Seven Reasons Not to Send Your Kids to College (bachelors, Associates degree, master)

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by TouchOfWhimsy

Our house cleaner and landscaper work for themselves, not another company. That's why I wrote that their pay was "gross" pay. They have some overhead, of course, but when I write the landscaper a check for $25, it's in his name, not in any boss's, and if I need to call him, the phone rings at his house.

Well, he sure as heck isn't making the whole $25! There's the truck, the tools, the office (maybe in his home), the business license, any hired help, etc. He's really not supposed to use his home phone for business, and probably won't if his business continues to grow.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Well, he sure as heck isn't making the whole $25! There's the truck, the tools, the office (maybe in his home), the business license, any hired help, etc. He's really not supposed to use his home phone for business, and probably won't if his business continues to grow.

I don't know where you get he is not really supposed to use his home phone for business. There is no law I know of anywhere that says you need a separate phone for a home business. Home offices can often be written off on your taxes too *if* you keep good records and dedicate a room to the business.

[surburbangirlie]

Actually, some lawncare professionals make more than $25 per hour. My dad made at least that with his business. He never did a yard for under $30, and those took about an hour or so. There were other lawncare professionals, though, who simply sent a bunch of hired labor to various job sites, paid the laborers minimum wage, and charged full price for the lawns, if I'm not mistaken. This method seems like it would have covered more ground and gotten more lawns finished more quickly. I'm not sure about the quality of work, though.

There are drawbacks to the lawncare business, however, and one of the biggest ones is upkeep of equipment. If you factor in the total cost of repairs and replacements, a professional lawncare business probably makes a lot less. One commercial quality mower can cost around $1,000, and that's a regular walk-behind. Repair expenses were my dad's biggest complaint about the business.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by nana053

I don't know where you get he is not really supposed to use his home phone for business. There is no law I know of anywhere that says you need a separate phone for a home business. Home offices can often be written off on your taxes too *if* you keep good records and dedicate a room to the business.

I was reading an article once that said you are reall not supposed to use a residential phone for your business. Theoretically, you are supposed to install a business line. Lots of people do use their home phones for business.

Some costs of a home office can be written off, but the deductions have become more limited over the years.

[sailordave]

"Originally Posted by nana053
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

If you want to position yourself for maximum growth in job openings, the various medical fields are promising, including:

Dental Hygienist
Sonographer
Radiation Therapist
Physical Therapy Assistant
Respiratory Therapist
Cardiovascular Tech

ALL of these jobs require some after high school education. A dental hygienist requires a bachelor's degree. Physical Therapy Assistant requires an associate's degree."[/i]

The question was careers that don't require a college degree.

[sailordave]

one of my co-workers runs a lawn care business on the side. He has several employees he manages who go to homes and business he has contracts with. He does this even though he has almost no computer skills and little reading skills. However, he's great at math and performs many calculations in his head correctly without needing a calculator.

Originally Posted by collegestudentfromalabama

Actually, some lawncare professionals make more than $25 per hour. My dad made at least that with his business. He never did a yard for under $30, and those took about an hour or so. There were other lawncare professionals, though, who simply sent a bunch of hired labor to various job sites, paid the laborers minimum wage, and charged full price for the lawns, if I'm not mistaken. This method seems like it would have covered more ground and gotten more lawns finished more quickly. I'm not sure about the quality of work, though.

There are drawbacks to the lawncare business, however, and one of the biggest ones is upkeep of equipment. If you factor in the total cost of repairs and replacements, a professional lawncare business probably makes a lot less. One commercial quality mower can cost around $1,000, and that's a regular walk-behind. Repair expenses were my dad's biggest complaint about the business.

[sailordave]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

sailordave wrote:

Don't pick a career just for the pay. Pick a career based upon what you enjoy. Sure, there are things I don't like about my job. But what I enjoy most about my job is making the patients comfortable. I work in a hospital boiler room working with the generators, heating/cooling system, fire alarm system, medical gas system, elevators, and other equipment. I've rescued people trapped in elevators, fixed patient AC to make them comfortable, put out small fires, ran the generators during hurricanes, and various other things I enjoy doing for the patients and their family. It's the simple things that bring a smile to their face. Recovering a child's toy, turning on the closed caption for someone who has trouble hearing, repairing a patient's glasses, or removing from the toilet some maxipads a child took from her mom's purse. The job is mentally and physically challenging because on nights and weekends there is only one person here to take all the trouble calls for the entire hospital while monitoring all the systems for 8 other buildings. I've even had to assist in the ER a few times because of things that had to be removed from patients and the ER staff didn't have the tools for such items like wrought iron candle stick holders, pipes, or 2x4 wood board for example. I helped with the candle stick (took four guys to safely remove it). Sometimes we have to think on our feet because things come up which we're not trained for. Things like a snake in an office building next to the hospital, child tried to flush yogurt down the toilet (it floated and wouldn't go down), someone walking into the ER with a python wrapped around him, foil gift balloons blowing out a transformer that supplies power to the hospital, and someone leaving the windows open in an empty patient room and is now filled with pidgeons. They're hard to catch and throw out the window.

You, and people like you are the real hero's in our society. Due to a society wide mis-perception of real value, you end up in the shadows of movie stars and professional athletes, rarely receiving the acknowledgement that you deserve.

I served 8 years in the military so I'm use to that. There isn't one single celebrity or athlete that is my hero. When I got out of the Navy I wanted to be a local firefighter but the pay was so small at the time that I wouldn't have been able to pay my child support. The starting pay at the time (around 2000) was about $6.90 an hour. My fire fighting training from the Navy was another factor in my being hired for this job. Our helicopter landing pad is on the roof and if the helicopter crashes and catches fire, we're the first responders until the fire department arrives. My first ship was a helicopter carrier and we were trained to fight regular and helicopter fires (USS Iwo Jima LPH-2).

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I was reading an article once that said you are reall not supposed to use a residential phone for your business. Theoretically, you are supposed to install a business line. Lots of people do use their home phones for business.

Some costs of a home office can be written off, but the deductions have become more limited over the years.

I wish you had a reference to the article.

Here's the IRS's advice on phones for home businesses

IRS Advice on Business Use of Your Home | Company Activities & Management > Company Structures & Ownership from AllBusiness.com

Since you can't dedicate your regular home phone to business use, you cannot deduct it, but there is no reason you cannot use it as your business phone other than the fact that you can't take the expense as a tax deduction. Frankly, the cost of the second line exclusively for business may or may not be worth it.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by nana053

I wish you had a reference to the article.

Here's the IRS's advice on phones for home businesses

IRS Advice on Business Use of Your Home | Company Activities & Management > Company Structures & Ownership from AllBusiness.com

Since you can't dedicate your regular home phone to business use, you cannot deduct it, but there is no reason you cannot use it as your business phone other than the fact that you can't take the expense as a tax deduction. Frankly, the cost of the second line exclusively for business may or may not be worth it.

I wish I had it, too. I did several searches, using all sorts of different word combinations, and got mostly stuff about VOIP, Skype, etc. I read this article some time ago. It did say that technically, you are not supposed to use your residential phone for business use, but that most people ignore that and get away with it.

[CosmicWizard]

When I had home based businesses in the 90s, my home phone number always doubled as my business number too. The volume of business conducted didn't warrant the expense of a second phone line. The value of the tax write off for a second line wouldn't have been enough to cover the cost of the second line, so I was never willing to spend the money for a second line. Are those sirens in the background from the IRS....coming to take me away Ha Ha, Ho Ho, Hee Hee!