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  1. #1
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    Default well no more taxi

    growing older is a trip and I keep signing up or the nut-azz version of life. I admit it. First lemme say, big mistake me and all my friends have, not preparing for the declining end of life.

    So here is what happened. Last night, valentines day, taxis zipping all over the place like hungry roaches. Me, I'm parked sending the slowest text message in history to my dispatch. A cab in front of me loading, a cab at the light cashing out. Cabs backed up nine cars deep and a cop sitting next to me in traffic but unaware I'm parked to his far passenger side. Light changes to green. I slowly snake around the two stopped taxis and mr cop FREAKS OUT.

    He thought I charged up the parking lane to pass everyone when I'd actually been parked for at least two lights. He pulls me over screaming and hollering until he realized i was a female. I calmly asked him WHY did he pull me over and I explained I came out of a parking space.

    He tries to swag at some point by telling me he could TAKE MY TAXI, I calmly told him "take it"...evidently my boss had $1,000 in tickets. Because I would NOT get upset he calls six cops cars for back up...yes I'm sure some foriegn taxi drivers would die before they would give up their taxi...I told the cop, do your job, "take it" I can then go home and go to sleep, LOL.

    All the other cops were all apologetic, telling me how I could get my car back...I looked them square in the eye and said "I don't care, Its not MY cab". Mean while other taxis surrounded them, including my boss who was almost in tears (snicker)...cause I guess the worse thing in the taxi world is for PPA to get your cab.

    Soooooooooooooo I am free from taxi bondage and am gonna take my humble butt out job hunting today. But this situation made me think about what is going on around me with several other friends in my same age group, we did NO preparation for the decline of our lives...my best girlfr "J" in living in a house with no roof, my business partner "S" who was a nurse his whole life is living in a house with his disabled brother and no gas or electric, another girlfr whose house I own, her elderly father just died and she revealed to me yesterday that years ago she refinanced her dad's house, didn't pay me off and now she's in the hole to me and her dad's mortgage company to the tune of $70,000.

    My son says we are all talented people stuck in a pity party about our lives...I had to agree...but what is the way out??? especially in the economy and evidently we are all dealing with declining energy and being fustrated....
    Last edited by soapinphilly; 02-15-2013 at 01:57 PM.
    Instigating and waiting for the REVOLUTION to begin!

  2. #2
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    Be your own boss and allow your challenges to inform who you have business dinners with. Friends in high places are as cheap as an easy smile over the course of a meal you have catered and/or cover once per year (perhaps exchanged so twice per). When something turns sideways in their field of sway, contact them for help understanding and to find out if they know the people involved to help with the business at hand. If they have the sway, it will be less work for them to "fix" it than to explain a whole bunch of irrelevant intricacies to you.

    If you don't want to or no longer can put in labor where your passions are, be the boss that other people with passion want. Some people with passion can't do right if there isn't someone watching them. So, be an appreciative and non-overbearing boss.

    Just remember, broke is broke. You can keep trying to get a business going and being in debt without being deprived of your basic necessities. There's no debtors prison at the moment (specific to business and such). So, keep shooting for stability and go big (with careful planning rather than timidity) if that's what you need to do to get a competitive edge. Staying poor so you won't be broke is just broke with a 0 rather than a -1. It's just numbers.

    If you suck at interacting with people, be the silent investor/partner in someone else's business. You don't have to be the business mind to take out loans and/or capitalize your "disposable" assets. Even if the market is looking funny, you can always use it before you lose it. If you capitalize on other small businesses, diversify and pick businesses that are already doing okay but need some help to acquire the competitive edge.
    Last edited by Intellexual; 02-15-2013 at 01:53 PM.
    2009: Transitioned
    2020: Mature, Freeformed Locs

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  4. #3
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    My friend (late 50s) and I (late 40s) were talking about this yesterday. One big thing that black folks in particular overlook is the importance of physical and mental HEALTH. I'm guilty of this myself. My friend is in the best physical shape of her life (yes, she's black; no, she doesn't look anything like a fitness model) because she exercises on the regular and eats almost completely clean. Thing is, it's not like you have to jump in cold turkey...I can't afford a gym membership but I can definitely afford a brisk two-mile round-trip walk, for example. I mean damn...been living in the Midwest my whole damn life, I know how to dress in layers just like everybody else. Also I know wheat does a number on me so now me and rice are BFFs...BUT I still have to mind how much of it I eat each day because it's still a carb. Bought a ton of frozen veggies at the store yesterday because being too lazy to work with fresh veggies (right now) is no excuse. Still need to seriously up my water intake...

    Anyway, the older I get the more I realize that a big part of my future livelihood and well-being depends on taking better physical and mental care of me NOW since the likelihood of my working well into old age is all but certain...
    Hello, 2021. Glad to see you. Hope you're bringing us goodness and light this year!

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  6. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by LBellatrix View Post
    Anyway, the older I get the more I realize that a big part of my future livelihood and well-being depends on taking better physical and mental care of me NOW since the likelihood of my working well into old age is all but certain...
    ^*sorry for shouting* If you don't take measures to take care of yourself, no one will.









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  8. #5
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    (lights a cigarette) well my mental health is shot...and I been smoking since age 12...and all the homies I spoke of HAVE neglected mental and physical health.

    well all I can say is the taxi industry beat me to a pulp in about 4 months. The thing is, dealing with the public was only 25% of the problem...75% was the taxi business infastructure. All day long I been fielding calls from the car owner, the car manager, the day driver and past driver who owes the tickets. Like I was a darn secretary. I made all the calls and arrangements to get the car back. and then when the collateral fee of $125 came up before the night court judge the car owner had the nerve to ask me to pay it.

    I turned straight Samuel L. Jackson on him...basically you want your car back, you had a messed up registration, YOU PAY IT, LOL.

    So I lost $150 in three days taxi rental, I don't care. At least the muslim cabbies were nicer people, albeit stupid as HEdouble hockeystix.

    Taxi driving is very whorelike work, I'd never do it again in a million years.
    Instigating and waiting for the REVOLUTION to begin!

  9. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by soapinphilly View Post
    (lights a cigarette) well my mental health is shot...and I been smoking since age 12...and all the homies I spoke of HAVE neglected mental and physical health.
    ^You can start now taking care, soap. It's not too late.









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  11. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by OHR View Post
    ^You can start now taking care, soap. It's not too late.
    Yes I am trying, I can go about a week without smoking but the cop incident set me back. I have long pity parties...like today it lasted till 2pm...but some days I'm a ball of energy....
    Instigating and waiting for the REVOLUTION to begin!

  12. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by soapinphilly View Post
    Yes I am trying, I can go about a week without smoking but the cop incident set me back. I have long pity parties...like today it lasted till 2pm...but some days I'm a ball of energy....
    You're entitled, Soap.









  13. #9
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    I will be 50 this year and even though I am in the process of starting up my own thing, I still think about getting multiple streams of income going for future security. I've already taken the first step and completed one of my goals for the year- secured a side hustle. And I'm on my way to getting my second one. *pats self on the back*

    Long gone are the days where most people can work a job for 30 years and then draw a pension and live comfortably for the rest of their lives. You have to look out and plan for yourself. It's a rude awakening for those in my generation (social security will most likely be bankrupt by the time I'm old enough to collect it), but the ones behind me have no excuse. They know the deal and need to prepare themselves.

    Soap, hang in there. Relax and regroup then concentrate on taking care of YOU. Then find a side hustle (or 2 or 3) that you can agree with then make it do what it do.
    ~Love the hair you have~

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