No Limits Ladies.com

Fast Track Girl:
Summer arrived and business slowed down. We cut back on our employees’ hours by working most of the hours ourselves. Consequently, the employees were forced to have to seek employment elsewhere, at least for the summer. We didn't know what to expect in sales and didn't want to spend what we did make on unnecessary payroll expenses.

Shortly after we opened I got behind with accounting. Accounting for a small cart with no build out expense didn't take near as much skill as a store and the LLC. I was overwhelmed and barely had time to sleep much less learn how to do all of the accounting overnight.

So I found an accountant/bookkeeper/consultant in Nov. and contracted her to do all of our books and taxes. I was too busy with the holiday retail season to be able to meet with her much, then she was too busy at tax time to meet with me, so we spent the summer getting caught up. We got an extension on our taxes and are still cleaning it all up right now. The books should all be in order in the next few weeks. This should've been done from the start, lesson learned! I have learned a lot from her (Mabel) and look forward to learning more. But I have a lot of work to do still! Including going back over the past year and looking at where the waste was and the consequence of not knowing how to better manage the cashflow earlier on. Hey...you learn by doing.

We spent the summer learning, organizing, cleaning, making repairs, and working on bettering our systems. My older daughter (Leasa) is a manager at Chase. Chase has awesome training programs for their management and Leasa has offered to put together a basic employee handbook for us. Just basic legal stuff using templates. She's going to come in and do training with our new employees on how to handle customer complaints, difficult customers, inappropriate employee behavior, etc. She does this training at Chase.

We contacted Best Buy Solutions for Small Business and Best Buy Geek Squad to meet with us to discuss some computer and POS software concerns we have. They sent four reps out to gather information from us about what our needs are. They came back with a proposal of what they think we need to do to solve the problems. We like their solution but are investigating it a little further before we decide. Beside it'll be $4k to implement it after we spent $2500 on our current system and it's not that urgent of a problem at the moment. I'd rather grow that money by spending it on more product.

We'll be meeting with a several different SCORE counselors in the next few weeks. These are retired business owners and advisors who volunteer their time to help others. I'd like to meet with someone who has a strong background in retail. Also in accounting, for comparison sake just to be sure the person we're currently using is the person we should be using.

Called the insurance broker from my last job to get health insurance through the LLC. When you're a sole proprietor (as I was in my cart biz) you get self employed insurance and they can put exclusions on your policy for pretty much any medical issue you've ever had. Not this time! We got group insurance for us and full time employees, which we don't have many. Since I'm the decision maker I made sure that the Mayo Clinic (here in Arizona) was on our plan. Now we have our primary care doctors at the Mayo! I'm no longer stuck with crappy insurance through my employers. I had a say so in it.

More to come...

"Movement without direction will create a hole in the ground."

- Sophia Bedford-Pierce

I am not anti-saving money. I am pro-making money. I am not frugal without a cause.

Some of you guys out there are wired that way from birth. Natural savers, saving everything from pennies to candy stashes for later. I know you... You were all my best friends growing up. My son is a natural born saver- yes, nature not nuture. I am not a saver by nature- he could not have learned it from me. (Or his eating habits- the kid was asking for carrots last week for snack and I said, "We're going to Starbucks". Please nobody call CPS...)

However, I am wired to build and grow- that takes money. Sometimes it's other people's money. But often times it's my own. When I am in bootstrapping mode, saving for a goal, my spending (or lack thereof) can rival the most frugal of them. (With maybe the exception of a good friend who made a pot of chili meant to last him for two weeks...)

It's sort of like working out. Ladies- we all know we should work out regularly, and some of you do well. Most of us do better with a goal; a little motivation to squeeze into that dress for a friend's wedding without back fat rolling over the side, or perhaps our own wedding (or wedding night...), that Playboy cover right after having a baby, that impending marathon you are training for, etc.

I digress.

My point is- I am not frugal without a cause. Saving for 30 years from now doesn't do it for me. Pulling together a down payment for an investment property, money to invest in a business, money to start and grow a business- those are all things I put money aside for. I am motivated to save money to put into assets that will create either capital gains to roll into something else, or to create cash flow, passive income I can live on. I save my money to put it back to work for me.

Being frugal should be a means to an end: live below your means, creating money to save, invest, payoff debts, and put back to work for you.

I did a stint as a maid in a no name motel by a busy highway. I learned a few things there. I learned that a few rare people are absolute pigs (towels are for wiping wet bodies not for wiping…). I learned that there were incredibly nice people everywhere.

I also learned that all soaps and shampoos, opened and unopened, are thrown away after each guest’s stay. You see they could be tampered with (there are some sick people in the world) and our little hotel couldn’t risk the lawsuits (not to mention the guilt).

If this truism applied to the hole in the ground Norman Bates hotel I was working at, it must apply 1000 times more to the big name hotels with something more to risk. So now whenever I travel, I pack up the shampoos, conditioners, and the soaps (not the towels or comforters or tv sets…that would be stealing).

The unopened toiletries are used for the guest bathroom (did I mention that this gal who had grown up without indoor plumbing now has 2.5 bathrooms? Yeah? Well, prepare to hear it a few more times. It’s my pride and joy). Guests always comment on how they feel like they’re staying in a bed and breakfast (except that the breakfast consists of Cheerios with week old milk that tastes like the fridge and they have to make the coffee themselves).

The opened toiletries are used for washing that nasty ring around the collar out of the hubby’s dress shirts (how does his neck get so dirty?).

Oh, and if you were wondering…we washed the linens after every visit but the comforter only once a month. Having seen what guests left on comforters (some guests practice safe…well, you get what I mean. Yes, I had to pick those up and dispose of them. Completely gross), the first thing I do now is remove it from the bed.

I’ve ironed clothes while wearing them (early, early in the morning) and received third degree burns. I’ve fed chocolate to already hyperactive toddlers. I’ve lost money on investments. Yep, I’ve made mistakes and being only human (despite my hubby’s insistence that anyone who likes dill pickles on her cheese sandwiches can’t possibly be from earth), I will continue making them.

When I invest, I’m prepared that even with all my brilliant thinking and research, I could lose the money. Or it could take me longer than I expected to get my money back.

So I only invest what I’m willing to lose (not that I want to lose it). If I need the money to buy a new bra next week ‘cause I accidentally washed my last best white bra with the hubby’s grubbies (don’t ask), I’m not going to invest it in the market. If I need the money next year for a down payment on a sweet little hut on some tropical island (dreaming again), I’m not going to buy stocks with it. I might buy government bonds (more secure) or stick it in a money market fund but I wouldn’t buy stocks.

Stocks are a long term play for me.

I also, knowing that I could make mistakes, would prefer to invest in a few different stocks (I like the number ten). When I first started out, this was difficult (didn’t have much money) so I tried to pick safer (i.e. very boring) stocks.

Why would I invest if I know I might lose the money?

Because for every loser stock, there is (hopefully) a winner that more than offsets. “You can’t win all the time” is the creed of the investor. We can lessen the losses (exit plans, research, etc) but they will still occur.

But every time I make an investing mistake, I become a better investor. The losses are like a tuition fee (as long as I learn from the losses) and the return on that tuition is pretty darn good.

Prom, Spring Brides, and More Media (Part 7)

Spring came and it was prom and wedding season. A common prom theme this year was old Hollywood and vintage. Because of our concept we were THE place to shop for prom. Also, we quickly became a popular place for brides to shop.

We had a customer from Los Angeles stop in and told us an interesting story. She was in LA planning a trip to New Mexico when she saw a travel show on TV, or a travel segment on a show, not sure which it was. She saw our store featured on the show and was so intrigued that she made a side trip through Arizona just so she could stop by the store. I have no clue! But I got a customer out of it! I did a search on the internet and couldn't find anything on it, so to this day I have no idea how that came to be or what program it was.

In the early spring it was tradeshow time again. While we were out of town I got a call on my cell phone from a producer from local Channel 15. They said the Oscar's were coming up the following weekend and they wanted to do a segment on the store on their Smart Shopper segment. This was on Friday and they needed to do the segment by the following Tuesday. We got back Sunday night and a TV crew was at the store on Tuesday morning to tape the segment. Yaaay! FINALLY, we get to have our beautiful store on camera! All the other TV spots we did were out of the store.

So the anchor women, a lighting man and camera man show up with all of their gear on Tuesday morning, the store was open but it was pretty quiet. We oriented them to the concept and products and all brainstormed a way to do the segment. Then the anchor woman did the "lead in", which was the part they used to tell viewers the segment was coming up later in the show. Afterwards she interviewed Laurin. Now you think it would be easier to do a taped segment, rather than live. You get to do re-takes if you mess up. It was actually harder because it's not natural conversation. When you don't like what you said you keep starting over until it's more like acting than normal conversation. It was a new experience for us. The segment aired a few days later early in the morning. Erin had a link to this in one of my previous posts. I'm sure she'll hook you up with another link here : )

We were only home for a week and then back out of town again for another tradeshow. The Oscars were aired on a weekend night, while we were away. That night we got a few phone calls from friends and family warning us....THAT THEY REPLAYED THAT SEGMENT ALL THROUGH THE OSCARS AND ON THE NEWS AFTERWARDS. GEEZ....COULD YOU GIVE THE GIRL A LITTLE WARNING!

They took clips of the segment and put a teaser during the commercial breaks of the Oscars. After the Oscars Channel 15 news focused their entire broadcast on the Oscars. Through out the entire news they kept viewers watching by continuously mentioning that our segment was coming up, then they replayed the entire Smart Shopper segment.

WE GOT SLAMMED! It was like Christmas sales again for nearly two weeks after that broadcast. We were out of town and didn't have enough warning to stock up on product. We didn't have our order books, etc. to place orders from where we were. We no longer had our seasonal workers, just two employees who had to handle it all by themselves for almost a week. They were great employees and did a fabulous job. I no longer have those girls, one had to go off to army boot camp and the other got a really great position with a credit card call center, it was a better fit for her and her family. We miss them both very much but they keep in touch with us.

Evidently, all of the TV segments we did get replayed over and over again because we still get new customers from then who tell us that they just saw a show recently. Very cool! By the way...Smart Shopper (Daphne) heard about us from the anchor woman who interviewed us on Sonoran Living (Kayly). They were in their morning meeting brainstorming ideas for the Oscars news broadcast and Kayly suggested our store to the Daphne and the producer. After that Oscars airing I sent a Thank you card to Daphne, Kayly and the producer.

Then summer came. For those of you not from Arizona, no one wants to be here when it's 200 degrees outside, okay 115 but it feels like 200! We were never able to keep any of our carts open long enough to experience a summer in business. It started mid July and we expected it to go on until September, which is when we opened last year and September was a great month....last year.

The question is often asked, if you won $X amount of dollars, what would you do? (Not to be confused with WWJD) So many people imagine that winning the lottery will solve all their problems. Little do they know that having more money will not only magnify the issues already at hand, but also bring a whole new batch of problems to deal with.

Is winning the lottery a curse? I watched a bit of the E! True Hollywood special, but I didn't have to in order to know the answer.

Money itself is not the issue. The problem lies in not knowing how to control yourself and manage money (you better chiggity check yourself before you wreck yourself). When people suddenly come into money, they haven't had the chance to discipline themselves and start small to learn the basics of money, how to protect it, and how to grow it. Ever heard the term Nouveau riche? (Not the real estate MLM , although I think the name is appropriate for it...)

It didn't take any discipline to earn it, or hard work. Consequently, they don't have the skills or knowledge to handle it.

You can quickly evaluate your own money skills by asking yourself: 'What would I do if I won the lottery?' I cannot name one successful friend who would even consider playing the lottery. But if I play along, I would find the best advisors I could and make sure all legal bases were handled, and that money all tied up in investments. Advisors on the THS special gave some interesting tips (for you future lotto winners here):

1) Put the winning ticket somewhere safe for a few days, such as a safe deposit box. You need some time to wrap your head around the event and think clearly about what the next steps are to take.
2) Find some advisors, lawyer, CPA, financial, etc. and set up a trust without your name attached to it.
3) Lay out a clear plan for the money.
4) Use the trust to claim the money.
(Not a complete list, but you get the idea)

More money will not solve your problems, especially if your problems have to do with poor money management. Focus there first, and learn to make money on your own. (And don't live large enough to make yourself a target!)

Although I realize that the subject of fear per se is beyond the scope of this book, I want to briefly go over what I firmly believe is the number one reason why most hard-working Americans die flat broke: fear of failure.

