Photo by: A Fighting FaithNo, I’m not talking about the ol’ “Bill Gates will send you money if you forward this email” spoof.  I am talking about Microsoft’s Usability Research team.  Clearly Microsoft has a lot of new products that need testing, and it can’t all be done in house; they need a larger audience of NON-Microsoft employees.  That’s where we come in.  Before you jump off this post because you think it is a tag to get you to buy Microsoft stuff, don’t!  I went over to the corporate office in Redmond, WA last week, took 45 mins worth of testing a new Windows Mobile product, gave my opinion, and walked out the door with a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 (currently on Amazon for 399.99).

I have no reason to use the product, so it’s likely going to find a home on Ebay.  But that works out to $533.32 an hour!  How about them apples?  Well worth my 45 minutes to roll over basic questions and give your opinion.

“But Hank,  I don’t have an ounce of technical savvy blood in my body.  How can I make any money off it?”

Easy answer – they don’t always want the experts to give the opinions on their products.  They want the entire gamut of people to test out their products; not just experts.  Toss your name out there, you never know if you’re what they are looking for.  It takes about 5 minutes to sign up and tell them what you do.

“Ok Hank it DOES sound like a good idea, but I don’t live anywhere near Redmond, WA.”

Again, no problem.  A lot of their questions can come over the phone, or through a web interface to test out and poll on certain product aspects.  Sign up and you may be pleasantly surprised what they can call you on.

“Fair enough, I’ll sign up; but what about tax-wise?  They’ve given me a gift?  Don’t I have to pay it on taxes?”

They’ll put your name in their database and send you out a 1099 form if your gifts are over $1000 for the year.  Currently the most expensive piece of software I saw on the list was Microsoft Visio 2007 at 559.99.  You can get calls back for as many of the items that you can qualify for.  I signed up in December and got my first call last month, so I guess we’ll see how many times they call.  Yea, they tax you, but the tax is only on free money.  You’ll probably pay $100 of your $1000 to Uncle Sam, and that’s not too bad.

Yes, they’ve been dubbed “the Evil Empire,” but as frugal guy, I don’t care who is giving out the money, I’m happy (and so should you) to take the gratuity for a short stint of my time and quick returns like that.  This new found cash is likely headed into my Charles Schwab ROTH IRA before the April 15 deadline.

Related posts:

1. Should I Go To College Or Graduate School To Make More Money?
2. Money Hacks Carnival #18 — The History Of Money!
3. 10 Things You Can Do To Make Extra Money While At Work

Photo by: emdot

Only 0 days 5 hours 2 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing!

To make my goal of having my net worth be $1,000,000USD by 2020 I need to have a plan laid out. Yes it will change through the years, My wife and I will get raises; we won’t get the return we’re shooting for with investments in some of the years, but as a base goal if we take our current principal of $75,000 and continue to invest $21,500 per year for the next 13 and that will put us just over the 1MIL mark. That first MIL is the hardest, Pinyo lays it out here.

Where do I find $21,500 per year to invest? We’re currently contributing 10% of each our salaries for about $16,000 per year to our 401k plans, then add in $4,000 each for our ROTH IRA accounts and we’re well over the limit there. We’re planning on bumps in the road, so that’s why I’m giving the $21,500 number. There are a lot of calculations that need to taken into account, but that is the same with any investment plan. At 10% return with those calculations we’re looking at just under 840k, and at 12% that puts us over the 1MIL mark.

We could have a year where we can’t pay contributions to either our 401k or ROTH, but on the same note, there could be years where we’d contribute MORE to those accounts, For instance, we’re planning on trying to bump the 401k contributions up to 15% in 2008 and that would be $24,000 in itself; add in the ROTH IRA contributions and we’re looking at $32,000 invested per year and in 13 years, that will be worth 1.33MIL.

Numbers are numbers – sticking to the path of just getting money in is the key. In 13 years I’ll still be nowhere near retirement, but the first million is always the hardest to make, after that, it is quite ridiculous how fast it grows. In 35 years on this same $21,500 per year at 10% return we’re looking at 8.5MIL. Which is dreaming, and a lot can happen in 35 years, but there is no time like the present to start planning on it!

Time, as usual, is the key piece of this financial pie; variables are always tossed in to make it interesting. As long as we’re putting in the $21,500 we’ll be on a good pace. I’m sure there will be other investment opportunities, more job promotions, more raises, maybe more kids, but staying on this basic path is the key to our specific financial goal. What’s your path?

Related posts:

1. How Much Should I Save Per Paycheck To Reach My Retirement Goals?
2. Shifting Your Investing Mindset During A Recession
3. Weekly Roundup #12 (January 12, 2008)

Oh, where to start with this one; it is a fairly dead horse to beat, but I DID recently read it, and it DOES have to do with my blog as I’m posting anything that has to do with money, and it certainly DOES have to do with money ($7 specifically from the discount book bin at Barnes and Noble) -

Who hasn’t reviewed this book yet is more the question maybe – a Google search turns up 158,000 results and I didn’t want to read all of them so I dabbled and hopped through a few of them including:
1. GatesVP
2. MyMoneyBlog
3. Carrie Ikith
4. Steve Braun
5. IWillTeachYouToBeRich
6. SEO Books
7. Freelance Review
8. WorldWide Success
9. Business Coaching
10. Finance and Stuff
11. Ekayati
12. MunnyBagz
13. Accomplish Life

Who was my favorite? Well they all had good points to them, some people took offense to it, some people were inspired by it, me, I was a mix. When I first started it, it was my first Robert Kiyosaki book. I had no prior knowledge of him and had not known his past or who he’s worked with. I picked up the book at Barnes and Noble and actually found myself reading it there in the store with the wife and kids wandering and I finished about 30 pages, and I figured for $7 I could find some time to finish it.

