The Simple Dollar ? Figuring Out What's Really Important (As a ...

Whenever I spend time thinking about my life, I get caught up in a lot of ideals. I think about writing a great novel. I think about some volunteer projects I?d like to work on. I think about the house I?d like to build and the great travel I?d love to do in the next ten or fifteen years. I think about my own physical fitness and I think about riding in RAGBRAI.

These are wonderful dreams. I enjoy taking little steps toward them because, honestly, I usually enjoy the process.

Yet, when I step back and look at the broader scope of my life, that?s not what?s really important to me.

First and foremost, my family (and I consider my closest friends a part of that) is the single most important thing in my life. Bar none. Secondary to that is learning new things and, hand in hand with that, sharing what I?ve learned.

Almost every other interest and passion I have in my life is secondary to those things.

I?ll give you some examples to illustrate what I mean. Anyone who has read the site for very long knows that one of my favorite pastimes is playing board games and card games. I love playing games with other people across the table from me.

Yet, when I dig deep into it, it?s not really about the games. I do enjoy them, don?t get me wrong, but what I love about them is that it gets people I care about around a table engaging in a shared experience.

If you asked me what my favorite memories of board gaming are, they revolve around people. I think of playing Old Maid with my children. I think of playing Risk Legacy with my wife and three of my closest friends in the world. I think of sitting in my friend John?s living room, playing Descent with him and another of my closest friends.

Another great example comes from reading. If a friend or family member really enjoys a book, I?ll almost always give it a read. Why? Beyond merely being a good book, it becomes a shared experience with that person.

So let?s bring this home: what does this have to do with personal finance?

Personal finance is all about goals. If you?re not selecting a goal ? whether it be freedom from debt, saving for an abundant retirement at age 70, or something else entirely ? you?re either already incredibly rich (and you probably got there due to goals) or you?re spinning your wheels. Progressing toward a better and more secure financial state is something that pretty much every reader of The Simple Dollar shares.

However, goals are useless if you don?t feel completely motivated to move forward with them. You might desire a change in your life, but unless you?ve reached a point where that change feels vital to your future existence, it?s not going to happen. If you?re not getting out of bed with the feeling that today you?re going to move toward that goal, you?re probably not going to move toward that goal.

So, what is it that?s truly important to you? There is no right or wrong answer. It?s a matter of simply figuring out what?s truly important to you.

Here?s an example. I have a friend who dreams of being a sports announcer. He talks about it a fair amount. However, he also has a wife and a child at home. Recently, he told me that he thinks his sports announcing dreams are going to go on hold for a while. I asked him why, and he told me that chasing that dream requires a level of time and commitment that he can?t give to it right now. He had realized that his family was more important to him and he was sticking with the things that motivated him deeply every single day.

Does that mean that he?s abandoning the dream? Not entirely. Instead, he?s finding new ways to channel that passion that?s more in line with the rest of his family. He?s gotten involved with youth sports, assisting with the production of videos and other materials for other parents. This allows him to follow his passion while also being involved with his children. In fact, he?s starting a small video production company as a side business, where he creates professional videos highlighting a team and sells them for a reasonable fee. Several youth sports leagues are going to partner with him, so all he has to do is hire a few people to film the games, then edit them at home. He can film his own child?s games himself and involve the family in the production process at home.

Spending time with his family is the most important thing to him. Because of this activity, he?s spending time with them, earning some money on the side, and showing his children an entrepreneurial spirit along the way.

I can tell a very similar story about The Simple Dollar. My motivation to change my financial habits came from my oldest son. My motivation to write about it was many-fold: I enjoyed writing (value #2), I wanted to share some ideas with my friends and family (value #1), and I hoped to earn some money on the side to make our financial journey better (value #1), plus I would be able to involve my wife and my children in the process (value #1).

My dreams of making a living from writing didn?t start happening until I oriented them around what truly mattered to me. The same thing is true of my sports announcing friend.

