How Much is Enough? Definitely Not This Much....

Well, I finally got paid for my first week of work, and I got a whopping $62!  Now, I only did 5 deliveries so I knew I wasn't going to make much, but damn.

Taxes for small business owners is 15.3%, so this means that I need to deduct $9.49 from the total, which equals $52.50.  I have to buy my own gas, so this means that I net $13.51 ($52.50 minus $40 for gas - 15 gallons of a 16 gallon tank x $2.67/ gallon).

I have to drive to all of the deliveries in my own car, which means that I am putting more miles on my car, meaning that parts will start to fail sooner.  This, plus regular maintenance, costs money, so will I be able to make enough to pay for everything AND still have money left over?

We are about to start a contract with a Ochsner, a large regional healthcare company, so hopefully I will be able to make more deliveries once this starts.  They have numerous facilities around the Baton Rouge area, but there is no way to tell how much I will get per delivery.

If I make $10 per delivery, and do 2 deliveries per day, I will gross $100 per week (with the new account).  You can subtract $15.30 from this for taxes, so you have $84.70.  I will assume that I will have to fill up 1 1/2 times per week (once this week, twice next week, and so on).  This equals $60 per week, so I should end up with $24.70 for the week.  This means that I will make an average of $106.95/ month ($24.70 * 4.33 weeks/ month).

I also need to factor in oil changes.  I will be changing my oil much more now, so should figure out how much it will cost me.I have driven 1,149 miles in 22 days (since 10/25 - first day of work).  The majority of this was not done for work, but it all counts towards time between oil changes.  We made one trip out of town, so after subtracting that, I will say that this gives me an average of 1,000 miles in 3 weeks.  This means that I will be changing my oil every 9 weeks, or 6 times per year (once every two months).  An oil change at Walmart is about $35 with tax.  So, every other month I will be making $71.95.

When all of this information is taken into account, I should make around $1,075 in one year (by the end of next November).  And all of this is assuming that I can average at least 2 deliveries per day, and I average $10 per delivery.  I am currently sitting in the living room instead of being out making deliveries, so that 2 per day thing might not happen.

I am wondering now if this job is worth it.  I guess the only thing that I can do is wait and see.



Miscellaneous Information:

I am currently on disability due to Crohn's Disease and the numerous surgeries related to it.  I can make up to $700/ month and still keep my disability benefits, but do not know what else I could do that would give me that much money (or even an amount closer to this).  I am currently going back to college (GEAUX TIGERS!), so I can't work too many hours in a week.  I have to give myself time to go to class, time to study/ do homework, and time to rest.  My doctor doesn't want me to work an hourly job, as I can't take time off when I get sick or feel run down, which happens a lot due to the physical problems listed above.  This is the reason that I took this job in the first place.  I work for myself, so if I have a problem, I just let them know that I can't work that day.

  $431.71 - 6 months that includes oil changes
+$641.70 - 6 months that do not included oil changes
  $1,073.41 - Total for the year


Jan 23, 2011 UPDATE:
I quit this job, partly because of all of the crap listed above, but also because the other guy that does deliveries here in B.R. was screwing me over by only giving me the runs that you lost money on since they were so far away.

Oh yeah, and he's INSANE.  He would call me a minimum of 3 times per day, usually to tell me what the office had already called to tell me or to see if I had done the delivery from the day before (if I hadn't he would have heard from the office).  Once I actually decided to quit, I just stopped answering his calls.  Since I wasn't answering, he called more.  And more.  And more.  He found my home number and started calling that even though I previously told him that the phone doesn't work and we only have it for emergencies (you can still leave a message).  By the time that he finally gave up, he had called me a total of 39 times in a period of about 30 hours.  And this includes an approximatively 8 hour break while he was apparently asleep.  Holy crap, I reeeeeaaallllly hate stupid people.

I Want Money, Lots and Lots of Money

I am currently trying to learn how to trade in the stock market and the Forex market.  There is so much  to learn, and I'm not exactly sure where to begin.  I am currently trying to learn technical analysis, which means looking at a chart of what has happened in the recent past, and determining what will happen in the near future based on past trends of the same type.  I know, it sounds really confusing, but it is really much, much harder than that! You have to look at candlestick charts and know what the different signs are and what they mean for the next minute, hour, day, week, or how ever long you want to hold the currency for.  It is a proven method that many, many traders have used since the late 1700s.  I know it works, its just a matter of learning ALL of the different aspects.

I have found a few sites that allow you to try their software out for 30 days, but thats not enough time to learn everything that I need to learn.  I currently don't have enough money to open an account, so I have to switch back and forth through these different accounts so that I can practice.

The one that I like the most just so happens to let you open a micro-account, which only takes $50 to start.  This is great because it is also the most user friendly software that I have been able to find (www.fxcm.com).

I am also trying to learn how to invest in the stock market.  I am interested in swing trading, which means holding a stock for a few days to a few weeks.  You use the same technical analysis as described above for stocks, so I am killing two birds with one stone by studying that (hopefully!).  Stocks actually seem a little bit easier than currency since you can research the company for days before you actually make your purchase, but knowing which company to choose is the hard part.  I really need to figure out what industries I want to focus on, then I can start researching the companies.  I am thinking about genetics, energy, and medical, but I'm not really sure yet.

I need to save up a little bit more money before I will have enough to put into this little venture.  We are going on vacation next October, so I need to have enough saved for that before my wife will allow me to use $50 for something other than that and bills.  I would really like to make enough in Forex to convince my wife that investing $500 in Scottrade is a good idea ($500 is the minimum for any stock trading site).

If anyone has any tips, ideas, cautionary tales, etc, please feel free to leave a comment.  Thanks!