I took it home and breezed through it in about 3 or 4 hours. At first I felt really inspired to read it cover to cover – I liked his ideas, and I liked where he came from and what he had learned. If nothing else, he learned to take what anyone says with a grain of salt, including his Poor Dad. Yes, it’s a “yippee, jump up and do something with your life” type book, but there is nothing wrong with that. He can write whatever he’d like, he’s in the business to make money. He’s not selling this book to make you happy; no matter what he says, he’s not writing for the joy of writing; he’s writing for the joy of $. And again, nothing wrong with that -

When I finished with the book I thought the one good thing it taught me and that I’ve stuck with is being able to FIND more money to work for you. My water bill each month is $150. How about I find a way to automatically have that paid for each month? Why do I have to use my hard earned money that I go to work to pay that bill? It’s small enough. Can I find an investment or investment vehicle that will make me that $ each month? Or how about a new car? Why should you use your current income to pay for that? Try to find a way to have it pay for itself. That’s the big piece of the pie I took away from the book.

The rest is “rah rah cheer cheer” promotional “buy my other products” babble that you kinda have to dig through. And again, nothing wrong with that. He is making a living as well, and this is one of the ways that it is done. It’s funny because he is either REALLY loved, or REALLY hated it seems. I fall in the 1% in between that is impartial. Why? Because that’s just how I am. What good does it do me to slander the guy for making a living? Is that how the “REALLY hate him” group is? Maybe I’m playing the devils advocate here (Bargaineering does this from time to time and it is interesting) and they’re just jealous that he’s successful and they’re struggling to bring in $. Maybe? He’s a successful businessman on MANY fronts and people are always attacking rich people; and honestly I think a lot of the attacks come from jealousy;

On the “REALLY love him” front though, at the same time everyone that “REALLY loves him” are overly loving of him. Standing up for him in blogs, starting blog fights about it, but, again playing the other side of the coin, don’t seem to be backed by him. It’s like having a hero, well, exactly like having a hero. You don’t want to see Superman slandered and backstabbed by Lex Luthor. Nobody wants to see that – the “REALLY lovers” get on this high horse about backing him through thick and thin while all he has ever done for them is take their money and give them a hope that they’ll make it rich someday too.

I dunno – it’s a pretty funny walk down the “blogstreet” and “forumville” to read about any of the posts because they’re always long, and always seem to end up in a fight between the “REALLY LOVE-O-SAKIS” and the “REALLY HATE-OSAKIS”. My disposition puts me in the middle and everyone likes watching a good fight, no? But this post is about the review and I give the book, as you can imagine being a middle-grounder, 4 out of 10. Why? It had some good takeaways in the investment strategy, told a decent story, and kept me entertained for 4 hours, but left me saying a few different phrases:
Yes, I know that. I know that too. That’s a good point. I don’t want to buy that. I still don’t want to buy that. I may take that in the “Free” bin at a garage sale. No. Ok, good point.

Cheers to the people that love him – feel free to let me know why you like him aside from giving advice and why you stick up for him in every forum or blog out there when he’s really done nothing for you aside from write.

And to the people that hate him – Back off and quit being jealous, unless you’re not really jealous and have a valid reason to hate a guy that’s just trying to make a living like yourselves – feel free to comment about those reasons too.

Related posts:

1. This Is How Rich People Think Differently Than Poor People
2. A Book Review: High School Money by Don Silver – And Some Tips And Tricks With Your Money
3. Why do Poor People Always Win The Lottery?

So I decided to try out Flexo’s monthly expense template, and it isn’t looking too promising for me this month.  I’m doling out more than I am taking in this month.  Off the top, that sounds like it is bad, but really it isn’t TOO bad.  I figured my cash allowance was high this past month, so I had some room to spare since I have $6,000 in cash.  I’ll pay off the $4,300 on the credit card so as not to get a ridiculous fee charged for interest on it, but then I don’t get billed for anything for another 2 weeks.  So I’m alright there.

My expenses can certainly get a trimming though.  This is eye-opening to say the least though, as I KNOW that I’ve been right at breaking even for the past few months, especially after the trip to Australia that pretty much drained the rest of what I had from the sale of my house last year.  That’s ok though because my wife took home less because we bumped her 401k allocations to 10% matching mine, and I’m still contributing to my ROTH IRA at $200/month.  This pretty much smashed the urge to get the new car though – It’s certainly helpful to see everything out on paper to further the need to back away.  That’s maybe the allure piece grabbing me.

