My brother has been working on an Internet-based project that will allow regular people to start using the Internet to generate a recurring income.  The initial investment will be small.  I have been helping him with some ideas and such.

The business is supposed to launch very soon, but I couldn’t wait and decided to build up my network before the launch.

I created a teaser web-form and then posted a link to it on Craigslist.  Not getting a lot of traffic, but I have had a few responses.

Here is the text of my ad:



Affordable Internet-based Business (Idaho Falls, ID)

Date: 2011-02-23, 10:54AM MST

Reply to: sale-fankj-2230332307@craigslist.org ^[Errors when replying to ads?^]

If you are comfortable using blogging or social networking websites, then I have an extremely affordable business that is coming out very soon.

To get on the launch notification list, please do one of the following:

-sign up at: http://www.project20k.com/intro

-call: John @ 877-three three eight-9111 (if asked for an extension, just press 0)

-reply to this posting on craiglist

• Location: Idaho Falls, ID
• it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

In recent years, a large percentage of the population has chosen to start their own businesses.  Even some MBA graduates are choosing entrepreneurship instead of pounding the pavement in this challenging job market. A virtual office is the perfect solution for many of these new business ventures. If you are one of this era’s new entrepreneurs, these tips should prove useful for making your start-up a success:

• Use a remote answering service.  It can add a certain level of legitimacy to your company.  A receptionist is often your client’s first point of contact.   Virtual receptionists will use a friendly and professional voice to answer the telephone and have the ability transfer calls to you, no matter where you are located.  They will take detailed messages, and return calls to your clients with necessary information when you are not available.
• Make sure you have a professionally designed website that describes all of your services. This should be easy to read, and your contact information should be easily accessible on each page.
• If you are working from your home, have a mailing address that is separate.  A PO Box will work well — just make sure they accept packages.  Some PO Boxes even allow you to have a street address.
• Have professional looking marketing collateral, such as business cards and letterhead.  And always carry your business cards with you. You never know when you might run into a potential client.  I ran into one on a flight to NY a while ago.  After some talking, I handed them my card and was rewarded with a new project.

Whatever the size of your start-up, you can present yourself as a leader in your field.  Don’t let your location hold you back.  If you have a well planned virtual office, including an excellent answering service, it will be hard for your clients to justify taking their business anywhere else.

In my opinion, for people like me, there are really two options to preparing your taxes. First, purchased tax preparation software such as TurboTax or tax cut. This software can be purchased for a modest fee, plus fees associated with filing your taxes electronically. Second, hiring a tax professional such as a CPA or tax professional such as those that you would find at H&R Block or other similar companies.

As far as tax preparation software goes, the typical household and modest sole-proprietor can typically file their tax returns using software quite easily and accurately. Two advantages using the software include the power to revise your return several times without a hassle. You can try different scenarios such as what if I take the standard deduction versus what if I itemize my deductions. You can play out different scenarios to see what affects your tax liability the the most. As you go into planning for the next year you can also punch in some numbers for hypothetical “what if” scenarios. Another great advantage is that if you use the same software program year over year, it will carry over your information from the previous year. You don’t have to reenter it every year you do your taxes. A disadvantage of using software for your taxes is that if you really don’t fully understand something, you have to trust your understanding of what the software is trying to tell you. If you do create an error on your tax return, you cannot blame the tax preparation software. You are held liable for the hairs on your tax return. If you’re doing just a simple sole proprietorship and itemizing your own deductions, you should be just fine.

The advantage of going with a tax professional is that you can get advice throughout the process. They will tell you the documents that you need to bring to your tax preparation session. During that tax information gathering session, you can ask them questions and asked them how you could do a certain activity better next year. They will also know what some of the common new deductions are and make you aware of them so that you can provide them enough information to file the proper documentation. If you are using Corporation, or LLC, or you are involved in several stock trades on a personal level, it is very helpful to have a tax professional help you out. Those types of areas get more complicated and you can easily get over your head in tax lingo and rules and regulations. Once you get involved in LLC organizations or corporations, you’ll have different dates other than the standard individual filing dates. Your tax professionals should know these dates and keep you on top of them.

My overall recommendation to anyone is that you should try the tax software option first. If the terms are too unfamiliar or you feel uncomfortable when you’re finally submitting the tax return for the software, you should consider going through tax professional the next year.

First, there is the trusty old spreadsheet method. You can find some spreadsheet templates for tracking finances on the Internet. If you are a spreadsheet guru, you will probably create your own spreadsheet. You’ll even be able to create tabs in the spreadsheet that contained graphs and charts of your financial situation. I know a lot of people who use this method if they are mostly just tracking costs and inflows. It can also be used to track your budget.

Microsoft Money is another tool that has been popular with computer users. Many people turn to the Microsoft Money software because they trusted the Microsoft brand. I have only used the evaluation copies of Microsoft Money, however, I felt like they were lacking in some areas. It also seems that Microsoft Money has gone downhill in the latest few years. I wonder if Microsoft is starting to cut its losses on the product and is moving away from that niche.

