Small businesses will face cash flow problems from time to time. If you are just starting up it may be because you haven't established your customer base yet. Perhaps your business is seasonal and you operate at a loss in the off season or maybe your customers don't pay on time. For whatever reason, you still need enough money to pay yourselves. If you have to take out more loans to pay the bills and provide you with an income during those periods, you are then saddled with servicing that debt as well as all the other costs.
With basic income it will provide you and your family sufficient to survive even if your business is not bringing in any cash. It means that you as a business owner do not have to provide for yourself during a lean period and it could make all the difference between staying afloat and folding. When your business is back in the black, your taxes will pay back society for the help it has given you to establish your business.
Another way it could help you is if you have an ideal partner to start a business together but they don't want to take the risk of not having any income. If they had a basic income then they might be willing to work in partnership in exchange for a stake in the company. They could do this safe in the knowledge that their basic needs will be provided for while they establish the business.
But enough about you. Here is another way basic income helps. Anyone who takes work gets to keep their basic income. It's unconditional. That means that all those people on low income who cant afford your products and services now are going to have a little extra cash to splash. They may use some of it to pay of their debts but when people have a bit of extra money and aren't struggling to make ends meet, then they will spend a bit more with you.
So vote now for the European Citizens' Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income to get the ball rolling. You can sign up here. http://basicincome2013.eu/
Your vote isn't enough, we need to get the message out. So if you approve of basic income why don't you print off some flyers and hand them out to your customers. You can access the press-kit at http://basicincome2013.eu/ubi/press-kit/
We have also started a crowd funding campaign to raise money for advertising so that we get get the idea in front of as many people as possible. If you can spare a little money, please consider paying into our crowd funding scheme. http://funding.basicincome2013.eu/
I'm a writer who works a lot in communities and I think that, with the basic income, it would be much easier to do longer community projects. With a little less worrying about chasing enough money for a regular income, I'd be devising and making new plays, running creative writing workshops, using my Arts Award Advisor training more and helping young people get their bronze and silver awards, skill sharing and supporting and mentoring new writers alongside making my own work. I'd be contributing to the economy but giving back a lot more to the communities around me and I think there's a lot of added value in that.
ReplyDeleteI teach art voluntarily to vulnerable women one day a week, the rest of my time is taken up with job searching. If I had a basic income I could teach more, branch out and help different groups of people. I could also update my artistic pursuits to pass on to others.
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