I’m probably going to start a new car fund though shortly because my 2001 burb isn’t going to cut it going forward.  I took it in last week to check out a “clunk” it was making and they quoted me at almost $1,900; 95% of that money was for upkeep, 60k lube and maintenance, a few leaky pipes, but ultimately I got out of it and fixed the clunking noise for $108.

So here is the first installment of my monthly expenses (click to expand):

Obviously I can cut down the Retail Store Purchases and Dining Out, and if everything goes as planned, I’m in the market for a raise in a few weeks; I’ll be certain to keep the post up on that one.  It’s pretty ridiculous what the ol’ government takes out each month, but it’s nice to actually see it out on [electronic] paper.  Daycare is a killer, but we get that back when we can write it off at the end of the year, but that takes a good monthly chunk, and we’ve got a GOOD rate!

My wife wants to have another in the next year and good grief that Daycare budget is only going to rise in time; add another kid and it is starting to get ridiculous…

Laying this information out has really been a beneficial exercise and I can get this info from my credit card each month.  I’m going to start doing this monthly from now on to get a better grasp on it so I can realize what we’re spending/saving.  I highly recommend doing this for anyone curious as to what they’re spending $ on.  Do you have a budget worksheet you can work off?

My wife has about $80 in Starbucks that I didn’t account for on here that I’m sure we can trim also!  Anyway, goal for next year is to get these numbers and stick to a budget more strictly going forward.  We’re making money off our investments, but we’re not getting the best bang for our buck because we’re leaking money in other areas when we could be putting it to better use.

Related posts:

1. Monthly Net Worth Update March 2008 (+2.42%)
2. Monthly net worth update February 10, 2008 (+35.68%)
3. Net worth update December 1, 2007 (+5.16%)

UPDATE! AGLOCO CALLS IT QUITS!

As AGLOCO™ grows and the company generates positive cash flow, we will be distributing the excess cash to Members and shareholders of the company. In addition, Members can earn cash directly in their accounts for certain transactions with AGLOCO™ sponsor sites.

So they really may not pay you out if they don’t get cooking, but IF they do, and we can help, we’d be sitting near the top of the AGLOCO chain, and all you need to do is install a non-trojan, non-virus, non-spyware advertising line on your machine and surf the same things you surf all day. You don’t need to click any of the links that show up, you don’t need to buy anything. Just let the ads show on your screen, maybe something WILL interest you and it doesn’t hurt to click it.By installing the AGLOCO web browser plug-in, you can actually earn income from regular web surfing in 4 ways:

A kickback for browsing.
Members earn a monthly share of the AGLOCO revenue based on the use of the AGLOCO Viewbar™ that month.You earn an automatic share of AGLOCO’s revenue based on the time you spend each month browsing the web with their viewbar installed. So that’s basically passive income for something you’d be doing anyway.

Company shares.
Members earn part of the company based on the use of the AGLOCO Viewbar™ that month (currently a maximum of five hours are rewarded). Click here for details. You earn shares of stock in the company based on your monthly browsing with the viewbar. That could amount to zip, or it could be something you later sell for cash.

Referral income.
Members who use our referral system to help build the AGLOCO network will earn more. (AGLOCO only has significant value as a large network and people who help build it should be rewarded. – We also feel that the early users who told friends about YouTube or MySpace or even Google probably deserved something too, but no referral system was available to record their work).You earn a bigger share of #1 and #2 by referring others to the program, much like an affiliate program. You also get some kind of bonus from the referrals of those you originally referred, hence this post,

Revenue sharing. You earn a share of the revenue whenever an AGLOCO member buys something, such as from a browser ad, an affiliate link, or by doing a search from the viewbar.

AGLOCO’s business model:

You browse the web as usual. With the AGLOCO viewbar installed, you go about your usual web surfing.

AGLOCO members buy stuff. In the course of their normal browsing activities, AGLOCO members will collectively end up clicking on ads, doing searches that show paid ads, or buying stuff via the viewbar. This doesn’t mean you as an individual have to buy anything. It’s the collective buying effect that ads up. This could very easily amount to millions of dollars in sales with a decent-sized community.

AGLOCO collects commissions. People are already spending this money online now, but when an AGLOCO member does it via the viewbar, AGLOCO collects a commission. Again, if there’s a lot of money passing through this system, this could add up to a substantial amount.

You get paid part of AGLOCO’s revenue. Based on your participation and the number of people you refer to the program, you earn a slice of the pie.

AGLOCO’s site gives you a better understand of their business model, and it seems reasonably viable to me. The basic idea is that advertisers are already spending money to reach you, such as via Adsense, paid search results, and affiliate commissions, in order to promote their products to you. AGLOCO’s business model is based on collecting and then sharing a percentage of those advertising dollars with you, the consumer.So it basically when you’re advertising on your own site. I have Google Adsense installed that I get 100% revenue from. With AGLOCO you would get a share of that money (pending they turn a profit).This is an interesting concept because it capitalizes on existing sales rather than trying to sell something new. Advertisers basically end up paying AGLOCO a commission to promote and sell their products to the AGLOCO community, and as a member of that community, you get part of the revenue.Now who’d want to be left out of such a system? Even if it’s not a lot of money and you only earn enough to buy an extra meal each year, it’s basically free money for doing what you’re already doing.

