Own your own business?????

Anyone own their own business??? I am so tired of non-stop calls wanting a donation for this and that.... I own a restaurant, and my cost rises daily, both products and delivery charges. I am trying to keep my prices consistant, but it is hard and I am use to donating all i can. I feel bad when I can't support the little league, or teachers, but where do you draw the line....

 

I owned a restaurant in a town of 8-10,000 folks, we operated for 18 years were quite successful and sold for a substantial profit. I never said yes to any of the countless "Troopers Associations" that were pro fund-raisers operating out of a boiler room somewhere. In fact I pretty much made it a policy that if someone called on the phone looking for donations etc. the answer was no.

I tried to help local churchs and hometown organizations. We had a volunteer fire department and I did everything I could for those guys. Several times I got up in the middle of the night and took food out to fire crews that were working at large fires. Trust me it paid dividends daily. At least in the town I was in people traded with the folks they trusted and knew were part of the town.

 

Know who you are giving to. If you have kids, you support the activites that they are in. This is the best thing for your family, for you to partipate in and donate to youth activities. It keeps them off the streets.Good luck, because anyone having their own business needs all the luck they can muster.

 

I am a self employed furniture maker , and I draw the line at our church, Pair a dice cruiser car club, and freinds in need.
Otherwise I'd be extremly broke, instead of just broke.

 

Not many people can support every charity that come along. You got to just pick and choose based on whatever reasons you have. Then just tell the rest that theirs is" not a cause you are supporting but thanks for the opportunity". You don't owe anybody an explanation for what you do with your money.
Bob

 

Yes an the problem is worldwide ! at least 10 per week . the downtime drives me batty !

 

I run my own business out of my home. My cell phone is my home/business phone (no listing). My customers have my number. My listed number runs into my fax machine. I have a firm belief that charity begins at home.

 

I get email's every month from someone building a car for a school project or a "girl" race car drive who want me to send them headers free of charge... I always reply and the ones who I fell are cool and wiling to pick up the phone and talk to me, I help out. I always ship right to the school and they still pay for part of it... I can't give $400 items away but I can help whe needed! I did a set of model A headers with a sb chevy last summer, the teacher was super cool and it all paid off he and his friends have orderd from me. I guess helping out kid's working on hot rods is where its at for me!

 

Ahh yes the phone calls. One of my favorite subjects. I own and run the engine/hot rod shop. If you call here you will get me and only me,lucky you. If you call here and you ask for the owner,the manager,etc you are in deep shit. The call then changes format and goes like this. You have reached Hillsboro Racing Engines choose from the following options. 1-would you like to order a engine?,2-did we win the lottery?,3-is our building on fire?,If the answer is no to any of these 3 please hang up and get the fuck off our phone,as we have a real prick for a boss and he will kick our ass for waisting time on the phone. And by the way Have A nice day>>>>.

 

I finally stopped getting a lot of the charity calls, I just always told them no, no thank you.

Now I get 10-20 calls a week from companies that want to give me operating capital. Sometimes they are flat ass rude about it. Today the guy asked me if I got the money, couldn't I use it to make more? Or am I not capable?

Him I told to F-off.

 

I kind of have my own business. I hand-make LED brake lights for pre 70's vehicles. Just something i do in my free time.

 

Why is it that we feel obligated to talk to some stranger when they call???

when they call me I just say "fuck off" and hang up in their ear...

so who is ruder??? me or THEM for bothering me????

as for charity.....choose those that are worth supporting according to your heart and act accordingly.....a lot of them skim a big chunk off that goes into the so-called administrators pockets...

ya dont need strangers soliciting and trying to play on your feelings...

being charitable is great....being forced to be is stupid!

 

I run a music store and get 5 of those calls a day. I just tell them sorry I cant just give stuff away and offer to sell them stuff at a discount. They are usually happy with that. The only time I made any sales from donating anything is when I gave a guitar to local car club to raffle off at their charity event. I had quite a few people from the car show coming in the next day to pick up stuff. Go figure the hot rod guys return the favor, while everyone else acts like they are doing me the favor.

 

Our company is constantly asked to donate for car shows. We usually try to send something but I do watch to see if we get a thank you for the donation. I don't need the acknowledgement but it is a good insight into their professionalism. We also get a lot of people asking to donate to their car build. Some call up and say send me some parts for free. Really, that was an exact quote! Others send a 10 page marketing plan with tie-ins to websites, articles, show schedules and more. Who would you support?

For charities, this is a great website: http://www.charitynavigator.org/

 

I have my own business that started as a part time business which became a fulltime business, and it seems I get more and more calls for "charity". I stick to local organizations, and when time slow down like this year, I tend to volunteer time since the checkbook can get light at times....
-Sobastrace

 

There are currently more calls from scammers than real charities. If you want to donate, ask for an address and phone number, and then contact them later when you have time. All real charities will give you this info. Most callers asking for money for a 'charity' will give you some line about why they can't do that, which is a big red flag.


I have 4 rules about incoming calls from non-customers -
1: There is no one here named 'owner' or 'manager'.
2: When I say 'hello', there better be a live person there to say 'hello' back.
3: if you are a charity, we already give more than most companies, and
4: if you have something to sell, you have 10 seconds to convince me it's worth another 10. Then I'll either hang up, or ask for your contact info and politely hang up.
Saves a lot of wasted time - explaining to them or arguing with them is just wasting time you should be spending on your paying customers. If you really want what they are selling, or want to donate to their particular charity, AND they are legit, you can find them easy enough in the yellow pages when YOU have the time.

 

I own a trophy shop and have found that it is important for me to support the organizations that support me. I deal with alot of schools, shelters, little league teams, and all sorts of other charitable organizations and there is no way that I could possibly donate to all so I chose who I donate to by who spends the most money with me. All it takes is a quick check of the quick books and the top ten receive a donation.

 

I have caller I.D. "Unknown caller, private number and unavailable" never get answered. My time is to precious to answer "please give us stuff" calls. Period. Do I feel guilty....NOPE. I give plenty elsewhere. 9-5 is for work... 5- bedtime is for the family. All the beggers can get bent.

 

I answer the phones at my job. First thing I do is check the number on the caller ID. If it's a blocked or unknown, I click to answer and as soon as I catch a pitch, I click to turn off the phone in one motion. Not worth my time.

If I do decide to hear the call or whatever, I usually wait 5 seconds for them to start their script, then I hang up. I had one guy call back, when I cursed him out, he told me I was rude. It was then that I reminded him he had called ME and entered my world and my world used curse words. Then, I hung up on him.

My boss gives to his church and I donate blood and being a veteran, I volunteer at the VA when I can. That's it. The way I see it, if they can't make the effort to contact me in person, they are lazy and not trying hard enough.

 

You should start your own charity and then you can ask them to help you out!!.. Probably good tax breaks too.. haha.. but you'll only take money or tow away cool old cars as donations.. sadly there is probably some scammer whos doing this as i type..
-Anthony

 

Out of area is another flag...I love caller ID

 

Not to be a prick, but I have struggled most of my
adult life. I am just now getting financially comfortable
and have never been charitable. However, I'm the first
guy to lend a hand when asked, just not financially.