Yearly Archives:2019

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is November 30, 2019. The tenth anniversary of the day to celebrate small business created and promoted by American Express. Why does the Musuneggi Financial Group support small business Saturday? Because small business matters.

The Power of Small Business

Small businesses help drive the economy. Consider these statistics from the Small Business Administration:

  • 99% of all businesses in the U.S. are small businesses.
  • 64% of new jobs created over the past three decades were in small businesses.
  • 40% of all retail jobs are in franchise or small businesses.
     

As reported by Grasshopper.com, some additional small business stats:

  • Small businesses donate 250% more than larger businesses to non-profits and community causes (Source: Seattle Good Business Network).
  • If you spend $100 at a local business, roughly $68 stays in your local economy.
  • If you spend the same are a large business, only $43 stays in the local economy (Source: Civic Economics Study in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Small Business Matters

The Musuneggi Financial Group is a small business. But we’re not promoting ourselves… we’re promoting our clients, our friends, our neighbors and our vendors. Because small businesses matter to the economy, and small businesses are one of the reasons that our business and our community thrives.

Shop on Small Business Saturday

On November 30, stop by your local hardware store, grab a treat at a local bakery or sweet shop, have lunch at a local diner and pick up some Christmas gifts at a local shop. We encourage you to talk to the shop owners about their small business adventure. And we might bump into you… because we’ll be out celebrating Small Business Saturday as well!
 

Being Grateful

If you were asked to describe your day, are your mornings filled with rushing around, dragging kids out of bed, fumbling to find your shoes, dreading the bus ride to the city and complaining about going to a job you do not like? 

For most women, mornings are not filled with an hour of meditation, some time for reading, a quiet breakfast with the family discussing their plans for the day. Yet how we set up our day in the morning will most likely be responsible for how our day progresses.

A Simple Plan: Be Grateful

Although we would love to start our days with peace and quiet, and a cup of coffee while we sit by the fireplace; limited time robs us of the opportunity to do this. But what if there was a way to bring a positive spin into the early morning that would last through the day?  While you brush your teeth, or feed the dog, or ride on the bus, or walk into the office – give thanks.

Give thanks for the house you live in, the family that surrounds you, the people on the bus who smile at you, the change in your purse, the clothes you wear, the job you have. Give thanks for your health, your dog, the food on the table.  Say thanks for your relatives, friends, and co-workers.

Now it may seem improbable to be grateful when the kids are sick, you missed the bus, the boss is angry, and you’re in a rut. And it seems almost impossible to be thankful when there is no money in the bank, the mortgage is overdue and you were passed over for that raise. Worries about family, work, and money steal your days and take away the ability to enjoy life.  Living becomes existing.

Reach Beyond Your Circumstances

But even at these most despairing moments, you need to reach beyond the “liabilities” to find those things to add to the “asset” side of your life’s ledger.

By starting the day in this spirit, you set up your day to be prosperous and satisfying. If you start the day feeling stressed and lacking, you will have a day of stress and lack.  But if you take an inventory in your mind of your life’s assets, you will realize just what a rich woman you really are. You will see that you have much to be grateful for and that you are probably taking for granted the abundance that already exists in your life.  The world around you will give you more if you appreciate what you already have. If you sow seeds of lack, you will reap lack. But if you sow seeds of abundance you will reap more of the same. 

Melody Beattie wrote in The Language of Letting it Go, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.”

Begin each day with gratitude; because if you do this every day for a month, you will simply not be the same person you are today. By giving thanks each day for the abundance you already have in your life, you will set into motion an ancient spiritual law that says, the more you have and are grateful for, the more you will receive.

Know that I am grateful for you, dear reader.

– Mary Grace Musuneggi

Truths A Man is Not a Plan Teaches Every College Grad 

In the book, A Man is Not a Plan, readers learn the many reasons they must be the CEO of their own life. No other person can play that role. For recent college graduates this is a critical lesson. Developing your own plan with an understanding of the twists and turns life can throw at you is critical. While that plan should start today for anyone of any age, young adults can set a plan that will reap great benefits throughout their life by starting now. 

Planning on Others Planning

A Man is Not a Plan can teach anyone the error of delegating one’s own lifeplan to someone else. 

Here’s an excerpt from the book that details a conversation between the author of A Man is Not a Plan and a young woman. It highlights one example of relying on someone else:

If you are thinking that while the Cinderella concept ruled in the past, today’s women are more educated, informed, and independent, consider a conversation I had with a young woman we will call Kathy. The conversa- tion went something like this: 

Mary Grace: “I see you just graduated from college?” 

Kathy: “Yes, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.” 

Mary Grace: “What kind of career will you pursue?” 

Kathy: “I am really not planning on pursuing a career. I am planning on staying at home and raising children.” 

Mary Grace: “That is a terrific career that a young woman can choose when she has children. Have you given any thought to what you might do until then, or when they go off to school, or grow up and leave home?” 

Kathy: “No, as I am not planning on ever working. I am hop- ing to never need to. I am planning for my husband to provide me the opportunity to always stay at home.” 

Mary Grace: “And if you won’t have to work, what kind of plans do you have for your life? More education? Public service? Charity? Artistic endeavors?” 

Kathy: “No, not really. I am comfortable being part of my husband’s plans since he will be supporting me.” 

Mary Grace: “Well, okay then. But I didn’t know you were married.” 

Kathy: “I’m not.” 

Mary Grace: “Are you engaged, or there is someone special in your life?” 

Kathy: “Not yet. But I am sure there will be.” 

It may sound as though this conversation took place in the 1950s. Unfortunately, I had this talk recently with a 23-year-old college graduate. 

So just at the point where you think we have “come a long way, Baby,” and women are making better life choices, a segment of the female popula- tion still seems to believe that women’s life goals should center around the men in their lives, whether those men exist or not. 

However, it’s not just young women who can fall prey to others being the plan who will provide:

  • The wife who counts on her husband
  • The employee who counts on her boss
  • The entrepreneur who counts on his/her partners
  • The adult child that counts on their parents
  • The citizen who counts on the government 

The truth is: many people, organizations, and institutions are trustworthy and can help us along the way, but only the individual can be the CEO of their own life. To cede control of one’s life to others is not a plan. Get your own plan. 

Start Your Own Plan

Not sure how to get started? Grab a copy of A Man is Not a Plan. It will start you on the way to being the CEO of your own life.