The referral game theory
AGLOCO will reward a user who gets others join AGLOCO. and works like this:

1. When user A joins AGLOCO, he will be rewarded 5 shares/month.
2. When user A gets user B to join under his name, user A will be rewarded 25% of user B shares, which is 1.25 shares/month. User B will still get his full 5 shares/month.
3. When user B refers user C, both user A and user B will be rewarded 25% of user C shares, which is 1.25 shares/month each. User C will still get 5 shares/month.
4. This will continue until 6th level of referral.

The AGLOCO hubbub has been circulating for several months now, and the viewbar was released just a few months ago but it’s still early enough to get in as an early adopter. Tens of thousands of very early adopters are already on board right now, but there’s still tremendous untapped potential out there. If AGLOCO does well, it could do really, really well; and we could get in early for $0.00 and ride the “passive income” bus to the bank.

Why should I join?

It doesn’t install any spyware – It just shows you ads in the hopes that you’ll click on something and buy something with their ad network. I click something every now and then just to support the program in the hopes it’ll take off.

It’s free - Just like the AllAdvantage setup that made me a few thousand dollars, it doesn’t cost anything and it’s not Multi Level Marketing. You don’t sell anything, and don’t have to buy anything. You won’t have to hard-sell your friends on overpriced vitamins or juice in a wine bottle. This is more like an extended affiliate program to create a very large group of users. This system basically collects a share of what people are already buying online and gives it back to the customers, similar to a rebate program.

It only takes a couple minutes to sign up – You fill out a simple form on their site, and you’re in. Then you just install the viewbar when it’s released. They give you a referral link you can use to refer others if you want. I’m using my referral link in all the AGLOCO links in this post, so if you click one of my links and sign up, you’ll automatically become part of my network of referrals. Whether you want to do that or not is entirely up to you.

High potential upside with low risk - If AGLOCO goes bust and never pays anyone, you’ll have wasted a few minutes, and you can call me an idiot for telling you about it. But if the system works, and you get in today, you stand to gain a lot more than someone who joins a year from now, especially if you refer others and put time on your side. You get some credit for your extended referrals too (those referred by the people you directly referred), so you may refer only`3 or 4 people but end up with a network of dozens if someone in your network does a lot of referring. I always like making these kinds of bets because the downside risk
is neglible, but the potential upside is huge if it works.

I suggest you take a few minutes to visit AGLOCO’s site, and if you think this idea has potential, sign up for a free account. At this time their site is pretty straightforward and uncomplicated, so feel free to dig around and see if their business model makes sense to you. If so, sign up. If not, scratch it. I think the biggest “pro” I see of it is the low risk (nothing) and possible high return (free $$$).

If you do sign up, feel free to add me as your referral (just click any of the many references to it in this blog or type in my referral ID when the time comes: BBHP2101). I’ll be grateful and certain to give you links back to your site, and who knows, we could be in at the ground floor making big $$$. If not big $$$, at least free and easy $$$ for our initial down payment of what? Oh yea, $0.00…

Related posts:

1. AGLOCO is calling it quits -
2. Is PayPerPost worth your time to build another income stream? Or is it like selling out to “The Man”?
3. Another Way To Make Money Online; Courtesy Of Microsoft…

We’ve had a post (or 2 or 3) go across here preaching several ways to make money online with today’s tricky economic woes.  Well, we’ve stumbled across another (Thanks Pete). Pete has cashed in a few hundred dollars with the site and has sold me on it.  Once you get the ball rolling, it REALLY can roll fast.

It can most certainly turn into a passive income (where you’re doing nothing) if you give it a little ink to move along.  Sign me up CashCrate, I’ll take your survey’s and such for some sultry sly secondary salary…

So the setup is pretty easy and takes 30 seconds to turn your first dollar.  Here’s what you need to do:

1.  Hook up a new email address because, as you can imagine, they’re going to be spamming the email address you specify.  It’s part of the game, why else would they give up cold hard cash to do it? I signed up a new gmail account that I’ll check if they tell me to send something back.

2.  Log on and sign up for Cash Crate  by clicking on this link. You’re going to be sent to the main login page for CashCrate.  Click the “Join!” button and don’t forget to use your new email address!  Make sure you use your real name (or a name you’re allowed to cash checks under) so that they’ll be able to pay you out when you start turning a buck!

3.  Make your first $1 in 30 seconds by filling out your info with CashCrate Profile.  “After you login the site will invite you to answer some questions about yourself. This information will be used to better target offers as well as special surveys to you. US Members earn $1 for completing the simple two page survey.”

4. Start making more money by filling out more surveys and accepting offers! After you’ve signed up, you don’t have to verify anything, you just start to take surveys and tests.  Click on the link on your dashboard that says “complete offers” and it will bring you to a page where you can start filling out surveys for cash or for points (points can be redeemed for rewards like ITunes gift cards, Starbucks cards, etc).

5.  Some survey/test require payment from you first (Netflix, DirectTV, ADT Security) but if you’re in the market for these anyway, sign up through here because some of them pay out at $80!  I’m not in the market for them, now, but if you are, you could save a few bucks on the service.

