tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16293074635000374122024-03-14T04:00:50.916-04:00The Unwashed Masses<center><b><i>"One Man With Courage Makes a Majority"</i></b></center>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-56681671664803203222016-11-07T15:02:00.002-05:002016-11-08T10:34:53.536-05:00Supporting Small Businesses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Plenty of people look at a public company, non-profit, or private company and forget that it started as a small business.<br />
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No one started large. Therefore, when others undermine my starting points, it's actually offensive. Large companies by and large do not hire the majority of employed people.<br />
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The United States has thrived due to the emergence of small companies. Nevertheless, in this day and age, people laugh at the efforts that many immigrants and people of color make in order to provide for their families without clocking in and out of a large organization.<br />
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In the past, when I worked for other people and started divulging details about my personal life, many would look at me as though I was not stable and totally negate my attempts at financial freedom.<br />
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With time, I began to understand that when people cannot do something themselves, they question anyone else that tries or continually gets back up after every failure. Whether we declare bankruptcy, start and fail at business, or struggle academically as well as personally and professionally, there will always be those that undermine our desire to self-improve despite every reason to stay down.<br />
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When I speak of entrepreneurship, people reinforce the lack of experience I possess, mention my skin color, or ethnic background and perceive me to be living a fantasy. If every entrepreneur listened to the constant feedback, then they would not be successful today.<br />
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Now, I am stating very fiercely that people can either stand by me or get out of my way. However, they have very little right to nit-pick and tell me that I will never be successful at something, especially when they have not been doing anything constructive to ensure their own financial freedom.<br />
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When it comes to art, it is not always about a return on investment. The same rules apply to anything that anyone does in life. The return pales in comparison to the journey. The pursuit of happiness seems more rewarding than the attainment of that happiness. People can laugh all they want, but that will not stop me from doing whatever it takes to make my income streams profitable as well as fulfilling. I could easily get a desk job and work behind someone else's computer, borrowing precious time from someone else, and valuable resources.<br />
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Or, I can take risks and see what happens when those risks materialize into something more desirable. The thing about goals are they are not about the world, all goals are personal. Those that do not understand these personal goals will never understand them. These are the same people that will never be wildly successful. Doubters cannot continue to extinguish my vision. When it comes to lifestyle design, of course, there are areas where I can improve; however, everyone is a work in progress. The work should not cease because it is incomplete.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-89361764410971093942016-11-07T14:24:00.002-05:002016-11-07T14:39:46.788-05:00New Businesses and new Outlook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Unless you've been living under a rock, I've changed quite a bit in the past year. In the past, I was always going along to get along and doing favors for people with nothing being returned. When I finally explained to myself that I deserved better and should charge for all my services, there was a great deal of push back rather than understanding.<br />
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I am an artist. This does not mean I will work for free, I have bills just like you. Thank you for understanding.<br />
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When it comes to my photography, I've traveled with clients, listened to their life stories, and even edited quite a bit. However, now I'm going to ask for a deposit upfront because when I release the edited photos, depending on the number of photos requested, then there will be an additional fee for the package released. A small commitment device is not asking for much.<br />
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People need to understand that I do not have unlimited time and means to do favors for people without any sort of compensation in return. People also need to understand that if I did everything for free, then I wouldn't be able to finance my artistry. Every business starts at the bottom and strives to come up in the world. Some people would rather keep me at the bottom, which is not okay.<br />
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Art is subjective and those that have benefited without paying may think that this is okay; however, would never think it was okay if the tables were turned. Furthermore, I've worked as a personal assistant, consultant, web designer, and singer as well as actor for free. As I mature and work more in the industry and in any profession, I now realize the importance of getting paid what I deserve. I will no longer do non-union work as an actor, model, or singer. I will no longer pick up the phone unless the person on the other end has something tangible to provide monetarily. I will no longer design sites for people, family, or friends without expecting payment for my services. As I prepare to launch my websites, video blog, book, and jewelry as well as clothing line it's crucial that I count every penny. In order to excel in business, I must be a wise steward of my limited time and resources.<br />
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Moreover, the time that I have spent developing my non-profit organization pales in comparison to the number of times I have worked for others without payment. The days of assuming people would come through for me as I have come through for them repeatedly are over. I cannot expect reciprocal business from non-paying customers. In terms of the friends, family, and people that have used me...it's now water under the bridge. Today, I finally woke up and realized that I had allowed other people to dictate my worth without even fighting the suggestion that I was worth more than gold.<br />
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In the next few posts, I will explain every project that I plan to release and update this site more frequently. I apologize to myself and my supporters for not writing, reading, and contributing more. Sometimes, it takes a bunch of mistakes to improve our decision-making. I have worked endlessly to take care of others and make them happy all the while neglecting the person that I have to live with forever, me.<br />
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Thanks for taking the time to visit and read. The best has been inside me for quite a while, however, it took a number of people devaluing the best to reintroduce me to myself. <br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-9728334006937470162015-01-17T07:50:00.001-05:002015-01-17T07:50:29.324-05:00Budgeting<div><br></div>How do you recover from a huge failing, either moral or financial? <div><br></div><div>Many grew up saying, "That will never be me," in regards to certain situations.</div><div><br></div><div>One of my colleagues grew up with drug addicts for parents. However, that didn't prevent this individual from bar hopping and smoking it up repeatedly. </div><div><br></div><div>Although the person eventually quit their bad habits, it took years and the birth of children to slow that party train down. </div><div><br></div><div>Why do we not honor the promises that we make to ourselves? </div><div><br></div><div>When we see a counter example and tell ourselves that we'll never model our lives after that person, why do we regress and wind up doing exactly that?</div><div><br></div><div>Oftentimes, the most intelligent people make the most irrational decisions. Decisions that could have easily been avoided if we had stayed true to our promise of never making certain errors in life. </div><div><br></div><div>When it comes to budgeting and finances. I've definitely made a great deal of errors that were completely avoidable in hindsight. For whatever reason, I keep asking myself, how did I end up so far away from the place that I wanted to be? When years ago, I reassured myself that would never be me. </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-15286079603341972412015-01-17T07:25:00.001-05:002015-01-17T07:25:02.515-05:00Organizational & Financial Goal$This is my first update of the New Year. It will be a short entry. The two main focuses outside of academic and career goals are to earn more every month and get more organized every month.<div><br></div><div>If I tackle it daily, weekly, and monthly and check in with goals daily, weekly, & monthly, then maybe by December or even June, I'll be one step closer to achieving these goals. <div>💵😃🇺🇸📝📋🎶🎹🎤💻📹🎭✈️</div><div>Creativity is high on the priority list. This year's other goal is to be more candid and creative with the updates. </div><div><br></div><div>Now that I have a microphone and plan on getting more camera technology, podcasting is something that I want to commit to doing this year. </div><div><br></div><div>In terms of organization, I think my level of cleanliness is average. I need to set up a system for maintaining at least above average organization every day.</div><div><br></div><div>Organization is a huge component of success. Waking up early is not the issue, it's what happens in those precious moments after getting up every morning. </div><div><br></div><div>Some write goals afte waking up daily, I'd like to sort that habit this morning. Before tonight's cast party, I'll make sure to work out, eat healthiliy, and clean my room. By the end of next week, I want to get in the habit of making my bed regularly.</div><div><br></div><div>Tonight, we'll watch the play together reminisce and talk about the future of the cast. Alright, time to pack my gym bag. </div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-20312095116130229782014-11-17T16:28:00.001-05:002014-11-17T17:16:00.074-05:00Everything's Alright<div>
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There are some snow flurries outside, it's my seventh full year in Pittsburgh. My ad is around town, most notably it's near Heinz Field, the Carnegie Science Center, and Three Rivers Casino.<br />
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The photo shoot was a little over two months ago, I remember it like it was yesterday because it was the first paid gig I'd had as a model. Now, I'm less than three weeks away from opening night at the Kelly StrayhornTheater. </div>
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The only thing I have to do before then is memorize my singing solo, practice feeling the lines, and work on getting into character regularly. </div>
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The show will do well in Pittsburgh, but I'm more concerned about the traveling and how it may impact my work schedule. </div>
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Depending on when we travel, I may have to take off work. We're going to the South and the Midwest. North Carolina: Greensboro and Charlotte. Illinois: Chicago. </div>
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We may do other theaters around town and add cities to the roster. Well, this is a significant milestone in my life. The back-to-back interviews, auditions, and paid gigs means that things will only get better next year. </div>
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The number of times that I've wanted to give up are numerous, but thank God that I persisted and never let my bad attitude get in the way of my potential. </div>
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Who knows who may be sitting in the audience?</div>
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Perhaps I may get noticed by a theater company, recording company, or talent agency. For now, I'm just enjoying my first entry in a while and the first on my smartphone. In a few days, I'll be 26 and soon afterward, I'll know about the professional jobs and it will be Thanksgiving. Physically I'm in the best shape of my life and will only improve on the road and once I get a footing in the corporate world, besides carbs, I've sworn off other things in order to stay fit. </div>
