Complimentary Cash in a Fantasy Casino

Complimentary Cash in a Fantasy Casino: "Real wealth is neither having more money, nor having higher priced stocks. Real wealth is accumulated capital - buildings, tools, factories…and the skills to know how to use them. Wealth can be money too - but only if the money represents real, useful capital. In Zimbabwe, they've got their Zim dollars up the wazoo. But the real capital in the country is fast disappearing - stolen, destroyed, neglected, redistributed, consumed or exported. Under these conditions, increases in stock prices are empty; the stock market in Harare has become a kind of fantasy casino, where people can pretend to get rich by betting against each other."

It reads like what is happening here, except we call it outsourcing,

I was thinking about the difference between wealth, prosperity and riches. And how it relates to what is discussed in the scriptures.

I realized that I didn't have a good definition of wealth and here is one delivered right to my inbox.

The scriptures are replete with all kinds of stories and parables about prosperity and riches and financial matters.

God obviously wants us to prosper as the promise in Malachi shows, but he warns us of the pursuit of riches which can destroy us as it did the Nephites.

How we define wealth can often make the real difference between prosperity and riches.

15 Questions To Evaluate A Company

In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher spelled out 15 questions he used to evaluate a company. They were pretty open-ended and could be subject to interpretation. They were not, as he put it, "determined by cloistered mathematical calculation." They were:

1. "Does the company have products or services with sufficient market potential to make possible a sizable increase in sales for at least several years?"
2. "Does the management have a determination to continue to develop products or processes that will further increase total sales potentials when the growth potentials of currently attractive product lines have largely been exploited?"
3. "How effective are the company's research and development efforts in relation to its size?"
4. "Does the company have an above-average sales organization?"
5. "Does the company have a worthwhile profit margin?"
6. "What is the company doing to maintain or improve profit margins?"
7. "Does the company have outstanding labor and personnel relations?"
8. "Does the company have outstanding executive relations?"
9. "Does the company have depth to its management?"
10. "How good are the company's cost analysis and accounting controls?"
11. "Are there other aspects of the business, somewhat peculiar to the industry involved, which will give the investor important clues as to how outstanding the company may be in relation to its competition?"
12. "Does the company have a short-range or long-range outlook in regard to profits?"
13. "In the foreseeable future will the growth of the company require sufficient equity financing so that the larger number of shares then outstanding will largely cancel the existing stockholder's benefit from this anticipated growth?"
14. "Does the management talk freely to investors about its affairs when things are going well but 'clam up' when troubles and disappointments occur?"
15. "Does the company have a management of unquestionable integrity?"

Now, I'll admit, there's nothing groundbreaking here. Fisher's 15 questions are fairly well known, and you can find them or slight variations all over the Internet. But I recently discovered that some of Fisher's wisdom has been purposefully been withheld from investors. In fact, one of Wall Street's most trusted Web sites glosses over some of what Fisher had to say.

You see, Fisher also listed five "don'ts for investors":

1. "Don't buy into promotional companies."
2. "Don't ignore a good stock just because it is traded 'over-the-counter.'"
3. "Don't buy a stock just because you like the 'tone' of its annual report."
4. "Don't assume that the high price at which a stock may be selling in relation to its earnings is necessarily an indication that further growth in those earnings has largely been already discounted in the price." (Or put simply, price to earnings isn't everything.)
5. "Don't quibble over eighths and quarters." (That is, don't stress over a few cents difference in price.)

Okay, I am looking at starting a company, so really much of this doesn't apply yet but these are important things to take into consideration as you build a business and make decisions. As a business owner I am the ultimate investor, investing my blood, sweat and tears into this venture. These questions may help me make sure they are the best decisions.

MacDevCenter.com -- The Good Easy on OS X

MacDevCenter.com -- The Good Easy on OS X: "In short, the Good Easy is all about removing some things that are (in Hurst's opinion) broken and adding third-party tools to make the working environment better."

So that is where the term "life hack" came from.

What's Your Theme Song

Do you have a personal theme song, something you use to give you a boost when feeling a bit down? If you don't maybe you should.

Music has a powerful mood altering effect. One thing I have done is limit my exposure to "sad songs" my primary playlist is focused around happy music that keeps my spirits up. I've noticed that on occasion if I go for several days without some happy music I can get somewhat depressed.

As for mine it's "Faith of the Heart" by Russell Watson.

Chickens, eggs, and happiness

What really brought me happiness rarely had anything to do with conventional ideas of success. Mostly, it was due to things totally unconnected with my work. Of course, I was sometimes happy at work too. When I was busy doing something that I enjoyed and made me happy, I was often amazingly successful. When I tried to be successful, and accepted temporary unhappiness and boredom as its price, I rarely managed to reach my goals. If I accepted short-term unhappiness as the price of long-term success—and I very often did—what I got in return was the opposite: short-term success paid for with long-term unhappiness.

Here's the hard question: What makes me genuinely happy?

"Man is that he might have joy."

But There is another question lurking in the background all the time, for me since providing for my family is a big deal to me right now, Could I monazite it somehow?

"Do what you love, money will follow" is something I came across somewhere.

I enjoy researching and information gathering and creating something out of the combination.
I enjoy cooking, but I've seen enough of the Food Network to realize that opening a restaurant is a really big deal and would need more then I am physically able, though a partner could help there.
I love reading but doing book reviews all the time would likely make me hate reading like the guy who was a fishing equipment reviewer who was so ready to retire so he could do something fun and relaxing.
I am pretty good at getting technology to work, but now I am tired of fiddling with it just to be able to get to work. I love Mac since it works just fine most of the time.

