Spam is a really serious problem today, millions of spam messages are being sent every hour in the Internet, that is why it is unfortunately natural to receive an email like that from time to time. However, there are still things that you can do. On your side there is active protection (usually done after receiving spam) and passive protection (before that).

Active protection is the easiest one. When you see an email that is clearly a spam you mark it as spam in your webmail client. This procedure is different for every mail provider. What it does is basically lets the mail provider know that this message is spam and that messages like that should not be let into your inbox. Basically in this way you simply help your email provider to fight off hordes of spam, which most of them do actually very well, as there are tons of email spam that you never see in your inbox, but which have been sent. As to my knowledge Gmail has rater good protection and they are evolving constantly. If you let me know which mail service provider you have I can provide more information on how to mark mail as spam.

The passive protection is much harder to implement as it require constant awareness, but is much more effective. The secret is that spammers can only send you email when they know your email address and there are only so few places where they can get it. So make sure that you:

• never allow your email to appear as text or mailto link on your website
• your email is not publicly visible on your social network profiles
• you do not use your primary email to register on shade websites (by shady I mean any non-major places that can be bought out by spammers or hacked or be owned by spammers) – if you need to register on a website like that use an alternative email that you do not use for important stuff
• always think carefully before subscribing to anything with your primary email
• never fill your primary email in any form that can compromise it (for example when replying to a comment on some blog or in other places)

If you feel that your email has been heavily compromised and is receiving tons of spam messages that you do not want to see, you mark them as spam, but for month the picture is not changing, then most likely there is nothing that can be done with that, and you may want to think about changing your email and being much more careful about it. This is not always relevant if your email consists of simple words or your name – firstname.lastname@domain.com, if your name is publicly available or not very rare. In this case you can be pretty sure that even if no one knows your email address, spammers will just guess that a person with such name can have it.

If you are hit by a credit card bug, it can spoil your ability to practice wise money management, and can ruin your financial life eventually. This is because we tend to forget credit card is itself a consumer debt and can lead us further into debt. If you are frivolous in your spending habits and currently drowning  in credit card debts, then you might be able to relate with Arlene’ story and her debacle. Arlene Britt is a typical spoiled brat who adopted the ‘buy now, pay later’ habit from childhood.  Her tendency to overspend led her into huge credit card debts and damaged her credit considerably. She used to work for a daily news paper and earn quite well, but she squandered her paychecks on youthful indiscretion. She was heading straight towards bankruptcy but thank God, her determination and ability to bounce back, ultimately saved her from a financial collapse. Read on to know how this miracle took place and apply some of her simple debt management strategies to your financial life as well.

Arlene was in complete love with fancy products like costly garments, swanky watches and diamond rings and whenever she passes the shopping mall, mannequins seem to beckon to her with all eye candy stuffs. Just like any other American girl of her age, she could not resist the temptation of buying unlimited especially when credit card companies keep bombarding her mail box with lucrative offers. She indulges in shopping spree, and pays no heed to her unpaid credit card bills until she piles huge interest on her unpaid bills and mounts up her debt loads. Her accounts go into ‘unpaid due’ to ‘charged off’ status finally and are handed over to a collection agency. The harassing and abusing call of the collection agency is the final wake up call which slaps her into shape. Do you know what she did to retrieve her finances?

First of all, she gathers all her bank account statements and credit card bills to get a clear picture of her current financial situation. Once she tally up her debts, monthly income, and essential expenses she found out how much she could devote towards her debt each month. The word budget used to scare her like anything but now she pulls up her socks and chalk out a budgeting plan. She allotted her hard earned money in each category of essential expenses every month and devoted the remainder to pay off her credit card bills. She decided to keep aside some money earmarked for an emergency fund as well. She explored various income sources to generate more money. She took a part time job and sold her excess unused items on e-bay and other offline marketing outlets

To payoff her credit card bills she went one step ahead. First, she cut up her multiple credit cards except accounts which have an outstanding balance and eventually started to use debit card for budgeted online expenses or cash for offline expenses. She opted for Dave Ramsey’s “debt snowball” strategy to take care of her credit card bills. According to this strategy the debtor has to pay the smallest debt first, adding anything extra to that debt each month until it’s gone. While doing so the consumer has to continue paying the minimum on the other debts. Once the smallest debt is paid off, he or she needs to put everything toward the next debt. This method is called ‘snowball’ as by paying off the smaller debts one can free up more money to pay off the larger ones. Arlene was benefited by it and become debt free soon. She learned a lifetime lesson from her mistake and promised not to repeat them ever in future.