So, what?s important to you? I think the easiest way to identify those core things that are important to you is to evaluate what you actually do over a long period of time. I?d focus on activities outside of the workplace, because we all need to earn a living, unless you?re already doing a job that?s key to what you value.

What do you spend your spare time on? I spend mine with my family and close friends as much as I can, and when I?m alone, I read and learn things. I bridge the two by finding ways to express what I?ve learned. This is what I enjoy doing.

My personal finance success came entirely from those things. My family inspired me to make changes with my money. My desire to read and learn educated me on how to do it. My desire to share what I learned launched The Simple Dollar.

You can follow a similar path with what you value the most. The key thing is to always remember that, no matter what your goals are, a solid personal finance foundation makes it all much, much easier to achieve.

Source: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2012/02/03/figuring-out-whats-really-important-as-a-foundation-for-your-decisions/

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Professional Sales Training ? Get Out of Your Comfort Zone | Sales ...

Professional Sales Training ? Can Get You Out of Your Comfort Zone

3 Tips for updating your sales training and finding new markets

Sometimes the key to increasing your sales, especially if you are already fairly successful, is finding new markets. By new markets, I don???t necessarily mean entirely new markets. Sometimes yes??? but sometimes a product or service has a very specific market. I???m not going to change that, or wiggle my nose and create one for you. I just want to suggest that the right sales training course can help you look outside your comfort zone and find as many possibilities as you can.

Where can I sell more of my products and services?
Ask yourself this question every day. This part of the equation can be tricky, because sometimes it???s hard to see beyond what we know and try to find a ???new?? place to sell.

Everyone has a comfort zone. When I started selling our mortgage services there were certain kinds of clients I had a preference for. Maybe that was because I had great success with them. There were also other types of clients who I avoided??? and that was a mistake.

It???s very easy to niche yourself. This can be good in the right market or situation, but it can also limit your possibilities.

You need to be a role player. Take the time to write down on paper all of your possible markets you can sell to. Then take on the role of someone who sells successfully to each market and see what new opportunities these new perspectives open up for you. Wear different hats, be a chameleon, take on different roles and you just might end up doubling your sales in the coming year and think what that would do for your lifestyle.

ALWAYS capitalize on your strengths. I don???t want you to stop selling to your key market. What I want you to do is add on something you are unfamiliar with and try to become an expert in that market also.

Learn to take notes and then act on them.
This one is simple. Buy a digital voice recorder and use it everyday to record your thoughts and brainstorms.

I like the voice recorder because you don???t have to stop to use it. You can be driving along, have an idea or see a potential business opportunity, and simply record it on your way. Revisit it later and make sure to follow up.

In sales, we all know that one guy who kicks our butts on a regular basis. The guy I knew made about twice as much as the rest of us. His biggest tip and best advice was to buy and use a digital recorder each and every day. You slip it in your pocket and pull it out when you need to record a new sales approach, etc. Many of us in sales listen to sales training courses in our cars and the digital recorder makes it easy to record a thought or a special sales technique so you can revisit it later. My biggest lesson learned was to ACT ON IT? don???t just record but act on your thoughts and ideas as soon as possible. You have to implement them if you want to benefit from them.

Can you expand your product or service offering?
Do you sell to individuals? Small businesses? Big Businesses? That???s great. Could you also sell to one of the other categories?

Most of the time, we label what we do: residential, commercial, small business, large corporations, etc. In most jobs I???ve had, however, we were not strictly bound by those labels.

- Did you sell to a big business? Well, do they buy from or sell to small businesses? Can those businesses use your product? Referral opportunity.

- Did you sell to a small business? Can you sell to an individual? Depending on your product, you may be able to sell the owner or employees as well.

- Did you sell to an individual? Where do they work? Can you sell to their business?

These are just a few simple examples of how to expand your markets and find new opportunities. Sometimes the answer is sitting in front of us. The reason I???m such a big fan of lifelong sales training is I???ve seen the effect it has had on my work and my success in sales. I know for a fact that the right course can give you new perspectives, new strategies and new tactics to put the excitement back into your daily sales routine.

