There is a disturbing trend among both people and politicians to find somebody to blame for each problem. This phenomenon frequently provides a convenient alibi for failure. Many people blame an opaque persona such as ‘big business’ or ‘the man’ for their problems. These ghosts create an excuse to avoid doing what is necessary for success. However, the realization of our goals, dreams, and aspirations will require many of us to ‘step up’ and make our goals happen.
Now is the Time to Become an Entrepreneur
If you are like me, you read a lot of “Young Entrepreneur” stories in the news media. For people in the midst of a career, we wonder whether the window to become an Entrepreneur has passed. The truth of the matter is that it has just started to open. Research by Carl Schram has shown that the average entrepreneur is nearly 40 years old.
Continue reading “Now is the Time to Become an Entrepreneur”
A Tale of Two Futures
In his famous novel “A Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens wrote: “It was the best of times.” Dickens novel is set in the years leading up to the French Revolution. The struggle of people against the entrenched power structure feels familiar to many. It seems to describe our current social and political climate. Despair and opportunity are swirling beside one another. This is creating a tale of two futures for the US economy. Continue reading “A Tale of Two Futures”
From “If” to “How”
One of the things that we like to do is human beings is to fantasize about how our lives would be different if something were different. It turns out that this mode of thinking produces two distinctive outputs. The first is that it allows our minds to drift into a world where events unfold exactly as we would like. The second is that by using the word if, it absolves our minds of any responsibility for making our dreams a reality.
The effect is very subtle, but it is still very powerful. By thinking about our life if our dreams became reality, it sub-consciously reinforces the belief that our dreams will stay dreams. A much more productive mode of thought is to consider how we can traverse the distance from where our current mode in life to where we want to be. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t dream about what life could be like, and use that as a vision to inspire our actions. It simply means that we should not give ourselves an easy way out of failing to achieve our dreams.
The Real Student Loan Debt Problem
Nobody likes student loan debt. An Article recently published by the Forbes explored the potential for problems associated with aggregate student loan debt. There are currently 44 million borrowers with $1.3 Trillion dollars of student loan debt. Bearing this in mind, the scope of the problem seems immense.
The Great Magnifying Glass
Regardless of whether the economy is surging or crashing, debt is always a topic of discussion in the media. Whenever the news cycle shifts to US budget deficits, it creates a renewed focus on the impact of debt. This is important because most of the developed world is deeply indebted. The most important thing to understand about debt is exactly what it is, and by extension, what it is not.
Small Business, Big Impact
When most people think of small business, they instantly think of the shops and stores in their local community. However, there is a much more important segment to consider. This is the single person home-based small business. Why is this segment so important? Anybody can start a home-based business and scale it to generate recurring cash flows. One of the most compelling mediums for this brand of home-based business is the internet. By building a web-based small business, it can allow you to leverage technology as an accelerator. This will help you create a unique product or service for your customers.
Creating Wealth on your Current Income
When most people think of “creating wealth” it conjures up grandiose mental pictures of fabulous riches and exotic celebrities. However, “wealth” simply means you own valuable assets. There is no particular reason why normal, regular people can create wealth using nothing more than their current income and intelligent decisions. The principal barrier to achieving this goal is a mindset that “It takes money to make money.”
Automotive Prison?
When many young people endeavor to purchase their first automobile, they face a wide variety of choices. 
One of the choices available is to lease or buy. If buying, you can purchase the automobile with cash or finance it. It is highly important to make the right decisions when purchasing a car since the wrong move can turn that shiny new street cruiser into an automotive prison that locks up your financial resources for years on end.
Getting Real about Real Estate
With all of the recent news about the real estate market, it is probably a good idea to take a look at the different kinds of real estate that are available. In general, real estate breaks out into “residential” and “commercial” properties. The key difference between these categories we will be examining is the way that they are valued. This is very important because price increases & decreases are driven by the means of valuation.