babysitters and what little money people could raise over the years was used to buy tickets for seminars and training material.
Writing ‘Through Rose-Coloured Glasses’ has helped me to gather back my life. It has given me a fresh cause for optimism and renewed my way of thinking. The immense feedback already received has rewarded my efforts to write. Through Rose-Coloured Glasses has lifted the spirits for many of its readers. The story is a humorous tale of innocent expectation with good wholesome values, set in a West Country village and explores the levels of moral judgment when friends are bestowed with a secret that promises to give them their dreams. A nostalgic theme reminds the reader that simple acts of kindliness and old-fashioned principles are equally important. It also demonstrates how precious family time is, with a subtle suggestion that children don’t need manufactured toys or expensive entertainment to enjoy themselves. My experience has taught me a valuable lesson – success isn’t measured by material possession, it represents our willingness to recognize, respond to and value life’s blessings and honour them unconditionally in the best way we can.