Troy Jones is the owner of http://www.MagneticSalesTraining.com and is currently working as a salesman in the competitive mortgage industry. The site reviews sales training offerings available on the Web and offers other sales related resources.

Source: http://www.cantonscore.org/professional-sales-training-get-out-of-your-comfort-zone.htm

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munseyparkeatery ? Blog Archive ? Why are a college education ...

For college kids all across the actual might be needed to pay for costly education tuitions and also a few other place a burden on in an effort to remain the amount, often the constantly inflation of program-mandatory classes books is yet another simple reason of concern. Made in order to pay about $hundred or so for a passing fancy latest schoolbook, trainees because of hardly financial resources make great projects only to keep pace together with present day strenuous academic scheme.

In an attempt to assess a decrease in the selling prices attached to current high school college textbooks, various learner not to mention staff chairmen teams feature attracted Congress agents for boost, nevertheless entirely provided reasons along with promises which usually an individual?s disorders may be arranged in the future. Without correct appreciation plus services, tens of thousands of learners are looking at the net to obtain service, replacing fresh new college or university references with internet research study materials, while some are considering searching for used (and frequently outdated) books.

But they weren?t happy to assembled good quality approaches to this new student text tragedy, Our lawmakers officials maintain responded the standards having zoomed and so free burning typically the event over the last year or so ipad textbooks. Typically college chairmen across the nation claim that book editors offer the attribute for that high costs of college references, and even site owners believe that module contributors want new, highly-priced variations of school research products, Our lawmakers employees enjoy says truthfully a place inside of-between.

The bigger-education distributing marketplace lawsuits that going barefoot just needs to hold journals changed and furthermore considered to make sure you fulfill the criteria charged using a large number of function and in many cases claims of which newer education publication price is very competitive through every field. Publishers explain whom vocational school books have to be regularly modernized in order to boost a person?s eye involved with nowaday?s students and so professors who sadly are previously used to typically the interaction not to mention sharp graphics which is available from the on-line world.

Textbook web publishers claim that electronic models concentration on for example the current pedagogy tips together with details, apart from field; in fact martial arts who were looked upon as much more grocery, that include geographics and even past now a days are affected by foremost ? usually needless ? refinancing. Text edition editors possess mentioned that if educators would undoubtedly give some thought to limiting the volume of pointless answers invented around younger updates, the expenses regarding examine supplies could be significantly wasted. In contrast, professors get posed writers to get a reply to liberate business versions which in turn still add some fashionable information however in a cheaper data format.

A worldwide reasons why the university references are actually unaffordable to make sure you college may be a great number features involve article two with regard to teaching and learning, the fabric being utilized in instructors and in addition learners completely. If a instructing articles might possibly be publicised plus supplied individually, scholars could decide to buy their very own catalogs towards affordable prices, picking firmly your content and then knowing instruments construct y require cheap textbooks. Then, a potential way for you to your situation would certainly will require any conditional relation associated with together schoolbook authors and teachers: high school textbook editors need to version cheap to run versions for individuals (smaller-superior quality but nonetheless , less costly modern references), even as coaches ought to look the actual educational satisfied through the figuring out how articles and minimize the regularity connected with unwanted enhancements or testimonials.

Simply completely new references will surely cost above and beyond used your. You?ll get a thorough the primary vendor to interrupt our wither towel so that devoid sheets, nutritional vitamin supplements in addition to software programs aren?t going to be difficulty. You?re sure finito , no more simply writing found in or sometimes all the other achieveable damage of your old possessor.

Unfortunately, super-cheap second hand high school college textbooks shall be beneficial normally. Just be sure to effortlessly find the straight e book from reliable net sites on the web. See the product descriptions plainly to make the status with the choose and in addition look the main schoolbook appropriately if you pick from their small town without campus bookshop. As you can imagine now is the most inexpensive feature for your references plus the most affordable.