6. Get an auto-form filler.  Rumor has it that auto-complete form filler like Google Autofill, Sxipper, or Roboform will help out in the filling out because you’re going to be typing in the same information a lot of the time (email address, name, phone, address) that you can shave a few minutes off by doing.  These programs will automatically fill out the forms for you so that you don’t have to manually enter all of your information every time you fill out a survey or trial offer.

7.  Refer other people to the program and turn a few more bucks. You can also earn money at Cash Crate using referrals. For every new user that you refer to the service, you’ll get paid a small amount for surveys that they fill out, as well as getting a $3 bonus when they complete enough surveys to reach their first $10 payout. If you have a blog you can promote the Cash Crate site and link to it using your personal referral link. You can write a post (like this one) explaining the site, and referring people to the service. Once you get enough people referred to the service the payouts can be quite nice!

8.  Still concerned?  Read the FAQs!

Is CashCrate international?
Yes, CashCrate is international, but, only people from US and Canada get lots of surveys and offers to complete. If you want to join from other countries, you’ll have to work on referring people from US and Canada, to get money. As I said, because the earnings from CashCrate  are so high, it’s not so hard to get good revenue from referrals.

Revenue possibilities and limits?
Your revenue possibilities and limits are endless. The more time you put in it, more money you’ll make. For reaching a high payout every month, I suggest you complete the Daily Survey every day, complete as much offers per day as you can, and refer as much people as you can to join the program under you.

Minimum payout?
CashCrate‘s minimum payout is as low as $10. You can reach the minimum payout within a day, if your offers and surveys get approved fast enough. Even if all you do is complete the Daily Survey every day, you’ll get a check for $24 every month.

How many surveys/offers can I complete?
This depends on how much time you have on your hands. There are hundreds of surveys and offers to be completed, and new ones are added all the time.

What methods of payment does CashCrate support?
CashCrate supports only payment by Check, to prevent double accounts and other problems that arise by enabling paypal and other payment methods.

How do I sign up for CashCrate?
You can sign up by clicking this link: CashCrate

Conclusion and Review

There is no tried and true method online these days it seems. Everything is so new and you’ve gotta get while the getting is good (see AllAdvantage and Agloco). Stick to it and drive it through and you’ll likely be able to buy a few extra bells and whistles with the cash you’ve seen flow… Get email, Sign up here, cash in while the cashing is good!

Related posts:

1. 10 Things You Can Do To Make Extra Money While At Work
2. An Interesting Loophole In The Credit World To Make A Few Bucks – But Is It Worth It?
3. I Have Low Living Costs And Live Overseas With Extra Cash; Where Do I Put It?

I’ve had 2 posts worth of BAD investing decisions so far (1, 2). I didn’t want people to think I’ve not made any GOOD decisions, because I have, just not as many yet. I’m still young, had no financial education, and had some bad financial advice early in my career. But I’m riding the wave and learning from my mistakes to be able to make good financial decisions as my journey continues…

1. I started a ROTH IRA when I got my first job. Although I went through 9 different reps at Edward Jones, I ultimately didn’t have much to do in the summer of 1998 when I had a job that paid more than I needed so I consulted a rep there that showed me the light. I got started and put in on it until I cashed it out in my “bad decisions” tab #4.

2. Marrying my wife. No, this isn’t just a sentimental number, but you’d be surprised the $ you save on taxes filing jointly as opposed to separate and living together.

3. Having children at the end of the year. No, seriously – I had both of my kids at the end of the year, but am able to claim them for the entire year, Uncle Sam doesn’t care what month, just what year.

4. Bought my first place at the right time. The market was rising, but topping out yet in 2004 when I signed the papers. A year and some change later I sold it for 60k more than I bought it for. This also falls in my BAD investing choices also because I didn’t wait the 2 years of owing the properly and had to pay capital gains for it of around 11k.

5. I can’t fund any of my retirement or investing positions if I don’t have confidence and ability to do my current day job. I’m always searching for ways to improve processes and making my upper management aware of the projects I am working on, while keeping an eye open for new positions. In 2007 I’ve increased my salary by almost 30% and have a prospective new position on the horizon at the beginning of the year. Invest in yourself and keep the resume up to date; someone may be searching for someone with your EXACT skillset.

6. This blog. No kidding. It has been very good at keeping me on task; and pointing out what I need to get done. People have been very receptive to the blog and I hope I’m providing help to others searching it.

7. Keeping a net worth update monthly. It keeps me on the tails of the folks that are watching my accounts so I’m not missing anything.

I’ll have more in the future; maybe enough to negate all the bad, but for now, I’ve had my stumbles…

Related posts:

1. Bad Decisions I’ve Made Along My Investing Journey
2. How Do I Plan To Reach My Investing Goals For Retirement?
3. More Bad Decisions I’ve Made Investing

So yes, I’ve been in hiding for a while now, but it hasn’t been without keeping finances in mind! I’m a month away from having the third member of the family join us, our third little lady is due August 25 – so I’ve been working on some side projects – one of which is ready to roll!