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Regardless of what I may not possess, there's so much to give thanks for this year. For instance, my mother and sister flew up to see me a little over a month ago and put the fire under my belly to get better at my craft and have something to show for my 20s.<br />
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I have to constantly remind myself that some people never get the opportunities that I have and despite what I lack, or live past a certain age, especially in the black community...one day I will never go without. I claim it and speak it into existence. Thank you Jesus for blessing me. </div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-61697569516308950752014-09-21T22:22:00.001-04:002014-11-17T17:16:21.920-05:00La victoria es míaAfter defeating my landlord (successfully winning a civil suit against him) and beating all the false criminal charges dropped that were filed by the local police department, I'm becoming more confident in my abilities to overcome adversity and more importantly to stand up for what I know is right.<br />
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The District Attorney of Allegheny County conceded that there was insufficient evidence to find me guilty of even a summary offense. Therefore, after what I hope is my final appearance in court for 2014, I won't have a criminal record.<br />
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Nevertheless, it strikes me as odd that in most American cities, four-fifths of the black population has a criminal record. After a year of postponing court dates and getting all the facts straight, volunteering, and proclaiming innocence, I'll be able to expunge my records on 10/08/2014, which is the last time I'll appear in court for that offense.<br />
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The reason the majority of black males, in particular, have records may not be because they're the most aggressive group of men on the planet, but rather because they're the first to be profiled and are targets of the criminal justice system. I want to file a civil suit after getting everything removed from my record, perhaps that's what the detective fears. But, this sort of thing needs to stop. We need to be made aware of all the options available to us as citizens. Information asymmetry is hurting the profession as much as it was hurting the health care market in the U.S.<br />
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Solving problems of incarceration, unemployment, and lack of social mobility will not be helped by these court officials. We need to have a different approach to penalize people who may indeed commit criminal acts. The court system is too confusing. Perhaps, the private sector ought to form start-ups aimed at making the system more egalitarian for defendants. Of course, more reform needs to first occur in order to ensure that the transparency is totally legal, but in the future. It should not be as complex to mount a sophisticated argument against someone, even if it's the police department.<br />
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I'm not surprised by my wins, I'm moving forward more shrewd than ever and making sure to keep a low profile as I re-focus on my burgeoning modeling/acting career, learning new technical skills, and reforming my start-up ideas. The last quarter of this year will likely be more productive than this time last year because I'm no longer worried about the legal issues that I had to face this past year and everything will be pristine on paper after the second week of October.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-5478917803680151032014-08-20T17:31:00.001-04:002014-08-20T17:31:40.600-04:00Legal ZoomNow, the best news is that I beat my landlord in court.<br /><br />The judge ruled in my favor. The landlord has no right to do anything illegal in order to obtain rent.<br /><br />This meant that the whole month of July, I was able to live in the apartment rent-free.<br /><br /><br />The bad news is that I still haven't found another place to move.<br /><br /><br />However, since winning in court, the landlord has been much more amicable and actually declared a truce.<br /><br />Every day, I ask people for job leads and there are a number of them. In a couple weeks, I'm going to court to get a prior legal issue resolved. It will be a whole eleven months since getting into a heap of trouble over something that is relatively minuscule.<br /><br />The one positive about this whole situation is that I'm much more cautious about everything that I do. Taking less risks and laying low for awhile seems like a wonderful idea.<br /><br />Jobs come and go, but character lasts for a lifetime. Although we all make mistakes, for whatever reason people magnify some of those that I make while ignoring their own.<br /><br /><br />Zoom out and appreciate the human behind the writing. Whenever, I can, I give back to worthy causes and God knows that I have a good heart for people. Nevertheless, sometimes I run before walking and don't take the time to really read instructions or look the other way when crossing the road. Life doesn't come with an instruction manual.<br /><br />Zoom into your own life and notice how judgmental and condescending you may sometimes be when dealing with other people. The more you realize how sanctimonious you may seem, the easier it is to change and identify with those who have struggled in life.<br /><br />When I finally do get my act together, which isn't a single moment, but rather an ongoing process, I'm sure I'll zoom out and appreciate these struggles and the number of lessons I learned along the path to wisdom.<br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-87946916599781065812014-06-04T19:34:00.000-04:002014-06-04T19:34:19.326-04:00Legal Issues<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;">Court is a place that I do not want to become familiar with, however, due to some legal troubles, I'll appear thrice this year. Rather than sugarcoat everything, I'm going to address the issue right here. From my perspective, the court case tomorrow is about getting compensated for all the times that the landlord has made threats against me. Landlords are supposed to collect rent, hire contractors, cleaners, and those able to upkeep a property. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;">The landlord that I have had over the past year has to reacquaint himself with his job description. In the last two months, the behavior that the landlord displayed towards his tenants became more unstable. Whenever I have been late in the past, the landlord commits questionable acts. For instance, stealing items from my room and trying to instigate a fight, putting a board on my bedroom door, taking the door off its hinges entirely, which exposes my room to all the visitors in the apartment and the roommates, and finally making threats about following me to work and fucking me up. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;">These questionable acts grew worse because they were never reported and since landlords tend to have power in our society, none of his tenants have the gall to face him and his attorneys in court. However, the landlord met his match the minute he allowed me to stay on his property. Although it is going to be tough to prove my side beyond a reasonable doubt, I want to go forward and show him that I'm not afraid of doing the right thing. Besides, if no one else cares about their well-being and possessions, that does not mean that I have to follow suit. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.799999237060547px;">I'll continue sharing details, especially as the cases unfold and I make sense of everything (positive and negative) that has occurred in the past few years. It's a shame that it's been a whole year since I updated any blogs. </span><br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-86835644432055878412013-03-25T16:17:00.001-04:002013-04-01T16:21:30.610-04:00Palm SundaySo, instead of going to church, I went to the library and managed to contact one of my friends who is also in Computer Science.<br />
<br />
This
is one of the nicest people that I know in Pittsburgh. Fortunately,
this was an ongoing problem with making sure that the operating system
and office suite could be replaced.<br />
<br />
Thus, when I managed to
get to the library and tried installing Windows BIOS on the external
hard drive, the device was not able to install anything on BIOS.<br />
<br />
<i>Besides, </i>when
I contacted one of my friends, he let me know that Ubuntu was a good
OS, and it's free. After going to RadioShack and buying the DVDs, I
trekked back to the library and managed to download Ubuntu. After
downloading Ubuntu and burning it on a DVD, I put BIOS on a DVD. So, I
didn't use more than two DVDs. I have like 8 to 10 left. I also have
tons of space left on my external as well.<br />
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="40" id="gsSong3247480052" name="gsSong3247480052" width="250"><param name="movie" value="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" /><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=32474800&style=metal&p=0" /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40"><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=32474800&style=metal&p=0" /><span><a href="http://grooveshark.com/search/song?q=Max%20Steiner%20Belle%20Watling%20and%20Melanie" title="Belle Watling and Melanie by Max Steiner on Grooveshark">Belle Watling and Melanie by Max Steiner on Grooveshark</a></span></object></object><br />
While travelling back to the library, I had pizza and fries. This is the last fast food meal that I'm eating before the marathon. The last thing that I need is to register and simultaneously get a gym membership. I also have to get my W-2 forms sent to my father's accountant.<br />
<br />
In order to be happy, I'll likely need to file taxes for the last year. It's incredibly daunting to maintain a schedule and control my diet and start a business, but it can be done.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the day wound up being productive. Apparently, there's supposed to be a snow storm coming through the area tonight and the effects of the storm will leave the city covered in snow. Fortunately, some places will still be open tomorrow. I'm definitely going to take pictures of the city and make sure to indulge the readers with views of the city covered in snow. The photos of my cleaned bedroom need to be posted as well.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-9020151574804164072013-03-14T01:15:00.000-04:002013-03-26T22:23:38.260-04:00Wednesdays are WhimsicalI'm going to put pictures of my purchases on the site. I went shopping (a little) and will continue to do so in the next few weeks.<br />
<br />
I only buy things that will actually be useful, I don't shop for useless new clothes, but things that enhance my credibility. <div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-68572450549543146262013-02-22T23:13:00.001-05:002013-03-26T22:36:19.916-04:00Fridays and FantasizingWhen I woke up, I was very tired, but I made it through the day. I ate breakfast and went straight to work on accomplishing my agenda.<br />
<br />
Breakfast was very good. I ate more than once. After breakfast, I went straight to the job centre. The interior of this place was well-designed. I appreciate impressive interior design and the ability to carve a narrative within a building.<br />
<br />
The office spaces were modern and artistic, it's amazing how under-utilized these places are in the Pittsburgh area.<br />
<br />
I sat in the office and typed a very thorough cover letter, it was one of the more heartfelt letters that I have ever written and explained the barriers that sometimes get in the way of my achievements.<br />
It's easy for people to talk about why they'd make a perfect fit to any company, but it isn't easy to evaluate why the hiring manager should consider someone else. It's important to be honest about your reasons for a certain position. It's not important to attain the position, but to maintain integrity.<br />
<br />
Finally, around the time that I had to leave for the meeting with a school official I got sidetracked by a conversation via text message. I realized that the person was trying to start their business, but the only problem was the company required a very large down payment. There are too many people that want to become entrepreneurs, but are really unable to make a huge payment or investment. The MLM companies are very iffy sometimes, so one must be apprehensive about just joining an organization.<br />
<br />