Excellent experience with shopping for widely used high school textbooks web away-traditional is a wonderful choice. It seems like the previous enthusiasts used care of all the training books recognizing earlier they?d want to sell these guys as soon as utilise. Purchase widely used books cheap whilst not having harm; store them by doing this then sell it well since you are ended.

Source: http://www.munseyparkeatery.com/education/why-are-a-college-education-college-textbooks-accordingly-high-priced-and-how-to-find-them-internet-based/

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philippine real estate taxation: Finance chief's tax hike scheme ...

by Elaine R. Alanguilan

[ manilastandardtoday.com ] February 1, 2012

FINANCE Secretary Cesar Purisima has ordered Internal Revenue to step up measures to collect more income tax from professionals and self-employed people this year.

?The income tax payments of the professionals should drastically increase by year-end,? Purisima said at the sidelines of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines meeting Tuesday night.

He said he wanted to see the tax payments of professionals to average P100,000 by the end of this year from last year?s P5,600.

He said he was monitoring the income tax payments of professionals and self-employed people down to Internal Revenue?s regional district offices.

?We will continue to set ambitious goals in order for the [bureau] to reach its [revenue] goal],? Purisima said.

Internal Revenue has a revenue hurdle of P1.06 trillion this year from last year?s full-year target of P940 billion. It has yet to release the total amount it collected last year.

?If [Revenue Commissioner] Kim Henares reaches her target, she will be the first one to collect [revenues of] more than P1 trillion,? Purisima said.

Internal Revenue has already raised its target collection from professionals and other self-employed people to P222.28 billion for this year, an increase of 15 percent from last year?s projected revenue of P192.72 billion.

Income taxes from individuals account for more than 20 percent of Internal Revenue?s tax collection, and the bulk of it comes from salaried individuals whose income taxes are automatically withheld by their employers.

Purisima has said the incidence of tax evasion among professionals in the country is high, and that?s the reason Internal Revenue has been going after tax cheats more vigorously. Internal Revenue has been filing cases against professionals such as doctors and lawyers.

The Professional Regulation Commission lists some 3 million registered professionals, of which around 190,000 are high-earning doctors and lawyers. The rest are accountants, engineers, nurses and seafarers.

________________________________________________________________

Source: http://philrealtytaxinfo.blogspot.com/2012/02/finance-chiefs-tax-hike-scheme-soak.html

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PREVIEW: Campus entertainment events for the spring semester ...

School?s back in session: the stress of crashing classes, the strict routine of waking up early and being punctual, and waiting in long lines at the bookstore. But amidst all the seriousness, there?s also plenty of fun to be had.

From late night dance parties to interactive art exhibitions, SF State?s?creative departments and student organizations have a variety of events planned for the spring semester.

Next month, The Fine Arts Gallery will present SmART Space, an interactive exhibit in memory of Stephen Wilson, an art professor and head of the Conceptual and Information Arts program at SF State who passed away Jan. 10 of last year. The idea for the exhibit is rooted in Wilson?s works and writings and will feature motion-activated sculptures and interactive artworks from several West Coast artists. Local composer and media artist Pamela Z and SF State sculpture professor Kal Spelletich will perform at the exhibit?s opening Feb. 21., which runs through March 15.

?I?m showing a piece called 100 Electronic Art Years,? said Maggie Orth, one of the participants in the exhibit. ?It?s an electronic textile artwork woven with circuits. The fabric heats up with the push of a button and changes colors.?

If interactive art isn?t your thing, then head over to The Depot, located on the lower conference level of the Cesar Chavez Student Center, for music, comedy performances and karaoke sessions.

The Depot?s booking manager Gio Acosta and booking assistant Stephanie Escoto are convinced that the bands scheduled to perform this semester are the best ones yet.

?We are getting bigger and bigger names to play at our school,? said Escoto. ?We?re trying to have bands come through before they become huge.?

SF State students will get a chance to see an intimate set from ?beach goth? rock band The Growlers Feb. 24, along with a secret Noise Pop Music Festival guest who will be announced the day of the show, and down-tempo electronica band Keep Shelly in Athens in April. Both bands are on the bill to perform at Coachella, one of the biggest music festivals in the world.

