|
|
Steve Gillman Profile and Articles
|
Display by:
Popularity |
Title |
101). Hidden In Plain View - Five Secrets
Some secrets are hidden in plain view. There is no conspiracy involved, except perhaps a "conspiracy of interests." Whatever the reason, this is knowledge that most people don't have that can make your life richer. Here are five examples.
Why Rich People Buy Used Cars
In researching The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko found that 40% of millionaires buy used cars.
102). High IQ - So What?
Does a high IQ (intelligence quotient) mean better grades in school? Does it mean a better life? Is your IQ score even a valid measurement of your intelligence? Let's take a look at these questions one-by-one.
High IQ - Intelligence
There is almost certainly a correlation between a high IQ score and being more intelligent. These test are imperfect, though, and you can find examples of cultural biases on many IQ tests.
103). How To Cut Your Business Expenses
I learned about business expenses at one of my first jobs. It was in a fast food restaurant, working as an assistant manager I was responsible for placing the orders for food and supplies. I noticed how many thousands of dollars we spent on ketchup, mayonnaise and other sauce packets. Then I watched for a while, to see how many the employees were handing out at the drive-through window.
104). The Best Travel Games
Car travel games are a tradition wherever families take vacations or long trips by automobile. Long drives are always more tolerable with some diversion or entertainment, and reading might not be the best choice, at least for the driver. Why not try some games that everyone in the car can play?
"Blue Car" Travel Games
These are travel classics. Each person guesses how many blue cars will pass in the next ten miles or ten minutes.
105). The Importance Of Letting Go
There once was a happy monkey. He wandered through the jungle, happy to be alive. He stopped to eat delicious fruit when he was hungry, and resting when he was tired.
One day he came upon a house, where he saw a bowl of the most beautiful apples. He took one in each hand and ran back into the forest. He sniffed the apples and smelled nothing. He tried to eat them, but hurt his teeth.
106). Don't Be A Slave To Your Things
Do you have things like a bicycle, jetski, or swimming pool that sit unused? Is it that you don't have time to use them because you have to work so much just to pay for them? Sometimes it seems like all the things we own somehow own us.
The bad news is that it's often true. We have to arrange our lives around our things. You get a new truck that can go anywhere, but you're too busy working to go there.
107). How To Save Money In Your Business
Why look at ways to save money in your business? Business isn't about how much you make, but about what you keep - the net profit. Cut an expense, and the savings usually goes straight to that bottom line. Learn a simple way to spend $25 less on electricity each month, for example, and you'll have $3,000 more profit over the next ten years. Here, then, are a few random but useful ideas for cutting those costs.
108). Free Web Site Traffic - 7 Ways
How many ways can you get free web site traffic? Who knows, but here are some to get you started. Hopefully there will be one or two ways here that you haven't yet tried.
1. Submit your web site to search engines. Don't wait for them to find you. You can automatically submit to 20 at freewebsubmission.com. You'll have to submit manually to Google (www.
109). Writing Articles For Permanent Traffic
Writing articles is possibly the best way to generated free traffic to your site. A short article, submitted to a few places, creates permanent streams of traffic. Here are some of the ways articles bring traffic to your website:
1. Click-throughs from article banks. People read your articles at an article bank, and click on the link in the "author's resource box.
110). Six Real Estate Investing Principles
There are real estate investing "tricks" and techniques that you may know, or want to know. There are new ways of doing things that are worth learning. Knowing about the latest types of financing is another way can also help. Before all of these, however, you need to learn some basic principles. Here are six of them.
1. Build relationships.
2. Understand the numbers.
111). Negative Energy - How To Avoid It
Where does negative energy come from? Some of it is from the other people we spend time with. Don't we all know people who just suck away our energy? However, it also comes from our own thinking habits. Here are some examples of both sources of negativity and what you can do about them.
Negative Energy People
Perhaps you have a friend who needs to challenge everything you say.
112). Buying Rental Property - Avoid Seller's Tricks
Be careful when buying rental property. We stayed at a motel for a week one winter. The bill showed twice what it should have, but since I already paid the correct amount in cash, I thought nothing of it. When we noticed that the lobby and swimming pool were unheated, we thought it was frugality. Only a year later, when I read a news story about a new owner struggling to make the motel work, did I realize what was going on.
113). Buying Real Estate That's Not For Sale
Buying real estate can start with a look in the newspaper, a visit to a broker, or a search online. These are all good ways to find your next investment property. You're looking at the same properties as every other investor, of course, so it's not always easy to beat the competition to a great buy.
A better way to find good real estate investments is to look for properties that aren't yet for sale, and make an offer.
114). Six Budget Travel Secrets
Budget travel is not just about finding ways to spend less. The point is to have just as much fun while spending less. Here are some tips to get you started, and afterwards, a suggestion on how to think about travel.
