Slim and trim your life style

Not my original words, but I tend to agree with the sentiment if not the content.

The US economy has been dying a slow death since 2008. Considering this GDP was measured in the newest way to make the number look better, the US has some really bad news here. 

Prepare for another depression?!?! 

• Move or sell your stocks (invest in companies that thrive in depression climates.. otherwise, sell)  
• Get rid of debt (no more student loans, credit card debt, mortgage payments.. you should do this depression or not)  
• Limit your expenses (drop cable/internet, lower your auto insurance (Insurance Panda has $25/month rates) 
• Swap your smart phone for a “dumb” one 
• Store up food (hoard dry and canned foods… better safe than sorry) 
• Buy guns / weapons (if that’s your thing.. it probably won’t come to this, but still!) 
• Learn a useful trade (mechanics, electricians, plumbers, etc. will always have jobs.. bankers and travel agents won’t!) 
• Stockpile drugs (if you take any drugs regularly, make sure you have them just in case) 
• Buy gold (if the dollar drops big, which it will, you will be somewhat protected) 
• Get life insurance (your rates will be locked in if you act now.  e.g., Life Ant for $18/month) 
• Last but not least: save as much money as possible, starting NOW. They say you should keep save money for a rainy day, well I hear the water droplets outside my window.

Call Center Service Rep

That's what I'm talking' 'bout About.com discusses call center work.

Not every job is the CEO who sits on the beach while everyone else pours money into your bank account and gives you a free house.
Not all CSR, customer service rep, jobs have to be horrible sweat shops.

If you have a calming demeanor, or are just down right friendly over the phone, then pick your area of specialty that inspires you to work each day, lower your expectations, and call the 800# to apply to the job. Maybe you like healthcare, or like persuasive selling, of something in between. There is a call center seat for you. And in many cases, that seat could be in your home.

You probably have said, "I'll do anything! Just give me a job. Just give me a chance.". This can be it. Don't pass it by. Do it now.

Rules for picking a company name

On a previous post about starting a company, there was mention of the importance of picking a company name.  While preparing to post about this specific topic, I found this article, by Martin Zwilling for CNN Money, on this very subject.

The author agrees that this can be the most important step in starting a company.

Startup Name Choice ... 

10 rules for picking a company name

by Michael Zwilling, contributor
CNN Money

Kick-off Small Business

Of course the only way to truly have control of your income is to manage the product acquisition (develop or dig), sales and distribution, accounting / collections and contracts, product support and pay the taxes.

Passion

Begin at the beginning ...  First, find your passion and determine its value to others.  Now create a mission statement -- a great mission statement is what you want to drive and steer your passion.  It also determines how your potential customers perceive you.

Prepare and think

Review the legal requirements for your region: country, city and do not overlook your apartment complex, home owners association or neighbors.  If you need parking or have a lot of shipping and handling, there could be some repercussions you might want to address before they occur.

Create a great label

Now, you need a label that has breadth, detail, longevity -- your company name.  This should be agonized over and debated among your most trusted family, friends, future colleagues and business partners.  Later you can get marketing and branding around the company name and your mission -- and product too, but don't be focused on the product, that could change over time.

EIN

Finally, you are ready to apply for your EIN (employer identification number).  During the application you will have to decide how to incorporate.  If you have concerns, get legal advice.  The key is who needs protection and are you going alone or with business partners.

Community and Networking

This video from Kansas Business Center website encourages you to join a community.

Resolutions for 2014

Positive Thinking ... Positive Cash-flow

Earn more than the cost of my bills for services and lifestyle.

Be kind to people.

Visit my family.

Donate time to a worthy cause.

Rescue a wounded animal.

Eat more vegetables.

Heart Warming has to be Promoted

When its right, it has to be pushed to the top.

A friend posted a really heartwarming experience of finding a lost dog by using the website Pet Finder.  Needless to say, I really have learned to love dogs, so I felt the desire in my heart to promote this altruistic website.

Dogs (and probably your favorite pets too) have a magical way to comfort and care.  That is why a dog can be a special companion while on our journey to recover from the economy.

If you are in the dog friendly business, post a comment on this blog and I will consider a promotion for you too.