To conclude, if you are undergoing similar financial scenario, you could follow Arlene’s path and can come out of the labyrinth of debts with ease.

This is a guest post by Stewart Smith. He has written some great articles on topics like federal debt relief programs, investment opportunities, debt relief and more.

If you’re lucky enough to have landed yourself a job interview, then it is extremely important that you take the opportunity to make a good impression- it might be the only chance you get!  If you haven’t been through an interview situation before then this can be a pretty daunting experience, especially as competition for jobs is currently so fierce.  When you get the invitation to interview, go through these 10 tips for your first job interview and you will arrive on the day feeling confident and ready to wow.

1. Dress The Part

This is one area that people often leave until the last minute, but it is absolutely key to show up in an outfit that gives your potential employer the right impression. Women should opt for a conservative suit with low heels, subtle make up and jewellery, and not too much flesh on show; men should pick a smart suit, get a haircut and shine those shoes.

2. Know Your industry

If you are interviewing for a job in the media sector and during your interview you are asked some basic, media-specific questions that you can’t answer, then you are not going to make a very competent impression. Spend some time researching the industry your are interviewing in, including the latest news, developments and trends.

3. Understand Your Employer

During the interview, your interviewer will want to see evidence that you have made a conscious decision to apply to work for them, rather than just having run out of beer money.  Read about the company you want to work for – browse its websites and marketing documents – and be prepared to answer the question ‘why do you want to work for us.’

4. Be Job Specific

Although a future employer won’t expect a graduate to know the inns and outs of the practical aspects of the job being applied for, they will expect you to have a basic understanding of what it entails. It is a good idea to try and talk to someone who is already in a similar job, read about it online, or look at other job descriptions so you are able to explain why your skills match this role.

5. Anticipate The Interviewer

Sit down and think about the questions you are likely to be asked in this interview and prepare your answers in advance. This might seem geeky but the stress of an interview situation can often make your mind go blank so pre-thought through answers can be a life saver.  If you know anyone else who has been through the same or a similar interview ask them for some guidance.

6. Practice The Interview

Once you have a list of anticipated questions then you can sit down with a friend or family member and practice your answers. Do not let them take it easy on you – the interviewer won’t!

7. Videos

If you are extremely nervous about the interview, or you just need a bit more guidance on what to expect from it, there are a number of videos out there that you can watch. Try and find one that shows a situation with a similar job, or is in a similar industry to yours and watch it several times to see the process of the interview and the answers that are given.

8. Don’t Be Late

Unless you have broken a limb or lost your memory, there is nothing that will leave a potential employer with a bad impression of you more than if you are late for your interview. Check you have the right day in advance, plan your transport route and leave plenty of extra time in case of delays.

9. Avoid Informality

When you show up at the interview, unless you know the company well, it is a good idea to assume that the interview process will be a formal one. Shake hands and introduce yourself, avoid jokes (especially bad ones) and no matter how nervous you are try to avoid behaving weirdly.

10. Finishing Up

Before you go in to the interview, prepare two or three questions for the end.  It is always a good idea to have a question ready when you are asked, even if you only use one of your pre-prepared  questions. Try and prepare a second follow up question for each one so that they come across as genuine

This was a guest post by John for Monster Jobs. Get more interview tips and learn about the most common job interview questions in the Monster career advice library.

There are a number of factors that are considered to be instrumental when it comes to learning how to be a successful negotiator. These include: preparation, strategy, dealmaking, the art of persuasion and reading body language. Perhaps one of the most powerful weapons is the latter as it is not something that everyone is able to do.  If you want to come out on top, try these tips for reading body language to win in negotiations.