Are you considering a long trip? You may want to rent an apartment in an interesting city. We did this for two months in Tucson. It saved us at least $600 per month, compared to even the cheaper motels.
115). Motivated Sellers - How To Find One
Motivated sellers? My wife and I were trying to keep the renters happy, the rent coming in and the house repaired - while living 2100 miles away. You bet I was motivated. We just sold our house last month, and even got a good price, but I'll tell you a secret. We would have sold the place for... well I don't want to stress out the buyer if he reads this.
116). How To Get The Cheapest Hotel Room
When you get off the bus in the Andean Mountain resort town of Banos, Ecuador, you'll see several people quickly moving towards you. Some of them will be the actual owners of the hotels in town, and others are working on commission. They'll all claim to have the nicest and the cheapest hotel.
This onslaught of salesmen may annoy you at first, until you realize what it means.
117). Buying And Selling Cars For Profit
Our neighbor Jose doesn't speak much English, which makes it tough to live here in northern Michigan. Despite that, he made a profit of over $30,000 last year selling cars out of his front yard. It's true that he's a mechanic, and that helps, but it isn't the key to his success.
The Key To Buying And Selling Cars
To make money selling cars you have to know the value of cars.
118). How Do You Break This Bad Habit?
Which bad habit is the worst? They each do their damage, but if bad habits were given awards, I would nominate the habit of waiting for things to happen for the category of most depressing. Waiting for things to happen is essentially waiting to die. It isn't a very inspiring or resourceful way of life.
Waiting For My Ship To Come In
What a terrible.
119). Credit Card Wealth Secrets
"Credit card wealth secrets," the ad read. I assumed it was yet another over-hyped unworkable scheme. It probably was, but it made me remember the times in my life when I have used credit cards to make money.
As Robert Kyosaki says, there's "good debt" and "bad debt. Borrowing for consumer items is bad-debt. You limit your future options, and you get less in life.
120). Purchase Property With The Two-Note Technique
The two-note technique is another of the many ways to purchase property with no money down. It not only gets you into real estate with zero down, but it can also get the seller a good chunk of cash at closing. This is especially important if he has to pay off an existing mortgage loan on the property.
First, a definition is in order. What is a "note?" It is the debt instrument created to finance a real estate purchase.
121). Trekking Poles And Hiking Staffs
Are walking sticks longer than trekking poles? What about hiking staffs and hiking sticks? Whatever you call them, and whatever their differences, they are supposed to help your knees more than anything. This they do very well, at least when you're going downhill.
What else are they good for? They help you keep your balance. You can use them as defense against wild animals as well.
122). Lightweight Backpacking: How Light?
You aren't lightweight backpacking if you are carrying twenty-five pounds for a summer weekend. I invent these standards, but I try to be reasonable. I backpack with less than fifteen pounds total weight for a weekend trip. With a few new pieces of gear, and a little knowledge, you can probably carry less than twenty pounds for a three-day trip, and less than thirty for a week-long trip.
123). Tom Sawyer Day - Floating Down The River
There were four of us on that first Tom Sawyer Day. I promised my friends an adventure-disaster, sure to get them wet and cold. Three of them took the bait. In a small daypack, we took snacks, water, a hatchet, a small saw, and whatever scraps of rope we could find.
We parked and hiked up the Manistee river a few miles. The plan was to build a raft, using dead trees and scraps of rope.
124). A Five-Ounce Sleeping Bag
Okay, it wasn't quite a sleeping bag. However, it was only five ounces, and it kept me warm as the temperature dropped to the low forties on the bank of the Manistee River in Michigan. The secret was the fifteen minutes we spent gathering dead, dry bracken ferns to build a two-foot thick mattress. We set the tent on that. Then, with all my clothes on, I was fine.
125). Sleeping Pads For Ultralight Backpackers
Ultralight backpackers want to give up weight, not comfort. Sleeping pads are pretty much a necessity for backpacking comfort, but who wants to carry those monstrous old inflatables down the trail? Try some of these lightweight options instead.
You can make four-ounce sleeping pads - then sometimes carry two of them. Start with the plain blue closed-cell foam pads available from any backpacking supplier.
126). Music For A Better Life
Would you like to pop in a CD and have a better quality of life, and even self improvement? There are three ways you can use music to accomplish this
127). Secrets To Solving Problems
Learning a few good problem solving techniques can improve your bottom line and your life.
