Who Am I?

 

My name is Jim Mathis. I have been a small business owner for fifty years, having started several businesses in three totally separate industries. I am also an Enrolled Agent which means I can represent clients before the Internal Revenue Service and I am a Small Business Specialist with H&R Block Tax Preparation Service.

 

I started my business career buying and selling things at auction as a young person. My dad was an auctioneer so I would go along to auctions and buy and sell whatever I could that looked like I could make some money. The current term for what I did is “picker.”

 

I bought gas for my first car selling eggs door to door from my flock of laying hens. In college, I played in a rock band, my partner and I formed a booking agency to book our group and other bands.

Later I opened a successful custom photo lab. My wife and I ran the photo lab for twenty-three years before selling it at the dawn of the digital photography age.

 

We owned a coffeehouse and music venue, Homer’s Coffee House, for seven years before selling it to get back into the photography business.

 

I have never looked for a job or had any desire to draw a paycheck. I have a high need for autonomy and integrity.

 

The purpose of this web site is to provide a resource and encouragement to those, who either accidentally, or on purpose, find themselves on their own, working in the gig economy without somebody signing a paycheck on payday.