Spotlight on Opportunity
The Joys of Self-Employment
It's the Fourth of July weekend and many of you have today off. If you're a real estate agent, you're probably working extra hard with out-of-town buyers taking advantage of a long weekend or perhaps helping someone local who needs to move before school starts. If you are working, you are probably glad for the business and while you might miss a picnic or two, being self employed has it's benefits.
Here at Spot On Images, we love living in a country where owning your own business, car and home is a way of life, rather than a rare anomaly. It is especially valuable to us, because Bill comes from a country where things were very different. In fact, Bill's move to the United States was a result of a government take-over of his family's livelihood.
When Bill was a boy, his dad owned a cotton plantation in Egypt and managed the property of a Pasha next door. Then the government changed and his father lost everything. His property had been nationalized and suddenly Bill's father had nothing but an apartment in Cairo. Imagine what an impression that made on a young teenager.
For this reason and many more, Bill feels a fierce passion for his country of choice. As a Copt, he understands religious persecution in a way most people will never appreciate. Because his family's livelihood was arbitrarily removed by his government, he is wary of government programs which make promises our economy can't keep. He has an inside perspective on immigration American-born citizens can't begin to see.
But you don't have to be a naturalized citizen to appreciate our freedoms. I was born here. I enjoyed all the benefits of being a middle-class American, but it doesn't stop me from being a patriot to the core. My parents both worked hard at challenging careers. They didn't inherit a penny or an acre from anyone. They started off with nothing and built a comfortable life for their family by the sweat of their brow and through prayers on bended knees. I am so grateful for the life they offered me.
Bill and I have both worked hard in our lives in a variety of jobs, but as soon as he could, Bill figured out a way to have a business of his own. I was not a natural entrepreneur and for a long time I embraced the security of having an employer, but Bill's ambition and business savvy proved themselves to me. Now we work together in a business we own. We didn't have to get anyone's permission to hang our shingle. If we have profits, we decide how to spend them.
America is not perfect, but it is great. If you doubt that, look at how many people from other nations want to come here, legally or illegally. We are very grateful to those immigrants who came here before there was a country and laid the foundation for this United States of America. July 4th, 1776, our forefathers risked it all, with little more than their own two feet to stand on. Thank you to the patriots of the past and we pray to God He will raise up patriots for our future.