Times are tough and the economy isn’t showing any signs of letting go in the near future so you’ve got to be tight with the funds; I can relate, but here’s a hands-down easy way to turn $400 bucks if you manage or KNOW someone that manages a retail store! Mjedi.com has just released their BETA site and are looking to build their name and they’re giving away $400 CASH if you can introduce them to your friendly local retailer, and in this case, size DOESN’T matter!  1 employee or 10,000 pays out the same amount!

What is Mjedi?

This is one of the reasons I’ve been in hiding, I’ve been working with them on their backend and website design!  I think I’ve done alright on it for version 1.0 and they’re ready to start helping people save!

I took on the project primarily because I liked the service it offered. It fits well with what we preach here and it is with people I know and trust. The basic pitch of the site is to keep you informed about the products YOU care about at your favorite local retailers via SMS or email. A lot of sites want you to see everything about everything on sale at their place, this is a new tactic – YOU tell Mjedi what YOU like at the store via an SMS, and they tell you when that item, and ONLY that item goes on sale!

It Benefits Both Sides

As a Retailer

In the past, retailers haven’t had a way to close the loop as to why a person left the store; usually it’s about price, but what items and what price would they want it at? There was no feedback loop.

With Mjedi, as a retailer you’ll see what people are interested in, and be able to adjust costs as you see fit on the items that people are really interested in! If you’re a retailer, you want people in your store; especially in a down economy. You want people buying your things and promoting your brand. Mjedi can help do that.

As a Customer

As a customer you don’t want everything that comes in from a store. You get their mailers, you know what’s out there, but it is likely not the things you want to be on sale. And if it is, it’s not what YOU want the price to be.

Additionally, you don’t have the time to search through the catalogs that get sent out about the stuff you don’t want. If you’re like me, you go into a store and shop around based off the store itself. I like certain stores for the TOTAL package of what they have, and if I’m in the market for something they have, I’ll go there to see if they’ll have it. If it’s too pricey or I see an item I’d rather have, I’ll usually take note of it search online, but Mjedi is set up so that you send one SMS with the UPC code in it and you’re done!

Log on to Mjedi.com from home to manage the UPC posts, update your preferences, and integrate with your Twitter and Facebook accounts of your favorite items that you’ve just picked up for well below Bluebook value! 

Conclusion

It really does have the full package and I’m sure the service will sell itself once it gets off the ground! That being said, the site is 100% legit and I can personally guarantee you’ll receive the $400 if you introduce them to a retailer that signs on for the service! I know the CEO and he’s absolutely dedicated to the process and is an honest guy!

I’m not sure how long the offer will last that he’s going to pay out $400, but he is doing it now, so if you know someone, I’d recommend them as soon as you can before the offer closes!

To refer someone either contact me and I’ll pass it on, or email tellmemore@mjedi.com!

In case you’re having some trouble understanding what they offer, here is a bit more simplied version with pictures!

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One of the major goals of my site (written in my disclaimer) is to be able to give my children a better financial education than I received when I was growing up.  The most financial education I have now is that I should be as frugal as humanly possible in every situation as we didn’t have much growing up.  And yes, that has lead me to where I’m at now (my post about frugality here) to an extent, but that is hardly an education in finance.

In high school I was required to take shop, home economics, care for a baby for a week.  All of these classes clearly are VERY helpful in society today (pun intended).  As electives we had the choices of automotive, music, and creative writing; which have a bit more value, but stress, BIT.  How often do I use those combined skills per day?  Per week?  I’d say it’s closer to per month and in total I’d say maybe 2 or 3 times.  How often do I have financial decisions/choices?  DAILY!  How much more value would you have gotten out of a basic “money management” course in high school, or even middle school?

I have been chatting and agreeing with The Financial Blogger a bit recently regarding his Open Letter to All Governments and he has given the ok to post a few clips from the article.  I was trying to come up with something similar and in my research stumbled across his post.  I have a few additions, but I’ll quote a few of the choice parts:

“This is an open letter to all governments. I am addressing this situation to all countries because I think it does not matter if you live in the USA or in Japan, our constant need for money is one of our biggest common points.”

Everyone needs money, and almost everyone deals with it on a daily basis!  It doesn’t matter where you live, you likely need money there…

“…ignoring financial education will result into bigger financing issues. I think it is the time for stopping this vicious circle and bring personal finance into our schools. The overall population have very little finance related knowledge and this must be addressed urgently.”

Not educating the general public about financial issues they’ll face later on it life is only exacerbating the situation at hand.  We are already a nation of HUGE debt, and fall further and further into it each day.

“Unfortunately, our children will likely repeat our very same mistakes. They will think those 36 months without interests are the only way to acquire goods and that their credit card is the key to financial freedom. Sooner or later, they will wake up as we did; half dead of working so many hours to pay our monthly bills…”

Another key point to helping my kids learn; we really do need something outside normal day to day family activities and interaction to find an education platform.

“Educating children to be more responsible about money, explaining them how to manage a budget and planning their retirement will solve several economic issues…. …If one can manage his finance, save money and invest a part of his nest egg, the overall economy will prosper and write history. We would literally start a revolution in term of financial independency and overall wealth.”

