I recently went to Disney World in Orlando Florida. This is probably my 6th or 7th time visiting the various theme parks. The thing that always gets me when I go there is that it’s pretty much unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been on the planet. (Not that I’ve been too many places, but I’ve been to enough.)

Granted the attractions are fun and exciting. The characters are great. The animations and shows are fantastic. But the one thing I always seem to takeaway from my Disney World visit is their relentless pursuit to making the patrons happy. If it’s your niece’s birthday they give her a pin with her name on it that she can wear. Then pretty much everyone who works in the park who sees that birthday pin will say “Happy Birthday Amanda!!!”

That really makes a six year-old feel special and it doesn’t really take a lot of effort on Disney’s part, probably a dollar for a pin and tiny bit of effort on its employees part really make a tremendous difference to a child and his/her parents.

This is just one small thing they do at Disney to increase customer satisfaction. Everywhere I go in those parks I’m made to feel as if I’m a special customer, people are usually exceptionally friendly, things are very organized and I think this Disney “Attitude” is contagious. People go out of their way to find a garbage pail, people are more likely to be courteous to fellow patrons and people even tend to keep their cool waiting on long lines in the hot sun.

But more important than having swarms of cool-headed, happy customers wandering the parks in Disney World, the main thing Disney gets from providing an amazing experience for its customers is brand loyalty. How many of those people do you thing will come back again for another trip with their kids? How many of those kids will take their kids to Disney in twenty something years?

My guess is a lot. Probably most people will return, with kids, grandkids or just a couple adults who need a break and want to enjoy their vacation, acting like a kid.

So what’s my point?

Well, this is one of many lessons we can learn from the great Walt Disney. If you go that extra mile for your customers, create an amazing experience for them, chances are they will return.

How can I create an amazing “Disney-like” experience? You ask.

When I say go the extra mile, sure you can answer your customer’s questions timely, refund a return promptly, offer great Tips and Advice in an amazing newsletter (like mine which you should sign up for right now if you already haven’t, see top of page).

But I think you should be planning the Disney-like experience from the get go. Before even launching your business walk through the mechanics of it. Does every process that a customer experiences run as smooth as it could? Could you make it better? Easier? More enjoyable for the customer?

Can you set-up a way to capture your customer’s birthday and then acknowledge them (with a coupon or something?) This not only makes them feel like you thought about their birthday but hopefully you can get a sale. (A win/win situation.)

I just wanted to get this idea down quickly, I’m sure there are a million ways that your business can learn a valuable lesson from Disney. Please let me know in the comments ways that you make your customers feel appreciated or any “Disney-like” things you do in your business.

Don’t you absolutely hate having to keep records and receipts every minute of the day?

It can become a really tedious chore having to remember how much things cost, what you spend money on (especially when it comes to cash.)

How about sales? Do you have a system in place to accurately record all of your sales, how about your returns?

If this is making you a bit anxious have no fear because I’m going to show you three simple methods that you can use right now to organize your business record keeping (plus it also works in your personal life as well.)

Method # 1 – The Envelope System

This is a simple but massively effective system that I use to capture any and all receipts. It can be used either for your business or for never missing a red cent that a company owes you on an expense report (If you are still gainfully employed by someone else.)

The gist of this system is keep an envelope with you at all times (can be in your jacket, your briefcase or laptop case, your car or your office) what ever works for you. I use plain white (non-windowed) envelopes. Each time I get a receipt, I flip it around and write a brief description on the back of the receipt (So I don’t forget in a week what exactly it was for.) I write who I was with if a T&E type of receipt. (like a meal)

Just quickly write whatever info will help jog your memory.

