What's next?

This is the toughest question that an entrepreneur ever asks. Having been business owners for over 30 years, we have never had to look for work. Working a normal schedule? Getting paid by the hour? Having to answer to someone else? And on, and on, and on!

How does a business owner go about looking for a job?

Not easy. I wish someone could take this process away from me. I feel ashamed to call the people that I know who have businesses to ask them to consider hiring me. While I have a lot of years of knowledge being in business, I don't know much about working for someone else. What will they expect? Will they fee that they have to treat me differently since I am a friend first? Because I don't feel comfortable with this arrangement, I havn't made the effort I should. I have used the on line products such as Monster.com and JobFox.com but the resume that I have done is quite plain. I get emails for commission sales jobs from insurance companies and work at home pyramid jobs but not much else. Don't companies understand that I have fought the battles of small business development and ownership for 30+ years and that I am easily more qualified to make difficult business decisions than 90% of the applicants they will receive? Maybe there is fear from the busniess owners that I won't conform to their ways of won't stay long term. I guess I really don't know the real answer to that question either.

So what happens next...

I have tried to figure this out. I really want to use my years of experience to help other people and other businesses. If I could make a living and give all of the info and advice away for free, I would! After all of these years, I finally realize that it's not about me anymore, it's about others. But I need to make a living! I learned quite a bit about merchant services when we were trying to reduce costs in our business and felt I could help other businesses with this info and make a living at the same time. Actually, there are very few situations where my services in this area won't make a positive difference. I can probably make a living doing this if I could find a way to get business owners to inquire. What I would like to do is trade my knowledge of any or all of the info that I have learned...for the priviledge and opportunity of taking over the merchant account/s of a business. I know that this could be a great fix for my needs and could make a positive difference in most businesses. I have created a company called AG Peoples Inc. (All God's People) that will hopefully make this bartering option a reality. You can see me at www.agpeoplesinc.com.

Bernie