This deserves some thought.

Google Press Center: Press Release

Google Press Center: Press Release

Could be useful.

Twentysomething: Start a company in 3 days with 70 friends � Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk

Twentysomething: Start a company in 3 days with 70 friends � Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk: "My friend and web designer, Devin Reams reaffirmed this thought when he told me about his experience at Startup Weekend.

The event began on a Friday, when 70 people showed up above a bike shop in Boulder, CO to vote on their favorite previously submitted business ideas. They decided to create a business that allowed people to take quick polls of their friends’ opinions."

I may not be a twenty-something but this is fascinating. I've known for a while that I need a deeper network and a mentor or advisory board to help the process but this may be less formal but the same basic idea.

Small Business Trends � Blog Archive � Single Person Businesses Booming

Small Business Trends � Blog Archive � Single Person Businesses Booming: "To be exact, the United States has 20,392,068 single-person businesses. In the space of three years, 2.7 million more people became the owner of a “business of one.”"

These is pretty amazing since that is telling us that we are looking at nearly 10% of the population (300 million) are business owners and growing at a rate of 4-5%.

I'm adding myself to this list of business owners too. I've got a ways to go before it becomes profitable but that is the daily slog.

Self-employment Worksheet-My Skills and Talents

My Skills and Talents
List your accomplishments and things you've done in your life and career.
I can just use my resume for the most part.

• I can get computers working most of the time.There are limits but I can do pretty well most of the time, though often it feels like only 51%.
• I've got pretty good engineering skills. I've usually have had to learn some technology from scratch when I've gotten a new job. I've made a battery charger for the space shuttle, I've made a battery charger test unit for the iss emergency lighting system batteries, I've redesign a police radar system for CE mark,
• i can research on the web and library pretty quickly, I can usually get a fair overview of a subject in a matter of a couple of hours and identify major topics, and players in the subject.
• I can speak in front of audiences without major problems. I have spoken in front of groups up to 500.
• I solve problems. If a problem is reasonably well stated and the natural of the desired answer is understood then I usually can come up with something close within the limits of physics and my knowledge.
• I've written a couple of books and working on more. They haven't sold yet but that is a marketing problem as similar books are selling.
• I've driven for 14+hours on occasion.
• I'm an Eagle Scout.
• I learned to walk and feed and care for myself after a major crash.
• I've started a couple of businesses.
• I've let people vent on me to let them gain perspective for themselves. to help them just by letting them talk and be a sounding board for them.
• I can cook steak dinners, turkey dinners thanksgiving style, chicken dinners, pork chops, roast beast and stir fry.
• I've taught Abigail how to count to 20.
• I can read fast tested to 2000 wpm at full comprehension. only for limited times but I'm still faster then most most of the
time.
• I have an engineering degree and that means I've learned a lot. Heck, I've been told I've forgotten more then most people ever learned in the first place.

Five Ways to Move your Startup Forward without Cash

This things are very straightforward and some of them I am doing already.

I am working on my books, not nearly as often as I would like but there is progress over time.

The two big things I need to be doing is getting to met more people and setting up the business itself.

Where To Go From Here

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
-Hamlet

Here I am again at square zero. It doesn't look like we'll be paid yet again, a coworkers paycheck bounced and mine didn't come at all. I don't particularly care about my job one way or the other, not like the last job which was so bad by the time I got home I couldn't remember what I did all day.

I found a couple of great posts today that brings this to a head.

"Do what you love!" That is what a lot of people say to go and do. Great. The last thing I loved doing was electrical engineering, but that career has turned into pretty much a dead end, the stuff I was good at, embedded systems design, has pretty much all been outsourced across the ocean so there isn't much work for someone like me anymore around here.

I've tried starting my own business but that failed miserably. I am not, yet, a salesman. I just took a self-employment workshop which I'll post about soon. The guy running it was really good, but there is one minor problem, he's been a salesman since he was a kid and so he couldn't really tell us how to become salespeople which is a very important part of running a business.

What are my dreams? I would like to provide well for my family, not just my nuclear family but our extended families as well, at least in an emergency capacity.
• I want to write books that make learning math, English and history interesting.
• I want to provide developing nations with fundamental knowledge so families can improve themselves. The biggest problem seems to be corruption stealing an idea doesn't leave you without it.
• I want to design homes that make use of all the things we've learned since the 60's about building good, efficient, effective homes.

But most of all I just want to feel like I am doing something worthwhile, that makes others' lives better too.

15 Link Building Tips for New Websites

15 Link Building Tips for New Websites

This should come in very handy once I figure out where I am going.

Link to the Top Ranked Marketing Blogs

The Viral Garden's Top 25 Marketing Blogs - Week 64 - The Viral Garden

One of my big weaknesses is a lack of marketing skills. Coming across this from Seth's Blog is great as it pre-filters a lot of the trash out, Sturgeon's Law being what it is and all. 

Getting Organized

I've added links to Colorado business development resources. 

These will come in handy as I develop my business and yours too.

Design Ideas for Business Cards

Primarily your business card is a mini-billboard that could and should work for you. These have some great ideas that can make your stand out.

from Dumb Little Man

Time Management, Simplified: How to Be Productive With No Worries

Time Management, Simplified: How to Be Productive With No Worries: "I’m a big fan of Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen, and adopted the system wholeheartedly a year and a half ago. This year, I’ve written a number of posts on GTD, but one of my habits is to take whatever I do and try to simplify it."

Being organized is good. Keeping it simple is good. 

This has some good ideas, I still need to work on this.