Next I place the receipt in the envelope. I use a separate envelopes for each month. So on the outside of the envelope I put the month (March 2011 for example). Then I continue putting all receipts in the envelope . I add them up when I prepare my month-end reports.
For things I don’t get a receipt for (like tipping the cab driver) I write on the front of the envelope the date, amount and a (really) brief description. (like: 3/11/11 $5 Tip – Hotel Bellhop or $3 donut & coffee – Roach Coach)

The envelope system works equally well for cash receipts (if you sell merchandise for cash.) I’d use a separate envelopes, one for receipts and one for expenses.

This way we account for everything using one simple system.

Method # 2 – The Notebook System

Anyone who has been reading my tips for any length of time knows I’m a big fan of little 3 x 5″ spiral notebooks. You can buy them from Staples like 5 for $2. So if you used one notebook a month it would cost under $5 a year. (I love simple cost-effective things)

The beauty of these notebooks is that you can quite literally carry them with you at all times. You can use these to write non-receipt items down. Plus you can elaborate on the description as much as you want. You can also take notes or jot down ideas, which really comes in handy.

I usually write my notes from the back forward and write financial information from the front back, so it’s really easy to find.

I know you’re probably thinking, “Can’t I use my smart phone for this?”
The answer is yes you can, but I find filing the notebooks with my monthly documents convenient. Plus I still think it’s easier writing a note with a pen than typing on a phone. (but you should do what works best for you)

Method # 3

Lastly I wanted to mention a choice I’ve made a while ago. I use one credit card for all business activity. I use a card that puts 1% of the purchase amount into an interest bearing savings account that I could withdraw any time I need to, but you could get any rewards you want. (you have to spend the money anyway so you might as well take advantage.)

Should you use a personal or a business card? I don’t think it matters as much, I use a personal card because a like the rewards and it’s covered by the CARD act. (This offers certain protection and disclosures to personal cards that aren’t required for business cards)

Using a separate card for business activity helps in a couple of ways.

First, you’re not comingling your spending. It becomes very problematic (especially with Uncle Sam) if you comingle your business and personal spending and funds.

Second, most credit cards offer a pretty comprehensive year end statement, broken down by categories. This is a very useful report to have when preparing your year-end financial books. (this report get less and less useful the more you comingle personal and business expenses on the card.)

So there are 3 methods I use keep my receipts organized. Do you have to pick just one and only use that one method? Of course not, I use a combination of all 3 to manage my business. I use a lot of the same methods to manage my personal life.

Use whatever combination works well for you.

Let me know the ways you keep organized in the comments below.

The quality vs. quantity debate really boils down to what you’re actually talking about. It’s very situational. If you have seven children to feed and ten dollars in your pocket, the dollar menu at Taco Bell starts to look pretty good, but would you take the girl that you’ve been courting for a year to Taco Bell on your first date?

Probably not, you’d probably go somewhere with a nice table, a linen table cloth, waiters and waitresses, basically that same ten dollars wouldn’t even cover the tip.

So let me first define what I’m talking about. For the remainder of this article I’m going to be referring to content. Content for your business, whether through blog posts, email marketing, article marketing, offers you make to your customers, meetings and seminars that you hold with valued employees and customers, basically anything associated with your business.

Since we’ve focusing on the business, let me first stress that anything memorialized as written or spoken words are a reflection of your business and in the case of the small business entrepreneur, it’s a reflection on you!

So when it comes down to my personal business, I’ll always strive for quality rather than quantity. I’d rather have three meaningful articles a week on my website, giving information that people can actually use or that makes people think than striving to hit a certain number of posts per week. You probably will start off ok but once you start to fall behind, quality usually takes a hit.

The same holds true when I’m working on a product to sell or preparing to talk at a meeting or seminar. The quality of the information is what I’m referring to.

I’m not necessarily saying that you need to go absolutely crazy with the production of your product. Remember it’s the quality of information that’s important here. Let’s say you putting together a series of videos that teach someone how to accomplish a certain goal. I’d rather create a no BS series of videos shot with an amateur video camera that explain and demonstrate exactly how to accomplish the goal you set out to accomplish in the least amount of time than spend a tremendous amount of time editing and playing around with the production of the videos.