I downloaded a program to convert FLAC audio files to MP3, but the issue with the program is still unknown I'm going to figure out who can help me with this problem within the next few days.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow, no matter what happens, I'm going to email the person that I've been meaning to email for a while now. The guy's name is Alex Taussig and this idea that I have needs tweaking, but I think with enough determination, I can see the project through to fruition.<br />
<br />
After working on my resume and cover letter, I went to the university to meet with Lenny Chan and this person was interested in explaining a certain hearing that will take place on March 5th. I have to prepare a ten minute speech without interruption. This will be my most important speech yet.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-13326790984851826952013-02-22T22:16:00.001-05:002013-03-26T22:36:43.763-04:00Thursdays and TrailblazingSince I'm actually writing this from memory, the details may be a little spotty.<br />
<br />
The day started out beautifully. The first thing that I did was get something to eat. After breakfast, I went to AT&T store because the phone was not working.<br />
<br />
When I got to the AT&T store, I managed to explain the problem to the customer service representative and the person asked if I wanted to use my debit card.<br />
<br />
I was trying to renew the plan online, and over the phone, but every time the operator said the card was declined. The issue with the card is still unknown. I have funds available in my account and the funds were very much available on both occasions, but the problem with the card is that it's not a credit card, it's only a debit card.<br />
<br />
Wells Fargo has given me trouble for quite some time. It's definitely not something that I want to write about because it has way too many problems to list.<br />
<br />
The day went rather smoothly. The library was the next destination. The library was the place where I picked up a book that I had on hold. The library is a wonderful place.<br />
<br />
Then, I went on campus to request a meeting with a school official. After scheduling the meeting. I went home and went to the YMCA.<br />
<br />
The YMCA has a Careers Links site and the place has computers, printers, copiers, and other items for those that are serious about employment. The school is not a good place to do all those things because they charge for everything, but these head-hunters will allow you to do these things for free.<br />
<br />
After that, I got home and had a phone interview with a company. The company offered a position, but the second round interview has to happen and the nearest location is Philadelphia. The job requires a huge time commitment and I'm not certain that it's a job that will allow me to get out of debt within a year. So, I have to keep applying myself to various positions to keep my head above water and also work on building new skills.<br />
<br />
After the job interview, I tried making a phone call, but the phone company kept sending me messages stating that the plan did not renew because my balance was too low. I realize that I must get a real phone plan as opposed to a pre-paid plan, or use Skype, or just not have a cell phone at all because the bill really adds up.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I could schedule Skype interviews for the next two interviews. This is one of those times where I feel the need to use the time without a phone to innovate and perhaps I will.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-50156258666370854042013-02-20T09:46:00.001-05:002013-02-20T13:46:33.657-05:00Tuesdays are for Reviewing<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16627018" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="427"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<b> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/reidhoffman/startup-of-you-visual-summary" target="_blank" title="Start-up of You, Visual Summary">Start-up of You, Visual Summary</a> </b> from <b><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/reidhoffman" target="_blank">Reid Hoffman</a></b> </div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
The slide show featured here is from, Ben Casnocha,
and his co-author Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn. If you haven’t
already guessed, it summarizes their popular book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Start-up-You-Transform-ebook/dp/B0050DIWHU" target="_blank">The Start Up of You</a>.<br />
Under the <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/reidhoffman/startup-of-you-visual-summary" target="_blank">original posting</a> of this slide show, Reid writes:<br />
<div style="padding-left: 30px;">
<i>In commemoration of a year in print, we present the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Start-up-You-Transform-ebook/dp/B0050DIWHU" target="_blank">Start Up of You</a> in visual summary. The last year has continued to demonstrate how work and <a href="http://uncommonmusings.com/video/start-up-of-you-executive-summary/#" id="_GPLITA_0" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">careers</a> need a new entrepreneurial mindset for everyone, not just entrepreneurs.</i></div>
While not all of these ideas will be viewed as novel to a seasoned <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://uncommonmusings.com/video/start-up-of-you-executive-summary/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">entrepreneur</a></nobr>, it is always good to be explicitly reminded of them.<br />
<br />
I picked this book up and couldn't put it down. It's a very short read and this visual executive summary captures its essence. The book explains how the minute people leave college, they stop reading and start keeping up with the Joneses, which is not conducive to developing their own competitive advantage.<br />
<br />
<b></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b><br /></b>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
There's
research indicating that "Keeping up with the Joneses" is worsened by
social networking. “The results suggest that greater social network use
is associated with a
higher body-mass index, increased binge eating, a lower credit score,
and higher levels of credit-card debt for individuals with strong ties
to their social network,” the researchers wrote. Read more about how <a href="http://www.news.pitt.edu/socialmedia_selfcontrol">Social Networks May Inflate Self-Esteem, Reduce Self-Control</a>.</div>
</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">In
the coming months, I'm going to get serious about my grooming,
etiquette, intonation, enunciation, elocution, and cadence. As an
aspiring businessperson, I must invest in myself. I am a product. And I
definitely need to receive more training.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">To
be a powerful entrepreneur you must interact face-to-face with people;
it's old school, but also the best way to communicate. Entrepreneurship
is not only about solid ideas, but also presentation and the ability to
stand out. Closed mouths do not receive funding and shy people tend to
have a harder time in business.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I also need to network with other
aspiring entrepreneurs. Like attract like. You're the sum of the five people that you hang around the
most, so choose your friends carefully. Employees at the water cooler
tend to hang out with other employees at the water cooler. There's a
crab in the barrel mentality in most organizations and this stifles
progress and innovation. </span> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-78833709101186962292013-02-16T18:50:00.002-05:002013-03-26T22:37:49.789-04:00Saturdays are for SpoiledThis morning I got up really early and attempted to clean my living quarters. I must have failed miserably because this room is still very messy; however, after this blog post, I'm going to get serious about the cleanliness of my room and do my best to organize my life. <br />
<br />
I woke up really early because I had to withdraw the money that I put in my account yesterday. The sad thing about being an adult is seeing your money go towards things like taxes, rent, and other expenses.<br />
<br />
After going to the bank, there was another item on my agenda for the day, mainly waiting to see why I got declined for a personal loan. I waited for over an hour, but the banker was with a customer or two and therefore I just left and asked the security guard on my way out what time the bank closed on Saturday and he said, "We close at 3PM."<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FafYfGHnL8A/USApxD5kmOI/AAAAAAAACI4/BUyKo--lgpA/s1600/P1000279.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FafYfGHnL8A/USApxD5kmOI/AAAAAAAACI4/BUyKo--lgpA/s640/P1000279.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
After eating brunch, I waited for the bus and asked the guy at the stop if he knew what time PNC Bank up on Fifth Avenue closed. The guy lifted his head from the book he was reading, slowly pausing his usual bus stop routine to answer. In a soft-spoken tone he replied, "I don't know."<br />
<br />
Then, I proceeded to ask him another question, but the guy interrupted, "I know the one in Squirrel Hill doesn't close until 4PM." And I thanked the man for the responses, which determined which side of the street I would get on.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nh5Ydc7pH44/USArmn1_ZJI/AAAAAAAACJE/6rfmQXRTpJo/s1600/P1000556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nh5Ydc7pH44/USArmn1_ZJI/AAAAAAAACJE/6rfmQXRTpJo/s320/P1000556.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
After a moment of contemplation, I crossed the street and within minutes, I got on the 71D. I went up Fifth until around Atwood St. When I got off, I was tempted to eat fast food, but I resisted because I had some food that I was toting around in my duffel bag. It was rather chilly while I waited for the bus.<br />
The bus came maybe twenty minutes after waiting. I caught the 71C. I got off before the Giant Eagle stop on Negley because I wanted to get the "royal" treatment. I hadn't received a manicure or a pedicure in ages and since I'm very hopeful that I will be successful, I decided to just do it, just treat myself to some amenities. I thoroughly enjoyed the warm water that my feet lived in for all of twenty minutes. While my feet were not in bad shape before the spa pedicure, it only helped me feel a little bitter in the middle of a cold winter's day in Pittsburgh. <br />
<br />
After the spa pedicure, I walked over to the spot where the stylists do manicures. The manicure section is actually where I got the clear polish on my feet. It's not optional to get the clear polish and they charge extra. It's a shame that not everything's included and that they don't list the prices upfront. Perhaps I should not have done something spontaneous, I thought while I swiped my card. At the end of the treatment, I was excited because I felt refreshed. After waiting an additional five minutes, the correct bus came and I got off within minutes to go get a quote from the teller and ask what steps I'd have to take to get that personal loan.<br />
The teller explained why I was denied the funds in the first place and I understand that my credit utilization ratio is too high. The bank wants to know that my personal expenses are low enough to acquire debt and pay it off in a reasonable time frame. Banks used to be more lackadaisical about lending, but after the crisis, the rules have changed quite a bit. I thanked the teller and proceeded to catch the last bus home. <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Basically, if you actually need a loan, you more than likely will not qualify, especially for the low interest rates that most banks have. If you have money, you can do pretty much anything you want. Not having money is huge hindrance, but it can be overcome with unwavering fortitude.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
These are the highlights of my Saturday. <div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-44301933312609124292013-02-14T23:27:00.002-05:002013-03-26T22:44:34.470-04:00Valentine's Day and Venture Capitalists<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d3tDNPUHLZo/UR234xgFsbI/AAAAAAAAB2Y/W9B3BkcjqyU/s1600/donut-donut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I managed to resist coffee, which means that I've been completely drug-free for quite some time now.</div>
Caffeine is a terrible drug and so many people think that it aids productivity, but at what cost?<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PtUH_jAtQdk/UR24JEz1l7I/AAAAAAAAB3Y/Zr1KWd55YBg/s1600/coffee-leaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I don't want my teeth to become yellow, heart to race unnecessarily, and the other issues that stem from protracted use of coffee.<br />
<br />
