One of the questions that many small business owners face is whether they should rent or buy the equipment that they need to do their jobs. It’s a tough question to answer. In fact, figuring out the answer requires that you ask yourself some additional questions.

Questions to ask yourself to figure out whether to rent or buy include:

• How often do I use this equipment? If you’re a contractor who rents portable screening equipment on a regular basis then you may find that it’s more cost-effective to buy dirt screening plants than to keep renting the equipment on a steady basis. If you do work that only requires you to rent a screener once or twice a year then you shouldn’t bother buying it.
• How long will the equipment last if I buy it? If you’re someone who needs to use equipment that must regularly be serviced then you’ll have to consider the cost of service and repairs. If the cost is high then it may be smarter to rent the equipment from a company that does the servicing itself.
• How sure am I that I’ll stay in business for awhile? If you’re going to be in business for a long time then it’s worth it to invest in buying your own equipment. If you aren’t too sure then rent for awhile until you know for certain that you’ll be sticking around.

I would consider myself to be a very strong writer. I’m not trying to break my arm while patting myself on the back or puff up my own ego by saying that though. I just know that because of my education and experience, I have the tools such as grammar and vocabulary that allow me to pull off being a professional writer.

A lot of people think of professional writers as people who write books or edit magazines and newspapers. Granted, these are high profile professional writing positions. However, there are also many other great writing gigs that you can land if you have the same tools that I do.

Armed with my imagination and a computer, I write articles and blogs for a search engine optimization company. It is just a part time job that I do as a 1099 independent contractor. They pay piecemeal (every time I submit an assignment, they pay me), and it really helps to supplement my income. And it is not hard work either. In fact, most of the time it is fun since I try to spin my warped sense of humor into whatever I am writing. If you are a strong writer, perhaps it is something you should look into. After all, I just made five bucks writing this, and it only took me about five minutes!

After being in real estate for 10 years, this most recent economic downturn was too much for me, and I closed shop.  I just can’t afford to go months on end without selling a house.  I needed a new job.

SInce there are all kinds of regulations re: what you can and can’t do with a real estate license, I decided to just go in a different direction and do some article writing.  I’m a good writer and pretty creative.  I put an add on one of those freelance writer sites, and soon I had a couple inquiries, and the work began.

Oh my gosh! This is such hard work!  There is so much involved in writing articles!  Yes, you can make money and yes, your work will be in high demand, but be prepared to put in many hours of researching and revising and interacting with the client.  This is by far the hardest job I’ve ever had.