Granted all rational, reasonable, intelligent adults have innate fear of failure. In fact, most Americans are warned form birth to be careful and watch out for the unforseen. However, it is how human beings are able to overcome the very real fear of failure that determines whether an individual will be successful in a given endeavor. So, if fear of failure is what you feel is holding you back from being a profitable (pre-foreclosure) property investor, I have a possible solution that just might work.

I am not usually a big fan of what I refer to as the rah rah crowd- so called motivational speakers- as I believe that lasting motivation is something that comes from within. However, I highly recommend that you listen to the following two audio programs by best-selling author Earl Nightingale: "The Strangest Secret in the World for Succeeding Today" and "Lead the Field", which are available through www.nightingale.com.

-Thomas J. Lucier from The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investors Kit
(That book I've been reading)

“Please take a moment to locate the nearest exit, keeping in mind it may be behind you.”
Sound familiar? That is one of the first things those high flying flight attendants chirp before the airplane even moves on the tarmac. Yep, as soon as I enter the plane, the flight attendants tell me how to leave.

That’s how it should be for investing. Before I purchase an investment (any investment, stock, business, or real estate), I have a pretty clear idea when I’m going to exit. It’s called an exit plan and it holds the twin demons fear and greed at bay (like mace for the investment baddies).

I figure out when I’m going to sell and I write it down (gotta keep myself honest). That may be never if I’m investing for dividends or other income. If I’m investing for capital gains however and the company hits one of the benchmarks, no excuses, no delays, I sell.

But if it doesn’t hit one of the benchmarks, I sit on the stock. Stock prices go up. Stock prices go down. If I sold everytime the stock went down a cent, I’d be selling almost every day. If I sold everytime it went up a cent, I’d be doing the same. Often with the same stock.

When I hear that a buddy lost everything on a stock, I know she had no exit plan (unless the exit plan was to sell when the stock price went to zero which isn’t that great of a plan). If my exit plan is that I’d sell if the stock fell 20% then 20% is all I could ever lose on the investment.

When I hear that a stock price increased 500 percent and a buddy is still holding it, I also think that’s a gal with no exit plan (unless the stock still hasn’t hit a key selling point like a major announcement).

Before I buy, I know when I’m getting out.

I wrote this for Frugal Duchess last Friday, but felt it went hand in hand with what Kimber is talking about today!

Frugal Duchess Air Flight #190: NLL Managing Risk

(To be read in a quick but calm higher pitched female voice...)

Welcome aboard Frugal Duchess Air Flight #190. My name is Erin, and on behalf of NLL, I'll be serving you today on your journey to financial freedom.

You may have been a little nervous to get on this flight; the seats you bought trying to save money are close and uncomfortable; what can be said about the sip of soda and peanuts we’ll throw at you, except the price is right (free); and yes, that guy next to you will smell and complain the whole way. I'm going to be running you quickly through some investing safety guidelines to help ease your fear and manage risk, making for a more enjoyable ride.

First make sure that all checks and balances are in their proper place, and that all numbers are in the upright position. In the unlikely event that something should not go as planned, know all your possible exit strategies. You may need to use savings as a floatation device, or you may find yourself bouncing out the door on the inflatable slide to cut losses (never bringing on board more than you are willing to lose).

Make sure you place the financial oxygen mask over your own face first, before attending to the needs of small children (grown children college tuitions, weddings, parents, and other people's financial 'needs'). For more information refer to the card located in the seatback in front of you (or blogs, books, advisors, etc.).

Keep your seat belt fastened until the captain has indicated otherwise, sit back and relax, and please try to unclench the death grip you have on the arm rest.

There may a bump or two, but one thing is for sure... you're going to arrive at your financial destination a lot faster than if you had only saved, focused on becoming debt free, tried to live as cheaply as possible, or focused on job security (all of which interestingly enough can put you more "at risk" than learning to manage risk and invest).

We here on Frugal Duchess Air realize that you have a choice in how you spend your money. Being frugal may be uncomfortable for a little while, however, it doesn’t have to be your goal. It should serve the purpose of funding investment vehicles that help you reach your financial goals more quickly, and allow you to enjoy your stay even more once you arrive!

We hope you’ll come and see us again real soon! Buh Bye!

Rich Dad Poor Dad was the book that started it all for me several years ago. (Read my story here.) Since then, I have become very close friends with many people in the the RD Community, just like many of you have made friends here in the PF Blogger world.

Although the books I read helped me, these people and our optimistic support of one another and our like minded-ness about money have really been the reason I have done as well as I have for myself, even though it is only the tip of the iceberg for me! (I'm no rockstar...yet...)

I want to highlight some of my RD friend's stories each Tuesday, because they are inspiring and real. I know there are a lot of people who don't think it can be done- but we are going to show you that it can be done. Not because RK is a guru or an idol- but because he was able to repackage business and investing principles that work. That is the key.

The world is a place full of opportunity and plenty. Learn to manage risk by educating yourself in business and investing, and there are great rewards!

I also thought I'd post a video of what the Rich Dad Staff meeting looks like. In this particular one, you can hear about the purpose of the "politically incorrect" Yahoo Articles, and also a tid bit about the real estate market and why now is a great time to buy, and real investors are stepping back in.

"Ignorance can be overcome by education, but stupidity lasts forever."

I’ll admit to watching too many financial shows. I’m a tad bit addicted to them. My favorites are when people like you and I call in to talk to the “expert” (usually some big mutual fund manager looking for clients). I like to play “Guess the company” (yeah, I’m a geek, send me my plaid flood pants) and despite the over 2,500 companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (also known as the Big Board) alone, I can usually guess correctly.

Why?

Because most little investors swim with the big fish. Big fish like mutual fund companies have mega cash to play with. They don’t have $500 to invest with, they have $500 million to invest with. And they invest in big companies.

What’s a big company?

A share certificate, as we know, is ownership in a company and its future earnings. The sum of the value of all the shares outstanding is called capitalization. A smaller company with its smaller earnings has a small capitalization, a larger company with its larger earnings has a large capitalization. As a company grows, so does its capitalization. Small earnings become large earnings. Small companies become large companies. Small caps become large caps.

Mutual fund managers tend to stay away from small and mid cap companies.

Why?

Often laziness (see, I’m not the only lazy person out there).

Mutual fund managers have rules they play by. Many can’t own more than 10% of any company’s outstanding shares. So a mutual fund manager can’t hold more than $25 million of a $250 million dollar small cap company. He would have to buy 20 different company stocks to spend his $500 million cash (oh, the problems he has).

Compare that to buying $500 million of a $5 billion dollar company. One stock. Much, much easier, don’t you think?

Also buying 10% of the smaller company all in one day would push the stock price up. Small cap companies are often thinly traded which means that there aren’t that many shares for re-sale on any one day. The mutual fund manager, to get a better price, would have to buy smaller amounts over many days. Much too much work. He, like myself, would rather be golfing.

So they stick to the large cap stocks. They watch these stocks, they buy these stocks and they talk about these stocks. People like you and I listen and buy them also. These poor stocks get picked over worse than January sales. Meanwhile, some smaller companies, that I can buy quite easily with my $500, are ignored and selling at outlet prices.

Check out my take on Suze Orman's latest Yahoo article titled The Parent Trap over at the Investor Geeks. (We're the new Geeks on the block.)

Some of you may have read about how I flip cars for extra money. This past week, I had run across a good price on a 1996 Range Rover. I made an offer that was accepted ($5800 and I could turn around and sell it for $7500).

There were two catches: the vehicle was 3 hours away, and I didn't actually have that cash on hand.

So I made three calls to people who have offered to loan money to buy vehicles. Unfortunately, I was not able to move fast enough to get the Range (he sold it to someone else for $6000). That's okay, because there are deals every week.

If you can learn to spot deals that make money, and have a track record and trustworthiness, you will be able to find the money you need to make it happen. Find out how to utilize other people's money to make money starting with small deals and then build up to large deals.

"Our greatest lack is not money for any undertaking, but rather ideas. If the ideas are good, cash will somehow flow to where it is needed."

I can’t talk about getting rid of stuff and not talk about eBay.

The on-line auction site eBay is used by many to get rid of unwanted stuff. There are countless websites with hints on how to get the most for your items. The site itself will walk you through the steps of both buying and selling.
However here are some of my tips…

I always list with a photo. Photos add another thirty-five cents to costs but they increase the selling price by 11%. Well worth it for me. Photos can be snapped with any digital camera. The better the photo, the more likely I am to get a good price for my item.

I take the time to find the right category to list under. If I list baby clothes in the eBay motors category, I won’t get many (if any) bidders (and those bidders, I have to wonder about – shopping for a Corvette Stingray and yes, a onesie).

I spell the item correctly. Don’t laugh. Do a search right now on laptop but spell it labtop. You’ll see items selling for much lower than their spelled correctly counterparts.

I share as much information about the item as possible. Auctioneers will tell you that the story sells (watch Antique Roadshow for illustrations of that). I don’t make anything up (that would eat up my hard won karma points) but I do my research on the item.

Remember the seller pays shipping or postage. I like to have estimates ready for when bidders ask.

If the bid is half decent, I usually throw in a low priced bonus feature. I had a woman bid on a frog item. I noticed that she collected frogs (based on her other bids and her website) so I threw in a set of froggie stickers I found. The woman was thrilled and referred other buyers to me (and yes, I got some good karma points).

Our friend Ken over at After Reading Rich Dad Poor Dad blogged about cashing in on the Tickle Me Elmo craze! Read about his adventures in discovering, buying and listing this laughing furry monster!

Last week at this time I did not know that a Tickle Me Elmo 10th Anniversary doll was coming out, but I did know that my front brake rotors were jacked and I really didn’t want to pay to fix it. I had been dealing with the wobbly brake shudder for 4 months.

But thanks to my friend Rex, an opportunity presented itself. I hoped that I could make enough off of Elmo to pay for my brakes and a Slingbox. The Slingbox costs $230 and I got new brake rotors today for $190, a grand total of $420.

As of tonight I have sold 9 of my Elmos for a total profit of $190. So the brakes have been paid for. I can only hope that my remaining 6 Elmos can bring in $230.

My point is that there are opportunities to make money everywhere. People do it everyday. Every Christmas there is a hot product. I remember my co-workers selling $300 Xbox’s for $800 the day it came out. $500 profit a piece, that’s just incredible. How come I didn’t capitalize on that? Maybe it was because I didn’t want to stand in line at 12am with a bunch of geeks in front of Bestbuy, maybe it was because I’d rather sleep than make $500 an hour, who knows. Anyone can do it, it’s only done by those who want to.

This week Kimber holds it down with more insights on stock investing, I join the More Money Monday's bandwagon, mix it up with RK Tuesday, What I'm reading Wednesday, Fast Track Girl Thursday, and we wrap it up with Frugal Friday! (We play on the weekends around here! In addition to getting crazy with the day-naming...)

"Everything you want in life has a price connected to it. There's a price to pay if you want to make things better, a price to pay just for leaving things as they are, a price for everything."

MAXINE'S LIVING WILL

I, __________________________, being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of pinhead politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it, or lawyers / doctors interested in simply running up the bills. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to ask for at least one of the following:

______ Glass of wine ______ Margarita ______ Martini ______ Cold Beer
______ Chicken fried steak and cream gravy ______ Mexican food
______ French fries______ Pizza ______ Bowl of ice cream ______Cup of tea
______ Chocolate ________ Sex

It should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my appointed person and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.

As promised, more of Fast Track Girl's story:

Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving we were to be on TV again. In July, the same week we signed our lease, the mall was to submit a list of 12 merchants to a local TV station, who would then select about half of them to be featured during their Live Broadcast from the mall on Black Friday (Good Morning Arizona Ch.3). The mall marketing manager put us on the list, the producers interviewed and selected us. This time we had to bring product down to where Santa was to arrive and set up....at 6am. The store was open at 5:30am and we packed up our stuff to haul down to the opposite end of the mall...and it was already packed with shoppers! That was not fun.

We couldn't leave our stuff unattended and had no idea when they were going to call to us to set up. We waited forever, it was organized chaos. We had our Visual Merchandiser there to help, and thank goodness because it turned out we had one commercial break to set up. It was crazy! Poor Laurin rolled out of bed at 4am, threw on sweats and a tank top with a baring midriff and that's what she had to wear on the air. She had no time to change into more appropriate clothes but she did manage to get her hair and make up done. At least her tank top had the store name on it! This time she was much more natural and relaxed on camera. She had fun with it.