My favorite method of tracking my personal, investment, and business finances is Intuit’s Quicken program. While I get upset all the time about the number of ads that show up in the program itself, as well as on my desktop as icons, I do appreciate the upkeep that Quicken has done to keep my finances compatible with my financial organizations. I am a power user with the software, and so I always know my individual worth at any given time. I track my savings goals, business expenses, and monthly budgets all within the tool.

Lately, there have been some online money management tools out there. While I have played around with them just only a little bit, I really enjoy the power and feature set of the installable software.

Most people recommend that you only need to keep your tax related documents (and thus always includes your supportive documentation) for about three years. You only need these documents longer if you’re ever suspected of fraud, tax evasion, or under statement of income. However, for most people, three years is probably a good time frame.

Another exception to the three-year rule would apply to bank statements and canceled checks. It is a good idea to keep these documents for about seven years, if possible, you need to keep receipts for longer than three years if that receipt won’t fully be applied on your tax return until a future date. For example, let’s say you purchased an item that you’re going to amortize over the period of three years. It would be good to keep that receipt for at least three years beyond the final amortization of that item.

If you’re dealing with rental property, or other investment property, I personally would recommend that you keep receipts and records of the improvements to that property for as long as you own it. It is always helpful to have those records when you try to go and sell the property or try to claim an insurance adjustment should something happen to or on the property.

Today I spent some time doing a little SEO work, but then I turned my attention to posting a bunch of “coloring book” pictures on one of my popular websites. I am not an artist, but I found a way to take photographs and use a series of steps in Photoshop to morph them into coloring book pages.

I spent some time posting the coloring book items to certain pages, but it is tedious and I think I am going to call it a night.

Getting on the Fast Track

Ever since I read Robert Kiyosaki’s book, “Rich Dad Poor Dad”, I have been fascinated by many of its principles and have wanted to teach them to my children. Of course, one of the end goals of the black is to get yourself on what is known as “the fast track”. When you are at this stage in your life, your money is generating your income for you — instead of you working to generate that money.

Of course, part of my end goal on my road to $20,000 per month just to have that money coming in from my investments. I don’t want to be trading my time for money or I will never make that goal. It is easier to teach children to trade their time for money at the very beginning of their stage of development. However, I want my kids to learn that money never sleeps, money never gets tired, and money is a tool — not a slave master.

The final game in the “Rich Kid Smart Kid” online game series is the game called, “Jesse’s Big Change”. This game is a follow-up to the ice cream stand game that I have written about a few months ago. In this game, Jesse has become very successful at his ice cream stand. He is working very hard to keep earning some good cash. The object of this game is to get Jesse on the fast track where his money is working for him rather than him working for his money.

I am excited to see how well my kids are able to understand the concepts of this activity. Comment on this post to let me know what you have done to teach her children about having their money work for them.

To show your kids this game, simply click on the game screen shot at the bottom of this post.

I created a page on the Family Travel website that allows users to generate lists of questions for their family during a road trip: List of Questions to ask your Family.

I have decided to play with writing articles for SEO purposes and submitting them to article directories. I purchased some software that helps with the article submissions. I have found that I’ve been able to submit articles to many directories in just minutes.

The article that I started out with first in this activity is, “finding a place to camp”. The website that I am hoping to promote with this article is the family road trip activities website that I manage.

Most people feel that keeping their investments in cash assets will help them be more prepared, when the market bottoms out, to buy up as many low priced stocks as possible. Guessing at stock market volatility can take a huge amount out of your returns. Investors lose on their returns because they fail to notice when the stock market is retreating, and will also miss upward trends in the market until the opportunities for gains have passed. By missing some of the best individual day gains, you could hinder your potential returns.

Diversification is an important factor in earning money during a volatile stock market. By using diversification you will create a hedge against those stocks that are underperforming. A good investment software program can show you how well you have diversified your investments. There will be an equilibrium of stocks and other, more conservative investment vehicles so that in times of market declines there will still be investments that are earning money to offset any losses. Be sure to re-evaluate your portfolio during times of extreme market volatility to make sure that you are still suitably matched along the lines of goals and risk tolerance. Be sure to check that your asset allocation matches your risk tolerance and investment objectives so that you can be sure you are as diversified in the market as your personal analysis suggests. A financial advisor would be a good person to consult with about those important investment matters.

There is no big secret when it comes to managing stock market volatility. Just be sure to have a good long term plan set up and a well diversified, well managed portfolio of investments. Do not doubt your abilities because this will lead to short term mistakes that can divert you from your goals. Trust in yourself that you can accomplish all of your objectives and be sure to stick to your plan no matter what happens. If you are having a hard time making decisions then there are financial advisors and stock market software companies out there to ease your anxiety. Using programs like Scott Trade and TDAMERITRADE can help guide you through those tough and hard to resist price fluctuations in the markets. There are many tutorials that they provide that will help you make the wisest decision when it comes down to making a smart investment choice. Remember do your research and consult someone if you are uneasy and you will be well on your way to earning money in a volatile stock market.