This accomplishes 2 things:
First, you are giving people exactly what they want. If you can accomplish your goal in 4 hour-long videos then people will appreciate not having to watch 6 hours of video (where 2 hours are pretty much all fluff.) I’m not saying you shouldn’t have your personally shine through and tell stories that relate to the work at hand. I’m just saying don’t get caught up with the quantity, stick to providing quality information in the least amount of time necessary.

Second, by quality I mean quality information, don’t get caught up with making your videos (or whatever type of products you’re creating) look like a Hollywood production. Either you know how to do this or you don’t. If you’re doing the editing work yourself then you’ll probably end up spending a lot of time adding no real value to your project. This usually raises the costs because you need the software necessary to edit video plus you need to factor in your time. This is time you could have spent planning your next project.

If you don’t know how to professionally edit videos then you’ll have to hire someone. Again, this will run costs up and you’re not really adding too much value.

At the end of the day you’ll have to pass the costs down your customers which may prevent someone from buying. (Everyone has that price point in their heads where it’s just too expensive for their brains to make the purchase.) So keeping costs down on the production side with either help keep the costs to your customers down or it can raise your margins dramatically. (You’ll have to test various price points)

My point is quality content is king. Quality that doesn’t really add value will end up costing you in the end.

Well, that’s my take on the quality vs. quantity debate. For anything related to me, where my name or my business is associated with the product, I’m going to err on the side of quality. I just think of what I’d rather have; 10 pieces of content a day that offers very little value or that one piece of content that really makes you think or that really teaches you something valuable.

Personally I don’t have the time for fluff, I prefer quality.

Please let me know your opinions, everyone has one, what’s yours?

People often ask, “Where can I find money for my start-up business?”

You have a great business idea, you want to take the plunge and become an entrepreneur, be you’re own boss. You have grand dreams of building an empire. Living the dream. Driving the Ferrari to the beach from your home-office beach mansion…

Hey, I’m not here to dampen anyone’s spirits. I wish you all the best and seriously hope you accomplish what you set out to accomplish. The one problem is that a new business needs some capital to start, to create new things and ideas, to grow past the infancy stage.

Basically we, as business owner’s, are the ones who are tasked with keeping the business afloat (funded) until the business can generate enough money to cover it’s costs.

So where can we find capital?

Unfortunately, the places that we first think of when we think of borrowing or getting an investment for our business, like banks, private investors, investment bankers and venture capitalists usually do not want to do business with a home-based start-up company.

Banks

Banks won’t take the risk unless you personally guarantee the loan. Now should you personal guarantee a loan for your small business?

I would urge you to think about this before you go and sign (in blood) on the dotted line. Unfortunately, no matter how excited and enthusiastic you are about your new venture, the odds of your business succeeding over a five year period are stacked against you (at least statistically, but that’s why you read my website? right?)

So the last thing I’d like to see happen to you is getting saddled with personal debt that you’ll still be responsible for even if your business does fail. People have lost their homes because of this type of thing.

So, this would be a LAST RESORT.

Venture Capitalists / Private Investors (Sometimes called “Angel” Investors / Investment Bankers

Usually, venture capitalist and private investors won’t make the investment on an unknown venture, especially a one or two person home business start-up. Even if you found a Venture Capitalist “VC” to invest in you you’d have to abide by their rules and probably give up a percent of your business (think: the show Shark Tank). That being said you can gain from their experiences and contacts and utilize their resources. So this is something to consider and it will be different for everyone.

Some people would hate to have report to and abide by the rules of a “VC” (like reporting to someone at a job) and some people will think of it like a great resource to tap into. Every person and situation is different.

So where do I look for capital if the peeps with da money won’t help me…

Here’s my list of resources you should look to tap for cash for your start-up. I’ve listed them from the last to the first way I’d fund my new venture, but we’re all different and have different circumstances so you can order them which ever way works best for you.

