I Is For Insurance/Income Protector

One of the issues we need to consider as business owners is how to bring in money when we are sick and incapacitated in some way.

In South Africa, many employers provide insurance that allows you to be paid your salary/a portion of it while you're on medical leave. We also have an unemployment fund, from which one can claim during the time that they are incapacitated.

However, as small business owners, we don't have the luxury of an employer ensuring that you have benefits that include your medical aid (what we call health insurance) or your income protector, which makes out a regular payment to you for the duration of your illness.

We also have to consider how to ensure that we have a decent income if we become disabled, even if we manage to find a new way of working after a life-changing illness.

This is something that you need to do for yourself. The big question is, have you? If you were sick for two months or more, is your income going to be affected? Before you run off, this is not a sponsored post and I'm not trying to sell you anything:-)

It's just that several things have gotten me thinking about the issue:

H Is For Home Office

My new home office (Black blob on the floor is my bag:-)

One of the most difficult lessons I've had to learn since I moved to Phokeng is that the space where you work matters and it's difficult to focus on the work at hand when your work station is unsettled.

Initially I worked where I could, when I could. I had a big table with my computers, printer and laptop in  my bedroom, but it didn't feel like a proper place to work. So I roamed about in the house, telling myself it was nice to be so mobile. And it sounds very nicely creative. However, the situation was not working as it should.

Here are some of the benefits of having a home office, whether it's an outside cottage, a room separate from the rest of your house or a corner in one of the family rooms:

You Get What You Pay For

Some months ago I was very excited about buying a universal adaptor el cheapo. Well, it seems that I was due for the harsh lesson that we all know but choose to ignore when someone tells us we can get what we want as a bargain: you get what you pay for.

The short story being, about two months after I bought the adaptor, it's not working. I took it to the computer place, wanting a replacement. But it only had a month's guarantee :-(. So he's taking it in to be fixed and says I'll get it back Wednesday next week.

I do have a PC to work on, but I have no access to most of the files I was working on ( as mine is a small business, I don't have a serverand I back up weekly). And that is affecting ongoing projects, especially the ones where I'd already drafted the article and just needed to finish. In some case, it means a complete rewrite. So glad I use gmail as my default address, as it allows me to access my emails seamlessly.

I think I should also keep this lesson in mind when I'm dealing with potential clients who try to negotiate my prices down to ridiculous levels, especially the ones who mention ( oh so in passing) that some other company they got a quote from charges a fraction of what I'm quoting: you get what you pay for. That service provider you think is cheap - is he operating on a shoestring budget to try to keep to the prices you demand? And how long do you think he/she will be able to stay in business, if his/her revenues are cut to the bone?

Your thoughts on the issue of price? Are you wary of vendors who sell you stuff are very low/ridiculous prices? Do you wonder if they'll be there tomorrow to provide aftercare service if your gadget broke?