Debt For Dollars

Have you ever heard the saying "You've got to spend money to make money?" Maybe you've heard it, but do you understand it?

The basic, and simple notion is that in order to create something that is able to garner revenue, one has to spend money on whatever that something is. If you want to build a website, you have to buy software, pay for a domain name, etc etc. A lot of us don't have enough cash off hand to start our own businesses.

Ever heard of a small business loan? Furthermore, ever heard of a credit card?

It's a dangerous tactic. Credit cards can have high interest rates, and if one has a high enough balance, high minimum paymets. As for the former, many credit cards will offer you one year of 0% interest. Others will offer you low interest rates for the first year or so. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE DEALS! They are truly good deals. They are free loans.
And loans can be quite expensive.

Now, I'm sure all of you reading this are thinking "Isn't debt a bad thing?" The answer is, of course it is. Starting any business is risky. But in todays world of youtubes and myspaces, and even much lesser known software companies and popular blogs, anyone can start a successful online business. Obviously not everybody will be as successful as Tom Anderson of Myspace, or Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook, but there are varying degrees of success.

Developing high traffic is a simple as good marketing. There are thousands of young professionals out there dying for a job in their chosen field. Consider hiring one of them to market your business for you.

Maintaing high traffic is dependent on offering good, entertaining or informative content. With user based content at an all time high, this can be particularly inexpensive.

Considering the former: DON'T GET INTO UNMANAGABLE DEBT! It's a quality of life issue, and you will not want to deal with the repruccusions. Make sure you are ready to make the payments on whatever debt you acquire, and make sure you aren't in danger of losing your house or car.

That said, you should be able to get your idea for a web page up and going for somewhere in the lower thousands. Do you know anybody who is into web page design? See if you can get a good rate with them. Shop around for the best deals. The more time you spend working out the logistics of starting your own business, the more efficient you will spend your money. Take your time, but start now!

And keep in mind, this post is to get your mind working positively. To let it know that there is oppurtunity out there for anyone who is willing to take it. I'm not advising putting your entire life at risk, but am advising that you consider taking some risk. The greater the risk, the greater the return. No pain no gain. You've got to give to receive. Etc. Etc.

Websites Are Good For Your Career: Follow Up

I got a comment from Brandon H at www.newlycorporate.com , who suggests that html is quickly fading. That would be a very important note to take. In this case, what do you think is best to learn as far as creating the most effective website?

Websites Are Good For Your Career

Learning how to design web pages in todays world is a ticket to success. It's a necessary part of every business and web page designers can earn thousands for a single job. Depending on who the client is, you could have a full time job for knowing how to design a web page. Knowing web scripts like HTML and Java is become increasingly important to entrepreneurs as well.

Have an idea? Make a website and watch your business flourish. Of course you'll need to do some marketing, in which case you might want to ask friends if any of them know about internet marketing.

Some ways of internet marketing, that don't involve paying for ad space, are forums. Go to forums that cater to your demographic or that discuss a problem your website can solve, and tell them about your website. Make sure you are not too forward with your marketing. Respond to the dialog and seem interested in what people are saying.

Also, use social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook in order to spread the word for free. Telling your friends and family is a start, however, if they are not part of the demographic, or are not interested in what your site has to offer, don't count on them as traffic builders. You need to find people who are interested in what you're website does, and this takes work.

Some ways of potentially building interest are giveaways. Host contests on your website, and require that your contestants sign up via your website. Incorporate the material on your website in order to get people browsing.

Also, if you live in a big city, consider posting fliers in high traffic areas. Make sure the fliers pique interest. So create an ad campaign for yourself. Watch commercials and look at billboards for ideas.

Check out Ryan Healy's blog from Employee Evolution. It's filled with great tips for contemporary marketing.

Most importantly, however, you have to learn how to build a website. HTML is the most popular script so far. Visit hwg.org. They offer classes online. They cost about one to two hundred dollars for basic HTML classes. But consider the price worth it if you can learn this valuable skill.

Do you know what that'll do for your resume?
Good stuff.

Get Your Homework On

For many of us students, homework is not daily routine. We put it off until the very last minute, or perhaps we don't do it at all. Many of us are not motivated by overacheiving, but doing whatever we perceive to be the bare minimum. This, however, doesn't cut it for todays ambitious youth.

Underacheiving, as is explained above, leads to a sense of failure and worthlessness. These feelings are not conducive to future success. They cause you to feel hopeless, and without control of your life. Those who put no effort into their schooling, are unlikely to be satisfied with their education.