The Handshake

Right from the first moment of the negotiation you can start reading your opposite number’s behaviour to give you an edge. If your hand is shaken up and down then your opposite number sees you as an equal; if they crush your hand or twist your palm up to the ceiling, they see you as inferior; and if they hold their hand out with the palm facing the ceiling, this means they see you as the superior.

Look Out For Lying

Reading body language is key when it comes to detecting lies as a practiced professional can sound as smooth as silk when they want to convince an opaponent to take their point. Sometimes the only indication you will have that anything is not right is their body language.

Hands: watch out for hands rubbing the neck, a hand rested lightly on the chin, clenched fists, picking at imaginary threads in clothes, hands in pockets, or excessive displays of the palms of someone’s hands.

Eyes: Eye movements to the left normally indicate a lie, but not always. The only situation in which this action does not indicate the person is lying is if they look left and then down.  Eye movements up and left and sideways and left indicate lying.

Movement: look out for bouncing knees, jingling change in pockets, and overly active feet – these are all signs of the kind of discomfort that often accompanies dishonesty.

Look At The Face

Smile. A person’s mouth will tell you a lot about what they are thinking. A smile that is fake will often be stronger on one side of the face than the other, and if the teeth are not shown then the person is trying to keep a secret.  If you want to see if a smile is genuine then look for wrinkles at the sides of the eyes.

Eyes. Pupils that are dilated means that the person is stimulated and in problem solving mode. When this dilation reaches maximum they are about to make a decision.

Hands and Walls

Steeple.  Anyone who makes a steeple of their fingers during a negotiation is clearly extremely confident or slightly arrogant. This is also what you can read from someone standing with their hands behind their back.

Walls.  People often subconsciously create walls during negotiations – whether it is from crossed arms, or something physical like a handbag or purse.  Look out for anything that is strategically placed between your opposite number and you, as this is an indication of defensiveness.

This was a guest post by John from body language training program The Body Language Guide.

When managers know their own style and how others react to it, they are more likely to get the responses they wish.  No one style fills all in management and supervisory task and delegation.  What is most important is flexibility of assignment to the correct style and management tone at each point in time, the growth stage of the firm and organization and for differing situations, events and problems to be solved that at hand.

Basic Categories of management styles:

1)   Intuitive: Executives who use the style of being intuitive (derived from the term intuition) take a long-range long-term view seek out relationships among disparate elements, and generally believe disorder is often the rule. Advantages:  Creative, imaginative, able to understand long-range problems.  Drawbacks:  Tend to fantasize and be impractical, give the appearance of being out of touch, aloof and even impersonal.

2)    Intellectual: These managers avoid emotionalism, rely on empiricism, are prudent and have orderly work habits.  But they tend to be skeptical and generate little enthusiasm in others.  Good points: Their style can be a stabilizing force. Guarding against unpromising risks.  Disadvantages: Indecisive, often overly cautious, and too serious.

3)    Sensory: Managers with a sensory style work on a variety of jobs at one time, give close attention to detail, and are often abrupt and too busy to be neat. Currently in 2011 these types are often referred to as “Multi-Taskers” performing “Multi-Tasking”.  Pluses: Pragmatic, results-orientated and rarely misled.  Minuses: Unable to see or comprehend long-range, tend to nitpick, are impatient, lack trust in others and often run behind planned schedules marks and dates.

4)   Feeling: These executives are people-orientated and sensitive to the needs of others.  They can anticipate the impact of changes on employees, are friendly. Stimulating and generally considered warm to others.  Good points: Spontaneous. Persuasive, loyal and have the ability to draw out the feelings of others.  Drawbacks:  Tend to manipulate people, be impulsive, and stir up conflicts unintentionally.

