So much for positive thinking, that our lives are going to improve. Fortunately, not everyone is as pessimistic.

Now, the DOW already hit 14,000 back in Aug 2007. At the time of this writing, it’s about 9400+. Here’s to hoping that we go back to former levels of widespread prosperity, but maybe learn some lesson from this recession.

Despite the current mortgage crisis in the U.S. and the fact that homeowner equity is at its lowest point since 1945, there are wealthy people buying multi-million dollar houses. As in $49 million for a 29-room townhouse. Wow.

Personally, I don’t know anyone with that kind of money but I have known a few millionaires over the years. In my mind, owning a million dollars in property is attainable, and it’s a starting point for more wealth. (My father used that base to build up to several million in property in the 1980s, though he overextended himself and lost a lot of it.) That’s my answer to “If I had a million dollars.”

But I wouldn’t buy a single home for a million dollars. Some options:
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If their product is aimed at a relatively obscure market, then if the entire Internet-connected world is their potential customer base, it’s much easier to find enough customers. Enough to keep the business going, whereas a bricks-and-mortar equivalent might not make it.

How Many Customers Is Enough?

How many customers do you need, then? I can’t answer that and I won’t even try. But I will answer a related question. How many satisfied customers do you need to be successful on the Internet selling your product? Answer: 1,000. Or so says Kevin Kelly [via Business Opportunities, Performancing, Chris Garrett], in discussing how an artist can capitalize on the Long Tail phenomenon online. (That is, don’t try to please everyone. Focus on those who would appreciate your work the most.) (more…)

So what happens to people who fail in an endeavor - even those surrounded by other people’s successes? What’s the missing ingredient? I don’t know. I believe myself to have the characteristics of a startup entrepreneur. But even after three or four failed startups, I don’t know what was lacking. My current business is doing okay, though this online work feels less stable than the offline consulting I used to do. But in most other ways, this is more enjoyable work. And I don’t have to deal with the negative peripheral factors: traffic jams, road rage by other drivers, backstabbing colleagues, bosses with personal agendas or even no discernible modus operandi.

Maybe that’s it. Even with all the entrepreneurial characteristics, including passion for the work I used to do, if there are other factors that negate the good, and if you cannot effectively deal with them, then success is unlikely. So my new theory is that happiness breeds success. Or at least, it’s a huge plus. I’m testing that theory this year.

Shannon Cherry over at Startup Sparks asks about the characteristics of someone who creates a startup business. She lists five characteristics: being a risk taker, being smart, being a leader, having inner passion for the business, and being honest and trustworthy.

While I’d like to agree, unfortunately I’ve met some successful startup entrepreneurs who were not honest and trustworthy. Let’s hope that it’s true for most startup entrepreneurs, though.

1. Online-specific boards.
2. Brick and mortar firms.
3. Job boards on blogs.
4. Staffing services and recruiting firms.
5. Government resources.
6. General job boards.
7. Just for freelancers.

Personally, I dislike online job boards. Nothing beats taking the weekend classifieds/ careers section of a newspaper and a red pen, then narrowing down the job search. Even after ten or so years, I have yet to come up with a way to use online job boards as efficiently as a big city newspaper. (Correspondingly, I found it harder and harder to find a job that suited me.) But that’s just me. I’m kind of old-school that way. But if you’re more modern than I am, you have lots of job boards to search.

Our societies depend so intrinsically on these fuels. Most of us are at the mercy of the $106+ per barrel of oil that was reached this week. And that cost affects pretty much everything. Our cost of living goes up significantly as a result. That includes food, the fuel we need to survive. In just two years, my weekly groceries - which I keep pretty constant for experimental reasons - have gone from about $30 to $45. That’s a 50% increase. And on top of that, the cost of the gas I need to get to the grocery store has gone up.
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