Cookie recipe for the economy

Well, this is a bit gratuitous.  I found this recipe on Facebook and it sounds awesome.  I am going to try it out the next time I have some ripe bananas.

When you have a sweet tooth and want to stay on track, here's a nice treat.  The banana and almond milk provides the sweet.  No additional sugar is needed.

3 mashed bananas (ripe)

1/3 cup apple sauce

2 cups oats

1/4 cup almond milk

1/2 cup raisins (optional) 

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Part-time Employment Folly

I read this NY Times article, "Part-Time Work Becomes Full-Time Wait for Better Job" from a Twitter tweet.  It does an excellent job reporting on the issue behind the issue.  Unemployment is individually stressful and socially horrific.  Meanwhile, the "new employment" statistics are used to blur the truth and win political acceptance.  That is not fair to step on the backs of the struggling citizens for self-gain.

Read, comment and share ...

Part-Time Work Becomes Full-Time Wait for Better Job

Chase, Citi, CapOne, Discover, whoever

I have probably had every credit card created and "member since" forever.  I was rewarded with a large line of credit.  I am over extended, but I remain faithful to all of my creditors.  To that end, they are all scared of me, but they have to see, if they review my payment history, that I will prevail and they will get their money (loan sharks that they are).  Meanwhile, one of my creditors has been really difficult to deal with.

They say I am overdue, and I say I am paid up.  The debate has gone on for 6+ months with harassing calls.  When I finally got them to send me my history -- since 'on-line' could not go back far enough! (topic for another blog entry) -- it was un-decypherable.  They had codes that did were not documented and best I could read it, I was all caught up.  In any event, I have consistently paid on this car loan and the one time I did 'miss a payment' (honest oversight), I doubled-down the next month.  This was enough to trigger their collections group and they have been relentless, despite the 2-1/2 years of over-payments with a one-month gap.

CapitalOne had always treated me well with credit offers and I leveraged the low-rates to improve my cash flow.  When it was time to replace the old car with a new one, I decided to use CapitalOne for the loan -- rather than the factory offer from Honda.  I put down 25% of the car sales agreement and everything was fine for the longest time.

As a result of this stressful time, I assure you that I will be shedding my CapOne accounts just as quickly as I possibly can and then I will shred them forever (unless they apologize with a low interest rate).

Braille T-Shirts, Dog Tags and Jewelry

I really like this website and small business.  Consider that any purchase is a support of some small business owner's recovering economy.

Braille T-shirts order form

Besides, it looks cool.

Coffee Company - Half Moon Bay

This is an old photo, but it brings back the aroma memories every time . . .

. . . goes super, well with a slice of pumpkin pie, a cranberry scone, berry pie ... oh, anything from the fresh baked goodie display.  Or breakfast rice and eggs ... (please stop me from reciting the entire menu).

The Fifth Winter This Year

Kansas has unique weather patterns.  Having grown up in Massachusetts, lived in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California and now Kansas; Kansas has the wildest swings in weather.

Look at the geography of Kansas.  It is sandwiched between the jet streams from Texas and Canada with a "shotgun" of weather from Colorado.  I experienced my first thunder-snow on a weekend before Thanksgiving in Kansas.  There was a lightening strike to the tree in front of the apartment that split in two and blocked the front doorway.

This year's winter season, 2012-2013, has delivered five winters with five spring thaws and this one in February was the craziest.

Watch Reality TV and Learn to Negotiate

It sounds silly, but you can learn some negotiating skills, selling tips and how to evaluate a business valuation from watching reality TV.  The majority of reality TV is rubbish, drivel and should be banned to another planet.  There are three shows that are really better than you might think and demonstrate some real world business skills.  They remind me of those lame training films that your company will show with the scripted acting, but the difference is that this is a live setting.

Compare your price-value negotiating skills watching:

• Pawn Stars with Rick, The Old Man, Corey and Chumlee
• Hard Core Pawn in Detroit

Challenge business valuation by watching:

• Shark Tank

2013 Life After the Cliffs

We all have our personal cliffs that we run up against.  Rarely do we fall off and even rarer than that does life end after going over the cliff.  It is a steep ride but with safety nets and sometimes over-stated concern, we survive.

