Fearless Money

When I initially started my family’s trek toward wealth, I was a follower of Dave Ramsey. I still think he is a good kick in the butt for people who repeat that garbage myth “Everyone in America has credit card debt. It is normal and OK.”

However, I’ve really outgrown him. I think he is wrong in his insistence that debt can never be used as a tool. But more importantly, I think he is psychologically and spiritually wrong to be so obsessively focused on debt. To really build wealth, you must be building toward something, not away from debt.

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The other day, I was reading Loral Langemeier’s new book “The Millionaire Maker’s Guide to Wealth Cycle Investing” as I was getting off the elevator at work. A coworker asked what I was reading. I told him, and mentioned that I was learning quite a bit from it. He actually snickered.

Now, snickering never feels nice, but in this case it made me really think about what caused that reaction, and to a certain degree how my financial growth is distancing me from many of my coworkers.

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I did like the old theme, but I thought it was time for a change.

Enjoy the new, more highly optimized and quite a bit “lighter” theme. Please let me know if you find something I’ve broken in the upgrade.

Technorati Tags: cutline, wordpress205, themes

My latest e-commerce client is up and running with her store as of yesterday. Cynthia Joba is a talented artist, who is selling high-quality prints and custom commissions to individuals and corporations.

I told them I’d be their “developer angel”, and I was. It was great to turn the stereotype of the gruff, condescending programmer on its ear and give them a great working-together experience.

The site is not my design, but all the front-end code is mine, and all the custom interfaces with CubeCart as well.

Doing this job was a natural part of my continued focus on entrepreneurial opportunities, and developing multiple sources of income. It was a grand success, and I already have several similar jobs lined up for the next months. I haven’t gone full-time with it yet, but I am considering it.

Technorati Tags: client, sss, solidsitesolutions, cynthiajoba, webdesign

Wow, the ETFs I purchased in my rollover IRA this summer are spanking the market.

FXI: Up 18.2%

EWW: Up 20.52%

IVE: Up 9.62%

Total percent increase, corrected for my share allocation: $15.93%, approximately 60% annualized. Sweet.

Technorati Tags: eww, fxi, ira, investments

I’ve been considering investing in Prosper.com as part of my wealth building cycle. I think it looks like a great way to get a steady income stream at 12-15% profit.

It’s funny, I wasn’t sure what to call the investment. “Long term investment”, “part of my wealth cycle” or as an “FFA investment”. These are all terms from various wealth building books I’ve read. I think I like “FFA” the best. That stands for “Financial Freedom Account”, from “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. The very simple idea is that in order to get wealthy, you need to put 10% of your income into an account whose only purpose is to grow. All profits from that account go back into the account until it is large enough to support me all by itself.

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After a month hiatus, I am back to taking shots of my “virtual coffeetable”, where I’ve stacked all the books I am actively reading.

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Busy weekend! I have finally launched the web business I’ve been working on all summer and I’ve started a major freelancing gig.

eBookTribe

eBookTribe sells custom information product graphics. My comptetition is, for the most part, kids who think they can design a good eBook cover, and who certainly cannot design a professional looking website. There are a few other serious professionals, but at least one of them is taking no new business, due to his plate being completely full. Certainly there is room for another. My designer-partner Kelvin is somewhat worried about competition, but I say (and believe) that competition means there is money in the niche.

eBookTribe is my second LLC started in the last year. I’m getting much better at doing the paperwork!

Kroozio

I landed my first freelance e-commerce programming on Saturday, doing business as “Kroozio”, which is a lot easier to spell and remember than my real last name. I’m creating a website for a great artist, along with some serious customization to a standard e-commerce cart. The cart checkout is going to be quite a bit different than “stock”, which will be fun and challenging to do properly.

I know I’ve seriously underbid the project. It is a flat-fee for results, and I’m going to most likely make less than half my target rate, but it is totally worth it. The client is great, the site looks great, and I’m determined to make her my evangelist.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, startup, launch, ebooktribe, ebooks, freelancing

Starting a business is possibly more important than exactly what the business is originally intended to do.

At least, that’s what I’ve been thinking about for the last few months as I’ve worked toward launching my first real business. There was so much more inertia, paperwork, learning, and personal growth to do than I had ever anticipated. I think that’s the key.

By starting a well-structured business and having it ready to handle the realities of taking orders, handling money, and doing taxes, I have placed myself in a position where I can take advantage of opportunity. After doing all this work, I find myself in awe of people who seem to simply catch a tiger by the tail and go on to make millions without planning. I know that I couldn’t do that, not without going insane with stress, unless I first had the proper structure in place.

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I found it painful to read this article about pitfalls to avoid when starting an internet business. Too many of them are things that have occurred to me as good ideas in the past.

1. Don’t start a business teaching how to make money online.
2. Choose non-internet related niches.
3. Don’t focus on making money.
4. Don’t enter a tiny market.
5. Watch out for tiny margins.
6. Look for leverage points.
7. Avoid self-employment thinking.
8. Be aware of your own limitations.

Hopefully eBookTribe avoids most of these pitfalls and becomes a smashing success.

Technorati Tags: business, startup, self-employment