Maybe you're in a band, or maybe you have a girlfriend or boyfriend that makes you feel fulfilled. Either way, school is still a big part of your life. It's something you face multiple times a week, and it's very expensive. So it's bound to get you down if you are doing below what you think you're capable of.

Put in the time, and get your homework done. Do the assigned readings, and take notes. This is a key to feeling GOOD about yourself. Which is a key to acheiving your goals. Doing well in school is a very tangible acheivment, and it's just the acheivment you need to get into the mindset of success!

A Little Crazy Could Do You Good

I want to get back to a topic that is near and dear to my heart. Delusions of Grandeur. Those ideas you get sometimes, that turn into visions of epic proportions, and elate you. They wrap you up and take you where you want to go. You believe for a little while, that this idea is going to take your life into overdrive. And it could.

I know I've experienced this personally, and have heard friends and family spout these sorts of images. They not only seem like good ideas. They are great ideas. We just need to learn to set these goals and achieve them. Like my idea for a greeting card company. This has been done. And successfully. It is my own lack of follow through that makes it so unfeasible.

That's why I challenge you, anyone who reads this, to look within yourself and realize a goal you've had, one which is feasible, and to get started on inching your way into the dream of being self-made. Get your blog or website of the ground. Start designing your own clothing line. Or set up a fashion show at your local bar, and get sponsors, and make it the biggest party your town has ever seen.

If you can imagine it. You can accomplish it.

Work and School and Work and School

Starting a new job and school simultaneously on Tuesday was a wake up call. I hadn't been so busy in weeks, and my system is taking the shock in stride. I'm tired. Really tired.

I realize that I've now got to get my daily schedule into gear. This means putting off going out until the weekends. Nights out disrupt the system, as they make it nearly impossible to prepare for the next day.

My last three years of college have not consisted of much scheduling, and it has made it difficult, but lacking a schedule leaves me tired at inconvenient times, and makes focusing difficult. A sleep schedule will help my performance in school and work, and increase my efficiency. Thus, I am making a pledge to:

Not go out during the week.
Be awake by 8:15 each morning.
Be in bed by 11:15 each night.
Prepare for the next day hours before I go to sleep.
And start exercising withing a week.

Exercise is supposed to help one fall asleep faster. And dealing with stressful situations, like doing homework, and making preperations for the next day make it more difficult to fall asleep, thus they are better done a couple of hours before one goes to sleep.

This will be a difficult schedule to stick to, and I will be posting my progress in an honest fashion. As a senior in college, I have had my time to be the typical college student (perhaps even some extra time) and now, it is time to reconsider my lifestyle choices, and prepare for a future that is right around the corner.

Root for me!

Mankind Is Imploding

Regardless of how illogical it appears to most of us, mankind continues to engage in wars which kill thousands of innocent bystanders daily. Many of us who live in America feel helpless regarding the situation in Iraq. Perhaps we feel helpless, because that is how we act.

I'm not sure how the cultural climate in America has changed since the sixties and seventies, but the imagery of protests we see captured in history books and documentaries seems non existent today. Though there may be a small protest here and there, it seems that today's youth keep their anger about the government to themselves.

I don't mean to scoff at them. I am one of them. I am severly angered by the disconnect between the rhetoric of politicians and that of the general population. They don't speak to us. They speak at us. They condescend to us. They don't tell us their true intentions. They use flowery euphamisms that appeal to masses.

Of the democratic candidates, I feel like if I were to talk with Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama, that neither of them would say one honest thing in the course of a conversation. John Edwards, on the other hand, makes a clear commitment to helping middle class Americans. He emphasizes his understanding of what it's like to live in the middle class, and it makes me feel as though he truly can relate. The other candidates seem jaded and power hungry.

Out of the Republicans, I am honestly disgusted that Mike Huckabee has one a single primary, let alone the Iowa caucus. He is clearly attempting to recreate Bush's platform of faith as he does his best to woo the large but narrow minded religious right. These sort of tactics will destroy internal relations among Americans. At least half, if not more, of Americans will not allow themselves to be governed by faith they do not share. And I do not mean to say that the president cannot be a religious person, but if he intends to mend our constitution, or to rule with a religous dogma, this sect of American's will not tolerate it. They have had enough of Bush. We have all had enough of Bush. Huckabee is Bush 2.0.