I ate sweets in the morning, which is really bad. Diabetes runs in the family. Tomorrow, I'm going to commit to a gym membership and make sure to run as many miles as possible when I get there. I will also run outside because it's getting warmer in Pittsburgh.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LKh9-V7vZFA/UR3XDNWgu_I/AAAAAAAACA4/sbWD7wrdpVs/s1600/P1000124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LKh9-V7vZFA/UR3XDNWgu_I/AAAAAAAACA4/sbWD7wrdpVs/s320/P1000124.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qy1JZQin9DU/UR3cDVn4BmI/AAAAAAAACDI/yc7Spe7oY6Y/s1600/P1000125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qy1JZQin9DU/UR3cDVn4BmI/AAAAAAAACDI/yc7Spe7oY6Y/s320/P1000125.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PFzbeehiAKw/UR3cNjAiH-I/AAAAAAAACDQ/9eEYYhm-P3E/s1600/P1000135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PFzbeehiAKw/UR3cNjAiH-I/AAAAAAAACDQ/9eEYYhm-P3E/s320/P1000135.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I went to the library and read excerpts from <u>The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home </u>(I'm on the part about revenge...hmm) and checked the time to make sure I wasn't late for the lecture.</div>
</div>
<br />
In 2013, I strive to be polite and punctual at all times.<br />
<a name='more'></a><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pRFEz2MjZgg?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="fullname">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Alex Taussig is a venture capitalist that gave a very thorough business presentation on <a href="http://summer.hcp.com/">Summer@Highland</a>. Taussig went to Harvard for his undergraduate education, MIT for graduate school, and Harvard Business School.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I love both Harvard and MIT. I have been to both schools several times and have friends who are currently attending or have attended. Follow Alex on <a href="https://twitter.com/ataussig">Twitter</a>.</span></div>
<div class="fullname">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The lecture lasted for about an hour, Taussig ended early in an effort to take questions. </span><br />
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<br />
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</div>
Hate is the most useless of all emotions; success is the best revenge. Being a scholar doesn't pay as much as being a baller.<br />
<br />
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</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Modeling is surprisingly useful because it encourages creativity and emotional intelligence. It takes a great deal of courage to get up and start posing for a random stranger. Besides modeling, I've performed in front of thousands with the Majestic Praise Choir. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I need to work on developing quiet confidence outside of a group setting. It takes skill to become confident in a one-on-one setting. Toastmasters is definitely helpful. Of course, I'm going to get a sponsor. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IyetWxMFeUE?rel=0" width="420"></iframe> </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Kim Kiyosaki doesn't enthusiastically promote bootstrapping; instead she and her husband, Robert, use other people's money to get rich.</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Only lazy people use their own money….it takes more energy to get other
people to invest in your own idea and to make it a success.” –<b>Kim Kiyosaki</b></blockquote>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NQ_d2jN7gbQ?rel=0" width="420"></iframe> <b></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
There's research indicating that "Keeping up with the Joneses" is worsened by social networking. “The results suggest that greater social network use is associated with a
higher body-mass index, increased binge eating, a lower credit score,
and higher levels of credit-card debt for individuals with strong ties
to their social network,” the researchers wrote. Read more about how <a href="http://www.news.pitt.edu/socialmedia_selfcontrol">Social Networks May Inflate Self-Esteem, Reduce Self-Control</a>.</div>
</div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">In the coming months, I'm going to get serious about my grooming, etiquette, intonation, enunciation, elocution, and cadence. As an aspiring businessperson, I must invest in myself. I am a product. And I definitely need to receive more training.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I've already pitched my idea to family, friends, Daniel Karpantschof, Ryan Blair and Jonah Lupton, but lacked the courage to speak with Alex after the lecture, but I will e-mail him in a couple days. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">To be a powerful entrepreneur you must interact face-to-face with people; it's old school, but also the best way to communicate. Entrepreneurship is not only about solid ideas, but also presentation and the ability to stand out. Closed mouths do not receive funding and shy people tend to have a harder time in business.The lecture was not crowded at all and there was ample opportunity to speak up and interact with the speaker.</span></div>
<div class="fullname">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I also need to network with other aspiring entrepreneurs. It's difficult to maneuver the cash flow quadrant. You're the sum of the five people that you hang around the most, so choose your friends carefully. Employees at the water cooler tend to hang out with other employees at the water cooler. There's a crab in the barrel mentality in most organizations and this stifles progress and innovation. </span></div>
<div class="fullname">
<br /></div>
<div class="fullname">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I have to admit that my technical skills need serious improvement, in order to build a strong team, I must speak their language. Coding and programming are literally like learning new languages and it takes a great deal of patience and dedication to find a team that is formidable.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="fullname">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I only have one other person that is interested in joining, I need to use my sales skills and knack for presentation to recruit another member. Ideally, it would be nice to have four people, but three will suffice.</span></div>
<div class="fullname">
<br /></div>
<div class="fullname">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Taussig did a fantastic job today and inspired me to take my credentials more seriously. Although Kiyosaki contends school is <b>over-rated</b>; however, I tend to agree with this assertion:</span><br />
<br />
“You can never be <b>over-dressed</b> or <b>over-educated</b>.”–<b>Oscar Wilde</b></div>
<div class="fullname">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">In the coming days I will submit my plan to the three organizations that will likely be able to fund the venture and use the time between submission to improve my skill set. </span></div>
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</div>
The lecture was held in the Gates-Hillman Center for Computer Science. After the lecture I went to a study. It's important to support research studies, I know how difficult it is to recruit people to partake in these studies, I used to recruit people.<br />
<br />
After the study, I went home and then took a little nap. After the nap, I went to the Waterfront to refill my phone and to go window shopping.<br />
I plan on buying some new clothes this weekend. Appearances do matter after all. There are numerous studies that demonstrate why attractive people tend to get promoted faster, are viewed as more credible, and definitely tend to succeed more than their unattractive counterparts in life.<br />
<br />
So, I have many pressing things on my plate: wardrobe, improving skill set, business plan refinement, and last, but not least, improving public speaking ability.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-5050352427892652742013-02-13T20:25:00.000-05:002013-03-26T22:42:17.737-04:00Wednesdays and ProductivityI finally finished Robert Kiyosaki's book <u>Unfair Advantage</u> it's actually a good read. I haven't read <u>Rich Dad, Poor Dad</u> but this is one of his later works that was published after the subprime mortgage fiasco.<br />
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It's interesting that Kiyosaki's audiobook is not available on the internet, especially not on YouTube. It would be nice to have something like a Slideshare for this book, or a downloadable PDF.<br />
<br />
I wanted to review this book before digressing into my life.<br />
<br />
Kiyosaki makes a distinction between the two phrases best-selling and best-writing author. Kiyosaki never claims that he is a wonderful writer. After all, he flunked out of school several times because he was a terrible speller, grammarian, and writer. Nevertheless, Kiyosaki has valuable life experiences that have helped him become the successful entrepreneur that he is today.<br />
<br />
In this book he puts some questionable graphs that demonstrate why banks are not keen on promoting saving. Kiyosaki details the reason why savers produce liabilities for banks and encourages responsible borrowing. When Kiyosaki explains the difference between bad debt and good debt, I actually understand what he's talking about. Good debt is debt that increases your asset column.<br />
<br />
When Zuckerberg received funding from investors, he was increasing his debt load. Zuckerberg is one of the prominent CEOs that used debt to get ahead financially. Besides Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman borrowed money and writes about how debt can increase entrepreneurship.<br />
<br />
There are some people in personal finance that encourage their audiences to be debt-free, but Kiyosaki shows how being debt-free is not a feasible alternative to the crisis that we face. Being debt-free is a fantasy because banks need borrowers in our economy. Of course, some economists may fervently disagree; but Kiyosaki has managed to turn skeptics into believers. Kiyosaki promotes conscious consumption and not frivolous spending, the former is an example of good debt and the latter of bad debt.<br />
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I agreed with Kiyosaki about placing hard-earned cash into banks. Saving takes very little financial intelligence, if any, because all you do is park your money in a financial institution. The interest that you garner from a savings account is far less than 28%. Savers are losers because instead of parking their money in an account, the person could make their money work for them or even borrow money as an investment. <br />
<br />
It's important to not be too busy to learn how to become wealthy. The average person is too busy paying the bills to read and learn how to take their money and multiply it. The Bible has a parable about talents and Kiyosaki repeatedly quotes a verse Hosea 4:6 "My people perish from a lack of knowledge."<br />
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The terminology that I was exposed to while reading this book was a little novel. Most of what I read I've seen prior, but many times you may read and not understand a concept until someone explains it to you like you're a child and Kiyosaki is better than most at taking complex issues and simplifying it.<br />
<br />
There's not much to report in terms of personal life stories today. I managed to get up early and take a nice shower. I got my edges done at the barbershop in East Liberty and the total cost was $6. I also successfully network with people while I'm out. I asked the barber about apprenticeships and he told me where to go to become certified. I also applied at a local non-profit organization.<br />
<br />
I have a pre-paid phone service from AT&T and have to refill my account for the next month. It's incredibly difficult to focus on my phone, but in order to make more money, I have to get this phone on by tomorrow morning. I have a very important function tomorrow and a study to take afterwards.<br />
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Valentine's Day is one of the more lonely days for me. It's something that I've always struggled with, finding that special someone is something that I will worry about sooner or later. For now, I have to really focus on decreasing my expenses and paying off my bad debt and learning how to use good debt to get ahead financially. I have to do some of this within the next two days, it's a self-imposed deadline.<br />
<br />
I have to clean my room and answer an annoying series of emails before midnight tonight. I also wanted to share Steve Pavlina with some of my readers. <br />
<br />
Productivity heuristics are behavioural rules (some general, some
situation-specific) that can help us get things done more efficiently.