Family/Friends

Borrowing money from family members to start up a new business venture seems like a good idea. You probably won’t get raped on interest charges and they probably will leave you alone to run your business (unlike banks and VC’s).

The problem I’ve found with borrowing from family members is just that, their family. It can get a little awkward around the table during the holidays. (instead of being a friendly family gathering, you are now a borrower and they’re the lender) it can really change the family dynamics.

Remember, friends and family members we actually see, unlike a bank where we are just account numbers to them. On the outside chance your business has problems making a profit and you have problems paying your friends and family, it’ll be that much more uncomfortable when you see them.

Remember, whether you like or not, family is family for life.

Personal Savings

After putting together your business plan, your break even analysis and you’ve given ample thought about what challenges lie ahead. I’d use what ever savings I’ve accumulated (before borrowing from someone else).

There are two major advantages about using your own money.

First, if you go bust you won’t be in debt with anyone. This is a god-sent. I, personally sleep much better at night knowing that I don’t owe people or banks money (I’ve learned that lesson with student loans).

Secondly, When your own skin’s in the game you tend to focus more. It’s basic psychology that people will do more to guard against losing something, so when you run the risk of losing your savings you to tend not to procrastinate as much and will schedule the necessary time needed to actually run a business.

Using your own savings is my second favorite way to fund a new business venture. When your business is just starting out it may be your only option.

Just Bankroll it Yourself

The best to start a new home-based business venture is to bankroll it yourself. Meaning taking any profits from the business and reinvest them into the business.

Simple, right?

I know you’re asking yourself right now, “How the hell can I roll the profits back into the business when I just started the business and we have no profits???”

This scenario will most likely be the case for the immediate future. So during these unprofitable months you will have to bankroll the operation. This will come from two sources, one being to use your personal savings. The other is to pay the expenses for the business from your paycheck. Since your not making money yet in your new business, I’m guessing that you’re still collecting a paycheck from an actual job.

We’ve already discussed using your personal savings but how much of your income should you allocate to your business?

Well I like to know that I have emergency funds in place before spending all of my excess cash on a new business venture. If you still don’t have an emergency fund in place let me stress that it’s an important thing to have.

So after all bills have been paid each month. I’d take half the money left over and invest in an emergency fund (or replenish the savings that you spend initially, the last thing you want to have is no cash on hand when running a business.) Use the other half on the business, to pay for advertising, website hosting, supplies..etc.

The majority of the cost of a new home-based business should come from sweat. Do as much as you possibly can to keep your costs down. Then once you start making sales, advertising income, profits of any kind you will use less of your own money on the business and the business will start to sustain itself.

Once your business is profitable, then you could (and should) hire other people to do the things that distract you from making money in your business.

Stay away from debt, only give up ownership in your business if they really bring something valuable to the table and avoid family friction, these are the first steps to running a profitable business.

On Sunday mornings, I like to sit at my kitchen table make myself a big ‘ol mug of coffee and read the newspaper. One of the things that make Sunday’s newspaper different from the rest of the week is the addition of all the circulars from the stores.

I do clip some coupons and look to see what’s on sale for this week’s grocery shopping, call me a geek but the thing I look forward to the most is looking at electronic stores and even office supply store circulars. I love seeing what’s new and what’s on sale for the week. (isn’t it great when you were planning on buying something and then see it on sale.)

So, back to my Sunday morning ritual. As I looked at the Staples circular I noticed they had this program called “Dragon Naturally Speaking” on sale. (The basic Home edition was on sale for $50). Then it struck me, this would really be useful for blogging, I know I speak a lot faster than I can type so having the ability to put on a headset and just start babbling should get the words on the page a lot faster.

Does in work?

After a few minutes installation I had to go through a training, where I read sentences from the screen. All in all the voice recognition set up takes around an hour to complete. I think the program actually learns your voice from hearing it more often.