As for us, Generation Y, sometime in the near future, if we do not begin to take seriously our roles as future keepers of the world, we will lose them, and we will begin to drift into decentralized unit, with civil war(s) obliterating us all off the face of the Earth.

What we need to do is band together on a global scale and put our energy into preventing global warming.

Today Is Not A Holiday

There was no question when I got outside this morning that classes were in session today. College kids crowded the sidewalks, their hands clasped tightly around the straps of the backpacks. People seemed happy.

I wasn't too depressed, however, I'm still very skeptical of my ability to continually get up at 8:30 for 9:30 French class. It's strange, because in high school, class started at 7:40, and I don't remember having too much trouble getting up for that. But now, waking up at 8:30 is a struggle. If I can adjust to this, it will be for the best, as I do well as a morning person when I am completely awake.

I wasn't the oldest in my French class either. There was a twenty-five year old and a twenty-two year old. I bet your wondering how I knew that.

Well, instead of saying our name, where we're from, and our major, the teacher-- a young, sassy French (redundant, huh?) woman named Laurine-- had us say our name, where we're from, and our age. It was as though she were catering to my curiosity.

The class, as I know it, will be run somewhat slow. We'll do 9 chapters over 15 weeks. It's a bit agonizing for me, as I'm more than ready to charge at full speed through beginner French. Which brings me to one of the education systems greatest flaws.

It's as though they took a poll of all of the students, and for each class decided on an average student, and how he ought to learn. This completely displaces the rest of the students who fall either way behind, or way ahead of this alleged curve.

It's a bit agonizing to sit and endure a class that you feel is moving far too slowly. Very agonizing even.

So, on that note. Stop being bad at French kids. And stop wasting my time.

More Money, More Problems

According to researchers at Princeton, the effect of income on mood [is] vastly exaggerated.
They performed a study on the moods of men and women with varying levels of income, and the results showed about an 11% difference is time spent happy, with incomes of 100k presenting with 11% more time spent happy. They also found that people with lower incomes spent 10% more of their time in leisure pursuits. No surprise there.

When deciding on a career path, income is something that we must take into consideration. Those of us who grew up in upper-middle class families have to consider whether or not their career paths will help them to maintain that lifestyle. But they must decide how important it is to maintain.

Potentially fulfilling jobs like teaching, which allow for takers to be involved in their more artistic or academic pursuits as part of their career, are off putting due to their repuation as low-income jobs.

Some people resort to more harrowing jobs like insurance sales, which can be very lucrative, in order to satisfy their hunger for a good income. However, there is an equation that everyone ought to consider when picking out their job.

More Money = More Wants

According to economist Richard Easterlin, who conducted a survey of 1500 people over a three decade time span, Wealth doesn't necessarily lead to joy and contentment. His findings also concluded that People with more money usually want more things.

Of course, there are issues of personal standards, and one shouldn't settle. But it is important to consider that making more money, isn't always the most important issue. Factors such as job quality affect quality of life, rich or not.

What's All This Hulabaloo?

As this blog is more or less dedicated to the distress one feels transitioning into the "real world," it has me thinking: What is the future job market?

It seems that around every corner, some aspect of business is "going digital." Ticket agents are using Tix.com instead of their own databases. TV networks are posting their series on the web the day after they air. And here I am, blogging like a maniac.

In fact, one of the reasons I started this blog was to try and stay above the curve. Professional bloggers are sprouting like AOL users back in the 90's. If you look at an array of blogs, you'll notice the google adwords sewn amidst the content in many of them, in addition to banners and, on the more popular blogs, national advertisers. Whenever you see these, the owner of that blog is getting paid.

Of course more popular blogs yield much bigger profits than the unknown ones. But attaining these levels of traffic is not as easy as it was to start the blog.

You need good content. You have to be writing about something people either need or want to know about. Check out the most popular blogs. You'll find a couple celebrity gossip websites in the top 10, and a few gadget/technology ones, too. Obviously, to do the former, you'll have to find a way to get in the loop on celebrity gossip, and the latter, you'd have to know a thing or two about gadgets.

Luckily, you can learn from the blogs already in existence.

While anyone can write a blog for any reason, it's beneficial to consider the ways in which a blog can help your career. Check out blogs like Penelope Trunk's The Brazen Careerist, and Rebecca Thorman's Modite.com. These are two popular bloggers who have managed to integrate the personal and professional lives into popular blogs. An ideal mixture if you ask me.