A Personal Career Confession

It is Saturday
after the 4th of July, and as I sit in my boyfriend's empty and quiet apartment (he caught an early flight out of town this am) I decided to brew some coffee and write a quick blog post about some exciting things that are on my horizon. I have decided to put my efforts, well at least 50% of them back into designing and producing my women's clothing line. I designed and launched a small clothing line on my own about 3 years ago and was surprised by my initial success, as I really had no experience with any aspect of it, except for how to work a sewing machine. The success of the business was cut short because I was offered a full time job and took it. This action is one that I find myself thinking about often and contemplating a sense of regret. However, the full time job has turned into a great career, the type of career and work environment that some would kill for. I am surrounded by young, creative, smart and caring people everyday. I was promoted from a part-time bookkeeper to Accounting Manager to the Director of Operations of this successful small design studio in NYC in just 2 years. In that sense, my hard work for this company has paid off and I have so much respect for the company and the people that I work with and for everyday.

This is the confession part...
Working for someone else and in this job is not my passion and I want out. I have been silently struggling with this thought for months. I have been trying to push the though aside and remain happy and positive about what I have accomplished and what I have. In a sense I have built something within this company and myself. Perhaps this was my trial run. I have a feeling in my gut that there is more for me and that I should be on the other side of the employee/employer relationship. It is my dream to create a business and to work really hard for the success that I can truly call my own and that can put me on the path to financial freedom. This, I believe is the only way for me. Thank you for letting me confess my secret. I will be documenting my journey through this chapter and into the next.

Next steps:
*Get out of debt - I am working very hard on my credit card debt and should have this paid off by the spring.
*Emergency fund - I currently have 2 months of emergency funds in the bank and would like to have at lease 4.
*Work on passive streams of income to help financially support me - Blogging, investing, selling clothing samples at markets around the city
*Work on the clothing line in my free time - update my website, market it online and to stores, get people talking about it and get the presence going

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Get Out of Debt Strategy- 5 Simple Steps

Being in debt sucks. But taking control and digging yourself out of it is an amazing feeling. It will make you feel so good that you'll never get in the debt hole ever again, hopefully. These are the 5 steps that I have put into action for myself. I think it's working!

Step 1.) Income: Fun stuff first. What is your monthly take home pay from your main job? Maybe you  have more than one stream of income. How about your monthly eBay sales or your small clothing consignment business? It might only bring in $100/mo but every little bit counts.

Step 2.) Expenses: Do you ever think to yourself, "Hey I have a job. I make decent money. So why am I always broke?" Make a list of your monthly expenses including, rent, mortgage, utilities, phone, internet, cable, car payments, insurance, etc. Once you have your list you can actually see where your money is going. You might even notice some areas where you could cut back and reduce your monthly expense.

Step 3.) Liabilities: Liabilities are debts that you owe to someone. Credit card debt, student loan debt, car loans... these are all liabilities. Order your liabilities from the highest interest rate to the lowest. Your credit cards will probably be the highest since most have an APR upwards of 19%! When you make your list, make sure you note the principle amount due, minimum monthly payments, and the interest rate.

Step 4.) Math: Take your total income and subtract your expenses. This is like a first tier of your net income. Then subtract from that your liabilities. This is like your net-net income and is what you have to work with for the month. I like to separate the expenses from the liabilities so I can see what I would be working with had I not racked up that credit card AND how much extra I will have every month once all of my debts are re-payed. It's a huge motivator for me!

Step 5.) Pay the Debt!: If you can swing it, take a portion of your net-net income and make a higher payment on the highest interest carrying debt. It might be your credit card and it might only be $50 extra per month but it's something. Once this debt is paid, move on to the next highest interest carrying debt on your list and pay that min payment + the $50 that you had going towards the credit card and so on and so on. I put this into practice myself and i'm already halfway through the credit card debt. It's the quickest way to do it and the cheapest. The longer you sit on that debt the more money in interest you are paying to the creditors, which is what they want! Don't give them what they want! Taking control and getting out of debt is empowering!

Are you in debt? What's your get-out-of-debt strategy?

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Twitter Acquires TapCommerce and I Reap the Benefits

Twitter, TWTR is up! Finally. This was one of the first of a handful of stocks that I bought about a month ago and traded 10 shares. I was waiting for the right time to sell this one almost as soon as I bought it since it's been going sideways with a downward slant for weeks, it seems! (This could just be my emotions talking.) But this past week something shifted and it has been on the rise. Yesterday it closed at $40.97 up from what I paid, $34.70. That's a 15% gain! A quick Google search lead me to believe that it could be due to reports of a deal to buy TapCommerce, a mobile advertising company. The price? A cool $100M.

My goal with the stock market is to make reduced risk and conservative trades, cap my loses, and get out while i'm up enough to make a profit. Twitter, you're on my watch list!

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl