Ever buy a new piece of tech gadget and the next week, your model becomes obsolete? Yeah, it really stinks. If you are planning to buy an Apple Inc. product like an iPod or iMac, you can avoid this unpleasant occurrence if you do one thing first. Check out the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide and save yourself the pain of buying too soon or too late. For example, if you want to buy an iPhone, the guide says “buy Now” since the product has just been updated. An iPod Classic, on the other hand, is long overdue for an update, so the guide says “Don’t Buy Now”! Thanks MacRumors!
Do you know what Payday Loans are? Well if you have never taken one, they are an ultra-short term loan instrument. Considering an average person’s payday is every two weeks, that about the maximum amount of time you’d want to take out one of these loans. Why? Because they interest rate is high and keeping the loan outstanding any longer would be too costly.
You can learn more about payday loans and more at Complete Loan Source. If you need one, you can apply online and get nationwide approval for your loan needs. Complete Loan Source also has information and support for:
- Home Loans
- Auto Loans
- Cash Advances
- Personal Loans
- Payday Loans
- Bad Credit Loans
Here’s a suggestion a lot better in the long run that those Tax Stimulus checks most of us have gotten (by the way… they didn’t work that well. GDP only went up 1% from 0.9% to 1.9%). Take $100 billion and invest it in U.S. Infrastructure projects. Why not? China’s doing it. Why not spend $100 billion on roads, bridges, wind farms, off-shore drilling, railroads, and cities. You can’t outsourced THESE jobs and they can pay well. In the end, the money (well, most of it) stays in the U.S. where it is needed most! Just do it!
People in general fall into two categories — those who love Country Music and those who hate it. There is no other category! No seriously, I live in the South, so I’m around Country Music all the time, but I was surprised to find out that good old Jewel has switched over to the country realm.
If you love Country, then check out this new site. It has everything from Artists Bios to Country Music Lyrics. Find your favorites and discover new talents — get your CM fill at CountryMusicPerformers.com.
I tried to go to my site today by typing it into the URL bar and press “CTRL-Enter” to add the “.com”. But somehow the machine I was on took me to the Ask.com results for that keyword. The first 5 results made sense, but then the 6th I had to check out. It was a 5XMom’s posting about me… Looks like she found this nickname I used for her to be amusing. I just only wish she had been cool enough to actually link to my site instead of just writing the URL out.
P.s. Have you seen that my other Chief Prognosticator site is perma-linked to by IZEA’s PayPerPost? Cool.
Entrepreneurship and small business is the American Dream. Hard work, dedication, and ingenuity can help you reach your goals of owning and operating your own business. But there is one thing missing … money! Obtaining the proper funding to start your business (or grow an existing one) is a major hurdle to shoot for the American Dream. Advance Restaurant Financing wants to be your partner in funding your restauranteering dreams. They have a portfolio of provides financial solutions such as lines of credit and business loans to help you create your dreams. The restaurant business is a tough one — you either make it or break it within the first 12 months. Advance Restaurant Financing can help you get past business loans bad credit problems and get the funding you need!
According to a study done by Merck Medco, about 50% of all adults in the U.S. who have insurance are on long term prescription medicine. This means they take a medicine on an ongoing basis like that for high blood pressure or high cholesterol. What do these study findings mean and is it necessarily a good thing or a bad thing? Or mixed?
Unhealthy Population
Does this figure of 50% mean that the population is more unhealthy than ever? Looking at the obesity rate for adults (and children) we see that America has never been fatter, so this data support that?
Better Medicine
Maybe this data shows that science and medicine has done a great job of developing medicines which treat chronic conditions (which always existed) and therefore extend life and quality of life. That’s a good thing, if you can afford it.
Sales and Marketing Pressured
This data could just be evidence that the sales and marketing divisions of Pharma companies are getting too good. With a plethora of television, radio and magaine advertisements. Try to think about how many ads you’ve seen this week for ED, Depression, Cholesteral, and Birth Control!
Using phone cards when dialing long distance can be a great way to save money. Instead of signing up with your phone company and getting charges every month, using calling cards can be a better way to control your expenses. You can not only get a lower rate, but you can manage your expenses by budgeting a certain amount of long distance charges a month and sticking to it.
Whether you are looking for genetic international calling cards or specifics ones (like UK Calling Cards), GetMeCallingCards.com has a great deal waiting for you. Don’t get stuck paying high per minutes charges from your home phone carrier — get a calling card and save big when calling overseas.
I’d say just plain complicated at this moment. Sure the U.S. Congress recently passed a law against insurance companies being able to use genetic information to determine coverage. Sounds fair right? Well it does and it doesn’t. Isn’t insurance all about risk? And isn’t risk based on predisposition? You know what would solve this? Socialized Medicine! Yeah, I know its a touchy subject here in the U.S., but if we don’t want to “discriminate” against anyone in who gets health coverage for a reasonable fee, then social medicine (single payer) is the only way to go… Why didn’t Congress pass that bill? I guess its a whole lot easier to pass a bill against “discrimination” than it is against capitalism…
Computers and simulation programs are becoming more and more powerful. What’s the apex for this field of engineering and computer science? Computers which can model the real world, in real time! Think of it as one step away from The Matrix.
Here’s a great example. Flomerics, a leading computer simulation engineering firm which specializes in fluid flow and heat transfer simulations (some of the hardest stuff around!), recently used their powerful FLOVENT software to model the effects of wingsuits used for base jumping. This sort of software is not just cool but is extremely valuable too. Companies use it to figure out stuff from how to cool computer processors and electronics to how to build better skyscrapers (which are under extreme wind pressure constantly). Amazing!
OK, liked my list of countries with gasoline cheaper than it is in the US? No, it made you angry? Me too — especially since China was only around $3 a gallon. But here is something to make you feel better (if you live in the USA) — a list of countries that pay more, a lot more, than the US for gasoline:
Look its a horrible situation to be in — you figure out one day that no matter how hard you try, you can’t pay your bills and won’t be able to dig yourself out of debt. Whether its due to a job loss or a bad sub-prime mortgage deal, you too can find yourself facing bankruptcy. So what can you do? Panic? Sure, but that won’t solve anything. What you needs is someone like Richard S. Feinsilver, ESQ, a bankruptcy and debt consolidation expert. Learning about the bankruptcy and real estate process is the first step to finding your way back on track. If you find yourself in this situation, visit the website of an expert like Richard S. Feinsilver, ESQ, New York debt consolidation and bankruptcy guru and get back control of your finances and life!
When you think about it — the minimum wage rate has really taken a beating as compared to the price of a gallon of gas. If you are making minimum wage and must drive 15 miles to work, you could lose almost one hour of wages after taxes! Think about it!
The federal minimum wage in the United States has been $5.85 per hour since July 2007. In that time, the price of a gallon of gas has increased from $2.60 a gallon to over $4.00!
Debt management is not only important for your financial well-being but also your mental health. No seriously — being in debt, whether a little or a lot, can weight heavily on your mind 24 hours a day. This is why Debt Management Plans are crucial when it comes to getting on your feet. A debt management plan is a personal roadmap on how to:
- Keep from increasing your debts. Learn how not to spend more than you make and how to use emergency funds for when you really need them.
- Payoff debts (smaller ones first / highest interest ones first). When reducing your debt, you need to do it in a strategic manner. Payoff the highest interest debts first. If they are all the same interest rate, go for the smallest balance one first. This way you feel a sense of accomplishment sooner when its paid off.
- Work towards a debt-free life. Live the plan and slowly see your debt erased. It won’t be overnight and it won’t be easy but you can do it if your stick to the plan.
- Learn not to get into debt again! Learn how not to live beyond your means and how to use savings to put away money for life’s unexpected moments.
Sounds great right? Well I should know about this stuff. I’ve been in debt before and it was not fun at all. It really would be something I’d think about at night. You can’t live in debt for long without it taking a toll — get a plan and live it. Its the only way to get debt free and stay that way for the rest of your life.
Do big numbers scare you? If so, stop reading right now!
Ok, I just read this scary article on CNN Money titled “The 44th president’s $4 trillion headache” and it gave me the creeps. The $4 trillions comes from two major tax issues the next president will have to face. The first is the 2001 and 2003 “temporary” tax cuts that Bush signed. Those are set to expire soon which means that taxes will go up to where they were before. If the president makes those cuts permanent…. poof! $2 Trillion in debt over the next 10 years. And the other $2 Trillion? That’s the projected cost to fix the AMT (Alternate Minimum Tax) — that sneaky little part of the code which is now haunting millions of middle class taxpayers. To fix it back to where it should be — preventing the super-wealthy from not paying any taxes — will mean a $2 trillion shortfall over the same period.
I live about 5 minutes from Lake Lanier here in Georgia and the worst thing to see is the water rescue truck heading sirens flashing to the water. It usually means that someone is in trouble or is already gone. Let me take this opportunity to stress the important of boating safety. Whether you are new to boating or are an old sea dog, its always a good idea to get Boating Education courses every few years to brush up on safety tips and regulations.
Check out this video for some good information on this important subject:
Like the video said, “While boating is fun, fun has responsibilities too!” Don’t make a lovely day on the lake turn into a day you can’t escape.
Yeah, its no joke. Operating Under the Influence (also known as OUI) is as dangerous as driving a car under the influence. Since boating is usually equated with having a good time out on the water, alcohol is more often involved on a boat than it would be in a moving or parked car. Usually the legal limits are the same for driving or boating and in Arizona operating a boat under the influence is a Class One misdemeanor. That’s a serious charge — don’t mess with it!
Does it ever make sense to make extra payments on your mortgage? Well according to a Consumer Reports article I read today, it doesn’t. They compared paying $100 extra every month versus investing $100 a month in the S&P500 INDEX. What happened? Well if you looked at 15 year rolling periods, the stocks outperformed the prepayment return on your money 100% of the time! That’s food for thought.
I can think of a hundreds different scenarios where you would want to track someone or something on GPS. Now imagine being able to do this from the comfort of your own computer or other web-enabled device. LiveViewGPS offers real time GPS tracking of vehicles for business and personal application. The movement is updated every 10 seconds which means you can track things with both ease and precision. From teenage kids to entire transportation fleets, live GPS tracking is like a dream come true. This advanced technology is easy to use and will pay for itself in peace of mind and cost savings in no time. Check it out.
I wrote this a few months ago:
Here’s an amazing website-slash-service I just randomly found Googling myself…. workFRIENDLY.net! What is it? Well it looks a lot like a search engine but what it does it a lot cooler. Just enter in the URL of a site you want to visit and workFRIENDLY masks it into looking like a MS Word document! Now you can read your favorite websites while at work with reduced chance of getting caught by the boss. There is even a “boss” button to quickly switch out the content. Check it out for yourself!
Pop quiz — when do you think about car rental? On as vacation? Yes. On a business trip? Sure. What about a long weekend? No? Well its a good idea worth considering. Just check out the cars available from advantage.com. They are having a special offer — up to a 50% discount on Luxury and Convertible car rentals. Think about it — rent a convertible in your hometown for the long weekend. It’s like a mini-vacation — people will wonder if you’ve won the lottery or something.
Advantage Rent-a-Car has great offers in your hometown and the best vacation spots around the country. Imagine a trip to Vegas where you have your own Escallade or Lambo! Too big? OK, well check out their Special Offers page and find deals as low as $1 a day in Florida. Wherever it is you’re headed or if you are staying local, Advantage has must-see deals on great rental cars.
Google has made some small progress in providing free wireless Internet blanketing over major American cities. It makes sense for Google to do it — the hardware is cheap, the access is too and they would get the unrestricted ability to show their advertisements on this network. Think of it as the Internet 2.0, one where Google makes all the money! Why haven’t they pushed this initiative more?
It looks like there’s just one city with it — that’s Google home base of Mountain View, California. The hometown gets free WiFi thanks to the Internet giant as a sort of thank you. Now what about more cities?
Although we live in a digital age, all businesses still need good old fashioned printed materials. Whether they be return address labels for snail mailings or business cards, printed materials are necessary but don’t necessarily have to break your budget. Check out the services that Vista Print offers. Their rates are some of the best around and are definitely better than you trying to print for yourself. Unless you have $10,000 equipment at home or in the office, you are better off leaving your printing needs to the professionals. Don’t worry if you only need 500 or 1000 items at a time — heck, don’t worry if you only need to buy 1 custom car magnet — Vista Print does not force you into high volume orders. On the contrary, they market their services to small business owners like you who need professional materials but without the expense of 10,000 item print runs. Its a perfectly scalable solution. If you have any questions or even wish to get a free sample of their products, visit the site and check out the “New To Our Site?” section on the bottom right. Vista Print will change the way your business prints. Thanks Vista Print.
Here’s a great idea I came up with — how about if Apple Inc. partnered with XM or Sirius Satellite radio? How would it work? Well all the songs you purchased in iTunes would be made available to play on your satellite radio receiver. The music could be streamed live or downloaded (temporarily) on demand to your car and enjoyed. Another feature would be to hear a song on XM, press a button, and buy it with iTunes seamlessly! How about that?
Finding the right hosting service provider for your web properties is not a task to be taken lightly. There are many different parameters to take into consideration and price isn’t always the most important one. For me, the key is high availability and space. What’s the point of paying for a service which is sometimes “down”?
To find the right web hosting service for your business, the folks over at WebHostingGeeks.com have done the research for your. Check out their top ten list of service providers. It’s no surprise to me that they say BlueHost is the best. That’s who I use and I have never been disappointment. Read their full BlueHost Review and get the inside scoop for yourself.
If you are in the market for a new hosting service, visit WebHostingGeeks.com first and get informed!
Microsoft Vista operating system has not lived up to expectations when it comes to ease of use, compatibility and reliability. Now theres even a petition going around to “Save Windows XP” since it really is a more friendly operating system.
What has Vista made you do? Tell me. Here are some examples:
- It has made me switch to Apple
- It has made me throw a coffe cup at my monitor
- It has made me download a bootleg copy of Windows XP and install it over Vista
- It has made me cry
Living about an hour away from downtown, I love visiting my “home” city of Atlanta to take in the sights. There are many things to do in Atlanta. Here are some of my favorite from my memory.
- Stone Mountain Park is always a great time with that giant hunk of granite and lots of activities.
- Coca-Cola Museum is a trip back in history topped off with all the free soda you care to drink.
- Georgia Aquarium is the largest in the country and a site you need to see to believe.
For an upcoming trip, I am thinking about visiting NYC for the first time. I’m using the Trusted Tours site to plan some of my events. They have a full list of New York City tours and attractions. It should be a really great trip.
For information on these places and more, visit the online travel guides available from TrustedTours.com. They have over 20 cities in the U.S. detailed on great things to do and ways to save money doing them.
Visit Trusted Tours today at www.trustedtours.com and sign up for their newsletter. Its full of great travel tips and sightseeing deals, so you don’t want to miss out. Need more reason to sign up for the newsletter? Well how about this — you can win a handheld GPS just by signing up!
What could Apple Inc do to keep their crown as top innovator? Well there are two lists to be made. The first is product improvements and the second is new products. Please share your thoughts.
Improvements:
- Thinner iPhone / iPod. Is there a new type of solid state memory out there being developed which could shrink these devices more?
- Apple (hd)TV. Make it 1080p capable and stock those movies on iTune!
- iMac Air. Think about it… an even thinner iMac ala Macbook Air. Make it float in the air too!
New Products:
- iPod Nano + Watch? Wear it on your wrist.
- iPod Shuffle the size of earbuds. Keep the cord connecting both ears just for show.
- A way to expand screen size. My personal favorite idea. I’ve written about it before. Screens so thin that they stack when not in use, but then can fold out to a 2×1 or 2×2 array in your hand!
There was a time last year when it wasn’t exactly clear whether blog advertising was going to be accepted in the mainstream market. But after 2 years of operation, IZEA (formerly known as PayPerPost) is still around and going strong with over 100,000 bloggers in their network. IZEA changed their name to reflect their growing services base. Not just PayPerPost, the blog advertising marketplace, any longer, IZEA includes several service platforms including RSS Brief, Blog in Space, and the Blogger’s Choice Awards, IZEA has recently released a revolutionary social marketing network named SocialSpark. It’s a social network driven by bloggers and advertisers where the advertising is 100% transparent, 100% disclosed, and 100% real including Google-friendly No-Follow tags on all links.
IZEA is becoming to blog advertising as what Google is to search advertising. I wouldn’t be surprised if Google was secretly in negotiations to acquire the two year old IZEA and all its web properties. Blogs are still going strong and have solidified their place on the Internet as a legitimate information and discussion forum. As blogs are here to stay, blog advertising is going to only grow as marketers and advertisers seek to gain more exposure on more channels.
Visa announced this week that they will be capping the fees they charge gas stations for credit card transactions for gas purchases. Visa gets roughly a 2% cut of the sale price in exchange for credit card services. But as gas prices rise and rise, the aount Visa gets has increased too from 5 or 6 cents a gallon to almost 9 or 10! That doesn’t seem like much, but gas station owners usually only take a fixed markup on the fuel they sell, anywhere from 10 to 14 cents a gallon. That means gas station owners have been earning less and less money on the more and more expensive fuel they sell!
p.s. Mastercard capped fees last year. Way to pitch in, Visa!… although a little late.
I’m sure you’d be too embarrassed to admit it after reading this blog post, but do any of my readers out there actual pay money for new cell phones? I sure hope not but if you happened to be one of those few, let this post be an eye-opening experience. In the 21st century you should never pay for a cell phone. By signing a simple contract of 1 or 2 years, you can get a great cell phone for free. Just check out these at&t cell phones from Best In Cell Phones. Until July 6th, they have hundreds of great cell phones on deep discount. Just how low? Well my favorite are the free ones… Actually I take that back. My favorite are the top free phones which actually pay you to take them! Yes its true — bestincellphones.com has offers up to FREE + $100 Cash Back including free shipping. That’s an amazing deal on a great phone. I mean, if you were already going to pay for service, why not get the phone for free and even a little extra cash in your pocket to do so. No one can live without a cell phone these days… why not just do it smarter than everyone else! Check out these razr deals — simply amazing. My wife has the Pink Razr and it is really cool. Like pink? Well check out these other pink phones for sale. Best in cellphones.com’s price guarantee includes your complete satisfaction. Shop with trust and get your free phone today. There’s no reason why you should pay for Alltel phones like the Motorola Q. In fact, you can get the Q for free with an amazing $100 cash back. Don’t delay — this offer won’t last long.
Do you have Kroger grocery stores in your neck of the country? Well down here in the South we do and up until this past year, Kroger had a great deal on gasoline. If you bought at their fuel centers and swiped your (free) Kroger Plus Card, you would save 3 cents a gallon off your purchase. When gas was $2 a gallon, that would be 1.5% off. Nice. But gas has since gone to $4 and growing, so 3 cents is worth that much less. Who cares if the price is $4.23 or $4.26, especially if the price next week will be $4.35!
Sorry Kroger, I imagine your sales are dropping. A better situation would be like my Chase Perfect Card which offers 3% (not 3 cents) cash back on gas purchases. That fixed rate means your savings will move in unison with fuel prices. Save $0.06 a gallon when gas is $2 and save $0.12 a gallon when its $4! The only problem now is that Chase has capped your maximum monthly cash back. The solution, get a second credit card from another company offering cash back on gas and use both cards each month.
There are two main forms of entrepreneurship — 1) start your business from the ground up or 2) buy an existing business and make it grow. I’ve found a new search engine which makes finding businesses for sale easy! BizAg.com is a specialized search engine for business sale listings across the country. Aggregated from multiple data sources (classified ads, online listings, etc), BizAg.com is as simple as Google but gives you so much more in terms of information you need. Just type in a business type (or any sort of keyword) and search. The results will show a listings of businesses for sale related to that term. Limit your search results geographically or go nationwide. Here’s a sample result:
See the data at the top — that’s a quick excerpt of business statistic for the search result. Asking Price, Cash Flow, Revenue — all this data is exactly what an entrepreneur needs to make the right decisions. Want to buy a bar in Maui or a music store in Philly? Well this is the place to start! I think this type of specific search engine / data aggregator is just what the web needs — there’s a good chance in my opinion that someone like Google or Yahoo will be making an offer for it!
Its getting crazy with regards to airlines charging for extras which were once free. You’ve must of heard of the charges for 2nd checked bags by now, but its getting worse. I read recently that some airlines are going to start charging for soft drinks, water and coffee on board. Combine that with restrictions on bring your own beverage through security, and you’re pretty much forced to pay (or go thirsty). $2 for a can of coke — not funny at all. Why can’t airlines just drop the games and be straight with their pricing once and for all. They can’t have their cake and eat it too… meaning they need to choose one:
1) Variable rates for seats but without surcharges and added fees
or
2) Fixed rates across the board, all inclusive.
How is the first largest country in the world (Russia) regaining its superpower status? Oil! Gas! Timber! Steel! Coal! Anti-capitalism! You name it. Well what’s the second largest country in the world? Canada. Can Canada be poised for a new era of wealth?
Bet on it! With such vast wilderness spanning a massive landmass, Canada should benefit greatly from higher energy and raw material costs. Sure getting some of those resources, like oil shales, is tough but as energy prices rise, there could be a whole new wave of Canadian Billionaires!
I love web design! Although my focus is primarily on blog themes and design, I can appreciate the beauty of a well planned out and designed website. I must have spent 5 or 6 hours searching through free Wordpress blog themes in order to find this one here. I just liked the color scheme and simplicity of the layout. A little customization in cpanel and XML later and my website directory and links page works nicely in the overall theme!
My love for web design is always keeping my eyes out for great sites offering free templates. I’ve found a new one at Dreamtemplate.com which deserves special attention. Dreamtemplate.com offers over 300 free website templates for your downloading. There’s nothing to buy — just browse the site and pick a great theme. You can integrate the site as is or customize it easily using HTML and XML. Like the site? Well if you are really into it, you can get access to literally thousands of great website themes for only $59.95. You can use any of these themes for your site — even commercial sites!
To view the free templates, click on the category Free Website Templates and scroll through the over 300 choices. These ones will cost you absolutely nothing to download and use. The only thing is that you promise not to resell the templates. The rest is fair use! If you like what you see and want to see more, join for a one-time fee of $59.95 and get access to the full collection of website templates including great flash website templates.
What makes Dreamtemplate.com’s website templates different than the rest? Quality! No seriously, the templates you will find here are not quickies. Instead each template go through a complete design process at Dreamtemplate.com’s design studio. Accordingly each template is well thought out, designed and tested — at an average of 7-15 hours of production time each! Not only does your membership give you access to thousands of amazing designs but access to all the future templates. New templates appear every week — and they keep getting better! Think of Dreamtemplate.com as your professional design partner in creating and maintaining an awesome website.
For you affiliate sales entrepreneurs out there, check out Dreamtemplate.com’s amazing affiliate program. You earn an incredible 30% commission on all sales! That could easily add up to $1000 a month or more. So what are you waiting for? Whether you are building a new site, revamping an existing one, or are looking for a new online money maker, check out Dreamtemplate.com.
Looks like even China’s strict government has a soft spot. In light of the recent earthquake disaster, the Chinese Government has announced that families who lost “their only child” in the quake could have another one. Strange stuff that One-Child Policy…. I was reading an article in Sky Magazine about a famous Chinese Dinosaur hunter… I read he had two young children. What’s up with that?
Sure the dealership’s access to manufacturer credit for a new car Auto Loan is one way, but its not always the best. Accordingly you need to know your options and even have external financing ready when you walk into the dealer. Credit Unions have been a good source for this second loan route but I just found another way — Apex Auto Loan. They have access to a Nationwide network of banks and credit providers. For new or used cars, they can line you up financing before you walk into the dealer.Even if you are not ready to buy this weekend, visit their website and use the free Auto Loan Calculator. It is a great tool to help you figure out how much can you can afford. Just don’t forget to factor in the price of gas!
I’d say just plain complicated at this moment. Sure the U.S. Congress recently passed a law against insurance companies being able to use genetic information to determine coverage. Sounds fair right? Well it does and it doesn’t. Isn’t insurance all about risk? And isn’t risk based on predisposition? You know what would solve this? Socialized Medicine! Yeah, I know its a touchy subject here in the U.S., but if we don’t want to “discriminate” against anyone in who gets health coverage for a reasonable fee, then social medicine (single payer) is the only way to go… Why didn’t Congress pass that bill? I guess its a whole lot easier to pass a bill against “discrimination” than it is against capitalism…
OK, so Britney Spears already stole that phrase when she wore it on a t-shirt, but “being the American Dream” is more than just being a celebrity. The American Dream is, at its heart, about the promise of America and the ability for anyone in the society to pull themselves up and become a success with hard work and luck. As opposed to “old money” wealth — that is, wealthy families and individuals derived from inherited wealth — the American Dream means people from low socioeconomic classes to become successful and wealthy in their own lifetime. This success makes them part of what is called the Nouveau Riche. A French term meaning literally “New Rich”, the Nouveau Riche represent success in its truest form — self made success. From real estate moguls to Silicon Valley types, dry cleaner chain owners to President Bill Clinton, these people used their talents and hard work to come from nothing and create wealth and success made to last. There is even a “Nouveau Riche University” teaching people like you and me how to manage their money and build real wealth from real estate and investments. You’ve heard of the “Millionaire Next Door” right? Well its the same principle — take the right steps, act widely, work hard and you are almost guaranteed to become rich and successful. Its no secret — just things that we usually overlook or are not aware of in the first place. You TOO can be the American Dream.
I wrote previously about Chrysler’s offer to subsidize the price of gas for one year on all new vehicles it sells. The price you’d pay would be fixed at $2.99 a gallon. Over a year, that could mean costs of up to $2000 for Chysler. But just yesterday I saw an advertisment on TV stating the $2.99 gas was for THREE WHOLE YEARS! Wow! That is even bigger! I wonder if it was always that long (and I just misunderstood) or if they extended it. Three years is a long time — gas could be $8 by then. That could add up to over $10000 in savings over the period! Who wants a Chrysler? I do!
Here’s something near and dear to my heart — the scalability of business operations. I see it every day at my company. Right now we are undergoing a huge market upswing in our products and our sales and marketing organization is being flooded with RFPs and RFQs. How can an organization provide quick turn around to proposal requests and scale their business to meet market demands? This is where a solution like Configure One’s Concept™ Product Configurator Software comes in. The Concept™ Product Configurator (Sales Configurator) is a program application which can scale and customize product and service offerings with little setup time. A web-based, platform independent IT solution, the system allows you to create highly customized product offerings quickly and accurately. In my business that would mean being able to reduce our proposal and tender cycle time from 2 weeks to half that or less.
Having a product configurator working for your S&M team means they can quickly create customize offers. This not only pleases the customer (who doesn’t like a quick turn around time?!), but it also improves the quality and reproducibility of your proposals.
According to a study done by Merck Medco, about 50% of all adults in the U.S. who have insurance are on long term prescription medicine. This means they take a medicine on an ongoing basis like that for high blood pressure or high cholesterol. What do these study findings mean and is it necessarily a good thing or a bad thing? Or mixed?
Unhealthy Population
Does this figure of 50% mean that the population is more unhealthy than ever? Looking at the obesity rate for adults (and children) we see that America has never been fatter, so this data support that?
Better Medicine
Maybe this data shows that science and medicine has done a great job of developing medicines which treat chronic conditions (which always existed) and therefore extend life and quality of life. That’s a good thing, if you can afford it.
Sales and Marketing Pressured
This data could just be evidence that the sales and marketing divisions of Pharma companies are getting too good. With a plethora of television, radio and magaine advertisements. Try to think about how many ads you’ve seen this week for ED, Depression, Cholesteral, and Birth Control!
Any business owner knows and understand the value of customer feedback, but how can you get useful feedback on a regular basis? This is where a company like Service Intelligence can help your business growth and improve. Since 1992 they have supported small to medium sized businesses get the honest feedback they need. From customer experience evaluations to mystery-shopper services, they can give you insight into what your customer experiences. Their offering includes other valuable services like employee awareness campaigns and advanced business analytics — real business intelligence you can use.
And if you’ve ever wanted to be a Mystery Shopper, check out their site and see if you qualify! Good luck.
Leave it up to those great folks at the X Prize Foundation to do it again.
First it was their $10 million competition to promote private Suborbital Spaceflight. That contest was of course won by Burt Rutan with his spacecraft SpaceShipOne on Oct.4, 2004.
There has been others in medicine and moon landings (see The Google Lunar X PRIZE), but now there is a really timely one:
The main objective is to create a production-commercial viable car that gets 100 MPG (2.35 liter/100 kilometer). Judging the winner isn’t straight forward — it will be a combination of an endurance race, the viability of the business plan, and the emissions of the vehicle. What a great idea!
When you think of medivac airlifts, what do you think of? Mountain climbing accidents? Interstate pileups? Sure these situations definitely call for emergency airlift services, but actually the service is more common than that. Just take a look at what AeroCare Air Ambulance Service has to offer. A 24 hour emergency and non-emergency ambulance service, available to anyone anywhere in the world, this professional team can get you the help you need in a hurry. Whether you need to be brought to the hospital from the rural countryside or across country to an emergency specialist, AeroCare can help. Their Flight Coordinators even work with your insurance company to pre-authorize expenses! Nice!
I don’t know about you but by the time I was in my mid-20s, I pretty much figured out how mortgages work and the different kinds of them out there. This was also about the time that I took out a 3-year adjustable rate mortgage on my house! But there was a method to my madness — I knew we were moving in before that three years were up.
But with the current mortgage crisis in the U.S, it looks like many people are confused. With so many different types of Mortgages out there for the average consumer to select from, there are many ways to get confused. What is a good rate? Should I go fixed or variable rate? How much cash should I put down? All these questions can be met with just as confusing answers depending on where you look. If you feel you are one of these folks who are not exactly sure which mortgage is right, make sure you do your research well before you are forced to make a decision. Making decisions under pressure gets a lot worse when you aren’t comfortable with the subject matter.
When I think about my home, I think about durability and sturdiness. This is why I try to use top quality materials for not only the construction and finish but also the accessories. For one, I love slate and marble tile. Check out these great marble products from Marble Unique. They are a a direct importer of marble and natural stone from the best places on Earth. From a new stone fireplace to a unique marble statue for the backyard, they have amazing products which will last a lifetime. Now that’s a great investment! Check out their marble columns — a perfect way to show off a piece of sculpture or just for decoration.
How will developed countries deal with limits to CO2 emissions? The Cap and Trade method seems like a good, capitalism-based method to create an incentive to reduce emissions. In a Cap and Trade system, the amount of CO2 emissions would be “Capped” (limited) to a certain annual amount. Companies which emit less than the cap would be able to sell their excess “polluting capacity” to companies which are over the cap (this is the “trade” part). Sounds bad? Well sure, selling pollution rights is bad, but think about the outcomes. There would then be an economic incentive NOT to pollute, namely the ability to make more money. If the total sum of the caps were kept constant (or decrease annually), pollution levels would drop while companies would be able to make money. It’s really the best hope I see for us.
Can you believe that Reality TV has been around for almost 2 decades? No seriously - you remember The Real World back in the 1990s? The more amazing part is that the genre is as hot as ever. If you love reality TV, then check out this site which has all the Reality TV Updates you need, when you want them. Reality Bug has all the scoop on the Reality Shows you love. Show synopsis, show news, and even (my favorite) info about Casting Calls for existing and upcoming shows! Wow!
Chrysler’s latest offer, valid until June 2, 2008, is a new gimick that just might hep increase their sales. Buy a new car, truck or SUV and get a debit card to buy gas. Via the card you only pay $2.99 a gallon for the next year! That’s quite a hedge — imagine if gas went up to $5 or $6 a gallon! For a 15,000 miles per year use on a 13 MPG Chrysler Aspen, you’re talking about over 1150 gallons of fuel. If the price rose $2 over the $2.99 level (it’s already almost $1 over), Chrysler would be on the hook for $2300 in losses! I suppose that’s not too much more than current rebates, so really it makes business sense.I don’t know the details, but I’d guess the card would be like a credit card where you’d get a rebate on the price of gas (100% above $2.99). If that were the case, Chrysler might make some money on the interest for unpaid monthly balances, so it could end up costing them a lot less!
“Web design, money and life!” — that’s why I am writing about a cool design blog named Stylish Web Design. Let’s start with the Web Design aspect. I love web design and am always looking for new ideas and tricks to use on my websites. The Stylish Web Design blog has great articles on everything from Blog Syndication to user accounts administration. Fresh ideas, new methods, and the latest programs are what you will learn about on this great site. For example, do you understand how Windows Defender works or that there are different levels of usage depending on setting? If not, read this article on spyware community and get the straight info you need to make the right computer settings and optimize your experience.
Next comes the money! As you’ve read here, I love to write about money and investing. The Stylish Weblog has a growing number of articles on finace and entrepreneurship. Read about the ways to start your own business and get inspired. All these things have to do with Life, of course, and on the site you’ll read random observations and ideas about the world around us. Check it out and leave a comment on what you think.
Have you seen one of these kiosks in your local mall? Its a kiosk where you can shop for and download music. It can be put on a memory stick or even burned on a CD. I think its a great idea but I didn’t see any chatter on the Internet yet about it. Has anyone else seen one of these machines? The next time I go to the mall, I will take a photo or write down the company’s name that owns it. What a fresh idea!
Your home’s value is important. With all the news reports about sinking home values, it is in your best interest to shore up your home’s worth and fight the market trend. Whether you need new Cabinets, solid surface Countertops, energy efficient Windows, or new Vinyl Siding, American Home Craft Inc. is the company that can deliver. Energy efficiency — that’s a double benefit — American Home Craft can not only increase the value of your home but save you money. Now that’s a great one-two combination. Energy efficient windows, new home insulation, and improved vinyl siding can all cut your electricity bills. Now is the time and American Home Craft is your partner.
Did you notice or did it sneak under your radar? I’m talking about the new way Music is being sold in stores. Sure it’s old fashioned CDs but now they are being sold with the digital copy (MP3) included in the purchase price. Of course you can easily convert a CD to MP3 once you get it home, but these new packages include the digital download with the CD Price. Another trend is to sell a “cheap” ($9.99) CD only price (that’s significantly less expensive than CDs were a decade ago) and an “enhanced” release ($14.99 or more) with included music videos, exclusive content, or concert footage. Will these new techniques be enough to keep the music CD alive? Nah, but it has at least slowed down the decline.
Business Coaching, also called executive coaching or business mentoring, is about helping busy professionals find the techniques to grow and improve while keeping up with their busy lives. That’s the trick — helping professionals excel. ActionCOACH is a well trusted executive coach and mentoring company committed to helping you grow and improve. Their “14 Points of Culture” is a cornerstone of their technique — a true way to help executives make a difference with everyone they come in contact with. Check out their free YouTube videos to learn more about this innovative company and see the real results they can bring to your business. I live the Billionaire in Training video!
Do you know who Virginia Dare was? She was the first English baby born in the New World. She signified a new generation of immigrants who would eventually colonize an entire continent. So my question is, who will be the Virginia Dare of the 21st century. I’m talking about the moon or Mars! Eventually (maybe not in the 21st century, but then for sure in the 22nd century) a baby will be born outside of Earth. That will be itself a new era in human civilization. Who will it be and where will he/she come from?
Repeat after me — “Consolidation is Good”. No seriously, consolidating your debts can be a great way to get a handle on your debts and feel like you have a fresh start, but it only makes sense if you’ve learned from your past and don’t use it as a time to rack up MORE debt! If you are serious about never getting in debt again, check out TheCreditExchange.com to learn about genuine forms of debt consolidation and debt management. Their debt referral services will connect you with the financial companies who are waiting to help you. They also have a wide variety of financial services like credit analysis, credit counseling and financial planning available for you through their affiliate network.