Small Businesses and Government Contracts

On Monday the Wall Street Journal published an article on small businesses and the government's stimulus contracts that caught my attention. It is about the owner of a small publishing-services company that is pursuing government contracts. Titled Small Businesses Chase Big Stimulus Money the article explains what is to be expected when pursuing government contracts and what the outlook is for small businesses looking for those contracts.

Something that caught my eye, as a woman who owns a small business, is that the federal government has a goal each year to award 23% of its procurement dollars to small businesses. And one of their targets is for women-owned businesses. To find out more about this check out the article at the Wall Street Journal linked to above.

What to do with $13 a week?

Okay, so the government is giving the lucky few an additional $13 a week in their paychecks.  I’m sitting here listening to all this whining about how lousy that is and thinking, “Oh if only I can get that too!”  I don’t know if that $13 a week will help someone in my position or not, but oh how I would love to be one of the lucky few that gets it.

It seems, however, like the only ones that will get it are those who do not need it and are only going to complain it’s not enough.  So, what can someone do with $13 a week from someone that $13 a week would REALLY mean something to?  Well, a lot actually.  If I was able to qualify for that additional $13 a week the things I can think of that could be done with it include:

NETFLIX - Subscribe to Netflix and make a “Family Movie Night”

For $4.99 a month you can have one movie at a time shipped to you, that makes it $1.24 a week, so out of your $13 a week you have $11.76 a week to get some snacks such as cookies or some popcorn to pop up for movie night.

If you watch movie on weekend and mail it back on Monday you will have next one in plenty of time to watch on Friday or Saturday and mail back Monday – that’s  a movie every week of the month, plus snacks.

Other plans with Netflix include $13.99 a month for 2 movies at a time, $16.99 for 3 at a time… right up to $47.99 for 8 movies at a time.  A plan for anyone that still leaves $4.01 a month even at the most expensive level.  ($4.01 a month into a savings account for a year is $48.12, so 8 movies a month from Netflix, plus almost $50 into your piggy bank.)

SAVINGS - How about putting all of that $13 a week into a savings account?  I know it is not what they were thinking in terms of stimulating the economy, but after that year you would have $624 to spend on something totally unnecessary for you.

Or you could get into a habit of setting $13 a week aside into savings and after 30 years you would have put $18,720.00 into a retirement account.

This is about stimulating the economy, however, so lets see what else $13 a week can do…

GAS – Let us assume that gas costs $3.00 a gallon, and your car gets 20 MPG… If my math is right…

$13 * 4 = 52 / 3 = 17.333 * 20 = 346.66

Weekly stimulus of $13, multiplied by the number of weeks in a month equals $52 a month, divided by $3 a gallon, multiplied by 20 MPG equals 346.66 miles worth of gas.

So, for $13 a week you can buy enough gas to drive an added 346 miles in a month… that is an 86 mile Sunday drive every week.

GROCERIES – In Alaska milk costs between $3.50 a gallon and $5 a gallon.  Bread varies between $1.29 and $3 and up.  Now it might not be much, but if you are buying staples for getting by week to week, then an added $13 can be a lot of money for groceries.

WEBSITES – You can get 1 Gig web hosting for $50 a year at platonicsolid.info, so each month you could pick up another website and create your own online money making empire using online advertising such as AdSense or by creating Amazon.com storefronts.  That $13 a week can easily build you a second job that you can use to make a lot more.

So… what can you do with $13 a week? I can think of a lot more ideas, but I’d like to hear what you can come up with.  So, what could you do with $13 a week?

Wait, Mr. President.... I work too!

The goal of democrats in congress is to get the stimulus package to President Obama's desk by President's Day, however, I am a little concerned about this stimulus package and what it will mean for those of us who work for ourselves.

Last year I, and several other people that I know, did not qualify for any help from the stimulus package because while we earned money and paid taxes - we did not get a W2 from some company. I was not too concerned about it because the way I understood it was that anyone that did not get a stimulus check in 2008 would get one in 2009. Now it seems that is not the case?

From what I have been hearing the checks are being sent out to go into people's paychecks... i.e. it is going to people that work at companies and get W2s from an employer. I will once again be passed over, as will the others who were passed over last year, because I work for myself and do not get a W2 from anyone.

This means that the stimulus is going to people that do not need it and to people who had already got checks last year. I hope I am wrong and that there is a plan in there for how people like me can get the same help that everyone else is getting, but it certainly looks like if you are trying to make your own way in the world and building a small business that will help make more jobs in the future that you are being left out of the stimulus package because you don't have a job in the eyes of the President.

Presidential Elect Obama's Stimulus Package

I was watching the news a little while ago and they were talking about the stimulus package that is apparently in the works by Presidential Elect Obama. What they were saying was that the idea was to give everyone a bonus in their paychecks immediately to help boost the economy now rather than having a check later on like the last stimulus package.

What does this mean for people like me who work for themselves? Last year I was unable to get any of the stimulus payments stuff because I did not have a W2. I was not very concerned, since the way I understood it had been that anyone that did not qualify last year would get one this year, however, it now seems to be something that will once again bypass me (and many others) because I don't get a paycheck from an employer?

It is the people like me that need the help the most, and yet it looks like we are once again going to be passed over by a stimulus package that targets everyone but those who need it the most.

I am going to be looking into this more and trying to sort it out, but I would love to hear comments from anyone that might know something about this or have input on it.