Self-employment-Living the Dream?

Whew! I have to say, the business of self-employment is tough right now for many of us in Montana and across the country. Fortunately for me, the lack of pre-bookings doesn't necessarily mean I'm not busy. Last minute bookings are up and random second days with clients that have had a great time on their first trip helps. Since the last posting, where I lost 7 days, I've been able to make up ground and will potentially be on the river 18 out of 22 days in the last part of June and early July. Again however, the problem is that I have very few days booked after July 5th.

So I hear all the time people saying how jealous they are of those of us that are able to live the dream and do what we love; spending time on the water, fishing, being self-employed, etc, etc. Before you give up your nine-to-five just let me share with you the sacrifices one faces as a self-employed individual in the State of Montana. I pay roughly $125 a year just to say I won't make a workman's comp claim against my employer, (that I don't have by the way,) in case I get injured at my job. If I get hurt I get hurt. Since the economy is in the tank and there's no guarantee I will be working next month, I, (like many of the other guides and outfitters,) have chosen not to go into debt in order to pay for health insurance instead of gear. There' s a bare minimum amount of gear one has to have along with licensing and fees and instead of charging it on a credit card, I've chosen to pay for it, which means the money I might have had to pay for insurance is no longer there. So yep, I'm rolling the dice.

On top of that, we also don't pay into unemployment insurance so I'm no longer eligible for that benefit if I don't get the number of days on the river I need to pay the bills. That all sounds fair and I'm OK with that because it is a choice, but many of us have payed into unemployment for years and now can't draw if we need to. That's a huge security net about 17% of the workforce in Montana doesn't have.

One of the problems with what's going on right now with the economy is that those folks in the sectors of industry that are suffering the most are also those industries with the highest number of self-employed workers. My sector, the "Specialty Trade Contractors," has the highest number of self-employed workers with Real Estate and Construction Contractors following close behind. Because people have less expendable resources, they don't hire fishing guides as much, they don't buy real estate and the don't build. When these folks' income drops to a point they would normally be eligible for benefits, they won't qualify because they are of a "self-employed" status.

What's kind of crazy is that Montana has the largest percentage of self-employed people than any other state. We also have a rate of uninsured adults about a percentage point higher than the national average at around 34% that had at least one month of being uninsured in 2008. As those sectors of the economy keep losing business and as unemployment goes up, you can bet more folks will go without insurance. At some point one would think there would be a tipping point where the amount of people unable to pay for their health services will make such a huge impact on the system that the system will go bankrupt. Maybe then there will be change.

So how this relates to me specifically is that recently I tore ligaments in my foot. Yes, I rolled the dice and one might say I lost. The injury isn't one that needs immediate attention but it is bad enough to keep me from hiking, exercising, playing golf and in some aspects; from doing my job the way I would like. (Putting on waders is a bitch.) I went to the county health department and saw the doctor. I was put on a sliding scale for billing and was 'awarded' a %60 forbearance on my bill. That's great but in order to fix the problem I was told I needed to see a specialist who would probably have to perform surgery. Of course, surgeons and specialists don't recognize or grant the whole sliding scale thing.

So here are my options; I can have the surgery and be out of work for month or so in which I would also be incurring thousands of dollars in health care bills or I can suck it up and wince my way through the season and maybe by the grace of God, I'll be healed and the pain will go away. From what the doc said, the second part of the latter won't happen. As for option A, that really isn't an option either. So option C, I guess will be to manage the pain, (self-medication??) until the season is over and then pay a couple dollars a month for pretty much the rest of my life in order to fix the problem.

All right, so the fishing on Mo has been pretty phenomenal. However, I just looked at the flows and they bumped it up again to 8200 cfs. Yeah. Last week they went down from around 8,000 to 5,000 and now back up. Eight is good. In fact, it's great--as long as it's a constant 8,000. When the flows fluctuate that much in that short of time, the fish aren't happy. The bugs aren't either and it takes a little while for the fish to find a spot to settle in and get comfortable. It takes even longer for the fishermen to find them so I'd suggest hiring a guide.

Take care y'all and just remember; you still won't find fish in the trees so keep your flies where they live--in the water.

P.S. Yeah, that's right. For those who are following, I got a new hat.

P.P.S. By the way, Tommy Douglas was voted by the Canadian public as the "Greatest Canadian" of all time in a T.V. contest hosted by the Canadian Broadcasting Cooporation in 2004. He was the Prime Minister that introduced public national health care to Canadians in the 1940's. It can be done.