Canadian dream-pop group Memoryhouse will hit The Depot stage in March, and several of our own SF State student bands such as Date Crepe, Hungry Skinny and Schmiegen will present their musical endeavors in the upcoming months.

The highlight of the University Dance Theater?s annual showcase will be Kimi Okada?s ?I Look Vacantly at the Pacific? Though Regret,? featuring choreography by advanced students and faculty members Ray Tadio and Cathleen McCarthy. The theme of the performance is a comedic take on attempts at cross-cultural understanding and will run for three days starting March 1 in McKenna Theatre, located in the Creative Arts building.

The McKenna Theater will also present the comedic play ?Sorry Fugu,? a satire about restaurants and critics, written by T.C. Boyle and directed by John Fisher, March 6.

The monthly Noise Complaint dance parties will continue throughout the semester in the Cesar Chavez Student Center. Franko Ali, vice president of University affairs at Associated Students, Inc., will unveil information about SF State?s music festival, to take place in late April or beginning of May, during Noise Complaint Feb. 17.

?It?s the second year running which is really exciting,? said Ali. ?It?s going to be a lot bigger than last year.?

Source: http://www.goldengatexpress.org/2012/01/31/spring-semester-preview/

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Romney turns to killer instinct to win Florida

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, celebrates his Florida primary election win at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, celebrates his Florida primary election win at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, reacts to supporters at his Florida primary primary night rally in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Mitt Romney embraced a killer instinct and leveraged a dominant political machine to crush chief rival Newt Gingrich in Florida's Republican presidential primary.

It was a remarkable turnaround for a candidate who lost big just 10 days earlier in South Carolina.

"I stand ready to lead this party and our nation," a jubilant Romney told cheering supporters Tuesday night in Florida, claiming a resounding victory in a state that rejected his White House bid in 2008.

Romney was beaten down as he came into Florida after Gingrich trounced him in South Carolina. The former House speaker's triumph fueled a wave of momentum that threatened to unite anti-Romney conservatives in Florida and beyond.

Recognizing the threat, Romney had hatched a new strategy even before the South Carolina loss was official.

It would be the end of nice-guy Romney, the man who had usually saved his sharpest barbs for President Barack Obama and let his allies run the attack ads. From the start of the Florida campaign, voters here witnessed Romney's new go-for-the-jugular approach on their television sets, debate stages, and even at Gingrich's campaign stops.

"If you're attacked, I'm not going to just sit back," Romney said Tuesday, warning his competitors that the tough guy is here to stay. "I'm going to fight back and fight back hard."

It wasn't just Romney's attack mode ? and efforts to undercut Gingrich's character ? that guided him to victory.

He also was sitting on a ton of cash and had built an extensive statewide campaign, giving him enormous advantages in a massive state with 10 media markets where campaigns often are won on the air.

Romney and his allies ultimately poured roughly $16 million into Florida television advertising. Restore Our Future, the "super" political action committee supporting Romney, began running Florida ads in mid-December. The candidate and the super PAC also launched an aggressive campaign to court absentee and early voters.

Gingrich was overmatched in Florida on all those fronts. He and his allies turned their attention to the state several weeks after Romney's team had begun its work. He hired local staffers just a month before the election. And he never had the money to compete. Gingrich and his allies spent a quarter of Romney's total ? roughly $4 million ? on Florida advertising.

Gingrich's fiery demeanor and Ronald Reagan comparisons turned out to be no match for Romney's behemoth organization and newfound aggression.

The former congressman from Georgia arrived in Florida on Jan. 22 with a head of steam after his South Carolina win.

One day later, he was confident as he took the stage for the first of two debates before Florida's primary.

But so was Romney, who had hired a new debate coach that week.

The first sign of Romney's new strategy came early as he tore into his opponent, a former college professor who had built his candidacy on the strength of his debate performances. Among other things, Romney attacked Gingrich's work for the mortgage giant Freddie Mac, which would soon become a Romney refrain.