Here are some of my favourites:
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Nuke it! </b>The most efficient way to get through a task is to <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity/#" id="_GPLITA_2" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">delete</a> it. If it doesn’t need to be done, get it off your to do list.</li>
<li><b>Daily goals.</b> Without a clear focus, it’s too easy
to succumb to distractions. Set targets for each day in advance.
Decide what you’ll do; then do it.</li>
<li><b>Worst first.</b> To defeat procrastination learn to
tackle your most unpleasant task first thing in the morning instead of
delaying it until later in the day. This small victory will set the
tone for a very productive day.</li>
<li><b>Peak times.</b> Identify your peak cycles of
productivity, and schedule your most important tasks for those times.
Work on minor tasks during your non-peak times.</li>
<li><b>No-comm zones.</b> Allocate <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">uninterruptible</a></nobr>
blocks of time for solo work where you must concentrate. Schedule
light, interruptible tasks for your open-comm periods and more
challenging projects for your no-comm periods.</li>
<li><b>Mini-milestones.</b> When you begin a task, identify
the target you must reach before you can stop working. For example,
when working on a book, you could decide not to get up until you’ve
written at least 1000 words. Hit your target no matter what.</li>
<li><b>Timeboxing.</b> Give yourself a fixed time period,
like 30 minutes, to make a dent in a task. Don’t worry about how far
you get. Just put in the time. See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2004/10/timeboxing/" target="_blank">Timeboxing</a> for more.</li>
<li><b>Batching.</b> Batch similar tasks like <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity/#" id="_GPLITA_4" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">phone</a> calls or errands into a single chunk, and knock them off in a single session.</li>
<li><b>Early bird.</b> Get up early in the morning, like at
5am, and go straight to work on your most important task. You can often
get more done before 8am than most people do in a day.</li>
<li><b>Cone of silence.</b> Take a <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity/#" id="_GPLITA_3" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">laptop</a> with no <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity/#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">network</a></nobr>
or WiFi access, and go to a place where you can work flat out without
distractions, such as a library, park, coffee house, or your own
backyard. Leave your comm gadgets behind.</li>
<li><b>Tempo.</b> Deliberately pick up the pace, and try to
move a little faster than usual. Speak faster. Walk faster. Type
faster. Read faster. Go home sooner.</li>
<li><b>Relaxify.</b> Reduce stress by cultivating a relaxing, clutter-free workspace. See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/06/10-ways-to-relaxify-your-workspace/" target="_blank">10 Ways to Relaxify Your Workspace</a>.</li>
<li><b>Agendas.</b> Provide clear written agendas to meeting
participants in advance. This greatly improves meeting focus and
efficiency. You can use it for phone calls too.</li>
<li><b>Pareto.</b> The Pareto principle is the 80-20 rule,
which states that 80% of the value of a task comes from 20% of the
effort. Focus your energy on that critical 20%, and don’t overengineer
the non-critical 80%.</li>
<li><b>Ready-fire-aim.</b> Bust procrastination by taking
action immediately after setting a goal, even if the action isn’t
perfectly planned. You can always adjust course along the way.</li>
<li><b>Minuteman.</b> Once you have the information you need
to make a decision, start a timer and give yourself just 60 seconds to
make the actual decision. Take a whole minute to vacillate and
second-guess yourself all you want, but come out the other end with a
clear choice. Once your decision is made, take some kind of action to
set it in motion.</li>
<li><b>Deadline.</b> Set a deadline for task completion, and use it as a focal point to stay on track.</li>
<li><b>Promise.</b> Tell others of your commitments, since they’ll help hold you accountable.</li>
<li><b>Punctuality.</b> Whatever it takes, show up on time. Arrive early.</li>
<li><b>Gap reading.</b> Use reading to fill in those odd
periods like waiting for an appointment, standing in line, or while the
coffee is brewing. If you’re a male, you can even read an article while
shaving (preferably with an electric razor). That’s 365 articles a
year.</li>
<li><b>Resonance.</b> Visualize your goal as already
accomplished. Put yourself into a state of actually being there. Make
it real in your mind, and you’ll soon see it in your reality.</li>
<li><b>Glittering prizes.</b> Give yourself frequent rewards
for achievement. See a movie, book a professional massage, or spend a
day at an amusement park.</li>
<li><b>Quad 2.</b> Separate the truly important tasks from
the merely urgent. Allocate blocks of time to work on the critical
Quadrant 2 tasks, those which are important but rarely urgent, such as
physical exercise, writing a book, and finding a relationship partner.</li>
<li><b>Continuum.</b> At the end of your workday, identify
the first task you’ll work on the next day, and set out the materials in
advance. The next day begin working on that task immediately.</li>
<li><b>Slice and dice.</b> Break complex projects into smaller, well-defined tasks. Focus on completing just one of those tasks.</li>
<li><b>Single-handling.</b> Once you begin a task, stick with
it until it’s 100% complete. Don’t switch tasks in the middle. When
distractions come up, jot them down to be dealt with later.</li>
<li><b>Randomize.</b> Pick a totally random piece of a larger
project, and complete it. Pay one random bill. Make one phone call.
Write page 42 of your book.</li>
<li><b>Insanely bad.</b> Defeat perfectionism by completing
your task in an intentionally terrible fashion, knowing you need never
share the results with anyone. Write a blog post about the taste of
salt, design a hideously dysfunctional web site, or create a business
plan that guarantees a first-year bankruptcy. With a truly horrendous
first draft, there’s nowhere to go but up.</li>
<li><b>30 days.</b> Identify a new habit you’d like to form,
and commit to sticking with it for just 30 days. A temporary commitment
is much easier to keep than a permanent one. See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/04/30-days-to-success/" target="_blank">30 Days to Success</a> for details.</li>
<li><b>Delegate.</b> Convince someone else to do it for you.</li>
<li><b>Cross-pollination.</b> Sign up for martial arts, start
a blog, or join an improv group. You’ll often encounter ideas in one
field that can boost your performance in another.</li>
<li><b>Intuition.</b> Go with your gut instinct. It’s probably right.</li>
<li><b>Optimization.</b> Identify the processes you use most
often, and write them down step-by-step. Refactor them on paper for
greater efficiency. Then implement and test your improved processes.
Sometimes we just can’t see what’s right in front of us until we examine
it under a microscope.</li>
</ol>
So here are 33 more rules to boost your productivity:<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Super Slow.</b> Commit yourself to working on a
particularly hideous project for just one session a week, 15-30 minutes
total. Declutter one small shelf. Purge 10 clothing items you don’t
need. Write a few paragraphs. Then stop.</li>
<li><b>Dailies.</b> Schedule a specific time each day for
working on a particular task or habit. One hour a day could leave you
with a finished book, or a profitable Internet business a year later.</li>
<li><b>Add-ons.</b> Tack a task you want to habitualize onto
one of your existing habits. Water the plants after you eat lunch.
Send thank-you notes after you check email.</li>
<li><b>Plug-ins.</b> Inject one task into the middle of
another. Read while eating lunch. Return phone calls while commuting.
Listen to podcasts while grocery shopping.</li>
<li><b>Gratitude.</b> When someone does you a good turn, send
a thank-you card. That’s a real card, not an e-card. This is rare and
memorable, and the people you thank will be eager to bring you more
opportunities.</li>
<li><b>Training.</b> Train up your skill in various
productivity habits. Get your typing speed to at least 60wpm, if not
90. Learn to speed-read or <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/photoreading/" target="_blank">PhotoRead</a>. Develop your <a href="http://www.toastmasters.org/" target="_blank">communication skills</a>.</li>
<li><b>Software.</b> Take advantage of productivity software to boost your effectiveness. <a href="http://www.lifehacker.com/" target="_blank">Lifehacker</a> recommends new items every week.</li>
<li><b>Zone out.</b> Enter the zone of peak creativity, and watch your output soar. See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/01/7-rules-for-maximizing-your-creative-output/" target="_blank">7 Rules for Maximizing Your Creative Output</a>.</li>
<li><b>Denial.</b> Just say no to non-critical requests for your time.</li>
<li><b>Recapture.</b> Reclaim other people’s poor time usage
for yourself. Visualize your goals during dull speeches. Write out
your grocery list during pointless meetings.</li>
<li><b>Mastermind.</b> Run your problem past someone else,
preferably a group of people. Invite all the advice, feedback, and
constructive criticism you can handle.</li>
<li><b>Twenty.</b> Take a piece of paper, number 1-20, and
don’t stop until you’ve listed 20 creative ideas for improving your
productivity. See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/04/20-ways-to-improve/" target="_blank">20 Ways to Improve</a>.</li>
<li><b>Challenger.</b> Deliberately make the task harder.
Challenging tasks are more engaging than boring ones. Compose an
original poem for your next blog post. Create a Power Point
presentation that doesn’t use words.</li>
<li><b>Asylum.</b> Complete an otherwise tedious task in an
unusual or crazy manner to keep it interesting. Make phone calls
using pretend foreign accents. Fill out government paperwork in crayon.</li>
<li><b>Music.</b> Experiment to discover how music may boost
your productivity. Try fast-paced music for email, classical or new age
for project work, and total silence for high-concentration creative
work.</li>
<li><b>Scotty.</b> Estimate how long a task will take to complete. Then start a timer, and push yourself to complete it in half that time.</li>
<li><b>Pay it forward.</b> When an undesirable task is delegated to you, re-delegate it to someone else.</li>
<li><b>Bouncer.</b> When a seemingly pointless task is
delegated to you, bounce it back to the person who assigned it to you,
and challenge them to justify its operational necessity.</li>
<li><b>Opt-out.</b> Quit clubs, projects, and subscriptions that consume more of your time than they’re worth.</li>
<li><b>Decaffeinate.</b> Say no to drugs, suffer through the withdrawal period, and let your natural creative self re-emerge. See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-give-up-coffee/" target="_blank">How to Give Up Coffee</a>.</li>
<li><b>Triage.</b> Save the lives of your important projects by killing those that are going to die anyway.</li>
<li><b>Conscious procrastination.</b> Delay non-critical tasks as long as you possibly can. Many of them will die on you and won’t need to be done at all.</li>
<li><b>TV-free.</b> Turn off the TV, especially the news, and recapture many usable hours.</li>
<li><b>Timer.</b> Time all your tasks for an entire day,
preferably a week. Even the act of measuring itself can boost your
productivity, not to mention what you learn about your real time usage.
See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/triple-your-personal-productivity.htm" target="_blank">Triple Your Personal Productivity</a>.</li>
<li><b>Valor.</b> Pick the one item on your task list that scares you the most. Muster all the courage you can, and tackle it immediately.</li>
<li><b>Nonconformist.</b> Run errands at unpopular times to
avoid crowds. Shop just before stores close or shortly after they
open. Take advantage of 24-hour outlets if you’re a vampire.</li>
<li><b>Agoraphobia.</b> Shop online whenever possible. Get the best selection, consult reviews, and purchase items within minutes.</li>
<li><b>Reminder.</b> Add birthday and holiday reminders to
your calendar a month or two ahead of their actual dates. Buy gifts
then instead of at the last minute.</li>
<li><b>Do it now!</b> Recite this phrase over and over until you’re so sick of it that you cave in and get to work.</li>
<li><b>Inspiration.</b> Read inspiring books and articles,
listen to audio programs, and attend seminars to keep absorbing
inspiring new ideas (as well as to refresh yourself on the old ones).</li>
<li><b>Gym rat.</b> Exercise daily. Boost your metabolism, concentration, and mental clarity in 30 minutes a day.</li>
<li><b>Lovey dovey.</b> Romantic love will spur you on to
greater heights, if for no other reason than to persuade your partner
you aren’t such a loser after all.</li>
<li><b>Troll hunt.</b> Banish the negative trolls from your
life, and associate only with positive, happy, and successful people.
Mindsets are contagious. Show loyalty to your potential, not to your
pity posse. </li>
</ol>
Here are 33 more rules to boost your productivity:<br />
<ol>
<li><b><nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/#" id="FALINK_2_0_1">Halliburton</a></nobr>.</b>
Cut corners to save time and money when the outcome is mainly for show
anyway. If it looks good, it is good. It’s easier to manufacture
excuses than results.</li>
<li><b>Nuke.XML.</b> Split your RSS feeds into two lists:
those that help boost your productivity vs. those that taketh it away.
Force yourself to unsubscribe from all the feeds in the second list.
You won’t miss them. Just be sure this blog makes the first list.</li>
<li><b>Evil eye.</b> Practice your best evil eye in a mirror, and use it liberally on anyone who enters your space to interrupt you.</li>
<li><b>Vulcan logic.</b> Ask for a part-time assistant by
explaining to your boss that you’re being paid $25/hour to do $10/hour
tasks, which is costing your employer a lot of money.</li>
<li><b>Voodoo.</b> Display voodoo replicas of your boss and
co-workers on your desk, labeled with their names. Whenever you
overhear someone complaining of health problems (headache, upset
stomach, <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/#" id="FALINK_3_0_2">runny nose</a></nobr>, etc), stick a pin into the corresponding part of their doll. Then call them over to your workspace for some unrelated reason.</li>
<li><b>Scooby snacks.</b> Grab a bowl of your favorite snacks, such as grapes, tamari <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/#" id="_GPLITA_3" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">almonds</a>, or Trader Joe’s Oriental Rice Crackers. Eat one piece for each microbial piece of work you <nobr><a class="FAtxtL" href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/#" id="FALINK_1_0_0">complete</a></nobr>. One bite per sentence. One bite per line of code. One bite per email. Ranks, Raggy.</li>
<li><b>Iraqi Freedom.</b> When you’re bleeding time and
money on a project that’s spiraling out of control, when morale is in
the toilet, and when you can’t even get yourself to believe your own
lies anymore, that’s the best time to go on vacation.</li>
<li><b>WoW.die.die.die.</b> Give online gaming a rest, and
re-invest that energy into your real life, which is probably suffocating
beneath a pile of dead, smelly orcs.</li>
<li><b>Politician.</b> Throw money at your
problems until they succumb. Either this will work, or you’ll put your
successor in such a crippled position that they can’t do any better.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/#" id="_GPLITA_2" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">Upgrade</a>.</b> Modernize your tools – a <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/#" id="_GPLITA_1" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">faster computer</a>, a better PDA, a hotter girlfriend.</li>
<li><b>Coach.</b> Hire a personal coach to keep yourself
motivated, focused, and accountable. After several months of pep talks,
you’ll be qualified to start your own coaching practice.</li>
<li><b>Proactive.</b> Just do it, and deal with the consequences later. It’s easier to request forgiveness than permission.</li>
<li><b>Polyphasic.</b> Six naps a day keeps your laziness at bay. You can catch up on sleep when you’re dead. See <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/" target="_blank">Polyphasic Sleep</a> for details.</li>
<li><b>Captain Kirk.</b> If you boldly and brazenly act like
you know what you’re doing, people will assume it’s true. Use this
strategy to get promoted to the point where you can delegate all your
work to those who really know what they’re doing. Orion slave girls are
standing by.</li>
<li><b>Hyundai.</b> Lower your standards, and just get it done anyway you can.</li>
<li><b>Saturn.</b> Dictate the terms you want as
totally non-negotiable, and make them sound as generous as you can. But
at the first sign of resistance, cave in immediately and <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/05/33-rules-to-boost-your-productivity-volume-3/#" id="_GPLITA_4" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="Click to Continue > by Coupon Companion">agree</a> to re-negotiate everything.</li>
<li><b>Blockade.</b> Slide a heavy piece of furniture in
front of your office door. When drop-in visitors complain they
can’t get in, tell them you’re refactoring your office for greater
productivity.</li>
<li><b>Eye for an eye.</b> Punish those who add tasks to your plate by filling their plates with even more.</li>
<li><b>Bait.</b> Put candy dishes on everyone’s desk but your own.</li>
<li><b>Quagmire.</b> Fill out and mail a generous assortment
of business reply cards in your boss’ name, checking the “bill me later”
boxes. A few dozen magazine subscriptions and some Franklin Mint
collections ought to slow him down a bit. A new Civil War chess piece
every month means he’ll be playing chess in under 3 years.</li>
<li><b>End run.</b> Suggest to your boss’ boss that your boss
is overworked and needs more help. If you implement the previous tip,
this will likely be true.</li>
<li><b>Fasting.</b> Digest information, not food.</li>
<li><b>Toddler.</b> Throw a tantrum until someone finally solves the problem for you.</li>
<li><b>Armageddon.</b> Use <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/09/overwhelming-force/" target="_blank">Overwhelming Force</a>
to totally dominate your problem. Treat your molehill like a
mountain. Use a bazooka to kill a cockroach. Send a real human being
to serve in Congress.</li>
<li><b>Model.</b> Find people who are already getting the
results you want, interview them, and model their attitudes, beliefs,
and behavior. Then you’ll have someone to blame when things go wrong.</li>
<li><b>The Secret.</b> Use the Law of Attraction to manifest the done-ness of your project.</li>
<li><b>Illuminati.</b> Form a secret society to ensure
that things always go your way. Eventually take over the planet to
guarantee you’ll never have to work again.</li>
<li><b>PMS.</b> Accept the fact that you can still get your work done even when you’re pissed at everything.</li>
<li><b>Anakin.</b> Would your problems be easier to solve if you turned evil? The dark side beckons…</li>
<li><b>Spammer.</b> Sign up for a free email account,
and subscribe to every e-zine, e-newsletter, and mailing list you can
find. The shadier the better. Once you’ve completed all the double
opt-in processes, set that account to forward to your boss’ email.</li>
<li><b>Steve Jobs.</b> On the rare occasions you actually do
manage to get something done, talk it up like a madman. Say “This is
huge!” to everyone you meet. People will assume you’re 10x as
productive as you are.</li>
<li><b>Guru.</b> Instead of doing your actual work, spend
most of your time reading productivity blogs. Within a few months,
you’ll have acquired enough knowledge to start your own. Eventually
you’ll realize that 50% of the web consists of productivity tips written
by chronic procrastinators. The other 50% is porn.</li>
<li><b>Uber-Guru.</b> Stick with the first 50%.</li>