Overall, the holiday season went very well. Now, it's not appropriate to talk numbers but I want you to understand what's possible. Our biggest day was just under $8000. That's not a typical day though and, as RK says, what's more important is how much of that did we keep. You see, if you are not responsible with your paycheck, you will not be responsible with more money. You just have BIGGER money problems. You have bigger bills, bigger responsibilies, and bigger consequences if you don't manage it well.

BUT....do you see the possibilities here and how EMPOWERING it can be?! Next posts I'll bring you up to today and share some of our mistakes. As Kim said a few days ago on RW Home page, you WILL make mistakes. It's part of the learning process. I'm learning ALL of this as I go and I haven't had any mentoring. Just networking with other cart owners and now store owners. It was my mall "neighbors" who told us where to go for payroll, store suppliers, found the bag guys in the Yellow Pages. I learned it all by just doing it. I WISH I had a mentor, I could use the help. But if I sat around waiting for someone to tell me exactly what to do and how to do it, I wouldn't have this story to tell. If I fail, I'll just start over again with more experience.

For all of Track Girl's Posts Click Here

Well, it's Freaky Geeky Frugal Friday here at No Limits Ladies.

In celebration of Kimber's Frugal Fridays, Fast Track Girl is back with Part 5, about the holidays (also in keeping with Kimber's theme o' the day.)!

In other news, Kimber and I are geeks. Investor Geeks that is, er, Geekettes. Nerds? (I love nerds.) The Investor Geeks decided to add the No Limits Ladies as part of their crew, to add a little spice and a female perspective (starting next week). I'm not sure they know what they got themselves into...

I might have to blog about POST. What? You'll see...

And I'm taking charge over at Frugal Duchess with a well-timed flight towards risk management. (Frugal Duchess Air Flight #190 ready for take off... hey, can someone please get control of that flight attendant with the chocolate martini at 10am?!)

Happy reading, Happy Friday for all you who are working for the weekend!

So yesterday Fast Track Girl sent me an email.

Fast Track Girl:
Hey...I need a date tonight...Here's the scoop:

From the tradeshow we met a guy who has a concept he's launching and shared with us how it all happened. Laurin and I spent an evening with him sharing business experiences, etc.

He just called, he's here tonight for a magazine launch party for some friends who just published a Phoenix magazine.I don't have all the details first hand but he's invited us to go.

It's near the airport (or at the airport? Which seems odd), I don't know the time yet. I just called his cell but got voice mail, so it's all kinda up in the air right now. He said he would need to know if we're going so he can leave passes at the door for us to get in.

It's a great networking opportunity, we could learn some things and maybe make some connections for business in the future. Wanna go?

Prlinkbiz: Did someone say party? Let me make sure I've got Grey's Anatomy Tivoed and tell me where to be and when to be there!

So we drive to the Scottsdale Airpark, and we could not believe it...it was a huge fabulous party in the airplane hangar!

POST magazine is a Phoenix based upper class magazine about sports figures and their lifestyles. It's very well done, and now they are going national! It just so happened that the man who invited us is good friends with the editor/co-founder! It was a blast- even though we had no idea we were going such a big event! (I orignally had a dress on, but changed into jeans at the last minute thinking I might be over dressed!) We met some amazing people- there were sports figures, team owners, hot guys and celebrities everywhere.

Business lessons? Connectors will connect you (thats what we do!), always be ready to get out there and meet people, and make sure you brush your hair and put on bling before you go...

Wait a minute? Kimber is talking about holiday shopping NOW? In September? What kind of happy drugs is she smoking?

I talk about it now because I like to enjoy my holidays later.

The December holiday season is very busy for me. I have a big family. My hubby has a big extended family. We are blessed with many, many friends. We are out almost every night in December. We often don’t even have time to put up our own Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

So I try to get as much done as possible before December 1st. The more I can do, the more I can relax.

One of those things is shopping for presents. We shop year round for classics and one of a kind items. Not only do we look for sales (and save money) but we are noted for getting just the right gift. Why can we do that? Because we’re not rushing around, fighting over picked over merchandise, then wasting time in long lines to pay the grumpy, over stressed salesgirl. If it’s truly the thought that counts, I tend to put more thought into something when I’m in a happy mood.

Gift wrap and cards I purchase at the January clearance sales. I like solid color gift wrap that I can use for other presents during the year (red is a good luck color in many Asian countries which this world traveler likes to tell people, makes that silk scarf seem even more exotic). Nothing says it like Hallmark year after year (so timeless). No one is going to flip the back of the card and say “this is last year’s snowflake design.”

Does this prevent all the last minute shopping? Nope. I do get to the mall for that trendy item my cutie of a niece has her heart set on. The difference is that since I’m only picking up that one thing, I’m in less of a panic. I can listen to the holiday music and stop to watch the kiddies on Santa’s knee.

Our beloved Fast Track Girl returns with more tales from her business...

Holiday Season

We began to prepare for the holiday season. Prior to opening we found a specialty bag business who helped us create custom bags with our store name on them and matching tissue paper. We needed to place a re-order for the busy season. Normally we need to allow 5 weeks for delivery but for the holidays they needed up to 2 months and they wanted half down up front. We were still "chasing our tail" and this was a huge expense for something we wouldn't have for another 2 months, nor was it product we could sell. But it was good marketing (we thought anyway) because customers love our name and save our bags, so it gets our name out there. We placed the order.

Our two main vendors informed us that we would need to place a manufacturing order for all product that we might want for the entire holiday season....immediately. It takes two months to get orders back from overseas manufactures and they close for the holidays. AND we had to pay for it all up front! If we didn't, they couldn't guarantee that they could keep up with our orders. Usually we order weekly or every other week and it arrives within a few days. I expected UPS delays but not product shortage! We negotiated a compromise of half down and borrowed money from a friend...at the buzzer....and agreed to pay him back, with interest at the end of Dec.

We weren't sure how much product to order because we've never done this concept before, nor have we had a store. Cart/kiosk concepts are more specialized and your vendor's stock up their own warehouses to accomodate you, it's a more seasonal type of business. But there's a formula for figuring out what you'll need based on your normal sales and we winged it from there. In the end it turned out we estimated it very well. I remember reading an article once that said never depend on one vendor for your entire product line because if they can't supply you you're in big trouble. I now have MANY vendors but that makes ordering lots of fun...NOT...being a store "buyer" is a lot of work. Laurin does it, she loves it.

Then we had to figure out how many employees we would need and start working on holiday schedules. The malls have extended hours during the holidays and we needed to to consider shift changes and breaks. We hired our crew and they turned out to be pretty great. We had a few bad ones but we got them out and replaced them quickly. We got the staff all trained and comfortable before it became busy. Also, had to write a few policies and procedures (rules) as problems would arise. It's pretty easy to get applicants in a mall at this time of year, so we had quite a few to choose from. We try to stay away from those under 18 though, the young ones never worked out too well for us overall.

As for payroll, we didn't want to do EVERYTHING ourselves, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed as it was, so we contracted out to ADP. I process payroll every 2 weeks for about $40-50 a payroll. They take care of all employee tax filings and take the money each payroll, so I never have it to use when things are tight and then end up in BIG trouble with the IRS. Also, ADP handled my worker's comp. insurance for just a few dollars a payroll depending on the amount of that payroll. Then they do W2's at end of year and make sure I'm compliant with relevant laws. When I had a cart someone referred me to a smaller payroll company who didn't pay my taxes for a quarter, they did eventually but I didn't want to risk it again. ADP and Paychecks (sp) are the two biggies and they didn't cost me anymore than the smaller guys.

We don't have a back room in the store, so we rented a small storage room in the mall and set up a workspace for receiving new inventory and storage of back stock. This way we were able to get price tags on items and inventory them in without customers trying to buy it before you even have it opened! It can be a real frenzy! I definitely didn't want to be hauling stuff back and forth from my home. That doesn't work too well during the holidays.

We worked out a lot of problems we had with our POS cash register system and with the way we had our understock organized. With some team brainstorming we came up with a way to re-organize understock that involved buying ring trays from a local jeweler's supply house and our employees did all the work for us. They did an awesome job and it's still organized the same way today.

More from Fast Track Girl tomorrow...
Fast Track Girl Part 1
Fast Track Girl Part 2
Fast Track Girl Part 3
Fast Track Girl Part 4

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."

- Mark Twain

Arianna has a book. Jet Li has a movie. I just have fear.

I have found that many of my friends who are successful also have fear. Instead of being paralyzed by the fear, though, we find that fear can be an asset.

"Aim for success not perfection... Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person."

This is one of my favorite quotes about fear, because I believe that fear and the drive some have to be perfect or not fail is a vicious cycle. ("Have no fear of perfection--you'll never reach it.")

The key is not in being fearless but rather this: She who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. Ladies, feel the fear and do it anyway.

In researching another article, I stumbled across the Queen of the Sky and her Diary of a Dysfunctional (Fired) Flight Attendant.

The Queen of Sky is a 6-foot-tall, 29-plus-two-year-old former flight attendant for Anonymous International Airlines (aka Delta Air Lines), living in Quirksville (aka Austin), Texas. She was fired from her job on Oct. 29, 2004 for posting "inappropriate" pictures in uniform on her blog. She was never told which pics were "inappropriate," but click here to see some of the pics she may have been fired for.

She has turned her blog into a book and is now selling it as well as being featured in other places in the media. Look her up! (Buh-bye)

The remaining two company categories are hidden gems.

Turnarounds

Turnaround companies have had the stuffing beat out of them. They were recently in big, big trouble but are about to turn the corner (hopefully). Ironically the example Peter Lynch uses in this 1989 book is Chrysler. Today’s example could very well be GM (we hope).

GM, being a car company, is a walking wounded cyclical. The earnings are in trouble. The share price has fallen faster than a deep sea diver. The question is “Can it get any lower?”

Management is struggling to fix the company. If they fail, the stock could go lower. It could, in fact, go to zero (I keep that in mind whenever I think that it can’t get any lower, it can, it can go all the way to zero and stay there). If management does succeed in fixing the company, there is a good chance of a huge increase in share price.

When investing in a possible turnaround, I always look at why the company got into trouble in the first place. Was it a one time occurrence or is the problem likely to come up time and time again.

Asset Plays

The asset play is when intimate knowledge (not THAT kind of intimate knowledge) of a company comes in handy. Basically an asset play is when the assets the company has per outstanding share is worth more than what the stock price is.

The example Lynch uses is real estate. Real estate (and most other assets) is shown on the financial statements at purchase price. The land could have been purchased decades ago. You and I both know that real estate prices have soared in recent years. If the share price hasn’t increased with the real estate prices, the company could be priced at clearance sale levels.

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal: Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

- Thomas Jefferson

Ok, so I'm getting a little carried away with the whole 'name and theme days' thing- but I don't care! I'm scattered, and you shouldn't have to suffer because of it. I also find that a strange thing happens if someone holds me accountable to something: I actually do it! Well, I try real hard anyway. (Biz lesson kids: What doesn't get monitored, doesn't get done.)

Any of you who are risk averse, close your eyes and run away!

My goals are to continue building businesses that will fund my fascination with real estate. The market right now is great for real deal investors, as it corrects and flushes out the speculators.

While it creates problems for some, it creates opportunity for others. With foreclosure rates rising, going into the slower time of the year for real estate, I'm gearing up to go in and get some action. (Not that kind)

I have some great connections in real estate here in Phoenix, AZ. So I am getting my credit score where I want it and learning all I can before I move forward buying foreclosures.

Hence the book I'm reading : The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investors Kit. I hadn't heard of this guy before, but so far, the book is very practical. There is also a site with lots of information on it for anyone who may be interested in learning more themselves. I'll keep you posted! Rock on, read on, make money.

Amanda announced yesterday : Joining the ranks of all our favorite masters of personal finance is Russell Simmons... rap mogul?

Today Frugal Duchess has a cool post about it as well, saying :

Don't let the bling-bling fool you, money management is the ultimate bottom line. Those sage words come from Hip Hop king and Phat Farm clothing chief Russell Simmons, who recently spoke about the importance of fiscal planning and credit management at a financial empowerment conference at Morris Brown College.

For more information about attending the Get Your Money Right Events click here. I am also including the links that Frugal D has on her site for additional reading :

Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) news release
AP coverage on Yahoo
Vibe magazine coverage

Ya heard (If not you might sign up)

"Winners are those people who make a habit of doing the things losers are uncomfortable doing."

Yesterday’s slow and steady picks were good for the nervous investor. Today, hold onto your seats, because we’re talking about fast growers and cyclicals.

