How I Will Be Rich

Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category

Have a happy Labor Day everyone. I know Joe and I will.

-M

During this session and a few following it he proceeded to pop my neck into place and perform heating treatments. The thing he noticed, and I have always known but tried to hide from myself, is I am too stressed and tensed up. By keeping tense and feeling on edge all the time, he said that an injury like this would take much longer to heal than normal. He asked what I needed to do to take it easy and just relax. As he asked this, I began to ask myself the same question. Maybe some quiet time away from people, laying and watching TV, or even throwing down a cold one after work. All of these seemed like pretty decent, but temporary solutions to me. Realizing these ideas wouldn’t hold me over too long, I thought of a few other ideas to help me relax and just keep my stress level down. Here they are…

• Use that nose. Take some deep breaths, but through your nose. No matter what situation you’re in, you can’t get too worked up by calming your breathing. I’ve used this same technique to calm myself while running, too. Since you are limiting the amount of oxygen coming in, you are forced to slow yourself down to that level. Give it a shot!
• Maintain your surroundings. Keep the area you do work and spend most of your time clean. Giving some time to organize what’s around you can take a large load off your back. If you keep coming home to a mess, you’ll end up dreading wanting to ever come back until the problem is solved. While you’re at it, throw a new light in the room with you; By having a well-lit area you’ll be much more attentive and cheerful.
• Exercise that body. In this part I’m saying to go nuts out there and workout like mad, just get your legs moving. This isn’t supposed to be something you have to dread, it is more of a liberating time. Try to go outside if you can and go for a walk or run in a place you’ve never been before. It’ll give you a little sense of adventure while you’re at it.
• Eat healthy. Stay away from all of those fast food places as much as you can. By having a better diet, you will overall feel much more clean. With this you’ll have much more energy and recover from whatever injuries you have much quicker.
• Spend time with the right people. Take a look at what kind of attitudes your circle of friends have. You want to spend most of your time with optimistic people. Having them around will definitely rub off onto you.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff. Learn to understand that there are things in your life that aren’t worth the struggle of trying to make perfect. Hold yourself back from these annoyances and more often than not you’ll never get bugged by them again. A lot of things work out themselves.

I know when I read blogs that have an endless list of helping tips, I always become overwhelmed. My mind gets a little cluttered and I forget most everything I read. If you feel a little stressed at times, try a couple of these tips at a time until they feel like second nature… I definitely will be doing the same.

First thing’s first: Are you an outgoing people-person? If not, what’s holding you back?

This should be a pretty obvious answer to many, but some still question themselves. In the time and age that we live in, communication is at our fingertips and we all have the ability to talk to almost anyone in the world. I believe that today’s society is much more of an outgoing group of folks. With the internet at almost every desk, we are engulfed with emails from colleagues, an array of instant messages from friends, and are hounded by the dreadful Myspace fiasco. All of these inventions have allowed us a stream of communication that we would never have had growing up 20 years ago. Even those that might not have been the most talkative in school have had the ability to build up their confidence through today’s almost anonymous communication. This might be a bit of a stretch, but I believe that this technology has opened the door for many young adults to ideas and also sparked the entrepreneurial craze within that group.

Below are a few tips that I feel help me while talking to strangers, and allow me to have a much more comfortable experience with people…

• Be Authentic. Act like you would if you’ve known the person for years and years. There’s no point of trying to be stiff and perfect behaving; With this, you might come off acting like a fake and seem unreliable.
• Be A Good Listener. We all know that people love to talk about themselves, so let them! Appear, and actually be very attentive while listening and responding when appropriate. People notice when you take the time to listen; They respect that.
• Be Positive. Who doesn’t like someone who is in a good mood and is overall fun to be around? It’s definitely a turnoff when you interact with a person that mopes around and has nothing good to say about anything. Even through the rough days, keep your head up and charge ahead. Talking to new people always gives you more of an alive feeling anyways.
• Be Well-Spoken. Our parents always told us to think before speaking… well it’s actually true! I used to have a horrible time explaining myself to others. I’ve since learned to slow it all down and allow yourself to fully think through what contribution you will have to the conversation.
• Be Educated. You don’t need to be the “All-knowing” kind of person, but have a general idea about what topics that might come up in communication. Stay informed with the news, related business ideas, sports, etc. Having a bit of knowledge in these can lead to a great conversation starter and will allow you to keep the conversation flowing when you feel that awkward silence coming.
• Be Outgoing. This isn’t always the most simple for everyone, and it definitely took me years to accomplish. By showing that you can easily engage into a conversation with someone you don’t know, it can speak a lot of a person. Knowing that you are fully comfortable, and the other person is as well, will create a very easygoing experience for the both of you. This would immediately open the door for future discussions and possible opportunities.

Using these small tips everyday can greatly appreciate your value in the business world. Networking has, and always will be one of the most essential business skills you can hold.