My family has been falling down our fiscal cliff for quite some time.  We manage to grab a root or branch that is sticking out, pull hard and climb back up the cliff face.

We went over our first cliff back in 2003.   With perseverance  we have moved to new places and tried to stay invested in savings, home and life-style.  The lifestyle was the hardest to maintain and has suffered the most.  After a nice,  [seemingly] secure salary and savings, we entered into a zero-income lifestyle which required liquidating saving assets during the job search.

Rethink Possibilities

New job networking tools, techniques and training was required.  The job search circle expanded from regional, to state, to "close to family", to the entire USA with consideration for overseas.  After more than a year of sending out resumes, reaching out to colleagues, friends, family and recruiters, a contract 2500 miles from home was signed.  That three- to six-month contract lasted 19 months with 60-70 hours a week of work.  This was still more than a 50% cut in salary equivalent -- not to mention lack of savings and out-of-pocket benefits.

Now, after eight years and five employers later we are still coming up short.  The life style has down-sized from renting a house to renting a single-bedroom apartment; from two cars to one car to no cars and walking to shopping, doctors, bank, etc.  There are hidden benefits and hidden costs.  Still not enough to start saving again and the salary is nearly where it was at the time of the first layoff.  However, the earning power that was lost over eight years is compounded by six years of accumulated debt.

Don't Give Up

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is very dim and has a tiny beam of light.  The cash flow is still slightly negative, but near zero.  With some additional belt tightening, if we get past April 15th, we could experience a positive cash flow for the first time in eight years.

Meanwhile, with all that budget planning, a second income and job skills retraining, the Federal Government's fiscal cliff and cost of living increases (the rent went up and so did groceries) has eroded our efforts back to zero.

Plan B

Plan B (probably on Plan F, G or H by now), is to find a way to increase the family revenue through some cleaver small business devices.

We know we are not unique, but this is one time that there isn't comfort in numbers.  We offer our prayers and best wishes to anyone else who is living a similar, or possibly worse, experience.  The comfort will come when we are all, once again, enjoying vacations with family, feeling financial security, sleeping a full night's sleep without stress and sharing more with others in need.

My Economy Strategy

I have not mentioned much about my strategy to survive and flourish in this economy. It is a plan with many moving parts. The trick is to keep them going and revive them when they stall.

First, I have my 9-to-5 job. That would be wonderful if it really was only from 9, got done at 5 and it payed all the bills with something left over. The reality is that it is often 10-11-12 hours of time at work and the pay does not cover the mortgage, rent, credit cards, food, let alone savings, retirement, car repairs. A corollary to this is that I am staying in touch with my profession network for better opportunities.

Second, I have a hobby that I want to turn into a business that eventually supplants my day-job or at least gives me back my time. On evenings and weekends, I carry my MacBook around with me as I work on some iPhone applications that I hope to bring to market. After that, I plan to port them to the Android and BlackBerry markets.

Third, I have a website for the hobby where I have such pages as technical information, favorite web sites and product information. The plan is to make it a web destination such that the technical community finds useful and, as a result, clicks on an AdSense advertisement.

Fourth, I have this blog that I hope inspires others with the same aspirations and needs to visit, share comments and click on a valuable advert from AdSense, Amazon, GoDaddy .... (any suggestions for others) when visiting. I visit and follow blogs of interest to me and if it has advertisement, I am assuming the blog has the same need as do I, so I click on a link and learn something that I otherwise might not know about.

It may sound gratuitous, but it is not intended to be. It is a survival strategy that I hope will have mutual benefit to my visitors and myself.

Oh, did I mention that my business plan is to donate a portion of sales (before profit) to charities and small business lending? That is part of the hope to help others by building financial strength as a community.

United ... States ... of America

While admiring some of the postings on Facebook in my friends-community, it ocurred to me what is really bugging me about the Obama administration. From his first campaign speech to his state of the union addresses and all the TV spots in between, this thought summarizes my dismay and anger best.

The states have to stand against the Federal government which uses blackmail and intimidation to get compliance and consensus.