Fast Growers

These are small, aggressive, new companies that grow at 20 to 25 percent a year. They don’t necessarily belong in a fast growing industry (I prefer that they don’t and Peter Lynch feels the same way) but the companies have a certain something that allows them to steal market share. Think Apple with its i-Pod.

Fast growers can be exciting and they can be risky. They can run out of money. They can make mistakes. Peter Lynch recommends looking for fast growers with good balance sheets and making substantial profits.

I use fast growers to give some oomph to my investments. I don’t put all my money here (I like my stalwarts too) but this is where I’ve seen my greatest gains.

Cyclicals

A cyclical is a company whose sales and profits rise and fall in regular if not completely predictable fashion. Examples Peter Lynch gives of cyclical companies include autos, airlines, tires (move with autos), steel, chemical and defense.

When times are bad (recessions), people don’t buy what the cyclicals are selling. If I’ve just lost my job, I’m not going to take a trip or buy a car. During the hard times, the earnings and stock price of cyclicals could drop faster than I could follow.

I tend to stay away from cyclicals because unless I know what I’m doing (which I don’t), I could lose a lot of money in them.

Oh, but I do use seasonality to my benefit. When I bought my ice stock, I bought it in the middle of winter when the earnings were low and no one else was thinking about ice. The ice stock is not cyclical (year in, year out it has the same revenue) but it is seasonal.

Coming soon to a No Limits Ladies Blog near you... RK Tuesday...

Meet our girl Amanda from Young and Broke! Amanda's blog has been featured on BusinessWeek Online (the week she linked here- thanks!) and she is also the one who unwittingly opened the "to join or not to join" issue! (That's a picture of us having a drink with other successful people...)

Amanda writes:
The importance of goal-setting never really resonated with me until I was
out of college. Sure, throughout my undergrad years I had some loose, vague
ideas about what kinds of grades I would like to have and what kind of job
perhaps I would like to pursue post-graduation. Yet, it wasn't until I was
living alone, totally dependant on myself for income, before I began to set
some actual milestones for my financial life.

The best thing I did do for myself was completely separate myself,
financially, from my parents once I had started my first job and moved into
my first place. I have always believed that the best way to learn is to
jump right in and get your feet wet, with no one holding your hand or
coddling you along. I think this is applicable to all woman - whether they
depend on their family, friends, or a man to keep them financially solvent.
You will never get anywhere until you take responsibility for your future
and rely on yourself to acheive your dreams.

Forcing myself to become fiscally independent made setting goals easy, and
more fulfilling. I knew that it was totally up to me to acheive them, no
other people would be responsible for my success - that's a great
motivation! I made a yearly goal sheet - including my current income,
debts, assets, etc. - and decided where I wanted these numbers to be by the
years end. I updated my sheet at the 6 month mark, to highlight my progress
and propel me forward. At the end of the year, some things I had
accomplished and others I had not. However, I knew that the results were
all me - and I reminded myself how far I had come over the year past.

All I know is that if you never know where you're heading, you will never
get there or anywhere worthwhile. Decide what YOU want and then go for it.
If you fail, it doesn't mean your journey to that goal is over, it just
means that you aren't quite there yet, though you ARE on the right path.

"There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction."

Some of the best books on stock investing have been written by Peter Lynch. They are simple enough for the fresh new investor yet witty enough for the experienced pros (they make me, investing geek that I am, laugh).

In the classic, One Up On Wall Street, Lynch talks about the six categories of companies. This week, I’ll be outlining them.

The Slow Growers

If you look at the stock charts of slow growers, they’re as flat as my poor chest. Earnings are growing in single digits, 2, 4%. The companies are in mature, tired industries. They could have grown quickly in the past but now they’ve run their course.

So if I can’t expect a big increase in stock price, why would I buy a slow grower?

Income. A sign of a slow grower is a large and regular dividend payout. The company has nothing to do with the cash they make except pay it out to shareholders. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I do like cash.

Stalwarts

Stalwarts do grow earnings more than slow growers (10 to 12%) but they aren’t going to light the world on fire. Coca-Cola, an example of a stalwart, has a company wide mandate of 10% minimum earnings growth. As the price of stocks normally move with earnings (a good check on whether you’re getting a deal or not), that means a 10 to 12% increase in stock price.

Combine that with a dividend (lower than the slow grower dividend) and the return isn’t that bad. Lynch likes stalwarts as recession protection. When the economy is tough, people are out of work, the stalwarts still make money. I used to buy my Diet Coke no matter what. I might not go on a fancy vacation but I’d buy my Diet Coke.

"Business is a great teacher:

It makes you take risks, go for your dreams, face fears, handle your emotions, deal with difficult people, and learn balance. You don't have to do any weird workshops or sign up for any therapy sessions. Go into business and you'll be enrolled in the greatest seminar of all time. And it happens every day, every where, to every one. You can't avoid it."

- Joe Vitale

In keeping with Kimber's More Money Monday's, I thought I'd share in a nut shell how I flip cars for a little extra cash. I actually am doing this myself right now, and is something I learned from one of best friends who did very well at it, and now flips real estate. (I'll talk more about a circle of friends later) Here's the deal: I find used vehicles for sale, often times through Cars.com , and I price them using KBB.com . When I find one that I know is in more demand, with a motivated seller at or below private party pricing, I go look at it and sometimes buy it. Then I drive it for a while for free (meaning no car payment), and sell it when I'm ready, for more than I bought it for. Then I roll that money into the next vehicle, or sometimes keep a bit for myself.

Case in point. I bought my 1998 Land Rover Discovery for $5300. It was already priced well when I went to look at it. I brought along a boy who knows more about cars than I do to look at it. We decided the problem the Discovery had was a minor fix, and I made my offer for less than he was asking based on what I thought it would cost me to repair (not all need repairs- used does not equal junker), and in cash right there.

I've been driving it for a bit, and it's time to keep my money moving as well as pull some out. So last Friday, I listed it on Cars.com ($40.00) based on what other Discoveries are selling for ($6400), took it to get cleaned and detailed at the car wash ($24.99), and I'll be fielding calls and showing it until it sells. (I will make about $1000 out the door.)

I do most all of the screening work over the phone. There's an ass for every seat, and that's what I'm looking for. It fits or it doesn't.

When I show the vehicle, I go to bank or grocery store parking lot (cameras). I never show at my house or with my kids, and more often than not I bring along boy just to be careful. I'll tell them a little about the car, why I like it, point out a couple used car quirks, and then leave them alone. Like I said, it works for them or it doesn't.

I don't negotiate, I set my price lower than others and fair and I do not place myself in a position of having to sell, because I don't want to take a loss. I only accept cash, and if they have a cashiers check, I go with them to their bank to have them cash it. Better to have people just have their banks make the cashier check out to them so they can cash it and give you the cash. I always have title clear and ready to hand over when they give me the cash.

Then I usually have another vehicle lined up to go buy! I tie up my money as quickly as possible and make sure I have insurance on it. It's a fun way to make money and drive for free!

Watch for follow-ups on flipping cars on NLL in the future...

I don’t know about you but I have a lot of stuff. Stuff I’ve never used, stuff I have used in the past and don’t need any more, stuff I’ve replaced with another version of the stuff. It’s all taking up space in my already crowded house. Not only space but time and money. I dust it. I clean it. I insure it. I worry about it getting damaged.

Someone out there is buying or wanting to buy that exact same stuff. It’s selfish and foolish of me to hold onto it.

One way to pass it along to more appreciative hands is having a yard sale.

First step in having a yard sale is to check with my local city’s regulators. Some cities, likely the same cities that ban clotheslines yet have power shortages, have laws about what is and is not acceptable while having a yard sale. Maybe they wouldn’t appreciate that Batman signal I plan to put up to advertise it.

There are many resources for having yard sales (smarter folks than myself) but some quick pointers…

Signage…good! Have clear signs from a busy roadway.
Yard sale shoppers show up early so if I time it for 7 am (do people actually get up that early?), someone will show up at my doorstep at 6 am expecting me to be ready (and they don’t appreciate me laughing at them).
I price ahead of time using masking tape and a marker.
I have small change available. The first five shoppers are likely to be buying something like 50 cent hot pink leg warmers with a fresh twenty dollar bill (yuppie food stamp).
Being lazy, I like to have extra help (extra help also prevents those sticky finger types that think a dollar is even too much for the authentic lava lamp).
Be prepared to haggle, its part of the fun and expected. If you don’t haggle, you’ll disappoint some regulars. I love practicing my negotiating skills during yard sales.
Keep your sense of humor. People are crazy. Keep the snippets in your memory for your memoirs.

"To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate."

- Michael Jordan

Fast Track Girl continues...

Opening Day

We didn't go to bed the night before the store opened, there was still too much to do. But we sent Laurin home early, so she could sleep and open the store the next morning at 10am. After the sun came up and the mall turned on the music, Debbi and I pulled down the black drape that covered the glass store front and it was going to have to be good enough. It was a very cool moment but now when I look back on it, the store was pretty bare compared to now! It was something that had to evolve though, on our small budget.

BTW...not all of that $80k went into the store, I paid down some urgent debt and we used some of it to support ourselves until the store opened and we could start paying ourselves.

I went home to sleep and stay with Laurin's daughter, Sakora, while Laurin went to open the store. Sakora's never had to be with a babysitter, except for with family, so one of us had to stay home with her.

Laurin was there alone and got SLAMMED! We didn't have locks on the display cases yet, people went behind the cases to help themselves, it was insane! The ladies from mall management hung out to act as security, while we got a locksmith up there to start working on installing locks. LESSON LEARNED!
Also, hired some employees right away too!

We opened on Friday, Sept.2, 2005, shortly after the Katrina crisis. That Saturday the media was in the mall broadcasting live to appeal to the public for donations for Katrina victims, many of which were brought to our area for housing. Some of the other merchants in the mall were donating a portion of their sales, we were new but felt we wanted to do something as well. The mall marketing manager, who LOVES our store, made sure we got a mention on the news for our pledge.

Well....we were a tad busy that day! We got SLAMMED again with people coming in saying that they heard about us on the radio! We have no idea how or why THAT happened but it was very cool!

On the following Tueday, the first Tuesday we were open, a journalist called and said she loved our store and wanted to write a piece on us for YES.

YES is a local fashion / shopping magazine (actually more like a newspaper though) that is circulated with the Friday local newspaper and it's also distributed independly through out our city, such as at colleges and coffee shops. We were readers of the magazine and were ecstatic when we got the call! They came in that Friday to do the interview and took product to photograph in their studio.

We later found out that the editor and journalist of that magazine live in the area of our store and saw that "teaser window"my designer created. I should let you know that a store designer actually has another name for those of you who may use one in the future, it's Visual Merchandiser.

Now, we knew we wanted to send out promo materials to the press, that was part of our initial plan, but we intended to wait until we had our decor finished, more product in the store, a few employees and at least a feel for our system and to work some of the bugs out before we got super busy. But they found us first!

The article came out three weeks later and was also posted on our local newspaper's website, which we were unaware of until a local TV program saw it and called us that morning! They wanted us to do a spot on their program the following Tuesday! Does this just keep getting cooler!!! Of course, we said YES! For those of you in the area, that show was Sonoran Living. For those who don't know, it's a very popular show with a huge audience of those who would want our products.

Sonoran Living was to do our interview live in their studio, so we had to bring product to set up on a table which they would then turn the cameras on when our spot came up. We had to arrive early in the morning to set up before the show started. We hired our visual merchandiser to help us, so we made a plan in advance of how we were going to set it up. We wanted the table to represent the store, so we brought fabric that was in the store to cover the table, etc. We
brought risers for various heights, a variety of our merchandise (as much as we could cram on!), lamps, pictures and other items that would give the audience a feel of what the store was like. Then we hung out in the Green Room (I know, we got to be in a green room, so cool) until they were ready for us.

Only one of us could go on and, since Laurin had more hands on with our product line and knew it better than I, she was the one who went on the air. She was so nervous, poor thing, she had just turned 23 yrs. old and success was coming at her so fast and all at once. But she did an AWESOME job, we have it on tape.

It's been a year since that taping and we STILL get new customers from it frequently, plus they do re-runs of it all the time! There's more media stories to come but this is long, it's late and I'm playing Cashflow tonight with Erin and a group of other's from this forum that I haven't yet met....that's pretty cool for us too!!!

Ladies, I hope you see how I was just like many of you...broke, lurking, and sitting on the fence full of fear for several years until I took the initiative to just take one simple little step, which led to another little step, then another....and now I have this story to tell. It's really that simple. The hard part is being committed, focused, determined, having perserverance, etc. Without all of that, I could give you my store and it would likely fail. But we'll get into all of that later and you'll understand what I mean. So far it looks like fun, and it is. But there have been, and still are, tough times and I'll share that with you too.