When it comes to management styles nothing is inherently wrong or right.  It’s about situations and events. There are situations of conflicts that emerge with he best of intentions conflicts may emerge in any organizational structure or situational dealings. For examples of bad mixes consider:  Intuitive managers and supervisors usually get poor results when they approach “sensory” types for long, abstract discussions of problems.  Feeling managers run into problems. Feeling managers run into problems when they ask “thinkers” about who might be hurt by planned changes.

It’s up to senior management staff to assess the situation and best assign staff to events, situations and logjams.  The roll of upper management is not to wave empty policy statement manuals and sit in awe of their positions while awarding themselves big pay rises.  It’s about solving of problems that arise, laying out systems and ultimately performance.

Bernhard B. Rosenberg

Winnipeg Manitoba Job Banks

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You cannot touch information, you cannot taste it, it gets too old to use extremely fast, but people still tend to pay for it, even if it is not exclusive. In our days people more often pay for information than for some goods. What is even more interesting the trend is not that old. Two hundred years ago knowledge did not have even 10% of the importance it has today. Let’s see what makes successful people pay for information.

First of all we need to understand that there are two basic types of information (of course there are much more, but we will simplify things a little): more or less exclusive and common knowledge. However, before information may become exclusive or common it is only being born and may have a certain value to certain people. Value of information is something that always changes and is very different for different people and in various circumstances. Usually information is more valuable when it is scarce. So the first reason for buying information is to be more knowledgeable then others.

Reason One: To Know More then Others

As simple as it sounds. When a piece of information is very scarce, people want to have it to posses an advantage over the peers. The more rare the info is and the more value it possesses the more money people are willing to pay to get it. Well, we are pretty much used to it by now, but the next reason may be a surprise for many of us.

Reason Two: Not to Know Less then Others

This s much more interesting. Lets take a newspaper for example. Information that is contained there is not scarce at all and as soon as the newspaper is published hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) will get this information. So what is so valuable about it? Why do people still pay to get access to the news? They simply do not want to fall behind others. Lack of knowledge is almost as big of disadvantage as extra knowledge is an advantage.

As we can see the main driving force for people to pay for information is comparison to other people. We either want to know more then others or at least not to know less. Why do we need to understand this? Easy. The one who knows what people want gets an advantage over them.

Sir John Marks Templeton is a visionary in philanthropic activities and a legend in the world of fund management. He pioneered global investments with the mission of promoting spiritual wealth and knowledge. He devoted his time and his fortune to encouraging open-mindedness especially when it comes to human purpose and new spiritual information. His many charitable works earned him a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.

He saw the great depression as the turning point in his life.

Being born in a poor family did not hinder his rise to becoming one of the most highly regarded people in the world. His parents disciplined him well, as he was raised up to be prudent and self-sufficient. The values that were instilled in him at a young age helped him in his many of his endeavors as he launched himself with nothing but the shirt on his back and with the great depression in front of him.

He excelled in his studies and was even the first person in his town to attend college back then. He followed his brother’s footsteps as he set his sight on Yale University – one of the most prominent and challenging academic institution in the country. Unfortunately, the depression affected his family greatly, and on his second year at Yale, his father told him that he couldn’t give him even one dollar to go back to college. At first he felt it was a tragedy, but he realized soon enough that it was a blessing. Because this struggle forced him to become a man- to look out for his own needs. He tapped his entrepreneurial spirit, and set out to provide for his own needs. The struggle forced him to become a man, he said. He even got three jobs to support himself and complete his college education. His focus and determination despite the hardships of being a working student didn’t fail him, because he graduated first in his class and was named a Rhodes scholar to Balliol College at Oxford, where he graduated with a M.A. degree in law.

He began his Wall Street career with nothing in his pocket.

Just when a war broke out in Europe, he calculated it would kick America out of depression. And so, he borrowed money to afford to buy 100 shares each in 104 companies selling at a cheap price of one dollar per share or less. Some of the companies he purchased were even in the verge of bankruptcy. But luckily, only a few of them turned out to be worthless, and he was able to get all of his money back as he made huge profits on the others that did great.

He created his formula for investing.