I updated some little things about the site. Hopefully people will like them. I added a “Top Commentators” box over to the right of this page. The idea behind this is that if you comment a lot, your name (and your blog link) will stay in that list. I want to encourage interaction here and get some discussion going. Our goal with the creation of this site was to post our thoughts on things and get feedback, criticisms and ideas on what we have to say. We want to learn from this site as well as teach. Another thing that I did was I added a “Subscribe to Comments” box in the comments section. This way people can comment and watch the discussion from that point on. Once again, this is an effort to encourage more discussion.

Lets get some interaction going right now. Here is my question: For the past year and a half or so I’ve been looking in to purchasing a home. I will be a first time home buyer and I have been doing an immense amount of research. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of arguments discussing the pros and cons of renting vs home ownership. This has really got me thinking about what the best option for me is.

The real estate market is down right now but is it down enough to justify the increased price of a mortgage, maintenance, taxes, etc.? What do you guys think? I want to hear your thoughts on homeownership vs renting.

This past year, and ever since those gas prices began to rise to ungodly heights, I have been debating on purchasing a car. Right now my current vehicle is a 2000 Ford Ranger and gets roughly 17 MPG. As of late, I have been paying much closer attention to how many miles I am getting per tank and comparing that with the possibility of what I could get with a much more gas efficient car. Prior to this, I would find myself filling up once a week at about $50 a pop. Sure, I would gripe over the cost while watching the dollar signs trickle higher and higher, but once I drove away, that thought would quickly drift from my mind. After years and years of this process, I am finally coming to grips with all of the cash that I have been burning and want to do something about it. I would say the largest motivation for me to make this move is realizing how much driving I’ll soon be doing. Beginning next week, I’ll find myself trekking over nearly 100 a day to attend school. Time to make a change…

Knowing where to begin looking for the “right” vehicle is definitely the most difficult step. While discussing my situation with a group of friends, I realized how many options immediately opened up in front of me. After this conversation, I learned that one friends’ parents owns a dealership, and two have close friends that purchase used cars for smaller shops. Getting these connections is always number one, but they could also bring many new options into your mind.

There are many advantages to owning a new car. Sometimes people just love the feeling of driving a fresh car off the lot. Maybe it’s a peace of mind knowing that you’ll be the first one to break it in and seeing what it’s all made of. Some other advantages, and disadvantages include:

• Warranty coverage: Many manufactures will cover your car for three years or longer for any defects. Upgrading what the warranty covers is always another option. The bottom line here is that you know you’re nice and covered if that new car turns out to be a “lemon”.
• Low maintenance: When driving off that lot, you’ll know that the car will not need a tune up or any other mechanic work for quite some time. For a several thousand miles, oil changes will probably be your biggest worry, and even those are sometimes covered from the dealership.
• Financing: Normally dealers will sucker you in to buying a new car with nice financing rates. I’ve heard numbers around 4-5% APR for the term to pay the car off, but beware, not everyone qualifies. In fact, only about 7% of people purchasing a new vehicle qualify for those advertised deals. Choose wisely.
• Depreciation: This is definitely a disadvantage. Once you drive off the lot, your car just lost a couple thousand dollars off the sticker price. You’ll see roughly 15% of those dollars you purchased your car with fly out the window.

Going with the Used Car

Driving away with the brand spankin’ new car doesn’t have to be the best feeling in the world, knowing that you got a great deal does! That’s what people are looking at when searching for used cars, and lucky you, there are millions of choices out there. The only limit on what kind of car you want is how much research and time you want to put into it. That is advantage number one, here are more:

• The used, new car: Many dealerships now offer pre-owned certified cars. Usually there is a slightly steeper price tag on these cars compared to those you’ll find on AutoTrader. With this deal, you’ll be able to walk away with the similar piece of mind as purchasing a new year, you’ll be covered if something goes wrong in the near future.
• Depreciation: Contrary to new cars, depreciation really isn’t much of a problem with used vehicles. If purchasing a vehicle that is a few years old, you have the sense of mind you didn’t lose thousands of dollars by driving it new off the lot. From that point on, miles and condition are what matter most. Keep that average of 15,000 miles added per year with all the routine maintenance and your car shouldn’t have a spike in depreciation.
• Passed down warranties: If you purchase a car that is still covered under the original factory warranty, then lucky you! Wherever you end up purchasing a used car, there is always the possibility of being able mooch the advantage of a pre-bought warranty. Add that into your purchasing research; it’s a huge perk!
• Look in the past: Checking out the previous life of your future purchase is key. Look into all of the history reports that are available online and see if the vehicle has been in an accident or if there are any other important factors to know before dishing out thousands of dollars. Check out a few of these sites to get started: DMV.org, CARFAX, Is It A Lemon.

Hopefully these perks and disadvantages have helped you understand the comparisons of new and used cars. Even if you’re not in the market to buy now, it’s always great to do research and get ahead before you’re in a position of scrambling to buy a new car. By writing this post, I have learned a lot with the research I’ve done. So, go and check out what’s around online and at the local dealerships, just do enough research before making that large purchase.