Fast Track Girl Part 1
Fast Track Girl Part 2
Fast Track Girl Part 3
Fast Track Girl Part 5

I used to work in the consumer packaged goods industry. One of the tasks we were given was to figure out how to get the consumer to use more of our product than she needed. We used tricks like increasing the size of the laundry detergent cap (which most people use to measure out) or showing people using more of the product in commercials or working with dishwasher machine manufacturers to increase the soap dispenser section.

The savvy consumer recognizes these tricks. Watch the rinse water in the washing machine. Are there still suds in the last rinse water? Then you’re using too much detergent. Ironically using too much detergent will make clothes look more drab. It also causes a nasty film build up on the washing machine.

Toothpaste? You don’t need a full brush full like the commercials show you. Only a dab is good enough.

Shampoo? Do I need to rinse and repeat? Nope. One application is good enough. Again too much shampoo causes build up. Plus I don’t know about you but I would rather not spend the extra time in the shower. I’d rather use it figuring out the next person to get kicked off American Idol.

Dryer sheets? Half of one is good enough for my full loads of laundry. That stretches my dryer sheets twice as far.

Dishwasher tabs? I use the equivalent of half a dishwasher tab per full load and haven’t seen a difference in clean. The hot water does most of the work.

The trick here is to use less until I can perceive a difference. It is an easy and painless way to save money. It doesn’t increase my happiness to use a full dryer sheet. Not only that but using less of an item means that I have to buy it less often. Frees up more time for this lazy gal.

Fast Track Girl's Story Continued:

I now had money to secure and start building build out the store. I didn't know
how far the $80k would go but based on the estimates my designer gave me I
figured we could make it. That's all I could get and it was going to have to be
enough. We had to purchase inventory with that as well.

A few things went wrong and there were extra expenses we didn't anticipate. Like the mall accidentally taking down the backdrop from the last tenant's sign that we were going to paint and reuse. They broke it and we had to start with a new one...cost $1000. But overall it turned out okay. My designer refused to spend money on new store furnishings; she said it's a waste to spend too much money on things "staying IN the store, rather than things going OUT of the store (product)."She gave me a TON of free stuff she had in storage, items that weren't wanted or were left over from other stores she had done. For example, she gave us display items from Macy's. It was all nice stuff. Anything that wasn't nice we painted or covered with fabric.

For nearly two months we worked day and night in the store doing much of the labor ourselves. We got very little sleep, bought a small refrigerator for food and pretty much lived there. We set up a play area, including a TV and DVD player, and a sleeping area for Laurin's 4 yr. old who was there with us most of the time.

Laurin, the designer Debbi, and I did all of the work ourselves. We painted, sewed, cleaned, organized, re-organized, argued, apologized and created the store together. Debbi hired her carpet contractor and high voltage power electrician to lay carpet and do electrical work, like hanging chandeliers and re-doing the existing track lighting.

The store is a boutique and the design is VERY girlie. Debbi did all of the shopping for lamps, carpet, fabric, picture frames, and other decorating items. She brought us fabric, carpet, and paint samples to include us in the final decisions on colors and textures. This in itself was well worth what we paid her! It was pretty much like hiring a designer for your home but she specializes in how to control traffic through your store, etc.

Laurin focused on setting up the computer POS (cash register) system, which took over a week for her to enter in inventory, vendors, barcodes, prices, she had to create prices, etc. At the last minute we figured out we had outgrown our old cash register and quickly decided to buy Quick Books POS, which involved having to buy a new computer too. Extra expense $2500 but worth it!!! (Today I think I would us Microsoft POS though, I'm still researching it.)

Laurin and I did product ordering (our territory license gave us a few vendors to buy from) and decided how the product would be organized in the store and the designer later put it all together so it was visually appealing. For us...she was an industry "coach."We learned a LOT from her! Many people advised me to do it myself and save the money we spent on her. This would've been a VERY STUPID MISTAKE!

I worked with an attorney to form an LLC, got licensing, set up file cabinets, purchased office supplies, and other office / management tasks.

Debbi worked on decorating, painting, sewing and arranging furnishings. She first created a "Coming Soon"teaser in the store window for all mall traffic to see, the rest of the windows were blacked out so nobody could see what was going on inside.

The mall hired a contractor to spray paint the ceiling, they messed it up and we got the job for free. It wasn't what we wanted but it couldn't be fixed and it's not that bad. Saved $1200. But I learned VERY important lessons about paint contractors and what to watch out for next time!

During the build out Laurin and I went out of town twice to attend tradeshows to find more vendors for product. Our one product line is an exclusive and is the main concept of the store but we wanted to sell other items too, so we went shopping! Debbi took care of the store build out, while we were gone.

Our projected opening date had arrived, which we knew would be too soon, but the mall had pushed us for an earlier opening date than we could deliver. If we didn't agree we might've lost the deal, so we agreed. Now rent had started and we were two weeks late to open. Customers were getting edgy putting pressure on the mall and the mall came down on us. People were literally trying to push through the doors past us when we were coming and going! I was paying rent and was running out of money. My bills were getting behind and we needed to open ready or not. It was time to open.

I hope this is helping someone because it's a long story to be boring you all
with!

Fast Track Girl Part 1
Fast Track Girl Part 2
Fast Track Girl Part 3
Fast Track Girl Part 4
Fast Track Girl Part 5

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

- Bill Cosby

An elderly neighbor came up to me a little bit back (yes, the one that I would rather not run around naked in front of as I mentioned in a previous post). She heard the talking heads yammer on about the real estate crash they are sure is coming (really they don’t know). This sweet little ol’ lady wanted to know what she should do.

So I asked if she was planning on moving anytime soon.
She said no, she was staying in the house until it was time to be toe up in daisies (which I prefer over “kicking the bucket”…who wants to kick a bucket?).
I asked her if she planned to pull money out of her home equity to live on.
Another no. Good little depression baby that she is, she has plenty of cash (why my hubby mows her lawn for free, I don’t know).

I quickly put together an action plan for her.
“Continue doing what you’re doing and ignore the suits on tv.”

When I’m investing for dividends, that’s my feeling about stock market crashes (a stock market crash being a severe drop in all share prices). As long as the company isn’t making money on the stock market going up (for example, if I invested in a company that sold mutual funds), it is going to continue making money and paying my dividends. People aren’t going to let their babies crawl the living room bare bummed (if they do, I hope they warn me and I won’t visit…ever again). They’ll still buy Pampers. They’ll still buy Coca-cola and Revlon lipstick and Secret deodorant (can you imagine how popular I’d be crammed on the rush hour bus without deodorant?).

Actually during stock market crashes or corrections (baby crashes) is when I like to lace up the Reeboks and go shopping for stocks. So many sales, so little time (and money). Think December 26th at the malls. Even jaded shoppers get excited.

Fast Track Girl's Story Continued:
Where I am now:

Just before closing the last cart in the Spring of 2005, I aggressively searched for a hot new concept for the 2005 holiday season. Still working 80 hours a week but I was able to find time to do internet searches. And then I found it. This concept required that I purchase the entire territory that I wanted to sell in but then that metro area would be mine exclusively and the vendor would not sell that main product line to anyone else in that area. The licensing fee was $6995.00. I didn't have it and there was another party interested in my area if I didn't buy it.

My daughter's friend, Megan, stopped by the existing cart, while shoping with her mother who was visiting from out of state. She introduced her mother to my daughter and Laurin proceeded to tell Megan about our misfortune. Well, Megan had a cart next to us during the 2003 holiday season and boy was she a mess, she was making so many mistakes and we helped her, A LOT. Her mother remembered Megan telling her about that and wanted to help us. She disclosed, much to Megan's surprise, that she had recieved an inheritance from a relative who had passed away and she wanted to loan us the $6995. OMG....I didn't even know this woman but she was grateful that we helped her daughter from getting into legal trouble by informing her about sales tax laws and returns, along with some other basic bookkeeping.

We bought the license and began working on a presentation for the mall. I stomped my foot and said I don't want another cart / kiosk, I want to do a store this time. So, we built the idea of both options into our presentation. When we presented to the mall they were ecstatic about our concept and they strongly encouraged us to do a store. Okay, how much will all this cost because I still don't have much money.

All I needed was a small deposit, I think it was $2500 up front (same manager who let us pay as we went on our first cart), and then rent didn't start until we opened our doors. They would give us two months to do a build out....free of rent. But it took them a few more weeks to get contracts ready, so I had some time to get the $2500 together. Now I needed to find out how much a store designer would cost, I wasn't doing this by myself!

There was only ONE free lance designer in my entire area who was worth hiring and she was booked solid but she agreed to meet with us to just do a consult. She met us in this empty 802 sq. foot store with ugly ripped up carpet, grey paint and after seeing our concept she had a vision and got excited. She saw the finished store in her head and said she wanted to do us and would bump some other clients to free up her time. Her fee was $3500 up front and $3500 when she finished the job. We could give her $2000 for shopping (lighting, fabrics, carpet, etc) and replenish it as we went when needed. The mall manager was shocked that we were able to get her!

I committed to the designer and the mall but had no money but I had a house with a crap load of equity! The first lendor who could refinace me at the lowest interest rate and get me funded in two weeks or less had my business! I got $80K and left $70K still in my equity. The mall, nor the designer ever knew that I didn't have the money. In the meantime I bought more licenses, on a payment plan of course, for three more major cities, including Las Vegas. There's another story there I'll tell you about later...

Fast Track Girl Part 1
Fast Track Girl Part 2
Fast Track Girl Part 3
Fast Track Girl Part 4
Fast Track Girl Part 5

If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with...

(song playing as I sit freezing in Starbucks after too many iced mochas trying to read The Pre-Foreclosure Property Kit)

Fast Track Girl is a friend of mine from a business, real estate and investing forum I have been at for years. Although she doesn't have a blog (working on that for her!), she has a very inspirational story. With thoughts about scarcity and abundance this week, I thought it was time to share! It might be long, but it's good!

Fast Track Girl: I read everything in RD series. If I didn't have the money (RK says don't say "I can't afford it", it didn't cost any money to change that habit so I did) to buy the latest RK book I just sat in a book store and read it. I wanted to play Cashflow, didn't have money to buy it, so I found a public game event and played the game, learned a lot and all it cost me was gas. In one of the books RK says "read the business section of the newspaper", so I did. The Wed. issue cost .35 and Sunday $2.50, I could do that. I read the articles and looked at deals in the businesses for sale section.

One day there was an article on retail mall carts. It got my attention, so I looked up a trade publication on the internet that the article quoted from. That trade website had a sample article from their publication that listed numerous mall cart concepts. I looked up each concept and chose 3 or 4 that I got excited about and sent links to friends and family for their feedback. They all agreed that they liked 2 of them, in fact some we're owners/users of one of the products. I contacted that company and requested more information and they sent a promo package. I was still too broke to do it and put it aside. This was in July 2002.

In November 2002, I got an email from that company wanting to know how they could help me get going for the holiday retail season. I emailed back that I was willing but broke and thanked them for their time. They called me immediately and offered to "front" me $7500 worth of opening inventory until the end of the season. Huh?!!! But, they said, you'll have to contact the malls and see if anyone still has a space open. Okay...phone calls are free, so I started calling malls. No spaces available...oh well.

Until one mall calls back saying they loved that concept and wanted to make room for us (my daughter, LilFastTrackGirl, was doing this with me). However, rent was $14,000 for the Nov./Dec. term and they don't prorate (it was already into Nov.)...Gulp! I apologized to the mall manager for wasting her time. She then asked if I could come up with $2000 and they would work with me on paying the rest a little each week. HUH?!!!!! I called my husband and told him not to mail the bills I had just paid! Okay..this probably isn't wise advice, I'm just telling you how it happened.

Then another mall called and made me a similar deal. There was so much to do and I didn't know what any of it was! The mall managers and those who fronted me the inventory were all very helpful and got me started. I had to get licenses, insurance, sign contracts, get a merchant account, phone service...and everyday I wasn't open I was losing money. So...1 1/2 weeks later, I had quit my job, had two carts open with 12 employees.

Now, this wasn't an ideal way to go into business. We were inexperienced, made a lot of mistakes, chased our tail a lot juggling rent, inventory, wages. We pretty much borrowed from Peter to pay Paul but we definately got our feet wet and learned a lot.