He took the simple strategy of “buy low, sell high” to another level. He looked for bargains- picking troubled industries and companies, what he referred to as “points of maximum pessimism.” He looks at shares which are selling way below their asset values, perhaps because of circumstance that are only temporary, and will hold on to them until he feels that they’ve reached their true worth. His strategy certainly required thorough research and it can only be achieved when determination are not easily influenced by the current trends.

He welcomed growth.

Sir John entered the mutual-fund industry when he launched the flagship of Templeton Growth Fund. For each $10,000 that one person would have invested in the Templeton Growth Fund Class A in its foundation, the investment would have grown to $2 million by 38 years after. The Templeton Growth Fund grew at an amazing rate of almost 16 per cent a year until he sold it to the Franklin Group. Today, this fund is the longest running global fund in the U.S.

He took the road less travelled.

When Sir,John Templeton established his fund, he showed Americans the path to investing globally through it. He was THE pioneer of global investing because most Americans were hesitant in investing in foreign markets. Many other American moguls created their fortunes by buying American stocks.

Templeton, however, looked for more opportunities being offered by emerging markets in different nations-around the world. In fact, he was one of the first investors in post-war Japan, also one of the first to sell Japanese stocks before the market got better.

For the reason that Americans were not investing outside the United States, he was quoted as saying, “That is very egotistical. Why be so short-sighted or near-sighted as to focus only on America?” He then went on to create some more of the world’s biggest and most successful international investment funds.

He had a famously diligent work ethic and attention to detail.

The family values that Sir John learned as a child greatly influenced his work ethics and character. He was able to focus, and act according to his beliefs, particularly with his investment decisions, despite the racket around him. He continued to work 60-hour every week until he was well into his eighties.

A deeply spiritual man his entire life, he was known for beginning business meetings with a prayer. He had this belief that if a business wasn’t ethical, it will fail eventually. From the 1970s onwards he devoted most of his time and fortune to improving the world’s spiritual wealth.

Krisca C. Te is part of the team that manages Australian Credit Cards, a complimentary credit card comparison service and personal finance blog based in Sydney, Australia. Before she joined ACC,  she was an Associate in Deutsche Bank Group under Market and Instruments Control Services

One of the hardest thing to go through is unemployment (at least for me). What should a person do after loosing a job? There are many answers for that question. What I found helpful for myself is to get a hold of myself and start thinking and acting rationally. Lets see what other useful info on unemployment we can get here:

Source:

Online Courses

America has always been one of the toughest players on the global political and economical arenas, but recent events show that this may be no longer be true. Lets take a look at the History of American Recession.

Source: Online Schooling

There are almost 7 billion people on our planet. Every one envies somebody (please, be honest with yourself: you also envy your friend / neighbor / boss / President or someone else). Who is one of the richest cherries on the cake named “fortune” and why so many people hate him (even though usually the cherry makes the cake unique)? Let’s ask Bill Gates.

Main ingredients of Fortune:

• persistence;
• self-confidence.

Bill Gates was very persistent in cooking his dish named “fortune” and knew exactly what ingredients he had to mix. His family was upper middle class and Bill got to study in the privileged school. Many kids who have rich parents don’t bother with being high-achievers, because they are assured that parents will buy them everything they want and they don’t have to “waste time on education”. Actually Bill also was no good in grammar, civic studies and other subjects, ignored physical training, but not because he was among these kids. Gates was totally obsessed about mathematics and computers. From early years he knew what he wanted and was a high-achiever in this specific field. It is not that Bill was lazy in other subjects, he just knew what his strong sides were and felt that developing of them is the best way to cook fortune!

Actually persistence and self-confidence are main ingredients of Gates’ dish of success; otherwise why did he spend 20-30 hours per week in a computer class at school learning programming? It gave results: Gates wrote his first computer program when he was only 13 years old (it was a crude version of tic-tac-toe).

