I often refer to this business as a way to obtain the "great American dream". I also write editorials criticizing people for using animals like stocks and bonds. Are you confused yet? I hope not, but let me go into detail explaining myself.

The way to make America strong is by supporting private sector in developing small businesses of their own - not through socialism with all of us being supported by the government instead of being self-employed and paying taxes.

What about working for a large corporation? Well, it works for some but lots of us want to be more than just a number to the people we work for. It also seems to me that most large corporations are laying off, not hiring. They would rather relocate to another country where they can hire labor for $.50 an hour. That doesn't seem to make for a very secure future for your family. If you work for yourself, you receive the rewards for your personal labor or you suffer because you don't labor.

You might also consider what it cost you to work away from home. If you deduct the cost of childcare, extra clothes, travel expenses, purchased meals, etc., how much do you have to make if self-employed at home to match your income away from home?

I also find it fascinating that we all work our lives away to afford a home, family, and lots of stuff so we can only be awake with them at our homes three or four hours each evening when are tired and burned out after a hard day of work, being where we didn't want to be, doing what most of us don't want to do, taking orders from bosses that we don't want bossing us. Of course, there are the weekends - two days out of seven. That is just about enough time to shop for groceries, fix what is broken, clean the property, and rest up to go back to work on Monday.

You will work harder at home, but you are working for yourself, doing what you love to do, and surrounded by those you love to be surrounded by. What is that worth? What is it worth to this country for us to be around our children, raising them ourselves to become productive citizens instead of criminals or welfare recipients. No one can do as good a job of raising your children as you can.

Do we want government to get larger and oversee every aspect of our lives? Do you really believe that, when a politician runs for an office that pays $50,000 per year and it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for the campaign, they don't owe someone something for all those campaign contributions? Sure they do! That means that the special interest groups will be dictating more and more of your life as more of us become dependent on the government. Wouldn't these millions of dollars be better spent if government was smaller, more of us were self-employed and using this money to improve the lives of all the citizens instead of electing bureaucrats to offices that aren’t needed if half the country wasn't employed by the government or on welfare doled out by the government? Remember, in politics it is "one hand washes the other"! It is our patriotic duty to help get this country back on the right track. One of the best ways to do this is for you to become self-sufficient by being self-employed. You will then become financially independent.

I have heard it said that the best way to help the poor is to avoid becoming one of them!

Why do people commit crimes, go on welfare, rob, steal, or do drugs? They are born pure of heart and full of hope, the same as all of us. It is through frustration, desperation and the feeling of complete hopelessness that they find themselves on these paths. It is only through a loving group of family and friends, and being released from the feeling of hopelessness that this dead-end cycle can be stopped. How many more prisons can we afford to support? How many people can we warehouse for those who are gainfully employed to support before society crushes those left working with the burden of supporting those who the politicians choose to control so that they might control their votes?

I told you before that the most important thing we produce on our farms isn’t livestock or crops. It is the children we love that grow up to be productive citizens who reflect our values.

Are you really secure in the belief that the government or a corporation will look after you in your autumn years? I’m not. I want my future grazing in the fields surrounding my home, not maybe in a bank somewhere or maybe not in that bank. I can walk out the door anytime of the day or night and see my retirement fund munching hay or eating dog food.

Aren’t all the problems that face our country today directly related to the family structure, or the lack of it? Don’t you really believe that, when both parents love one another and are at home raising the family, our country has a much better chance of being the place we want it to be?

The great American dream is about families and their happiness, not wealth.

The little guy has the time, skill and talent needed to survive if only they seek self-employment opportunities, especially if they are home-based.

The key to making profit is helping enough people get what they want. This will let you get what you want.

I just gave you advice on life and income. Many would criticize what I’ve said and will say “But let me ask you this, and I mean no disrespect, but if so many parents, teachers, friends and relatives are correct about money and life, why aren’t they happier and richer?” Pay attention to those who have done it. If you listen to those who are unhappy and hopeless, then you may well follow in their footsteps – a place I don’t want to be!

Now, I hope I have convinced you that you should be self-employed, living on a piece of ground that someday you can call your own. I, personally, hope you can support your family by raising alternative livestock, or at least, supplement your income by raising them.

I said the key to making profit is helping enough people get what they want. If they don’t want it, then you won’t be able to sell it. If you can’t sell it, you sure can’t make a profit. If you can’t make a profit, then you go broke and you are back to square one. If you can produce a product that other people do want at a price that allows you to make a profit, then you can support yourself and family out on the farm. Therefore, produce what others will allow you a profit on. It must also be something you like and can successfully produce in the quantity necessary to realize a profit great enough to pay your bills. I, personally, like diversity so I don’t live a life of feast or famine.

Now, before you go out and throw money you don’t have to invest into something you know nothing about, slow down! If you can’t keep an animal alive, healthy, and get it to reproduce, you lose. You can only make profit through reproduction. If they don’t reproduce, then you have no inventory to sell. If they die, you not only have nothing to sell for profit, but you are left with debt you didn’t start with. So go slow, learn about where you are leaping, and only gamble what you can afford to lose.

Let me bore you here with some figures. Liars figure and figures lie, but you need to know what borrowed money costs you before you borrow it. Most credit cards are eighteen-and-one half to twenty percent interest. Lots of desperate people use them as last chance investments. If you buy a $3000 pair of animals as babies, it will probably be two years before they reproduce and three years before you can pay back your investment. The payments on a $3000 expenditure at eighteen-and-one-half percent interest are $150.50 per month for 24 months or you pay back the original $3000 plus you paid $612 to use the card company’s money. You also are out the work, feed, medicine, pen, vet bills, time and advertising expenses before you make a dime to pay toward your family’s support.