One cart performed horribly, the other suffered because it had to support the poor one. But in the end we made money and were able to pay our bills and prevent our house from going into foreclosure, which was about to happen prior to all of this. We closed the bad cart at the end of the holidays. The other we tried to keep going afterwards but it's a tough business during the off season and we closed it in the late Spring 2003. Afterwards, I sold products at an open aire market place on weekends and on ebay. Actually, I became an ebay powerseller during that time. Also, I spent time on the internet learning more about the retail industry...for free. Waste not money or time (can't remember who said that)...I gave up T.V.

In Nov. 2003 we opened another cart, this time with more money in the bank (I saved up for it by not buying DooDads), and in a higher end mall. That cart performed very well but our temporay lease wasn't renewed in late Spring of 2003. Mall managers can be pretty "catty." It's a long story.

In the meantime, we had been to Las Vegas for a trade show and visited some cart owners who had a cart next to us in our last mall. They also had carts in Vegas malls. They convinced us to open a cart up there. Not so easy to do because spaces don't come up often but it didn't hurt to ask and get on a wait list. Lots of naysayers said it couldn't be done...thank you for caring enough to share, I promise to weigh it heavily ; ) Two months later we get a call from a hot mall, the one our friends were in, inviting us to be a tenant.

This was a hot casino mall but, unbeknownst to us, that location busy as it was, it was much slower than the rest of the mall. We did extremely well some days but very poor others and the hours there are long. In the end it wasn't worth supporting the additional household, so we closed up after a short time and went home. We lost our butts on that one and had to go back to a job to catch up. Did another cart at home, lost our butts real bad this time and worked 80 - 100 hours a week at my job for 7 months to recover from those last two deals.

I'll tell you in another post where I am now, it's pretty exciting!

The bottom line is that it doesn't take much to simply take action. One action leads to another and doors open up. I'm not rich "yet" but you'll see in my next post that I've come a long way and the above actions are the reason I am where I am. It was a learning curve that I had to learn "in the field" and that it was the lessons I've learned from the mistakes and failures that have taught me how to be where I am now.

Fast Track Girl Part 1
Fast Track Girl Part 2
Fast Track Girl Part 3
Fast Track Girl Part 4
Fast Track Girl Part 5

I’ve mentioned before that I can invest for income (dividends) or I can invest for a quick flip (capital gains). Investing for income is less work.

I research the company ensuring that I’m getting a good solid company at a bargain price. A company that isn’t paying out too little cash (less money in my pocket) or too much cash (the company could run out of money and have to…gasp…scrap paying my lovely dividends). I like companies that have a steady history of slowly raising dividends.

Slowly raising dividends is the same as getting more money for the same work. If I invest $20 and get $1 a year in dividends, my return is $1/$20 or 5%. Say the company does well and increases that dividend to $2 a share. My return is now $2/$20 or 10%. Even tiny increases year after year eventually adds up!

After I’ve purchased a stock for dividends, I check it about once a month to make sure nothing has changed with the business (any significant change prompts me to look at the company with new eyes, evaluating whether I’d still invest in it).

But I couldn’t care less about the stock price. Why should I? The only time to care about the stock price is when I go to sell. I don’t plan to sell it. I plan to sit on my derriere collecting my dividends month after month.

Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the U.S. and a devout value investor, is known for stating “If the market closed for years, we wouldn't care.” Buffett is in it for the long term haul, the dividends, the income that the companies produce.

And dividends pay. From 1926 to 1999, dividends accounted for nearly half of the unmanaged S&P 500 Index's total return.

"The more a person seeks security the more scarcity they will have in their life. Security and scarcity go hand in hand. That is why people who seek job security or guarantees are often the people with less abundance in their life. One of the reasons the 90/10 rule of money holds true is most people spend their lives seeking more security instead of seeking more financial skills. The more financial skills you have the more abundance you will have in your life."

-R D's Guide to Investing

When I need money (over and above my pay check),
I have two main choices.
I can borrow the money from the bank (or my buddy Guido, the killer pimp) and pay interest
Or
I can sell off some stuff I have laying around.

When companies need money (over and above their earnings),
they also have two common choices.
They can borrow money from the bank (or other people, yes, I know, bankers are people too) and pay interest
or
they can sell off pieces of ownership (issue shares) and share the company’s future profits.

This first selling of shares is called an initial public offering or IPO. That is the issuing of shares that everyone hears about, where owners can get rich and throw wild parties.
There can be subsequent quieter issuing of shares (often when companies need mucho money like when…I don’t know, they’re buying other companies).

Then what?

After I sell my velvet Elvis at a yard sale, I don’t really care what the new owners do with it. If they sell it for more to someone else, I don’t care (as long as it doesn’t show up on Antiques Roadshow valued at millions of dollars, that would make me cry). If they sell it for less to someone else, I don’t care. I don’t even care if the new owners throw it in the dumpster (as long as I don’t hear about it).

The company feels the same way.

Once shares have been sold that first time, the company gets no more money. If shareholders want to sell those shares to someone else on the stock market, the company gets no more money. If the price of the shares climb sky high, the company gets no more money. On the other hand, if the price of the shares drop dramatically during one of those crashes everyone worries about, the company doesn’t lose money.

The company’s key responsibility is to try to make money for their owners (the shareholders), whoever those owners are at the time. The company will pay out this money now or in the future (sometimes distant future) through dividends.

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for,
protected, and handed on for them to do the same,
or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our
children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
Ronald Reagan

Read here for more inspiring quotes from 9/11/2001

My friend is trying to turn me into a whore. He says the money is good. A Bonus Whore that is. He is a professional poker player (that I am turning into a real estate investor!) He's already turned our other friend K into one.

Here's an article with more information:
A Beginner’s Guide to Casino Bonuses

Think casino bonuses are just for –EV gambling suckers? Think again. Despite the common perception, certain casino bonuses are virtually risk-free and basically a license to print money. This post is a general strategy guide to getting started in casino bonuses, pulling together assorted tips and tricks I've learned after embarking into the world o' casino bonuses.

Yeah, I know. Only suckers and degenerate gamblers play at online casinos. The house always has an advantage. You’re guaranteed to lose money if you play long enough. Don’t be a chump.

Yes and no. The house does always have an advantage. But in games such as blackjack, that advantage is very, very small, usually around 0.5%. If the casinos were crazy enough to, oh, say just give you $100 or $200, you could very easily overcome the house advantage and make money playing blackjack. In fact, if you'’re smart and disciplined, you'’re virtually guaranteed to make money, usually around $30-40/hr for the better bonuses. And you only need a bankroll of $100 to get started.

Online casinos are more than happy to hand out fat welcome bonuses to new players each and every day. Why would they do that? Because they know that most people are true gamblers, and aren'’t smart and disciplined enough like you are to seek out the best bonuses and to play in the necessary fashion to maximize the value of the bonus. So for every smart player who takes the bonus and runs, they get three suckers, netting them a hefty overall profit.

All bonuses aren’t created equal, though, so you have to be careful, especially when just starting out. The #1 rule in casino bonuses is to always check the terms and conditions, as they often change and the terms are very, very important, as they can greatly influence your strategy. While I'’ll detail the best strategy, at the current time, for getting started with casino bonuses, you should always double-check to make sure this information is accurate, as the terms and conditions change often.

You should also start with casinos that offer non-sticky bonuses. Non-sticky bonuses are ones that, once you wager enough overall money, you can cash out with no restrictions. Sticky bonuses are ones that you cannot cash out, regardless of whether you'’ve won or lost, and are deducted from your overall total when you cash out. But for this guide we’re just sticking to non-sticky bonuses, so don'’t worry about sticky bonus stuff for the moment.

How much do you need to get started? This guide is written with the assumption that you'll only invest $100 to start and use that as the basis of your casino bonus empire. That said, you can start with more, and there are some advantages to that, if you understand the potential risk. To read a more detailed explanation of casino bonus bankroll issues, click here. But the rest of this guide will proceed under the assumption that you're starting with a $100 bankroll.

Okay, enough jabbering. You'’ve got $100 and you’re ready to roll. All of the casinos listed here accept deposits and process withdrawals via Neteller, so as long as you have a Neteller account, you're good to go. Let’s do this thing.

Step 1: Getting Started>
# Signup at StarLuck and deposit $100. StarLuck is part of the Party network, is completely legitimate, pays cashouts quickly, and has one of the best bonuses out there for players just getting started.

When you deposit $100 at StarLuck as a new player, you’ll immediately get $100 in bonus money to gamble with. So you’ll have $200 to play with when you sit down at the blackjack table. Yes, the blackjack table. Don’t play anything else. Go to this link and print out the basic blackjack strategy card. Follow it religiously for all the blackjack you’ll play.

In order to cash out, you’ll have to wager a certain amount in total bets. At the moment, the wager requirement (WR) at StarLuck is 8 times your deposit + bonus. Since you deposited $100 and got a $100 bonus, you have to make $1,600 in total bets before you can cash out any of your money. Read that again. You have to meet the WR before you can cash out any of your money, whether you’re ahead or behind. You can’t lose a little and bail out with your $100 deposit until you’ve wagered the required WR.

Bet the minimum bet, $1 a hand. Do that over and over and over. Then do it some more. Until you’ve wagered $1,600. Then cash out. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. If you hit a bad stretch, do not start increasing your bets, trying to make it up. This is where the discipline part comes in. Keep betting the minimum, if you truly want the bonuses to be profitable. The only way you’ll show an overall loss is if you lose discipline and start making big bets, trying to get back what you’'ve lost.

Boring, yes, possibly. But also profitable. Because of the bonus they give you, the odds are on your side. Keep in mind that yes, indeed, there’s a very, very, very small chance that you will completely bust out, losing the entire $200 making $1 bets. Just as there’s a very, very, very small chance that you’ll cash out with $600.

(For a lengthier discussion (and some of the underpinning math) on the advantages and disadvantages of betting the minimum possible, see the following article: Recommended Minimum Bet Size for Casino Bonuses. That's the basis for the strategy I advocate in the remainder of this guide, as far as always betting the minimum possible. Yes, you can bet slightly more, but this guide is designed to minimize your risk and give you the best shot at an overall profit.)

Remember, the house advantage is usually only around 0.5%, so the most likely scenario, based on the math, is that you’ll have somewhere around $190 when you clear the WR of $1,600. That’s a nice little likely profit for clicking buttons for a few hours, all with very little risk involved.

One of my sources of school cash was writing articles for newspapers. I wrote for a daily and a weekly covering a specific topic (for one, it was town council meetings, for the other, it was school events). You could say that I wrote my way through school.

Writing helped build my skills. My newspaper training made me the blogger I am today. I learned which words worked, which words didn’t. It built my presence within the community (for my daily column, I even had a headshot so “fans” would recognize me on the streets – very embarrassing after keg parties or on first dates). It gave me a few freebies (event entrance as a fawned over press gal).

Most of all, it paid me cash. Not a lot of cash. About $100 an article but with the number I wrote, it more than paid for textbooks (did you ever notice that textbooks written by the prof were always more expensive?).

I wish I could say that based on my brilliant skill, editors were knocking on my res door.

Nope.

I approached the newspapers. It wasn’t an overnight thing (nothing I’ve done has ever been an overnight thing…I’m a get rich slowly gal).

First I established a relationship with the editors. I would send them story ideas, the summary sent illustrating my writing skills. I would update them on important yet obscure events that readers would be interested in the paper covering.

When I got back the response “We’d like to but we don’t have the reporters free”, I supplied myself as the free reporter! I didn’t get paid upfront (‘cause students are flakey, don’t ya know?) but after the article ran. Eventually I got more and more assignments until I too wasn’t free!

Yeah, I know I don't normally post on the weekend (cuts into my shopping time) but I ran across this awesome article on CNN Money.

Check out Jessica Nixon, only 23 and already living the no limits ladies lifestyle. This woman on the rise has accumulated a $69,000 nest egg in seven years. Yep, that means she started at the tender age of 16 (oh, to be 16 again...no, wait, when I was 16, I dressed in black concert t-shirts and had a serious hate on for the world...or was that my Wham! neon period? Either way, it wasn't pretty).

Listen up moms. Advice from her dad was completely credited! Those words could be coming out of your little darling's mouth someday.

I adore birthdays, especially mine, so as promised, I am sharing my never before written down guide to leveraging your birthday. Our site traffic is through the roof this morning, and I think it is due in part to the anticipation of this powerful how-to secret.

This one phrase will change you life:" If you tell, you'll do well."

I never understood my friends and family that would keep quiet about their birthday and then be all disappointed if everyone didn't remember them. Then they would use the guilt trip birthday approach. That's the worst. Remember my words- if you tell, you'll do well.

