Think As Inc

YOUR MAGIC NUMBER

How much money would you need to be financially free?  A simple rule of thumb is that you can withdraw 4% each year out of your portfolio without running out of money.  Therefore, find out how much you spend each year and multiply by 25.  If you spend $60,000 each year (or $5,000 per month), then you need $1.5 MM to be financially free (because 25 x $60,000 is $1.5 MM, and 4% of $1.5 MM is $60,000).  In this example, $1.5 MM is your magic number.

Knowing your magic number is important to career and life planning because it gives you a quantifiable perspective.  If you have a low paying profession with low salary growth but have a high magic number, then you need additional money coming in or a drop in what you spend.  Either way, knowing your magic number forces you to make conscious choices.  Do you still love that job, now that you know it is incompatible with your financial priorities?  How can you keep that job and reach your financial goals another way (e.g., by saving more or spending less)?  Is the type of job you have always low-paying, or are you not where you should be in your career right now?

Your magic number may change over time.  You may find that your expenses go up (e.g., when you have kids) or go down (e.g., when you pay off your house).  You may find that your lifestyle tastes change and you require more money (e.g., you discover a love for travel) or less (e.g., you simplify your life).  There is no right or wrong magic number.  It is a subjective goal, but it helps put your choices in an objective context.

Your magic number is a starting point to measure where you are and where you want to be.  Use your magic number to question your career path, your financial habits, your lifestyle, and your future goals.  There is nothing magic about the number itself, but if it prompts you to take an inventory of your current life prospects, then there may be something magical in the result.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

Quite often we change jobs, friends and spouses instead of ourselves. – Akbarali H. Jetha 

Does that quote resonate with you?  Or perhaps it reminds you of your complaining friend who whines about everything without ever mentioning his role in the problem.  Remember:  your life is your business; your relationships, professional and personal, represent clients.  What you get from them is in exchange for what you give.  If there is a problem, you need to be part of the solution.

We see this in everyday business, when we buy and are therefore clients to someone else.  Our cable service is fuzzy, so we complain to customer service, and depending on the way we are treated, we continue being clients or we take our business elsewhere.  We recognize the importance of customer service when we are customers.  How effective is our customer service to people who “buy” from us? 

Your boss indicates several areas of improvement during your annual review.  Be glad that she is so forthcoming.  Welcome the chance to show how adaptable you are.  Great companies realize that customer complaints are an opportunity.  They identify an unmet need.  They give the company a chance to prove itself in adversity.  Are you ready to take advantage of the opportunity your boss’ feedback offers?  If you haven’t gotten feedback lately, ask for it.

Thinking of your relationships as clients doesn’t mean that they become transactional.  These are still relationships – dynamic, changing, and therefore open to problems.  Even if the initial exchange was smooth, the relationship may change.  You need to be vigilant that you are continually meeting the needs of your clients.  You need to have an internal customer service operation that seeks out feedback and adjusts where problems arise.  You can of course always walk away.  Even good businesses drop certain clients.

But the solution may not always be to quit your job or get new friends.  You may just need to provide better customer service.

Choosing Empowerment

At a corporate-sponsored lunch for working mothers, one of the recurring themes discussed was how unsupportive the corporate environment was.  The company did not have family-friendly policies.  Colleagues were covertly resentful.  Spouses were not pulling their weight. 

In a similar vein, I recently read an article on Zoe Cruz in The Glass Hammer.  “Last Woman Standing: The Firing of Zoe Cruz”  http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2008/05/07/last-woman-standing-the-firing-of-zoe-cruz/  The article provides an illuminating case on gender discrimination even in the uppermost echelons of the workplace.

The points made by the moms and by the article were compelling to me.  At the same time, playing the blame game was exhausting and made it harder to concentrate on my work.  Even if all the arguments are true, and it is harder for me to succeed as a parent, a woman (and you can find similar arguments for minorities which covers me as well…it’s like an obstacle trifecta!) then what?

In a fight between you and the world, bet on the world. – Franz Kafka 

I often find myself saying things like “that’s just the way it is…”   It’s as if one should give up and bet on the world. 

Yet, in the choice between blame and empowerment, I choose empowerment and to bet on myself.  I choose to believe that I have enough (skills, networks, determination) to succeed.  It is hard enough to parent and build a business and create art and find appropriately priced real estate (still!) without focusing on whether or not there are additional obstacles set against me. 

I hear many people talk about external challenges (the market’s not good, the timing’s not right, something about the world is conspiring against them).  Many times, they are accurate in what they describe.  But there are enough alternative examples, if you choose to pay attention to those instead, of people who manage somehow, anyway.  It’s much more empowering to know that you can find a way.  In a fight between you and the world, choose empowerment.