Very cool stuff.

Now I’m actually able to speak and the program actually dictates exactly what I say (within reason, a couple mistakes here and there). I have to say it works remarkably well. I was completely skeptical a first but now (to coin a Monkees tune and a Smash Mouth cover) “I’m a Believer.”

The funny thing is, the “mistakes” were my own. I started a sentence and would either make a mistake and had to start again or I’d start rambling about a topic a little more then I would have actually written (if I typed.) So the mistakes were really my fault, but honestly the time I saved not having to type was far greater than having to go back and edit my work.

I have the home edition (which is fine for my purpose) but there are also premium and a Mac editions available.

Let me quickly run down the differences to help you decide which version would suit you best. (Right from their website)

Home

• Tell your PC what to do and watch words quickly appear in documents
• Create documents 3x faster than typing by hand
• Up to 99% accurate with no spelling mistakes
• Dictate documents, send email and instant messages, surf the Web and more — using just your voice
• Everything you need to get started, including a free high-quality headset microphone

Premium

• All of the features of the Home edition PLUS
• Create time-saving shortcuts with simple voice commands
• Control virtually every Windows application on your PC by voice
• Use with Nuance-approved Bluetooth headsets, handheld recorders or Pocket PC’s
• Open and close applications, even control the mouse and the entire desktop-all by speaking

Dragon Dictate for Mac

• Control Mac applications by voice, including Mail, iChat, and iPhoto
• Installs quickly with no special script reading
• Features and capabilities that include: Editing Commands, Proofreading, Surrounding Punctuation, Voice Navigation, Dragon Voice Shortcuts for Search, and more
• Comes with everything you need to get started, including a high-quality headset microphone

Anyway you decide to go you won’t be sorry (assuming you can’t type all that fast, like me). It’s really been a lot of fun learning this software, I’m not an expert yet, but it’s pretty amazing, speaking words and have the computer type for you.

Check it out (Amazon has the programs nicely discounted)

When performing the research on whether or not your latest idea for a niche market would be a viable business to enter into, we have to consider a few factors. You don’t want to jump right in and spend a lot of your time and energy without doing any research, because not all niches are created equal. Some just don’t make good business sense.

First of all, is there enough demand for this niche? Becoming the expert on a distant solar system, 27 light-years away, is probably awesome. It might be one of the most interesting things you could ever know, but if there only 16 other people on planet earth interested in the subject, it’s probably not the best niche to use to start a business.

Next, is there competition? Contrary to what common-sense tells you, competition is a good thing. The logic is that if the niche is sustaining several businesses already then there is enough demand for that niche. If there is no competition, either you’ve just uncovered a potential gold mine (that no one has discovered yet) or there is a reason that there isn’t too much competition.

More often than not, there isn’t enough demand for that particular niche (I was going to use underwater basket weaving as an example but it has 286,000 results in Google.) If there is no demand it will be exponentially more difficult to make a successful business, because instead of just giving people the information they want, you first have to convince them that they want that information.

So here are the five places I go to first when researching a niche topic to see if it’s a viable topic for a new business.

1. Amazon

   Amazon is a great first place to look to actually see there is any interest in the niche subject. You can start by doing a broad search in the books department and see what comes back.If you search for something like the internet and notice that there are hundreds if not thousands of results. That’s a good sign. As you start to go further and further into your little niche and still see pages and pages of results, that’s promising. Search for blogging and there are still massive results. Now search for a specialized topic like WordPress and there are still hundreds of books, now you’re on to something.

   The other promising thing I hope to see when searching Amazon in my niche (the most specific niche topic, it was WordPress in the example above) is Dummy Books. Dummy Books have already determined that there is a market for that topic, paid an author (an expert) to write the book and is now marketing it. It’s an encouraging sign to see them.

