Economy

Well it would seem like the economy is improving, at least mine is slowly showing improving signs. At least some of my contacts are back and want to talk about things. The Dow went up and money seems to flow a little easier. Barring any new outbreaks I think it’s safe to say we’re hitting bottom at last. Don’t get too excited because it will be a long time till things are actually good again, if ever. But at least I’m seeing signs that things have stopped sliding and may just level off if the bankers don’t get their way and go back to risky investments again. I had to get on a do not contact list to stop the credit-cards offers from coming, I’d get a half dozen in a month. You know the world isn’t right when you’ve lost your business because of health issues and there still trying to sell you a credit card.

I feel like the banking institutions got themselves into trouble and brought us all along for the downhill ride. Ditto for the wall-street types with their huge rewards all for taking risk’s and having we taxpayers to save their butts. We small business types take risks each and every day we operate, we take the risks of failure as a given. But there is no one to save us from our own follies we’re just allowed to fail and it’s left to us to pick up the pieces and start again, if we can. No kindly uncle is there to pat us on the back and shake his head and say try again little one and don’t be sad. I could have used someone like that, instead my friends pitched in to help me recover for the first year and a half when I truly was going under. It was the little people who helped me and saved me from the streets.

At least that’s my take on thing and only my opinion, I am not an economist or a writer of the economy. Lin can give you a much broader picture of the economy and who when wrong and where. I’m just telling you what I see and feel going on around me. First I had to stop by the post office to buy stamps and the clerk asked me how long ago I had my picture taken on my driver-license. He told me I looked younger somehow and that compliment started my day. Then I hadn’t seen one of my friends for about a year, he was very complimentary about how I looked and remarked on how profession I seemed. Then I got the meeting I wanted with my two friends that have gotten a project into the planning stage and want to include me. So it was a good day for my ego and a better day for pocketbook issues. Now I can actually see myself getting back to shooting professionally and getting back to having models again. I have miss that part of my life so much words fail me.

So things look pretty strong in my little piece of the forest, things are getting settled and pieces of the sky aren’t crashing all around me for now. People are actually breathing easier and have things to look forward to. An improvement in people’s piece of mind’s and attitude as the dust begins to settle. I know without a doubt that the pain is going to linger awhile and lots more people are going to get hurt and I feel for them. I just thank my lucky stars that I have some good contacts, good friends that want to see me succeed with them. That I have a good reputation that people know and trust. I know that without a doubt that my friends were the key to my survival and that only the people who knew me were going to give me a chance to get back into the game.

Farewell

I went to a party last night for a friend of mine who was laid off earlier this year. It came without warning and surprised the community. It seems like three of the head people were laid off in the same period, three top earners in the company gone. Now we’re left with a hole in the tourism community and her parting will be missed. There were at least two others who were well connected with city projects who were also let go. We’ve always been well insulated in this state of ours as we do a lot of tourism business. But the time are hard and we’re not immune from the downturn. Our community also has a strong military base and in recent years that too has been affected. Now the life’s blood of our community is undergoing a new phase of development, the rules have changed and no one seems to know what they are.

I used to make a pretty decent living off tourism and the film industry in the days went they were humming. But now all bets are off and only the agile will survive. Everyone is left scrambling for a job the will give them some cash and hoping they can recover that lost income. But the days of easy money are over and we must all learn new ways of doing business. I’m thinking that the world of business has been shook up pretty good and that better day’s are ahead but we’re in for some rough times until then. I also feel that this is for the long term good of the world’s economy. We have to change out ways of doing business, get back to making things and not finances that no one can figure out. Blue collar, decent hard working people the world over have been hurt. Their share of the pie has been squandered and they have been left holding the empty bag. There is nothing wrong with labor and hard work, it’s been devalued for far too long. When my father was a young man he worked with his hands. He was a glass blower in his younger days and put in some really hard days. His handy work can still be seen in a few signs around town.

I think it also time that we as a country learn to grow up and start paying our own way. For too long our leader’s have been putting off the present by expecting the younger generation to foot the bills that we’re too cheap to pay. Everyone wants their cake and to be able to eat it too. More and more but let’s not bring up how much it’s costing, we’ll leave that to the future. We have to be willing to pay more in taxes to cover health cost. We have to be willing to pay more for gas to promote energy efficient cars and policies that make sense going forward. For a long time Republicans and Democrats have been playing a game of smoke and mirrors with us. We need to pay a more realistic cost to cover that expense. No one wants their taxes raised but we all want more services. We have to pay for them now and not put our expenses on the backs of the children. Europe has the right idea, they pay more in taxes and pay more for gas. Gasoline has been undervalued for so long that we have been cushion for years and years. That hasn’t meant that we haven’t been paying, it just’s come out of a different pocket. The government has been subsidizing a part of each gas purchase so we don’t know how much gas really costs. Smoke and mirrors, concentrate on the small stuff and watch the public divide.

I don’t know if the government plans will work out, I hope so with all my heart. We’re off to a good start but good start still means you have to run the race. We all have to pitch in and do what’s right for our country; Europe has one idea, Germany another and France yet another. Let’s hope they all succeed no one has an edge on the truth or know’s what to really do. But it’s time we level with the people who have the most to gain, the hard working people.

Economy

My personal economy has hit me pretty hard this year, I’ve had to put my plans on hold for now. The first of the year a good client I’d been counting on was let go to find a new job. We had been planning a series of shoots that would have carried me well into the new year. I’ve been working with her for over 5 year now and it was a great working relationship. I’ve been giving the person who replace her a chance to settle in before I contact them. Then another client gave me word that his budget has been scaled back by 15%, that was where my money was to be found. Again another 5 year relationship that had worked well gone in a heartbeat. So now I’m left scrambling and trying to make other contact’s work and I’ve had to scale back as a result.

It’s a tough life being a free-lancer, everyone seem to think that it’s great that you can work as you please. The reality is you work when you can and the other time is spent trying to get work. I had a friend come to visit and I told her I just needed a couple of minutes on the phone then we’d go for breakfast. Three hours later I was ready and she was starved.. Funny life not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from or when it will arrive. In the pasts I’ve had my share of fallow periods, feast or famine. Period of where I’ve had to move to find work and then needed the time to start over and build up contacts. But I’m too old for that now and I have setup roots.

The stroke is another determining factor I no longer have that ability to scramble like I use to. Now I think and move slower and I don’t process things and quickly as I should. Hell maybe it’s my age, I don’t know anymore but I still care as if were yesterday. I’m working with a number of friends trying new things and the tried and true things. But nothing is happening fast enough to suit me or my creditors. I know that given enough time I can pull through, I’ve got a whole history build upon that, I’m just impatient. Now there is a lot more competition and their a lot younger and not as much opportunities to go around. It’s survival of the fittest in it’s finest tradition and I have to get used to my place. But damn it’s hard when your used to being number one in the food-chain. I’m not ready yet to seed my place in the line but I may not have the choice any longer.

So gone is my small buffer for future work for the time being. I have to concentrate on the immediate future instead of investing in a longer range plans for now. I’ve taken the last year to sort of retool my thinking and my skills to make a better match for the new demands. Change is hard, it never was easy but we all have to confront it head on or be pushed aside. I keep thinking of all those nature show of wolf packs. Snow flying everywhere trying to catch their prey and the older wolf falling behind and not being able to catch-up. Wolves don’t have a very good retirement plan only sharp teeth..., and the teeth that get there first are the only one’s that eat.

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My friend Esperanza, she came down for a quick shoot by the glass wall and had such a good time she called in sick and spent the afternoon.