We need to cut our friends and loved ones a little slack, they have a million things they are trying to accomplish and remember everyday. If you want to be at the top of the list, do yourself a favor...say something! (Here is a great birthday reminder resource.)

3 point rule
When said birthday is approaching, there at three key points at which it is important to tell others: 1) One month prior, (2) two weeks prior, (3) One week prior to actual birthdate. This gives people plenty of warning time to plan parties, buy gifts, etc. (same advice goes for gifts: tell people what you want or need, either by subtle hints or straight forward conversation. Most people are good about giving thoughtful gifts, but if you have a challenged gift giver in your life, help them out a bit. It will be better for all of you.)

Week Of
The week of your birthday, you combine both "If you tell, you'll do well" with the 3 point rule, and implement these two everywhere you go. Put it on your blog, your forums, your My Space, anywhere you can. This is a powerful combination; you will see results right away. (Results may include, but are not limited to, a "Happy Birthday" from newly informed person, discounts, free drinks, free desserts, balloons, and even random outbursts of the "Happy Birthday" song.)

Party Like It's 1999
Remember I told you, "If you tell, you'll do well"? This is where the parties come in to effect. You will have everything from lunches or dinners with friends, co-workers, family members individually to drinks out, or your friends might even (if you are very lucky) throw you a Dance Off Pants Off, or other type of birthday party (Parties may vary.) Ride the party train, you birthday fool! Anyone who invites you out, especially after you tell the hostess, the waitress, and any passers-by that it is your birthday, will offer to pay in part or the whole tab for said outing. Let them. They are celebrating your day! (You will then do this for them when it is their day.)

*A note about age
Who cares? I love getting older. Do not hide your age, nor be ashamed of it. Love it, embrace it! Freakin' work that age!

Recovering
Warning: if you follow this guide to leveraging your birthday, you may have to spend a week recovering. However, you should roll slowly into that week of recovery, but letting everyone know the week after your birthday, that it was just your birthday. Roll with it.

*A note about birthday posers
Don't be one. Save it for the real day.

Here's a woman who is kicking a$$ and taking names! This is actually the first blog I read of hers, but it will give you great insight into another NLL 'Sista' who is taking charge of her (fabulous) financial future!

Single Ma's Fabulous Financials!!
I just realized I've been blogging for over 7 months and have never written a "Welcome" or "About Me" post. Single Ma loves her readers so I put together a little something something. Wanna hear it? Here it goes...

The Blog Name: The name of my blog was coined by the one and only, oh so fabulous Supa Sister, as a result of a comment she left in this post. I liked the flow and it kinda stuck. It's so fabulous!

About Me: I'm a 30-something single mom with a lil diva in training (also known as BabyGirl). We have the typical parent/child conflicts, but she also makes me very proud. Sometimes I think I have the best child in the world! I love her to death and she's my reason for living.

Financially, our long term goal is to become debt free (car and student loans) and establish a six figure net worth. I jump started this plan with a complete financial overhaul and we're off to a good start. We own our home, have a comfy emergency fund, 401k, Roth IRA, 529 account, and no credit card debt.

Throughout my blog, you'll find what inspires me (my BabyGirl), what strengthens me (my God), and what keeps me on the move (my Money). I enjoy researching the market, reading finance related books and articles, saving, investing, managing my credit, and planning for our future. My friends would rather watch paint dry than listen to my latest money rendevous, thus a blog was born.

My Financial Background: I have an undergraduate degree (B.S.) in Finance and a graduate degree (M.B.A.) in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. My gig on the corporate slave ship requires that I crunch numbers all day, handle other people's money and make time sensitive decisions. However, I am NOT a financial advisor. In fact, I don't even work in the financial industry. Don't hurt yourself thinking about that too long (lol). My point is, I am not licensed or qualified to give financial advice. Even if I were, do you think I'd give it away for free? *wink*

This blog is for entertainment purposes only. It's a reflection of my personal experiences and my financial choices, so take what I say with a grain of salt. And please, please, please consult with a licensed financial professional before trying anything you read on the internet that you don't fully understand.

My Interests: I like men, music, and money. Mmm, Mmm, Mmm...what a fabulous combination! Given my current status, I'd have to say 2 out of 3 aint bad. Ha! I'll let you decide which one I'm missing (lol). I'm also an avid reader who loves to shop, dine out, travel and spend quality time with my family and friends.

My Quirks: I'm a natural introvert with a few extroverted characteristics. I also have ADD tendencies, a hot temper and a potty mouth. In other words, don't bother me unless I initiate the conversation. If you enter my space without permission, don't expect my undivided attention. If I decide to be nice and listen to your babble, don't say stupid shyt to piss me off. And don't be surprised when I say the word shyt or even fvck. I try to use them as often as possible. It's MY blog dammit!! LOL

I love to shop. Really, that's why I am building businesses, and learning about how to invest my money to make more money- so I can fund my habits.(Starbucks and shopping)

I don't shop very often though. The last time I really got some new clothes (a dress and awesome knee high black boots!) was back in June for a girls trip to Reno. That was also the last time I got my hair done. (I've been pretending roots are in...) I have gotten my toes done since then, but not in the last month. I have really been trying to see what I can live without in order to put more money aside and back into business and investing.

But you know what? September 10 is my 29th birthday. (Which is fine with me- I actually like getting older...so far...) "It's my birthday, and I'll buy if I want to!", were the thoughts that ran through my head as I dragged my poor 5 year old son to the mall ( in between shuttling him and my other little guy to school yesterday).

I walked in to Mecca, I mean, the mall- and headed straight for my three favorite stores: Express, Bath and Body Works, and Starbucks (with a pit stop in Filthy Rich). (Can you hear the angels' singing?)

To make a long story short, I walked out with only a shirt (and a mocha), with a little boy pouting in tow. What?! Apparently, I'm becoming more disciplined and controlled with my money and shopping habits. Which is great! Why? Because it can only help me get ahead that much faster!

Ladies who love to shop, and cannot bring yourselves to embrace the frugal thou shalt have not lifestyle- I say, "You don't have to." Live a little today, but learn how to make your money grow, so you can shop where you want, how you want, and get exactly what you want because you learned how to fund your habit by making your money work for you.

(Whoops, I guess I'm not quite keeping with K's Frugal Fridays... lol What can I say? It's almost my birthday! Tomorrow, I'll share my secrets on how to leverage your birthday!)

A girlfriend tells me that no one can have too much insurance.

That is a myth. I need insurance when the loss of the person or item or…has to be replaced financially.

Lets look at life insurance on a child.

If a child perishes (knock on wood this tragedy never happens), is the parent worse off financially? I don’t have kids myself but my buddies tell me the little darlings are expensive. Sure, they might have summer jobs or a paper route, but that income often doesn’t even pay for their Reeboks. They certainly aren’t their parents’ retirement income.

No, the parent isn’t going to need the money. The parent isn’t going to want the money. In reality, the parent will probably hate every cent of that insurance payout. My mom has me as her beneficiary and I’ve told her that I never ever want to receive that cursed money (I plan for her to live forever…one of the many projects I have to get to).

Which leads to another class of person not needing life insurance. Single folks with no dependents (or financially free couples with no need for extra cash). Why does my mother need life insurance? She doesn’t give her paycheck to anyone else. She might buy stickers for my little niece. And she’s generous with the care packages (I’m 35 years old and my mother still mails Halloween candy across the country). But a pile of cash isn’t going to compensate for that loss.

I would rather she spend the insurance premium on herself (and knowing my Mom, loved ones) while she is alive. She won’t listen (‘cause what do I know?) but I hope that you do. Look at your insurance needs. What do you need? What don’t you need? Cover what you need to cover. Don’t buy more than that.

Investment portfolios are like outfits. I wouldn’t go out of the house dressed only in shoes (I could imagine the horrified look on my 78 year old neighbor’s face, I’d give the dear, sweet lady a heart attack) and I definitely wouldn’t put all my money in a single investment.

Mixing up investments is called diversification.

Things beyond my control happen to my stocks. Say I had bought my ice stocks and instead of global warming, global freezing happened (some say Elvis is still alive so I guess it could happen). The companies wouldn’t make any money so I wouldn’t get income from them. No one would want to buy my ice shares so I couldn’t sell them for a profit. I’d be stuck with a big, ol’ lemon.

If I had bought a piece of ownership (which is all a share or piece of stock is) in a polar fleece (yummy for jammies) company, the opposite would have happened. Income would go up from everyone buying snugglies. People would want to buy my ownership back from me.

Owning both the ice stock and the polar fleece stock could mean that I was even Stephen (I don’t know where the phrase even Stephen came from, most Stephens I know are a bit crazy…look at Stephen King for one such example, the man writes some scary shaving cream). I’d be protected either way.

I could and should also mix up the different types of investments. When people talk about stocks, they often also talk about bonds. Stocks are ownership in different companies. Bonds are when money is lent to companies or governments. With bonds, I get paid interest and eventually get paid back my principal (what I lent in the first place). I like having a mix of the two.

"To achieve more and better results, more resourcefulness is as important as more resources."

I do not really want to spend a lot of time talking about credit, how to build it, how to repair it, how to track it, blah blah blah. I want to talk about how to leverage it. Why reinvent the wheel?

Here are some resources I have found to be knowledgable and hugely practical:
ABC's of Getting Out of Debt by Garrett Sutton : Turn Bad Debt into Good Debt and Bad Credit into Good Credit

From Credit Repair to Credit Millionaire by Donna L. Fox : Because it's easier to borrow $10 million than to earn it. (I am working my way through this one. More posts about it to come.)

The Credit Boards.com(You can find me there.)

I tried to do the whole credit thing myself, but discovered it was taking me too long. I felt like each month that I focused on it, my momentum slowed down, I got less creative about investing, and it was actually costing me money I could be making.

So I got a recommendation from my mortgage broker for a Law Firm that specializes in Credit. I signed up for a special investor program, designed to get me to my credit score goals, as well as maintain and protect my scores as I purchase more and more real estate. Hiring a reputable company is also an option.

Another option is be be afraid of credit and ignore it altogether. Not advisable, but yes, an option.

I don’t want to pay more than I should for anything. This goes for shoes or ho-ho’s or investments. Especially investments because I always want the option (whether investing for capital gains or income) of selling the investment for more than I paid.

So I look for investments on sale. On the clearance racks of the market.

We all know why things go on sale. It’s because no one else wants them. That could be good and that could be bad.

There are sale items on sale because they are disasters. The company’s not making any money or the land is radioactive or the shoes make my feet look like boats (get me a set of oars and I’m ready for the rainy season). These I don’t want to touch either.

But then there are the items that are out of vogue for the moment. Maybe everyone is buying oil stocks instead of ice stocks so the ice stocks go on sale. People need ice. The companies are still solid. They’re making money. They’re paying me dividends. They just aren’t sexy. I went to an investment seminar and no one wanted to hear about my poor little ice stocks. I didn’t mind. My ice stocks are making me a good chunk of cash.

Sexy investments are often part of bubbles. Bubbles happen when everyone buys the same investments, making the price rise higher and higher. Then when some other sexy investment comes along, no one wants the old investment and you can’t give it away.

Think beanie babies or high tech stocks (during the boom) or lately some smarter people than I am saying real estate.

So instead of sexy, I look for boring, dull as dirt. If I mention my investment to someone and they yawn, I know I’m on the right track.

We're talking investments, not boobs (or other things...) ladies. Maybe bigger is not the right word, but hopefully now I have your attention.

While I'm not a big Suze Orman fan, I'm not against what she has to say either. I think there is a huge need for people to be wiser, more safe, and even conservative with their money these in these days when so many American families are out of control and in trouble. But getting control is just the first step.

Suze's recent article on Yahoo Finance, along with the Allianz Women, Money and Power Study got me thinking about this: Why aren't women more financially secure?

I think the answer lies in women's apparent strength, which is wanting to be secure. It also happens to be our weakness.

We want security so we stay in the bad relationship, don't ask for the things we need, don't speak up when something is wrong, and seek to maintain comfort instead of pushing for growth.

Savings, 401ks, mutual funds and other various financially safe investments may not cut it. It's like trying not to gain weight by not eating- you can't maintain your energy for the long run, you wither away and die. It's healthier to eat, but work out as well, building muscle, strength, energy. Same with money. As Kimber has mentioned, keep some money safe if that's what you need, but learn about investment vehicles that will grow your money, create passive income and be money trees to feed you and your family for years- instead of having one or two "golden hen" savings accounts that can be slaughtered.