</ol>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-51421147136091594432013-02-12T18:16:00.002-05:002013-03-26T22:42:33.448-04:00Tuesday Volunteering and ReadingWhen I woke up this morning, I said a prayer and went straight to my schedule. I applied for some jobs. I did not listen to the "Stranger" podcast, watch Democracy Now, or watch C-SPAN. I did not read the Economist or the New York Times.<br />
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It's a struggle to delay gratification and wait until the evening to do all the distracting things such as reading the headlines, watching political and social commentators and reading some of my favorite authors.<br />
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No, Tuesdays are now for volunteering and doing something worthwhile with my day. I work odd jobs to support myself, but in this first quarter of the year, I want to tweak my business plan, develop a very solid team for executing my ideas, and work on getting funding from either investors, SBA loans, or crowd funding.<br />
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According to Kiyosaki, dumb and lazy people use their own money to finance their business ventures. Although that may sound counter-intuitive Kiyosaki explains in "Unfair Advantage: The Power of Financial Education" that rich people use other people's money in the form of debt to get rich.<br />
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Indeed, the more I learn about how some are the most important companies of the past decade were financed, the more I realize that wealthy people use investors to back their ideas and provide a means to execute their ideas. Mark Zuckerberg and his team did not bet the farm to start Facebook. First, they formed a team and worked on executing the idea and then moved the idea to Silicon Valley after receiving backing from people like Peter Thiel. Most of the larger fortunes in this country do not stem from sheer bootstrapping.<br />
The only reason that I became interested in these subjects is because I like to expose myself to ambiguity.<br />
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It would be nice to take up chess this year, all the brilliant people in the world seem to play chess.<br />
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Using the information that I gain from books is not enough, I have to apply the information to problems that occur daily, and also see how the information I use can be relevant to others. In a sense, it's not enough to read and use the information, the material has to be useful in a broader context. That's why I am so adamant about escaping the grind of a 9 to 5 and building companies that can employ people.<br />
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Of course, the reason that Facebook and others since have been successful is not from investment alone, but it would not have been the phenomenon that it is today without other people's money.<br />
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There are so many things that I'm learning from Kiyosaki that I never learned while in school. It inspires me to stick to my plan of getting out of the rat race and into the smarter game of entrepreneurship. <div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-5324670260502342122013-02-10T20:56:00.000-05:002013-03-26T22:47:26.727-04:00Sunday Chinese BuffetToday is Sunday, February 10, 2013. The Grammys are on as I type this.<br />
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I really want to watch the Grammys, but I do not have cable, so I'll read the winners list tomorrow.<br />
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Anyway, the highlight of my day was waking up. After eating a nice burger after midnight, I skipped breakfast and just decided to read some Robert Kiyosaki.<br />
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I have learned a great deal from Robert Kiyosaki. Kiyosaki talks about preparing for a dollar collapse and a financial disaster. Many people think that predictions from Kiyosaki are not valid because he is not a trained economist, but I beg to differ.<br />
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I believe Kiyosaki gives you enough information to make a conscious decision about how you will proceed in the future. Kiyosaki understands that his ideas and practices are not condoned by the bankers and the elite that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.<br />
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Kiyosaki empowers everyday people to start being very critical of what they hear from the government and the news media. In the coming weeks, I'll be using debt to get ahead financially. Unfortunately, prior to reading his books, I already got in bad debt like so many others to finance an "education."<br />
Here's a wonderful article that I found on Good about the same dilemma that I am facing. The article addresses college and how the U.S. government can make it free for those who come from a disadvantaged background and follow in the footsteps of universities such as Princeton and Harvard. <br />
<a href="http://www.good.is/posts/could-college-be-free/?utm_campaign=goodtweet&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ev">http://www.good.is/posts/could-college-be-free/?utm_campaign=goodtweet&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ev</a><br />
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Although I do not regret matriculating, there are some ways that I could have avoided going into debt to attend university.<br />
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I really want to finish Kiyosaki's book and then compare and contrast it to other books that I'm reading on similar subjects. Perhaps I will do that. However, I have to drink some water and digest this food from the Chinese buffet.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-87495786795064225762013-02-10T18:15:00.002-05:002013-03-26T22:47:41.085-04:00Museums and The Wire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I went to The Mattress Factory yesterday. I finally committed to going although I had made plans to do it much earlier.<br />
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But, lo and behold, I finally went to the museum. It was the first cultural thing I had done in quite a while. I really enjoyed getting out of the house, not to eat fast food, or even eat at a restaurant, or to work at my temporary post, but to gain some sort of knowledge or enlightenment.<br />
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After the museum, I went to the Monterey Pub. I met someone who works with a local television station. The guy liked my style and said that he looks for talent. He uses my agency, but he never came across my card.<br />
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So, he gave me his business card and told me to send my link. I did as soon as I got to a laptop. It's time like those where a smartphone would be useful.<br />
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Finally, I went to the Allegheny YMCA after conversing with the fellow and paying for my Mexican War Street Burger and fries. I am a very simple man.<br />
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At the YMCA, I filled out a job application. I am still not part of the information age, so I applied with a pen and paper. I'll be the doing the same because I want to work small jobs and focus more on my artistry at the moment.<br />
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As we speak, I'm planning a trip to a few places to speak with management.<br />
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But, I digress, I was being absent-minded and left my wallet at the YMCA. I panicked as soon as I needed to realized what I had done. So, within two minutes of losing the wallet and walking out the place to catch the bus, I marched right back into the building and the wallet was completely gone.<br />
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I was distraught.<br />
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The two men at the counter told me to fill out at incident report, but I started losing my cool quickly because I had all my items in the wallet.<br />
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I filled out the report and left the building after talking to the guys. My plans for dinner and whatnot were cancelled. However, I had one more opportunity to get the wallet back. By some leap of faith, the person who found the wallet turned it in right as I had given up hope about ever finding the wallet. The perma-grin on my countenance was unbeatable. I only had a few dollars and wanted to treat the guy to a drink at the pub, but my bus came as he and I talked about how scared I was that it had been stolen.<br />
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Thank God for kind people. Finally, I want to the convenience store and applied for a position. Then, I went to another stop and got on the Liberty to Whole Foods.<br />
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When I got to Whole Foods, I waited and made sure to decide what to do for the rest of the evening. I decided to grab some ice cream with a friend. I had a pint. It was one of those days. I almost lost my wallet, so I thought that I'd celebrate.<br />
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After ice cream, we discussed the flaws in my latest business plan and I was happy to receive criticism.<br />
Finally, to top the night off, we watched his many tarantulas. I had seen them in November, but not since then and they had grown tremendously. I was able to watch one of the tarantulas eat a cricket.<br />
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I wanted to take a picture, but forgot. It was quite a sight to see. After drinking countless glasses of water and watching two episodes of The Wire. I headed out to grab another burger, this was from Stack'd on Copeland St near Walnut St. It was quite busy even though it was after midnight. The service was horrible. And, all my friend wanted to do was sleep.<br />
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I was able to get home safe and sound. It was quite an eventful Saturday.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-13354011011122182412013-01-28T09:31:00.003-05:002021-12-16T07:14:28.569-05:00Meeting with Chris GuillebeauI've been trying to emulate the success of one of my favorite non-fiction authors.<br />
Most people who write have their favorites and Chris Guillebeau is one of mine.<br />
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I own several copies of his books and have sent friends and family members copies of his books. Further, when I finally met him, I had purchased his books and had them ready for the book signing.<br />
Little did I know, Chris gave out free copies of his latest book, "$100 Start-Up" and now I have an extra copy with his signature.<br />
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<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Chris Guillebeau is a very inspiring figure. During his talks, I was not able to ask him a question in front of the audience. I think he was looking for people who were not assertive to ask him questions relating to the book.</span><br />
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I come off as shy, but tend to be more assertive, so I asked him the question right before he signed my books.<br />
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My question, "After reading Guy Kawasaki and Robert Kiyosaki who were both in MBA programs and dropped out and then knowing that you were a high-school drop out, Reid Hoffman talks about MBAs being a negative predictor of entrepreneurship, do you think that schools are not able to nurture entrepreneurial talent?"<br />
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Obviously, he saw my notepad as I was sitting extremely close to him and probably didn't want to answer such a long question during the speech.<br />
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Nevertheless, Chris answered:<br />
"Do I think that school fails in developing great entrepreneurs? Yeah, I think that schools are definitely dropping the ball on developing great entrepreneurs. Schools aren't the breeding grounds for social change and entrepreneurship. I think the education system is so entrenched in old habits that don't work as effectively; however, the powers that be are afraid of change, and some students are looking for alternatives that actually meet their needs. I don't know if online learning or self-education will take the place of traditional college, but innovation is outpacing the education system. Do I think my book will change the way educators instruct students? I don't know, I doubt my book will have a large impact on the way things are done in education. Progress is stifled all the time and there are many people invested heavily in these outdated ways of doing things and it's really holding great minds back."<br />