I can’t even begin to ponder how any goverment CAN’T see then benefit here.  We’d be helping ourselves by becoming a financially literate and debt-free nation that is more proactive or creating wealth instead of creating debt and lining the pockets of credit card company executives.

“…I am asking you to seriously consider the addition of financial education into our primary and high schools. This matter could easily be used to combine and integrate other academic acquisition such as mathematic and languages. After all, personal financial management could only contribute to a better future…”

Ultimately we need to find a better way to dig out of the debt.  We’ve got a crumbling Social Security and medicare structure that may not be around when the GenX’ers are old enough to use it and teaching them to crawl deeper in debt is only distancing the finish line they may never reach for financial independence.  So to whom it may concern, how do we go about building a course in the early years of school for the New Silent Generation?  I’m happy to pay for it with my tax money, and happier to jump on board any party willing to support this initiative!

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This year’s been really good for me, maybe not financially with the recent market plunge, but that’ll be back; I’m not worried.  It has been good enough to make me think something bad is lurking in the shadows, narrowing its eyes and biding its time.

I’ve got my ducks in a row, my fingers crossed, and a good chunk in the e-fund to mitigate any unforeseen problems ahead; planning helps there.

My day-job is good; it pays the bills. I’ve been promoted, and have leverage to manage my time as I see fit, so long as my must dos, DO get done.  The situation is great, and I’m very thankful for the time I’ve learned to delegate.  It’s saved me a precious commodity these days: time. More specifically, time to dream…

I have a set of kids, a set of dogs, a cat, a full-time job, a blog, and a handful of other sites that keep me busy. My brain is always bouncing along, hamster running, wheels spinning at all hours as I ponder new possibilities for my time and money. Am I overworked? I’d say “no”.

I remember Pinyo saying a while back. I can’t quite pinpoint the post, but it was something along the lines of, “until I stop watching TV completely, I still have time to fit other things in…”I hear him, and can certainly relate. As the day ends, my wife and I relax to the soft blue glow of the television, after the kids are all snug in their bed. It’s our time; tough to come by, but we still fit it in. Often, we’ll retire early to the comfort of the down comforter and soft sheets, but I’ll still have brainstorms raining in my mind which pull me from bed at three or four in the morning.

Where Am I At NOW?

I recently spoke with a friend who was thinking of searching for a new job because of his disenchantment with his current employer. There was a lot of talk about outsource in his group. I can relate.

I certainly don’t like how big business deals with these situations.

They don’t inform the employees, so they may keep them saddled until scrap time. The manager’s job is to convince the employee that everything is fine; work should continue as normal. The sad part is, “the business” will keep you around until their needs change, and in doing so, they can’t tell you that you may be let go, or risk sending you on a search for a new job and thereby jeopardizing their business.

I’m all for capitalism, and do see the business side; if you tell us you might cut, then you will lose some of us early.

It’s wise to keep things right at the hip until news time, but it sucks for those on the chopping block, or get a cash advance.

Two years ago I’d have said (with about 100% certainty) that my job was safe, and we were sitting at the top of the food chain. I’m still fairly confident, but I’m only giving it 80% certainty, due to the economy, our cuts, and more recently, our quarterly numbers.

Where Do I Want To Be?

How hard do I have to work (for “the man” or for myself) to get that extra 1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, or 50k per year (which is more likely two, or even three)? How hard do I NEED to work to get there?

I enjoy working. More specifically, I enjoy working inside my interests, anything that drives me toward a vision outside sitting behind a desk, fingers on keys for eight hours a day.

In my mind I assemble new ways to do things; creating, crafting, improving, and collaborating. Until recently I was hung up on where to put that effort, managerial day-job or elsewhere?

I want to be free to make my own decisions. I like the security of a corporate job, the health and financial benefits, but it IS a business. They’re in the market to make money. If that means cutting jobs and salary, that’s part of the equation.

Observing trends, both global and local, I see myself switching my DAY-JOB to secondary income. I get 100% of my work finished, using perhaps 60% of my capacity.

I have time to watch TV, run a blog, read and comment on my favorite sites, keep up on news, etc. I have spare cycles, where should I put them?

Breaking It Down; Where Do I Put Those Spare Cycles

Put The Effort Into My Day Job

Let’s envision, I’m driving forward, enhancing the environment, and really tearing it up. I’m working late, finding new problems, fixing bugs, absorbing new apps; spending 50-60 hours per week really documenting, and diving to my elbows in each product I’m part of.

I’m not getting sleep nor time away. In the end, how do I benefit? Annual cost of living increase (3%) and maybe a 5-10% raise on top, if I’m REALLY busting my balls. More realistic, considering the times, 5-7%, and we all know that’s pushing it.

Additionally, I manage a team of experts. They’re good at what they do, and don’t need me to try to make more work for myself by hounding them. My knowledge base doesn’t cover every aspect of my teams expertise, but I know bits and pieces of everything, and could devote the time to getting caught up to speed wherever I wanted.

Back to my previous position; I know about 90% of that environment, and that number is falling after a year away from the team. Could I put effort back? Probably. Is THAT worth it? How much would I get paid to keep working hard at the job. More importantly, is the juice worth the squeeze?

