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Author Topic: Any Babbler Small Business Owners?
Sven
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 9972

posted 21 March 2006 02:01 AM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm curious...how many babblers are small business owners?
From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Cueball
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4790

posted 21 March 2006 02:02 AM      Profile for Cueball   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Me on and off for 15 years.
From: Out from under the bridge and out for a stroll | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
Sven
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 9972

posted 21 March 2006 02:07 AM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Cueball:
Me on and off for 15 years.

What kind of business? Did you have many employees?


From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Cueball
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4790

posted 21 March 2006 02:30 AM      Profile for Cueball   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
As many as five, on regular basis and then occasional help up to twenty persons.
From: Out from under the bridge and out for a stroll | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
lakeles
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10788

posted 21 March 2006 12:29 PM      Profile for lakeles   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I own an All Season Resort in NE Sask. 10 employees during summer.

As a small business owner, want to know what really ticks me off:

1. Farm Income supplements. I can appreciate the farm industry, but my business is subject to the weather too. Nobody wants to help me, and hand me money cause it rained all last summer.

2. Wage Assistant Programs. Unless my business can offer a professional position, we don't qualify. What happened to just paying kids to work, so they can afford to go to school?

3. Unions. They had their time & place. That has long since passed & they should join Jimmy Hoffa.

Sorry, I got on a roll, and this is your questions.


From: Beautiful Turtle Lake in the Saskatchewan Boreal Forest | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
scott
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 637

posted 21 March 2006 12:34 PM      Profile for scott   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Artisan in 3rd year as a business. 1 1/2 workers including myself.
From: Kootenays BC | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
jester
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11798

posted 21 March 2006 12:47 PM      Profile for jester        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
oil field consultant,retired general contractor/developer 30+years
From: Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain | Registered: Jan 2006  |  IP: Logged
skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 21 March 2006 12:51 PM      Profile for skdadl     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Are freelancers/contract workers/the "outsourced" considered to be small-business owners?

If so, that's me, and there's a bunch of us about. I have never employed anyone else, although I have subcontracted a couple of times.


From: gone | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
unionist
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11323

posted 21 March 2006 02:05 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm a big business worker. Do I need to start a separate thread, or do you have room for dialectics?
From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11323

posted 21 March 2006 02:12 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lakeles:

3. Unions. They had their time & place. That has long since passed & they should join Jimmy Hoffa.

Serious? You want us to join the Teamsters (current president: James Hoffa Jr.)? Thanks, but they're too tough for my taste. I'll stick with my own union.

James P. Hoffa, International President, IBT


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064

posted 21 March 2006 02:15 PM      Profile for 'lance     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lakeles:
3. Unions. They had their time & place. That has long since passed & they should join Jimmy Hoffa.

Tsk, tsk. Some people just have no respect for the missing.


From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged
Lard Tunderin' Jeezus
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1275

posted 21 March 2006 02:21 PM      Profile for Lard Tunderin' Jeezus   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm another small business owner here. No direct employees, but I do hire freelancers several times a year, and keep an accountant busy for a week or so annually.

[ 21 March 2006: Message edited by: Lard Tunderin' Jeezus ]


From: ... | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged
lakeles
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10788

posted 21 March 2006 02:54 PM      Profile for lakeles   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You're right! I got off track & picked on the poor Hoffa family's name. I take back my crude remarks.
I should have simply said that I personally wish that all Union Leaders would jump off a bridge, in cement shoes....

From: Beautiful Turtle Lake in the Saskatchewan Boreal Forest | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
obscurantist
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8238

posted 21 March 2006 02:58 PM      Profile for obscurantist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Well, thanks for clarifying things.

[ 21 March 2006: Message edited by: Yossarian ]


From: an unweeded garden | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11323

posted 21 March 2006 03:01 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lakeles:

I should have simply said that I personally wish that all Union Leaders would jump off a bridge, in cement shoes....

I passed your message along to my Local President (see photo below). He said he'd like to thank you personally for your suggestion. Mind if I pass along your profile information?


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
lakeles
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10788

posted 21 March 2006 03:12 PM      Profile for lakeles   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
ok, you win, you have made me chuckle! In fact, I feel a down-low belly laugh coming on! Damn you anyway!
From: Beautiful Turtle Lake in the Saskatchewan Boreal Forest | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11323

posted 21 March 2006 03:28 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lakeles:
ok, you win, you have made me chuckle! In fact, I feel a down-low belly laugh coming on! Damn you anyway!