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Chris asked, "What about you, what do you think?" I replied, "Well, I think CMU is not doing it for me anymore. I've taken to teaching myself more and more."<br />
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In an effort to invest in myself, I should start really focusing on organizing my life, running another profitable venture and running this marathon.<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-48460117212044568732012-11-28T02:23:00.003-05:002013-03-26T22:48:38.747-04:00On Exercising Again<br />
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I have not been motivated to run a mile everyday.<br />
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I did partake in the 5K earlier this year, but was ill-prepared even for that event.<br />
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Time is of the essence.<br />
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The first thing I want to do before email, Twitter, LinkedIn and all the other distractions is weigh myself and run at least a mile.<br />
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Right now, I still need to buy a scale and a printer.<br />
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I need to just run to get the toxins out of my system.<br />
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I want to spend less time on the internet everyday.<br />
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And more time doing the things that I love.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-16509393294920480022012-11-24T22:41:00.002-05:002013-03-26T22:48:51.239-04:00Rapid Typing 4.3<div style="text-align: center;">
Sharing is Caring!</div>
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In the past year, I learned to type faster. I also learned how to use technology better and how to solve some of my own problems. By this time next year, I want to be operating a fully-functional start up with the help of a team.<br />
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I do not want to have to work when I am older, or to live beneath my means now so that one day I will be able to retire. The future belongs to those who look at the market and figure out a way to improve it.<br />
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Those that love complacency will never become wealthy. You have to be a change agent to really make an impact on the entire world.<br />
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Recently, I have been learning new information and this will positively affect my trend towards embracing new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking.<br />
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This laptop that I invested in a year ago has served me well.<br />
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Of course, every now and then I stray from my purpose and waste my time reading other people's great works instead of creating my own, but I am only human and inspiration is hard to come by.<br />
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The main ways that I lose focus is by trying to do too much. Busy-ness and productivity are two very disparate things.<br />
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<b>How do you manage your time?</b><br />
I use RescueTime and TimeDoctor. Although I use the former more than the latter.<br />
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<b>How do you mismanage you time? </b><br />
Sometimes I spend too much time checking email, deleting spam, and checking my social networking sites than actually working on an outstanding plan for the near future. There are other things that I do to waste time, but this blog is supposed to be family-friendly (so I will spare you the details).<br />
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<b>What are your goals for the upcoming year?</b><br />
To be more efficient and to actually stick to my to-do list. To forgive and forget those that have hurt me in the past.<br />
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<b>What are your regrets from the past year?</b><br />
Confiding in too many people. Insecurities stem from lack of belief in our own abilities and envy of others. In the new year, I need to stop over-thinking things and learn to embrace my reality and work on becoming truly confident before confiding in others.<br />
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<b>Ask yourself some questions. Real questions. And, don't put fake answers, be honest in your personal assessment.</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Please Re-Tweet!</span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-43692922888894925002012-11-24T22:17:00.000-05:002013-03-26T22:49:00.140-04:00What I've Learned <div style="text-align: center;">
Sharing is Caring!</div>
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Recently celebrating my twenty-fourth birthday, I learned that we are totally in control of our own lives.<br />
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Some people may find it difficult to end a terrible relationship.<br />
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Others may find it difficult to begin positive relationships that will increase their business size or just to do whatever their hearts desired for many years.<br />
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Most people go through life thinking that they cannot do certain things because they are limited physically, financially, or emotionally.<br />
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The small minority of people that succeed are those that stop listening to what everyone says.<br />
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The ones who use empowering terminology to motivate their daily lives and eventually get out of the mentality that keeps people trapped in a career for too long, or trapped as employees as opposed to entrepreneurs, or trapped making student loan payments for a degree that they never wanted in the first place.<br />
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I have been the victim and the fool many times. But, when I turned twenty-four, something died. My fear of others faded in that instant. I no longer cared what others thought about my past, present, or future.<br />
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The only thing that matters is that I accomplish the goals that I have outlined on this site and become the person that I know I can become.<br />
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Today, in a moment of youthful indiscretion, I purchased four items from<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/ref=gno_listpop_wi"> Amazon</a>.<br />
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The items are a bracelet, bling jewelry, head phones and a watch. None of these items were needs, but each item can improve my life significantly because subtle changes make a huge difference. All these items cost me a total of $70. That's it in terms of Black Friday deals on Amazon.<br />
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The thing that I've worked on most is living within my means in the past year.<br />
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In 2013, I need to earn more money. I have a series of exams that can dramatically increase my earning potential.<br />
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Continue reading for insights on how to start small and make a name for yourself. That's what I'm doing, and I sincerely hope that you will join me on this sojourn.<br />
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Please Re-Tweet!</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-50509346959471512382012-11-24T21:17:00.000-05:002013-03-26T22:49:13.730-04:00On Writing Again<div style="text-align: center;">
Sharing is Caring!</div>
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I definitely was inspired to update readers daily. After reading some other authors over Thanksgiving break, I realized the only way to be a great writer is to do it frequently and make changes as you go along.<br />
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Starting and stopping are for people who are not yet serious about writing.<br />
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Writing is something that I like to do as a past time, but in 2013. I want to do it more professionally.<br />
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I'd like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes and do whatever it takes to become a more honest person in the upcoming year.<br />
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There's a lot that I want to change. Mainly, my technical skills will improve over the next year. I also want to host the site on my own terms and begin to actually make larger profits from my artistry.<br />
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I am always open to suggestions from friends, strangers, and other writers. Follow me on <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/115513731840531533269/posts">Google +</a><br />
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If you haven't already add me on LinkedIn and Twitter. I don't really use Facebook anymore, but might resume in the upcoming year.<br />
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I am nothing without you. Thanks for reading.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1629307463500037412.post-11895483210350109752012-10-11T00:03:00.000-04:002013-03-26T22:49:32.912-04:00Quarterly Goals<div style="text-align: center;">
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Besides a daily routine that will likely help with my general mood, I want to make some short-term goals. <br />
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I will call these goals quarterly goals.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Quarterly goals are goals that last for three months.</b></span><br />
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The first goal that I have is to live to be twenty-four years old.<br />
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My other goal is to build a good relationship with my family and very close friends.<br />
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<b>I want to travel to California in the next three months. I don't want to move there completely, but I want to ultimately go apartment hunting.</b><br />
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I want to stop getting by and start getting ahead. In order to get ahead, I have to start saving a little bit each month, not for retirement, but for emergencies.<br />
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<b>Lastly, the way to get ahead is through increasing my skill. I don't want to live in the world of reading about building businesses, I want to actually take the time to build my second venture.</b><br />
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In the past, my ventures were lacking in scalability. However, with enough hard work, I can learn how to use technology to make a very good valuation and execute the ideas that I currently possess. <br />
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<b>How do I increase my skill?</b><br />
I must increase my skill by doing the things that cause discomfort today, so that the future returns of this sacrifice are great.<br />
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For instance, right now, I type 80 wpm. In the next three months, I want to be able to type 100 wpm.<br />
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I also want to re-do this website. It's hosted on Blogger, but if I host it on my own terms, then I can be more selective with the the ads and the revenue that I generate from the site.<br />
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It's not easy, but I have to learn <b>HTML, Javascript, Python,</b> and other programming languages. I want to master at least one of these within the next three months.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Just a thought.</div>Leohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556490412788978548noreply@blogger.com