If we were men in some great battle, our pain would be physical. The greatest warrior would be our leader; our general. He would wield a sword and you would respect his command for two reasons: 1) Because he is great and 2) because you fear him. But these days the wrath of our general is delivered in a conference room rather than on the battlefield. The sword has been replaced by a Smartphone. Bows and arrows have been substituted by stern emails and carefully selected recipients in the CC and BCC fields (don’t you love it when someone CC’s your boss for no reason?) Our armor is who we know and how well they like us. Motivation in the workplace has gone from the desire to do your best into a simple will of survival. And worst of … [Read more...] about Motivation In the Workplace and My Thoughts on Mind Control
Career
Resume Screening Tips and Confessions from Someone Who Interviews
For about 99% of us, nothing will be more crucial to our finances and money design than landing a great job. And for most working professionals, that will all start with getting picked for the interview. As someone who has done a great deal of interviews in his day, there are a great deal of resume screening tips and other things I can confess to you about the whole process. Do you agonize over creating the perfect resume? If you do, that’s great that you’re taking the job prospect so seriously. But you might be disappointed to learn that going above and beyond with your resume doesn’t usually add a whole lot to your chances for an interview. In fact, the extra investment may yield very little return. … [Read more...] about Resume Screening Tips and Confessions from Someone Who Interviews
Practicing Entrepreneurship the Fraidy-Cat Way – Using Your Job
I’ll admit it. I’m a giant fraidy-cat when it comes to the subject of entrepreneurship. It’s not that I don’t believe in taking risks – I just question if the risk is worth taking. Even after starting this blog one year ago and feeling the sweet success of having it make more money than any of my other side hustles, I still struggle to believe that it could make me any richer or provide me with more security than my real job. No question about it. Does that mean I don’t have the burning passion to grow a new business, create something from nothing, build a name for myself, and make a ton of money in the process? Absolutely not! I want to do all those things! But I have and plan to continue to do them at my current job. And here’s why … [Read more...] about Practicing Entrepreneurship the Fraidy-Cat Way – Using Your Job
Status Update – Being Fired Over Facebook Rants
We are all pioneering the age of social media and its effects on everything that happens in our lives. While there is certainly a lot of good that comes from these sites, there is also a lot of damage that can be afflicted as well. Namely – sabotaging our careers and getting fired over Facebook. Getting fired and ruining your finances over something as dumb as Facebook posts may seem like something that could never happen to you, but it could! Here’s a story of something that just happened recently… … [Read more...] about Status Update – Being Fired Over Facebook Rants
Can You Afford to Work?
Recently a coworker and I were discussing how his wife would not be returning to work simply based on the fact that child care was too expensive. At the rate it would cost her to place the child in daycare and go to work, she’d actually be “losing” money. Simply put: If you compare dollar to dollar, it may not make any sense to go to work if you’re going to pay out more than you take in. As a parent, I can definitely tell you - kids are expensive! They eat a lot of food, wear a lot of clothes, need a lot of entertainment, and require a lot of stuff. It wasn’t that long ago that my wife and I had to make the same kind of decision ourselves. At the time, my wife was making around $1,000 net per paycheck. The cost of our daycare: … [Read more...] about Can You Afford to Work?
Embrace That You ARE in Sales
The stereotype of the salesman... We all know this guy. We don’t trust him. We run the other way. We don’t want to hear his spiel about why this used car is such a great deal or why we need the bigger TV set than we originally came in here to buy. It doesn’t matter what he says because we’re not going to believe it anyways. Yet this guy and you have something in common. Although your motives and methods are different (and you probably dress better), there is something that he is trying to do that you do every day. And if you don’t realize that you do it or try to get better at it, there could be significant financial consequences. … [Read more...] about Embrace That You ARE in Sales
What Did You Learn From Working as a Teenager?
Did you have a job when you were younger? Of course you did – we all pretty much had to! How else were you going to fill your gas tank, be able to take your date to the movies, or hang out with our friends? (Unless you were one of those kids with the rich parents ….) What do you remember the most about working as a teen? The crappy hours? The repulsive tasks that no one else wanted to do? The impossible and un-pleaseable customers? Working ALL week long to make a few hundred dollars? One of my first jobs ever was working in a restaurant. I started off as a bus-boy running lighting speed from table to table, clearing and cleaning it so that the customers could get seated faster. After a few years I worked my way up to take-out and … [Read more...] about What Did You Learn From Working as a Teenager?
Don’t Quit Your Day Job Yet
Congratulations if you are an entrepreneur. Congratulations if you have already amassed great wealth. Congratulations if you have an early exit strategy all planned out for one day retiring from your job. As I read through many other personal finance blogs, there seems to be a great deal of people on the path to success. Some of our fellow bloggers are bringing in hundreds, if not thousands of extra dollars every month. That’s pretty impressive for simply finding new ways to share opinions and information, and through selling virtual real-estate to advertisers. Way to go! But whether its blogging, E-Products, real estate, investing, or anything else you’ve found some small success with, I think it’s very important to put things into … [Read more...] about Don’t Quit Your Day Job Yet