Gosh, I hope you get to feeling better soon. That infection doesn’t sound good. Have you seen a doctor?

I see you know all about having a business, and others thinking you are making tons of money. Even our kids, who are all grown, seem to think we have deep pockets. They don’t understand all of the expenses that go along with a business. Add employees to the mix, and your expenses increase even further.

We do excavation. We did wood recycling/composting for about six years, but have given that up. We also did waterworks (long story), but recently got out of that too. So, for a period of about 6 years we had three businesses. It was a real chore keeping them all separate. We tried concrete work, and got into building for a very short time,as well. Excavation is my husband passion, and I have gotten to learn all about it as well. I have gotten on the equipment, but the power it has scares me, so I stay away for it. I’m content to be in the office, as that’s what I really like to do…bookkeeping, correspondence, payroll, etc… I love numbers. We are trying to downsize so we don’t have to work so many hours, and now are finally getting where we can take weekends off. Self employment, as you know, entails long hard hours.

My blogs fit in real well with my full time job. When I get my work done, I can work on my blogs, and do my research. However, I find I’m often working on my blogs late at night….my creativity seems to kick in when I should be going to bed. Oh well…..

Catherine, take care of yourself.

I also love seeing people succeed. I’m lucky – I’ve never had that jealousy curse. I suppose it’s because my parents have always had their own business. And when I was very young every one was really nice to us. We were very poor – as they only started in business when they got married, and as you know Barbara, it takes a long time to build it up.

My mum was 19 when they married and I was born 5 months later. The trouble was – as soon as they started doing well, or at least making a half decent living, people weren’t as nice as they had been before.

So we were punished just for not being poor – even though we didn’t act differently or anything. And we were far from loaded. But, you know how it is when you have a business. Everyone who has a job seems to think you’re a hundred times better off that you really are.

What kind of construction work do you do Barbara? I feel cheeky asking, but I’m curious as i suppose that is where I came from. My parents did all kinds of stuff – extensions etc to begin with. Then they started a stone fireplace company. It was very fashionable then, but they worked all the hours under the sun.

Then they did barn conversions and eventually they started building houses. But, that has had it’s ups and downs – depending upon interest rates. And I was mad enough to watch it all and start a business myself!

Yes, some people have strange ways of thinking. I’m not certain why some people get joy out of watching others struggle or fail. I would guess it can be attributed to jealously and envy.

On my other blog, I wrote a post about “how to stop gossip”. Years ago, I remember hearing that when we point a finger at someone else, we have three fingers pointing back at us. (Try it…it’s true) To me, thats says we need to first look at ourselves, and find what’s lacking in our own lives.

I, personally love to see others succeed. Especially when they work their way up from the bottom. Unfortunately, the greater one’s success, the rockier it can get, as others are trying to “kick out your footing”.

I live in a small village and it is really bad. Some people who live nearby began a second business. They do really well with their first business, and I think a lot of people are jealous of them.

Anyway, they had a few problems with the second business and decided to sell. Well everyone was saying that they needed to sell because they were short of cash and making snide remarks. It was as though they wanted them to fail. But they haven’t thankfully, because they worked hard for years on the first business.

Someone who should have known a lot better repeated the gossip to me and I blew my top.

I really don’t understand why some people enjoy seeing others fail.

I couldn’t have said it any better.

BTW. I just changed my “What Others Are Reading” category to show the number of comments. This post is quickly making it’s way to the top. Hopefully others will feel compelled to join in the conversation, and have their say.