Lets get something straight, not having a salary or income sucks. If you’re in your right mind there is no way you would wan’t to be in this position. But, when the dust settles, believe it or not, its not all bad.

Now, lest you think that this is some high-paid startup CEO spewing dribble, let me present my credentials to speak on this topic. All combined, Alec and I have worked for about 24 months without salary. We both have families, mortgages and healthcare costs to cover. And, we both live in the San Francisco Bay Area, not exactly a cheap place to live. So, sadly, mine is the voice of experience. However, through many days and (sleepless) nights I’ve come to the realisation that there are some positives:

5. Focus

Nothing helps you focus more than not having options. Its stands to reason right? You don’t have to worry about which color bmw to buy, because you’re not getting one. Seriously though, we do deal with a lot of decisions that complicate things. Not having the financial resources limits those options. I’ve found less clutter helps me focus on the things that are really important to me, and to forget the non-essentials. In a strange way that de-stresses me!

4. Liberation

Having no salary has an another benefit. When you’re job-hopping your current situation is your reference point. Would you move to another job that pays less? Probably not. The good news is that without a salary the only way is up. That gives you the freedom to make career choices based on what you want to do, not what you think you need, like a certain title or salary. You’ve been liberated! Now’s the time to make that switch. 

3. Environment

Recessions happen when we cut back on our consumption. Like it or not, we need this recession to get our consumption in line with our productivity. Put another way, we need to use only what we can pay for. I liken this to going back to my childhood days. My folks didnt but stuff on the credit card, we got one toy at christmas and my new trousers were the same ones my brother wore, except they now had a fresh patch on the knee! The point is our reduction in consumption is benefitting society, the environment and the economy (in the short term). 

2. Future

You’ve heard it said before. Its in tough times that the foundations are built for great things. Dell recently announced it is eliminating 1,900 jobs in Limerick, Ireland. To give you some context, the population of Limerick is 90,000. Assuming 60,000 are of working age, the dell job losses on their own equate to 3% increase in unemployment. Undeterred, the people of Limerick aren’t giving up, they’re re-grouping and starting again. So, while everyone around you is speaking of doom and gloom, put your head down, get yourself a plan and work your arse off to achieve it! I wish you luck.

1. Top Reason Not Having Income is good

Alright, you got me. I couldnt think of a 5th reason. A crap global economy with lots of folks without an income sucks. It sucks BAD. In the meantime, keep your chin up and when we do get back on our feet, lets appreciate it a little more!

Got other reasons not having a salary is good? Add a comment.

We recently got some feedback from one of our customers that he was experiencing some strange errors with the stand-alone version of billFLO seller. After working with him for a little while we found the cause of this pesky little bug – the Ampersand. If you have an Ampersand in your company name e.g. “Jones & Sons” you may experience some minor errors. For example, the Ampersand wont print on your PDF and also may not appear on the summary window of billFLO seller.

The quick fix is to change the ‘&’ to ‘and’. Take note, that if your bank requires checks be made out with the Ampersand rather than ‘and’; we recommend adding a note to the invoice to tell your customer to make checks payable to the correct legal company name.

Please feel free to email me at billflo_ian attt anoowa dot com if you have any questions.

Apologies for not catching this, we’ll have a fix in the next release.

billFLO Ian

Ob Wan , aka Alec my co-founder, sends along a thought for the day from The Tao of Programming.

There was once a programmer who was attached to the

court of the warlord of Wu. The warlord asked the programmer:

“Which is easier to design: an accounting package or an operating

system?”

“An operating system,” replied the programmer.

The warlord uttered an exclamation of disbelief. “Surely an

accounting package is trivial next to the complexity of an

operating system,” he said.

“Not so,” said the programmer, “when designing an accounting package,

the programmer operates as a mediator between people having different

ideas: how it must operate, how its reports must appear, and how it must

conform to the tax laws. By contrast, an operating system is not limited by

outside appearances. When designing an operating system, the programmer

seeks the simplest harmony between machine and ideas. This is why an

operating system is easier to design.”

The warlord of Wu nodded and smiled. “That is all good and well, but

which is easier to debug?”

The programmer made no reply.