No sweat, Brother, I was just pulling your chain. To show there are no hard feelings, I'm enclosing this union application card - no postage required, just sign, scan, and post it here. Solidarity Forever - For the Union Makes Us Strong!


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
glasstech
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 11534

posted 21 March 2006 03:33 PM      Profile for glasstech     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Used to have 2 employees, now down to just me.
From: Whitehorse, Yukon | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
Albireo
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3052

posted 21 March 2006 05:29 PM      Profile for Albireo     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lakeles:
3. Unions. They had their time & place. That has long since passed & they should join Jimmy Hoffa.
Interestingly, in countries like Canada that have unions, their time is long gone, people say. Why would we need unions when we have a 40-hour work week, weekends off, generally reasonable pay, a minimum wage (such as it is), and workplace safety standards? It doesn't occur to them that the very things that are offered up as proof that we don't need unions any more are the very same things that unions fought for and achieved, and which we have -- even in many non-union positions -- precisely because of unions. And the weaker unions become, the less secure these protections become for all of us.

In many countries throughout the developing world the time for unions has not yet come. They don't have unions, or have powerless ones. And in many of these same countries, there are people working 6-7 day weeks, and 10-14 hour days. There are factories paying people a dollar a day to work in degrading and unsafe conditions. And a person who tries to organize a union to improve the situation can be beaten, raped or killed, and the government won't lift a finger to help. And there is no shortage of people like "lakeles" right now in places like that to tell people that it's neither the time nor the place for unions.

[ 21 March 2006: Message edited by: Albireo ]


From: --> . <-- | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged
sandpiper
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10581

posted 21 March 2006 05:32 PM      Profile for sandpiper     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have graphic design firm, and have the entrepreneur spirit in my genes. No employees - just a lot of contracting out to members of my art co-op.

I thought this bit in the link was interesting:

quote:
My own business perspective has been limited to that small hotel and restaurant in Stratford, Conn., with an especially difficult lease and a severe recession. But my business associates and I also lived with federal, state and local rules that were all passed with the objective of helping employees, protecting the environment, raising tax dollars for schools, protecting our customers from fire hazards, etc. While I never doubted the worthiness of any of these goals, the concept that most often eludes legislators is: `Can we make consumers pay the higher prices for the increased operating costs that accompany public regulation and government reporting requirements with reams of red tape.' It is a simple concern that is nonetheless often ignored by legislators.

From: HRM | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
Transplant
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 9960

posted 21 March 2006 09:04 PM      Profile for Transplant     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Self-employed. Just me, but I hire freelance assistants when needed.
From: Free North America | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
faith
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4348

posted 21 March 2006 09:23 PM      Profile for faith     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
self employed but occassionally hire summer help when conducting workshops.
From: vancouver | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged
Wilf Day
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3276

posted 22 March 2006 01:06 AM      Profile for Wilf Day     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Define "small business."

Most people don't include self-employed persons (like me) but think of an actual business with up to 10 employees, or up to 20, or even up to 100. Typically 5 to 10. Is that what you meant, Sven?


From: Port Hope, Ontario | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
Sven
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 9972

posted 22 March 2006 01:18 AM      Profile for Sven     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Wilf Day:
Define "small business."

Most people don't include self-employed persons (like me) but think of an actual business with up to 10 employees, or up to 20, or even up to 100. Typically 5 to 10. Is that what you meant, Sven?


I was thinking of a business with between, say, 5 and 100 employees.


From: Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!!! | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
scooter
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5548

posted 22 March 2006 11:14 AM      Profile for scooter     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Cueball:
As many as five, on regular basis and then occasional help up to twenty persons.

So is your business incorporated?

From: High River | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Judes
publisher
Babbler # 21

posted 22 March 2006 07:20 PM      Profile for Judes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Those of you that have a small business or are self-employed and provide a service should try buying a pixel ad as part of the Get rid of Harper fastcampaign.

A couple of small business people have been having good luck with the ads. Here is a testimonial

quote:
"Within one day of buying pixels on Stephen Harper's portrait, I have received orders on my online store from rabble visitors. This is proof that opposing Harper is not just good social conscience, but also good business!"


- Frandroid Atreides, owner
Great Worm Express Distribution

From: Toronto | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 22 March 2006 08:59 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Oh, I've been looking at that site (because of the ad) and thinking about buying a zine or two from it! That's an awesome site, frandroid.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

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