   Another thing Amazon has that could be useful is Bestseller Ranking. I don’t put too much weight into this because the top ranked books are mainly new fiction books that you wouldn’t really consider relevant to your niche research. Stick to the number of total books, number of niche books and if there is Dummy Books.

2. Google

   Google is the king of research, whether researching a topic or how much competition a particular niche has (and remember competition is good) Google is the best place to gather a ton of information quickly.You can immediately see how many sites contain your niche phrase. (I recommend typing in quote so you match the exact phrase, like 2005 Honda Accord had like 14,500,000 results but “2005 Honda Accord” had only, 8,300,000 (wait, only???)

   With Google you can take a look at your top competitors, see what they’re doing on their sites, and gauge participation from their site visitors.

   You also have to know where to draw the line. If you are targeting the niche “Business” you must think about who you’re competing against, Bloomberg, Google Finance, MSN, The Wall St. Journal, to name a few. It doesn’t mean can’t bust in and succeed but the odds are stacks against you when competing against basically bottom-less pockets.

   This is why it’s so important to carve out your little niche. You’ll have a much easier time ranking for “personal investing advice for people over 55 but less than 62” then you would for “Finance”

3. Bookstores

   Another great place to see what kind of information people (potential customers) are spending money on is at the local bookstore. I just scan the magazine racks to see what the hot topics are.Chances are if someone made a magazine about a topic (or niche) they, hopefully, did adequate research to see that there is a market for that topic. If they are selling advertising (which is the where the majority of a magazine’s revenue comes from) there’s a good chance that there is ample demand for the topic.

   There no hard data supporting this method, but if you scan the magazine racks and find Dummy Books on the subject then chances are there is a market for that niche.

4. Infomercials

   Believe it or not, infomercials that have been on for any length of time are making some money. If you have seen the same infomercial for months or even years chances are they is a hungry market for the product or service being sold.If you notice one of your niche business ideas has one (or multiple) infomercials selling that product or service you’re probably in a niche that can do well. Of course you must consider how strong the competition is in the space you are competing (like the internet or T.V.) to determine if you’re business can carve out a place.

   The other thing I want to mention is that infomercials are like a living sales letter, they are (usually) brilliant in the way they market to people. They know their audience and then sell to them. So use infomercials as a model for how to sell your product.

5. Your own passion and expertise

   Lastly, I want to mention that your business after doing all the research, finding a niche that you feel should thrive, spying on your competition, studying infomercials to help formulate marketing strategies…After all that you still have to work at your business every single day. So find something you’re completely passionate about, something that you don’t mind jumping out of bed early, or staying up late to work on. This (almost above everything else) will shine through in your business, your content will have passion and your customer service will be awesome,

   Why, because it’s something you love to do. If you pick a niche that you think has great money potential but you absolutely hate the subject matter you’ll have a much harder time sustaining the business because you’ll begin to loathe having to work on it every day. You’ll see it as a job and will quickly lose the feeling of freedom that being self employed brings.

   One other thing I wanted to mention is your expertise and experience. If you are writing about something you know inside and out and you’re passionate about that subject, then you have a homerun.

   Content will come really easy and you’ll love doing the work. Hopefully you’ll be able to support your lifestyle with your business so you don’t have to work at a “day job”.

That’s when you’ll get your first taste of freedom.

Enjoy!

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Do you have or know anyone who has run into a financial slump? Where debt is building and savings is dwindling?

Most people need a plan to help them get through many of today’s money problems. So when I’m asked about what somebody should do to help rid themselves from debt, or the best way to save for retirement, I always go back to Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover plan.

This book has helped me personally, as well as, many of my friends and family. I’m not sure if someone appreciates a personal financial book as a gift during the holidays, but I’ve been thanked repeatedly by those who I gave Dave Ramsey’s book to and who actually read and utilized the information.

The Total Money Makeover is divided into two parts. The first deals with what I call the “mindset” people have regarding money. I think it goes without saying that you must address the psychological aspects of money before changing your physical actions. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself back in the same patterns that caused the problems in the first place.