"Freddie Mac was paying Speaker Gingrich $1.6 million at the same time Freddie Mac was costing the people of Florida millions upon millions of dollars," Romney said.

Despite that subpar debate performance, Gingrich initially drew thousands of hopeful Republicans to airport hangars and hotel ballrooms across the state. Fearing crowds might threaten public safety, a fire marshal blocked hundreds from entering a packed venue on the Space Coast last week. And for a time, Gingrich clearly believed he would prove that South Carolina wasn't a fluke.

"I predict people power will beat money power," an almost giddy Gingrich told thousands of cheering supporters in Sarasota last week. "If we win the primary next Tuesday I believe I will become the Republican nominee. So, as the nominee, I get to come back to Tampa in August. We'll have a really big rally for that."

The giddiness didn't last long.

That same day, Romney began running a blistering new ad on Florida television stations across the state. It was a first for a Romney campaign that had been content, up to that point, to leave the negative advertising to outside allies. No more.

"While Florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, Newt Gingrich cashed in," the narrator said. "Gingrich resigned from Congress in disgrace. And then cashed in as a D.C. insider."

Gingrich had previously shrugged off questions about his consulting work for Freddie Mac. But Romney wouldn't let Gingrich off the hook in Florida. Two days after the ad began running, Gingrich suffered perhaps his greatest setback on an unlikely stage.

The candidates met Thursday night in Jacksonville for the final debate before the primary.

Romney supporters packed into the auditorium to help win the applause battle. And Romney researchers found a gem among Gingrich's personal investments hours before the debate.

Gingrich walked into a trap when he criticized Romney for investing in funds that include stock from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"Mr. Speaker, I know that sounds like an enormous revelation, but have you checked your own investments?" Romney asked a stone-faced Gingrich. "You also have investments through mutual funds that also invest in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

It was like a punch to the stomach for Gingrich, who needed a strong showing to reclaim the momentum. He was speechless and wouldn't recover that night or in the days that followed.

Florida polls had already started swinging wildly in Romney's favor. And he didn't take his foot off Gingrich's neck.

At a campaign stop the next day, Romney likened Gingrich to Goldilocks, the fairy tale character who complained of the temperature of her porridge. He repeated the jab the next day. And Romney dispatched high-profile surrogates to Gingrich events, ensuring that no attacks would go unanswered in real time.

The strategy produced uncomfortable moments for Gingrich and sometimes clouded his message. Surrounded by reporters and cameras, a Gingrich spokesman forced an argument with a Romney representative, Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was an unusual approach for a campaign that appeared to be in a tailspin.

Gingrich's crowds started to shrink. And the campaign further alienated voters by struggling with the logistics of campaigning in a large state ? often arriving at events 90 minutes late in the campaign's final days.

Romney didn't let up.

The campaign aired a second attack ad four days before the primary featuring an NBC News broadcast from 1997 about Gingrich's ethical problems as the House speaker. The Romney campaign refused to take the ad down after objections from NBC, a dispute that only heightened the ad's exposure.

But Gingrich was defiant until the end.

On Tuesday, he predicted the race would continue for another six months regardless of the Florida results. "Unless Romney drops out earlier," he quipped.

Romney has signaled that he won't back off his aggressive strategy so long as Gingrich is within striking distance, saying, "I'm not going to stand back and allow another candidate to define me."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-02-01-How%20Romney%20Won/id-1ad27973abb14fa2bbe3880185b48718

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Introducing The iPnoho 6

Meet the future, everyone: The iPnoho6. Steve Jobs would be proud. This Shanzhai special isn't even an iPhone clone. It doesn't deserve that honored distinction. This is an IPDA as it's labeled on the front under the small screen and next to the large Apple logo. Around back are two large speakers and yet another Apple logo -- because, you know, two Apple logos equates to twice as much fun. The only thing that's missing from this IPDA is an iStylis.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KaGkr_IW1CY/

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