I’ve been on both ends of the raise structure, as Manager and Employee. The 3% annual bump is going to be tough to leap next year, due to company goals and the general economy. It will be difficult to pull anything past 10%.

Where I stand now, making *maybe* 10k more for 1 YEAR of hard work? Minus taxes, I’m sitting on $500 extra per month. Is it worth it? Depends. What are my options?

Put The Effort Into A New Venture

This is the black box for everyone, at least to an extent. Sure, we know people that have done it, and we seem to have a grasp on how we THINK we could do it ourselves. We’re interested in something outside corporate America.

I’ve tried a handful of small efforts to make money on the side; inventions, get rich quick schemes, clothing sales, multilevel marketing. Nothing’s ever panned out.

I’ve been slowly edging my income closer to $300 extra a month on random online endeavors, Google ads and link selling on sites, etc. But the kicker is the EFFORT. The energy I put forth for the extra $300 now is about 2-4 hours a week.

Ramping up sites takes time, as does writing info which captures people’s interest and replying to emails, but the money’s there, and won’t be leaving until months or years.

Even after I stop updating, it’s still there. It’s a sunk cost of time, and I like that. I’d like to do that 10, 20, or 100000x more; but how?In my situation, most of my team can do what they need without me there. True, same here.

They need guidance, but when you break it down, I’m a glorified baby-sitter. I’ve got free cycles. It’s a new concept, but I think we should embrace the feeling instead of filling it with more time working for “the man”.

Instead of getting upset or frustrated with the company for lack of information, advancement, and things to “fill your plate”, think about it in a light where you’re getting paid decent money, without exerting the EFFORT you once had to.

If you take a new job, what number would satiate your move? 10k? 20k? 30k? 40k? 50k? What’s your number? Whatever it is, once settled, you’d want more. Anyone that’s received a raise once, realizes another one’s just kissing the horizon and the new amount isn’t doing the trick anymore.

Money drives us, but shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all of our decisions to take on more work and responsibility.

What Am I Currently Doing?

I can absolutely say (and my boss agrees) that 100% of my job is done correct, and as needed. I received “above average” annual review. Technically, I’m at 108-ish percent of job capacity. I think to myself, “really?” Because I feel like I’m often spinning tires and not contributing like I was on my prior team, but that’s the model of a managerial position; you’re supposed to facilitate the people doing the work, period.

You fly low enough under the radar that you don’t need to preach from the mountains about the company direction, but you also float in between administering an app and managing the people who manage the app. You need to have a working knowledge, but not get your feet too wet. Again, my boss has specifically told me to stay out of the day-to-day operations and try to see the group holistically.“Know what’s going on, but don’t try to fix what’s going on”.

Stupid, I know, but that’s the job description, and apparently I do that better than just “meeting expectations”.So after about the 2nd month on this current job, I started casting it in new light. I WAS getting everything done, and WAS doing all I was required to do, but still had spinning cycles. I don’t know whether it’s just my mindset/determination, etc, but I definitely get bored when not engaged.

Contrary to popular belief (wait for it, wait for it) – managing isn’t especially engaging, and isn’t supposed to be.

So I’d say that my 108% I’m giving to my job is really only about 60% of my TOTAL ability to give. I’ve got at least 40% more in reserve. Do I devote it to pushing harder and getting a 10k raise? Do I look for another job that will give me that extra 10k, but have more responsibility and more time eaten up? Or do I use the time I’m given AWAY from the current job, still give the 100% they’re looking for, and really drive at something on the side? I think the answer’s obvious.

I’m not starving on my salary, and you hear it time and again that you should keep your day job until you can afford to quit. I’m looking to mine until the last possible second. I like the money and the freedom of being able to work from home. I love that it doesn’t take 100% of my time, but hate the fact that I’m just a cog in the machine.

I feel the company would drop me like a bad habit if they needed to – I don’t want to be stuck in that situation. I want to be able to drop THEM. I want to have something else cooking that pays my bills and know the day job is just a supplement.

How liberating that would, not shackled by the corporate job, able to know you’re giving what’s expected, while optimizing your available cycles to do more than just drive rigors further into a group of folks that can get by just fine without you? I believe it’s an easy decision…

Conclusion

I’ve tried it – I’ve given the last 10 years to corporate America, thinking it was the answer and what I wanted from life. The money’s good, but not “great”.

The freedom I get in my particular group is good, but not good enough.I’m convinced that giving 110% to someone other than myself isn’t going to cut it for my best life. I’m not saying I’m going to give less. I’ll still give everything needed to get the job done.

Everything else, as it stands, can be reallocated to things for MY dreams, not the boss’s.The first picture/post title I found stumbling last night and it really clicked for me that I want to do something more than “providing status quo”.

I want to do something that I’m responsible for; something I’ve poured my heart and soul into. As it happens, I don’t think my current day-job is that “something” which will help build those dreams…

A big shoutout to WriterDad for his help in editing this post.  He’s a gun for hire if you’re interested in fine tuning your writing  ;)

photos by: borrowed time | demi-brooke, fotologic, Vittis from Lithuania, me’nthedogs, Abulic Monkey, Tillo13

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