The second part deals with a very specific action plan, the seven “Baby Steps” used to achieve the goal of financial freedom.

I’m not going to get into the details here, I just wrote a detailed review of the plan that you should take a look a to see if this is the right for you and your business.

Dave Ramsey’s Total Money The Makeover Book Review

This is by no means a get rich quick scheme, the plan goes through the steps and can take years to really get the momentum of building serious wealth (everyone’s situation will be different.)

I feel the Total Money Makeover will absolutely help you personally but the concepts are still very valid for your business.

The price of success is to change of mindset and stick to steps. The outcome will be more financial freedom for the long term and taking away a lot of the risks involved with personal finance.

Please let me know what you think.

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A friend of mine recently asked me, “where do you find the time to write?”. The more I thought about this question I realized it’s all a matter of organization. So I thought it would be helpful to share with you my mindset and some of my processes I use to get things done, but first let me give you a little background information and why I think that he asked me in the first place.

It’s not easy, it requires a little juggling but it’s very doable.

Working a full-time job, having a life with my family and friends and trying to sit down and write on a regular basis causes the occasional conflict. There’s always something that needs to be done around the house, I could always stay later at work to get another project started, but where does that leave me time to work on my passion, my own business, my writing?

With my busy schedule, it seems that my writing takes the back-burner much more often then I’d like. I have to take what little time I have available, when it becomes available and utilize it to write. Let me point out that when I say the word “write” I’m really talking about the entire process, thinking about subjects to write about, planning and brainstorming, how I’d like to organize my thoughts, and then the actual writing (or typing) that needs to get done.

So I use every bit of time that becomes available, whether it’s driving in my car or taking a shower in the morning, I’m always giving some thought to what I want to accomplish that day or even that week. Since I’m utilizing the time I’d normally get nothing productive done to think and plan, when it comes to actually sit down and write, the words just come pouring out.

It’s like my mind has gone through a dress rehearsal over and over again, organizing and tweaking my thoughts and ideas. So when I find time, whether it’s a few minutes or a few hours, I’m ready to rock-n-roll and just write.

One other problem I seem to face from time to time is forgetting a great idea. You may be thinking “If it’s such a great idea how did you forget it?”. Well, as the day goes on and more things pile up in my to-do list, things for work, home, family and friends, it’s not too unreasonable to think that you may forget something.

My solution is two-fold.

First I carry around a little 3×5 spiral notebook that I bought from the office supplies store (cheap, like 5 books for $2) and a pen. Here I can jot down any ideas I feel are worth remembering.

The second method I use is just use a notes app on my iPhone. Any note taking app will do. Evernote is especially good because it let’s me create voice memos, as well as typed notes and even pictures. Then I can sync it between my phone, iPad and my home computer. So I’m always ready to work wherever I am.

The bottom line is when I have a few minutes or a few hours to actually write I want to be sure that I’m as prepared as possible. I may start writing a report or article in the morning before work for a few minutes, save it, and then open up the file every time I get a new idea or get a few minutes throughout the day. I just keep writing and saving.

So, how do I have time to write constantly?

• I never allow myself to be “too busy”
• I try to utilize all my “spare” time productively
• I get as prepared as possible, so when I have a few minutes to write I can get some actual writing done.
• If all else fails, I may find myself a little sleep deprived, staying up to work when everyone else is sleeping.
• Setting a goal and doing whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. (like I just had a goal to write a response to my friends question)
• Reward my accomplishments. (a little celebration to let you know you’re headed in the right direction of your goal)
• Never give up! (people seem to give up moments before having a break-through)

Hopefully, this serves as some inspiration to keep on, keeping on, to reach your goals. It may take some doing but I think with a little creativity, organization and the willingness to get things done, you can accomplish anything.

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When you’re tasked with teaching people how to do something or having to explain something that has multiple steps or parts, it’s your job to make sure you don’t leave your readers with that “deer in the headlight” look on their face.