Once the states get their control back from the Federal control we can put our representation back to doing what they are mandated to do -- represent the people of the state and our (state) values. Each state has its uniqueness in culture, its specialty resources and the people who appreciate it for all that it it worth. By uniting the States, we have the strength to accomplish greatness and the power to overcome any adversity. That is America, the people of states, united as a nation -- United States of America.

Getting the State control is the first step in putting the People back in the position of governing of laws as expected; as is written in the Constitution. The checks-and-balances that are built into the system have been hijacked through coercion and it may take protests and standing-down for principles for unpopular (eyes of other states) values -- but if Obama does not want to work with the States, then he can rule the District of Columbia but leave the USA to the people and the States can appoint new representative leadership.

Go Green -- For Whose Sake?

I have a pet peeve with the Financial Services community and 'going green', by stopping my mailed accounts.

Carrot or stick
Finite or infinite access
Realtime or delayed

Who is really getting the benefit of the saving?

It is *my* info ... its already in *their* archives. Archives can be 100% dynamic, online and accessible 7x24. Computing, storage and bandwidth should not be an issue for my 60+ years of data, reports, etc. There are no excuses in this day-and-age. If Google can give me virtually unlimited email, cloud-stored documents, video, photos, maps, all for free, then Financial Services like Bank of America, CitiBank, Chase, Charles Schwabb, American Express, Franklin Funds, etc., etc., etc. should be able to provide secure, always available, unlimiited access to their electronic warehouse of my information.

Furthermore, credit scores should be mandated to be free and real-time reported, real-time disputed, and real-time corrected. No excuses.

Technology: Mac Time Machine

I am a mobile applications developer and I want to use Time Machine on my Mac. Unfortunately, I have limited funds and wanted to use the external USB drive on my Windows' computer, but I would have to reformat it and lose all the other backups I have on there. What is the cost of a reliable USB drive that has over 280Gb of storage?

Change your words. Change your world.

I have nothing to add. You have to watch it for yourself. It just makes sense.

Tech Review - Samsung Chrome Book from Google IO 2011

Overall - I love it (although my first impressions leave much to be desired) and my wife uses it all the time. I still prefer my Mac.

"Let's get started"
The presentation during GoogleIO 2011 was all about quick, easy setup, application access and maintenance (anti-virus, subscription for hardware replacement). Place the ChromeBook, ubiquitously, to consumers, schools and other groups that have limited, or no, access to the internet (read as "Ads from Google").


Unable to start without a network connection.
My network is locked down by permission of MAC address.
Unable to visit "setting" to check MAC address.
Have to drop the restriction on my router before I can get through an initial startup.

Shipping package was smashed.
Product box was smashed on one corner.

"Change proxy settings..."
This is NOT a friendly, easy option for the consumer.

Keyboard keycaps are flat and should have some indention, even the f-j home-marks are too subtle. The tactile feedback is "OK" - not great. I still have to look down to see if I am typing what I expect. Somewhat reminiscent of the PC Jr's "chicklet keyboard."

WiFi keeps refusing my connection and I am using 802.11g with WEP, which states is supported according to the "Learn more..." from the connection-failed alert.

The Help screen for network connections encourages one to visit the website for help. Duh... I am having trouble with the network. The target audience cannot be presumed to have alternative access to check a website. Put all the help info in the Chrome Book -- better yet, make the WiFi setup bullet proof.

Finally had to connect to internet using my Samsung Verizon/4GLTE modem (also free from GoogleIO 2011).

I signed-on as Guest since I did not want to commit the Chrome Book to any one of my gmail accounts -- yet. The desktop is a fullscreen Chrome browser. The tools allow one to sign-off among other typical features.

Signed on with (one of) my gmail account(s). I believe it will be uncomplicated to sign-off as one and on as another (i.e., share the book with others in my family). I hope it does not obligate my account to the Chrome Book -- its *NOT* a Macbook Pro replacement!

The choice of avatar icons are childish and meaningless for my persona. Cartoon-y clipart with such things as: chrome colored balloon, chrome colored photo silhouette, chrome colored flower, chrome colored bullseye, bee, cupcake, robots, ladybug, etc. You get the picture ... oh, and you can take your picture with the built-in camera.