Do you ever run out of good ideas, or go around in c
128). Busy Beavers Build Piles Of Sticks
Well, you're just a busy beaver, aren't you?" You've either heard or used this cliche, but what do you know about beavers? Let me tell you abo
129). Concept Combination For Creative Problem Solving
There are many creative problem solving techniques used by inventors to come up with new solutions to old problems. For sheer innovation, though, it's
130). Backpacking Clothes - Make Your Own
Okay, do you really want to make all your own backpacking clothes? More power to you, and good luck. After the first hundred tedious hours of sewing I
131). Hiking Shoes And Thin Socks - A Backpacking Winner
Hiking shoes versus hiking boots? Hiking shoes win. Okay, next issue? No, really. Hiking or running shoes are better for most backpacking trips, at le
132). Ultralight Sleeping Bags
Why ultralight sleeping bags? Because ultralight backpacking is only made possible by cutting the weight of the "big three;" the backpack, shelter an
133). Cheap Vacations - Ten Ideas
Cheap vacations can still be relaxing, fun and whatever else you want them to be. Unlike cars and shoes, vacations don't get better according to price
134). Chimborazo: Climbing Glaciers Near The Equator
Climbing the glaciers to the summit of Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador isn't highly technical. It is mountaineering, but how hard can it be, considering I
135). International Adventure Travel Ideas
International adventure travel: Safaris, balloon tours, swimming with dolphins, bicycling down volcanos, trekking in the Himalayas, Walmart on Chr
136). Finding Really Cheap Plane Tickets
To begin with, the best place to buy really cheap plane tickets is online. Travel agencies can't compete with discount ticket sites. Search Google ("c
137). Games To Play When Traveling
Car travel games are a tradition wherever families take vacations or long trips by automobile. Long drives are always more tolerable with some divers
138). Getting Robbed On A South American Bus
We knew better. Both me and my wife had a strong feeling we shouldn't get on that bus in Cuenca, but neither of us said anything. A taxi was two doll
139). Learning Spanish At 20,600 Feet
Climbing the glaciers to the summit of Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador isn't highly technical. It is mountaineering, but how hard can it be, considering
140). Mechanical Poetry Techniques: Part Two
What do you do when you want to write poetry? I hope your answer is "I start writing." Even writing a bad poem is better than waiting fo
141). Systematic Poetry Techniques - Part Three
Have you ever read the lyrics of a Simon and Garfunkle song? Pure poetry. Want to write poems like that? Start copying them. Let me explain.
142). Creative Writing Ideas - How To Have Them
Are you waiting and hoping for creative writing ideas? Why not use some simple techniques to produce as many ideas as you will need? Here are a few to get you started.
Combine Stories For Creative Writing Ideas
There is a technique called "concept combination" which is to create new products to sell. Use it to create new stories, and it is usually good for a few laughs and a few ideas as well.
143). Real Estate Negotiation - Seller Motivation
One of the most important principles of real estate negotiation is to learn why the seller is selling. More than that though, you want to try to learn the seller's motivations for every aspect of the process. In other words, learn not just why he wants to sell, but also why he wants to sell a particular way, why he wants the price he is asking, what's important to him when making decisions, and more.
144). How To Be A Frugal Shopper
A frugal shopper has skills and ways of looking at things that help him or her take advantage of the money-saving opportunities in life. There are eleven of these techniques below. You can learn them in a matter of a day or two, practice them for a few weeks, and then save money for the rest of your life.
1. A frugal shopper studies other people. Do.
145). New Gadgets - Six Ideas
It is possible that some of these new gadgets already exist in an inventor's basement or garage somewhere. One or two may even be patented, but then again, maybe not. Probably most things are dreamt up ten or ten thousand times before someone actually does something with the idea. The dreaming is more fun for some of us, so feel free to do something with the following.
146). Funny Ways To Save Money
There was a list of funny ways to save money on a "frugal living" website. They weren't necessarily meant to be funny, but were gleaned from real suggestions sent in. Some cheapskates don't seem to notice that an extra hour at work might put them further ahead than many hours of penny-pinching.
The following are real suggestions, and then there are some funny ways to save money that you really shouldn't try.
147). One Way To Buy A Cheap House
One of the simplest ways to buy a cheap house is to make a low offer. Sometimes called a "lowball" offer, this is a basic ploy used in real estate and many other negotiations. Everyone knows the technique, but most are afraid to use it. It can be a waste of time if you don't do it right, and it can be embarrassing, but it also can get you a cheap house.
148). How To Take A Test
How to take a test? Study, for starters. Of course there is more you can do if you want to get a higher score, and you may already know some of the following tricks. If so, consider this a refresher course. Here are some ways to score higher on the next test you take.
Test Taking Preparation
Preparation is an important and often overlooked element of how to take a test.
149). Negotiation Skills You Need To Know
One of the most important negotiation skills you can develop is to get in the habit of finding the other side's deadline. Time is of the essence. It even says as much on most business and real estate contracts. What does this mean in negotiating? It means that whoever controls or understands the elements of time involved in a negotiation has the better position.
150). Learning Style - How To Develop Your Own
A person's primary learning style is usually classified as "visual," "auditory," or "kinesthetic." There are tests to see which of these three is used most by yourself, and you can then use this self-knowledge to learn more efficiently. If, for example, your primary way of processing new information is visual, imagining things in your mind is a good way to make them "stick.
Browse Pages: [1] [2] 3 [4] [5] [6]
|
|
|