If I am more aggressive when it comes to money, I don't apologize. We need to push beyond our limits, we need to create conversation. That's what we are about.

K on Why Men Can't be Faithful :
I had to pipe in with my five cents (what else is new?).

What I found most interesting in Suze's article is that men find it hard to be faithful...to a stock. Yep, they are day traders extraordinaire or rather not at all extraordinaire (only in their minds) as day traders tend to have lower returns. Stock pimps.

We, women, build relationships even with our stocks. Why do all that research on a stock only to sell it a day later? Doesn't make sense. Nope, we find winners and we stick with them.

That's why I invest for both dividends and capital gains. I like to get paid while I wait for the rest of the world to discover my little gems.

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Here are a couple of funny commentaries on the Allianz Study:
Yay Cartoon Characters to Help Women Understand Complicated Money Stuff!
Five Types of Men With Money

Well sorta... I was thinking today about an interview I heard Will Smith do. He said there are two things he does (daily) to beat the noise in his head: read and run . Great advice!

If you want to get ahead financially by investing, getting your credit scores is a very good place to start. You have to find out where you are and what your options are before you can figure out the best way to get where you want to be. We're going to discuss credit this week on our way to real estate investing.

There are three major credit reporting bureaus: Experian , Equifax, and Transunion . The majority of credit decisions are made by lenders that "pull" from these three bureaus. The Fair and Acurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 requires every major national credit bureau to give each consumer a free credit report per year.

How do I go about getting my credit report? (I'm so glad you asked!)

Here are a couple of online resources that you may use to order a free copy of your credit reports:

Credit Millionaire Free Credit Reports Links

Success DNA Credit Center

Annual Credit Report

My FICO

For contacting directly:

Experian

Equifax

Transunion

You are also entitled to a free credit report when:
-You have been denied credit or other benefits, or have received notice of your credit status in the last 60 days.
-You are unemployed, receiving welfare, or have been denied unemployment.
-You believe you are a victim of fraud (fraud victims get 2 reports a year).
-You are notified that you did not qualify for the lenders best rate or terms based on information in your credit report.

On a personal note, I just went through this process myself. I had a difficult time getting my reports, because TU has my birthday wrong (how dare they!). I ended up having my mortgage broker pull my credit for me. Whatever works- you just want your hands on three hard copies of your credit reports.

Credit can open doors to you, as well as save you money on things like insurance, etc. Do not be afraid of it. Take it by the horns and use it to get ahead. If you don't already know your scores, get on that girl! You'll know if that's something you need to focus on repairing, raising, building, increasing, or if you are ready to move forward with to leverage it into some good debt!

There are two ways of getting paid from an investment (and by investment, I mean any ol’ investment, not just my fave stocks), capital gains (or if things go horribly wrong, losses) and income.

When the talking heads talk about “Buy low, sell high”, they’re talking capital gains. I buy a house or stock or a pair of Manolo Blahnik’s on bargain basement clearance and then sell it at a higher price for a big whopper of a profit (then retire in the south of France and eat pain de chocolate each morning for breakfast). Investors that do this quickly (and quick being relative, 1hr photo used to be quick. Now I want my photos yesterday) are called flippers (like flipping pancakes, not flipping the bird). Day traders are folks that flip stocks daily (and despite their bad rep, some day traders are very nice).

Income is not as sexy but, ladies, it still pays for my trashy romance novel habit (I love them, give me a good romance novel with a bad yet redeemable pirate and a feisty heroine, a big bag of oreos, and a warm comforter, and I’m happy). Rental income from a house, dividends from a stock, or the interest earned from loaning my sister the cost of her flight to Australia (Who am I trying to kid? A loan? More like a gift. But she’s my baby sister so what else to do…) are all types of income. Income, like paychecks, get paid on a regular basis month in, month out.

Now some folks are in the capital gains camp. They love the fast rush of the flip. Some folks are in the income camp. They like the dependable nature of the steady cash. Me, in classic Gemini style, I’m in both camps. I buy investments on sale that I know I can sell for higher later. These investments also pay income until I decide to sell them (if ever). The best of both worlds!

... it has been reported that Hugh is leaving $4 million to his three live-in girlfriends in his will...

(All in good fun ladies!) Hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

I was thinking about all the different views people have on money, and how everyone thinks they are right (well, K and I are -wink-lol). Allow me to share my favorite poem: The Blind Men of Indostan. Although it usually in reference to religion, I feel there is 'a good warning about how our sensory perceptions can lead to misinterpretations,' especially when it comes to things like money!

The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John G. Saxe

It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant,
(Though all of them were blind,)
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant,
And, happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl
"God bless me! but the elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: "Ho! what have we here.
So very round, and smooth, and sharp?
To me 'tis very clear,
This wonder of an elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The third approached the animal,
And, happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up he spoke:
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is very plain," quoth he;
"'Tis clear enough the elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most:
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right
And all were in the wrong!

This idea for fast and easy cash, requiring not much start up moolah if you already have the equipment, was posted on Mark Cuban’s blog.

Mark Cuban. As in the hottie millionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban. As in buying a basketball team for fun Mark Cuban. So you know that if he cares enough to put it on his blog, it’s gotta be good.

The big idea?

Going door to door with a scanner and a laptop and scanning photos in for a charge. He’s suggesting a buck a photo which can add up ‘cause I know I have a heck of a lot of photos (cupboards bulging with travel photos that I never look at and never show, once you see one palm tree...).

Think of the older generations without scanners or knowledge of inserting photos in e-mails. Think of people like me that may be too lazy to bother. Think of the people wishing to sell on eBay if only they had a scanner to add a photo.

(Ironically, scanners are one of those computer pieces that I often see sold “free after rebate.” )

If I was to run with this idea (and believe me, I’m tempted), I would whip up some business cards. With any luck, the door-to-door thing (always a pain, I feel like an oversized girl guide) would be a one time occurrence. I’d get enough call in business to retire the Nikes.

Or as Markie baby (my pet name for him…in my dreams) writes “If you want to think big time, set up a service with the local drugstore and have people drop off their pics and you go by every day and return them the next day.”

The fast cash could become permanent cash.

So yesterday, I met this gal who is Flithy Rich ... ok, well she owns the store anyway! Turns out we have been on the same business and investing forums for years now!

We decided to have a Girls Night out, with a twist: Drinks, appetizers, and ... Cashflow.

For anyone familiar with Rich Dad Poor Dad, the game Cashflow should ring a bell. For those of you non-"Rich Dadders" (lol), it is a game that was designed to help teach the basics of accounting, business, and investing. (Yeah, so I just pegged myself as a nerd...)

This game was literally an eye opening experience for me when I first played it. I played it as much as I could, with anyone who would sit still long enough for me to break out the board! I learn something everytime I play, and it is amazing to watch others, especially some of the younger girls there, start to "get" that they can take control of their financial future.

I added some fabulous new girl friends to my life and won the game, as well as enjoyed my chocolate martinis! (Thanks Girls! Happy one year Anniversary to Filthy Rich! More great things to come!)

"From birth to age 18, a girl needs good parents. From 18 to 35, a girl needs good looks. From 35 to 55, she needs a good personality. And from 55 on, she needs cash." -Sophie Tucker

Usually, weekends are fun around here (well, everyday is fun). K takes the weekend off, and I rant and rave about various women and money things. However, as I have been going through Rich Woman this week, and especially after the joint account issue, I felt I had to press on and stir things up even more by bringing up the issue of investing and the spouse. Now I am just one girl, and my experience is just one- but you can learn a lot from me. I have done everything bass ackwards. K, also brings a lot of insight. She is my cultural counterbalance! You ladies probably fall somewhere in between our life experience!

There are really four options for us ladies when it comes to dealing with investing and a significant other:

1) Invest with partner as a team.
2) Invest on your own - with partner's support.
3) Invest on your own - without partner's support.
4) Don't invest.

Obviously, option 1 is ideal. Option 2 is probably the next best thing. Option 3 - not something any of us want to have to do, but really, it's your future. Option 4 shouldn't really be an option, but unfortunately for us as women, is too often the path of least resistance.

I tried for years to get my significant other on board. You would think securing our financial future would be a priority. But people are different. We are wired different, raised different, and sometimes we find to our dismay that we want different things in life. I had the unfortunate experience of having a spouse who actually decided to work against me. Most any issue can be worked through, even a spouse who may not quite be on the same page you are. But when respect for you is not there- girl, you gotsta do what you gotsta do. (K chime in anytime before people think I'm pro-divorce and not pro-women...)

I want desperately for us as women to stand on our own two feet. It can only bring stability and confidence to us, our marriages (if we so choose), our lives, our children, our future, etc. Where are you at? What are you going to do? How are you going to prepare for your financial future, spouse or no?

Making a special Saturday appearance, K chimes in:

When the hubby and I first got married, we were at completely different
places in the investment learning curve. He was Mr. Guaranteed Investment.
Although a great little saver, he knew nothing about investing or the stock
market or saving money on taxes (I looked at his tax return and cried).
He thought that stock market values were all "make believe", not realizing
that shares were merely shared ownership of a company. A company he
could touch and feel.

I had been investing seriously for the previous five years (I'm lazy and
investing well is easier than working beaucoup hoursovertime at a job). I had
already moved past mutual funds to more complicated investments.

Investments that scared the hubby half to death.

So I managed our money differently. I kept a portion (that we called "his")
in the guaranteed investments he was comfortable. Another portion
(we called "mine" - it was easier for the hubby to think he wasn't risking
"his" money) was in the complicated investments (with much, much, much
higher returns..did I mention higher returns?).

Eventually (lucky 7 years later) the hubby, with my encouragement, had
moved along the investment curve. Now, although for security reasons we
divide the money into separate legal ownership (that is only prudent), we
invest as a team. I still take the lead as the senior (and most
interested) investor but the hubby, at least, feels comfortable with our
decisions.

I believe marriage is for the long haul. No use taking huge leaps when
baby steps will get me to the same place less painfully.

"I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves." -Mary Wollstonecraft

Our friend Amanda over at Young and Broke posed the question yesterday: should she join accounts with her husband, or keep her own account?. My response was that she should keep her own accounts open, and continue to maintain her identity. It fueled a great conversation. I was glad to have it hit a nerve. (Especially with the men...)

When I got married at 22, I did not have a freakin clue what I was getting myself into. (I was raised by a single that had never been remarried since she divorced when I was 2.) As newly weds, we joined everything- that’s what you do right? I let him handle all the finances, make all the financial decisions, especially after I had two babies and he was the primary "breadwinner". I became completely dependent. I literally had nothing in my name, except this joint account.

When the crap hit the fan, I found myself starting over again at 28. I have literally had to create a financial "footprint" for myself. I didn't have bad debt, but I didn't have really any credit history. They were like, yeah, where have you been?

Maybe I am an extreme example, but I don't think so. I truly believe that all women should maintain their financial identities, look at the statistics. It doesn't mean your marriage is doomed, it can mean extra protection, and a little nest egg for you, or even a place for you to stash cash for buying your loved-but-unjoined-one a birthday gift!

At the very least, keep a credit card (low limit if need be) in your name, have some utilities in your name, and have your own savings account. What I would love to see is women "carrying their own purses" with their own money in it, owning their own homes, and having their own investments for the future. Of course that's a whole other topic I'll address tomorrow! Cheers ladies!

"A woman will always be dependent until she carries a purse of her own."

There are a number of things college students need to make their lives a bit more comfortable. One such example is the bar fridge for residence dwellers.

Sure there was a big fridge available for use in the common areas but leaving anything nice (i.e. at all edible) in these fridges was a guarantee that I’d never seen it again (and not even get a thank you note for my trouble).

So the solution was a bar fridge for the room. Somewhere that I could store drinks and left over pizza (again stretching the food dollar).

First week on campus, there were companies out on the lawn trying to rent me these fridges. And yeah, the first year, I was a sucker and rented. I kicked myself afterwards (actually didn’t have to, someone else did that for me, that and cut my hair one late bleary night while I was “indisposed”).

The next year, I thought… “the cost for the rental isn’t much more than the cost of the fridge itself on sale” so I got wise (comes with all that book learning). I bought myself a little fridge.

At the end of the semester, I had a choice. I could haul the fridge around with me (they’re not too big). I could store it (the residence had a free storage facility for students on co-op terms). I could re-sell it easily to another student for more than the cost of a rental. With any of these options, I was way ahead of the rental situation.

That was my first lesson in the cost of renting vs buying. After the bar fridge experience, I’d look at all my purchases and figure out if it made sense to buy rather than rent.