You may think the subject is really easy to grasp, but think back to a time when you first had to learn something, roller-skating, karate, how to eat with chopsticks, things you take for granted everyday, like writing in script, the point is no matter how easy something seems to you there is someone who doesn’t have a clue about what you’re talking about.

So when you’re describing something fairly complex, with multiple steps, assume some of your readers are complete newbies, some have a little knowledge  (intermediate students) and others we’ll call  advanced.

Here’s the trick: You have to write to the newbies, while giving enough information that the intermediate will find it useful (and hopefully will get them further along towards becoming advanced students).

What role  do the advanced students  play?  Some will tune out immediately (this is realty), some will read through your writings hoping to gain an extra ounce of knowledge that they didn’t have before and lastly, and this is most often the case, your advanced students will chime in and help you help the others. They may comment on things you forgot to include, or tell their experiences, but most of all they usually help answer the newbie questions.

So what’s the trick?

Here are steps that will help you out.

1. Break down every step as if your learning it for the first time. Remember you don’t want to go over anyone’s head so be as detailed and specific  as you possibly can. 

If your writing about learning to drive a stick shift, don’t say hit the clutch, put car into 1st gear, lay off the clutch as you hit the gas, and off you go!!

Break it down ridiculously detailed (think: more = better)

So you may say: Push down the clutch with your left foot (assuming you drive on the right-hand side of the road), take your right hand and grab the gear shift, it’s in the middle of the two front seats, follow the pattern on the shift knob to where 1st gear is located (slightly left and up), tap the gas slightly with your right foot (just enough to give it a little gas) at the same time as you lay off the clutch easy (with your left foot). You will feel the gear catch as your car starts accelerating down the road. Catching the gear is the trickiest part to learn so you will probably stall a few times but keep practicing and your be driving in no time.

2. Never assume somebody knows something. A bad mistake people often make is skipping steps because you think that “everybody” knows that already. I’ve gotten stumped when following someone’s steps because they left out one or two little steps, so what I was doing (say something online) didn’t quite match the output I was getting. The reader will probably wonder whether or not they missed something or did something incorrectly. The little steps might seem trivial to most users but to someone who isn’t familiar with what you’re describing it could make them stop what their doing and go somewhere else for direction to make sure they didn’t miss a step.

 

3. A picture is worth a thousand words (at least). Nothing helps me more than seeing exactly what I’m supposed to do, exactly where to click, what the next screen should look like…etc.

I would get into the habit of using pictures and videos to explain how to do things. If you have a video showing exactly how to hang wall paper then the person you are teaching will know the exact steps involved and whether or not they should tackle the project. Maybe they’ll decide to call in an expert but at least, from your detailed description, they’ve made an educated decision.

So next time you have to describe something fairly complex put yourself in your readers shoes (the newbie readers) and explain every possible step involved in the task you are describing. A good rule of thumb that I always use is I try to anticipate what someone would ask me and then answer that question before it’s even asked.

Give it a try.

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I wrote an article for my personal finance site that basically shows that by skipping a cup of coffee each day you could wind up a millionaire at retirement. This obviously depends on a few factors (rate of return and time) but I hope you’ll find the idea interesting.

I show that by saving $5 a day or $150 a month you could have the beginning of a really a nice nest egg. If you are self employed then you really need to focus on your own retirement savings. I provide ten tips for saving a few bucks everyday. You only need to do a few little things each month to save $150.

Unfortunately, more and more companies have abandoned their pension plans in lieu of 401k type of plans (employee contribution plans). I know times are tough but if we don’t make the decsion to start saving right now we may never be able to retire.

I wanted to post it here because I think everyone should start thinking about the future and can benefit from a few tips.

Take a read through and please let me know what you think. Also, let me know any tips that you’ve used to save money.

Here’s the full article:
How Much Does That Coffee Really Cost

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