Bill enrolled at Harvard but was dismissed in two years. Does it speak about his laziness? I am not sure, because after leaving Harvard he and his friend Paul Allen organized a company – Microsoft (does it ring a bell with you? ). By the way, “Windows” wasn’t the first product of the Corporation: it took eight long years to create it! I guess you know what happened later

As we see, many people, including Harvard’s administration, didn’t understand Bill Gates’ behavior, but understanding is not what he wanted to achieve. He had another goal and knew exactly how to gain it. Many people still don’t like him, but maybe just because they envy him.

So are you among those who envy Gates’ fortune? By the way, how many people envy you? Thirty? Just thirty??? Now Gates could say: “Shame on you!” Maybe it is time to start cooking your own fortune? You already know at least two ingredients that will definitely make it tasty

P.S. From the June, 7, 2007 Bill Gates is officially a graduate of Harvard University. Administration of the University acknowledged Bill’s talent, even though he never returned to Harvard to complete his studies.

Ingredients:

• sweet beauty;
• strict character.

Let’s be honest: most of us wouldn’t work hard if we had rich parents and breathtaking appearance. Why should we wake up early in the morning instead of sleeping till noon, go to work (for example as a shop assistant) instead of going out with friends when you are less than 16 years old?! Why should we be high achievers at school or eager for independence when it is so comfortable with rich parents in their mansion? Maybe most of us would better relax and take pleasure from this fortunate life, but young Courteney Bass Cox decided that it is too boring to be a lazy rich girl (in this case she could become another hamburger on our blog) and choose the harder path that helped her to make this dish of success tastier and more impressive. Maybe this strong desire to achieve something HERSELF and her persistence brought her to model business and then to acting. By the way, Courteney didn’t expect that her parents will “buy” roles for her. The girl decided to become a really good actress, visited acting courses and disposed herself of the South accent.

Of course, Courteney could get married with a rich man (she could easily do it thanks to her sweet beauty) and never work, but she decided to work hard in the sphere that she really likes and to get married with a man whom she loves, regardless of his fortune.

This way Courteney gained the status thanks to which people recognize her not by her parents and don’t call her “a daughter of…”, but can know her by the first letters of her name – C.C. (only few women in the world – Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale – gained the same privilege). So it is not just sweet beauty that helped Courteney Cox-Arquette to become one of the six remarkable tastes of the delicious coffee Friends. She made the taste complete with her strong character and a desire to be successful by herself. Can you imagine “Friends” without cute, organized Monica and Menu of Success without Courteney Cox-Arquette? I can’t!

Ok, finish your cup of refreshing famous coffee Friends… and start cooking YOUR OWN dish of success! Will it be coffee, ice-cream or salad – it depends on you. The main thing is to make it tasty for YOU, and we together with successful people and their experience will help you in this cooking

Of course. it is not you who is too lazy, or too shy, or too afraid to make a step towards a dream!!! Maybe it is the President with his bad politics. And, of course, it is your mother who didn’t insist on entering the University. And it is rain that didn’t let you go to the interview today. You know what? Continue blaming everyone around. It will make your life easier (because you don’t have to overcome new difficulties that appear on the way to success). Besides, it will make people around you happier: they will have less competition on THEIR way to YOUR success. Oh, that is so nice of you

Image by Alexander Muller, shared by UnUnPentium115

OK,this is not going to be an ordinary post. Today I will not provide any thoughtful information regarding other people or even regarding specific ways to achieve success. This one is not for you, its for me (as  CEO of this project I have little time for real writing and this is kind of an outlet for my inspiration).

Recently I have been rather distracted (I had my birthday and a gift that made me happy as a kid (I will tell you more about it later)), it was hard to pull myself together, so I just watched the number of visitors go up or down without my direct intervention. When it went up, it was fun, but when it dropped dramatically I felt kind of miserable. That is why today I will speak about stuff that stands between me and my personal success.

So, here is a list of the stuff that I do not like about myself and try to fight (hm, and sorry for all those -ness parts):

#1. Distractfulness

Yeah, I get distracted easily. As a very creative person I very often have issues with sticking my attention to one subject.

#2. Laziness

I am not a usual lazybones that you may expect to meet. However, I am extremely lazy regarding the things I do not want to do. For example, it is normal for me to work as much as 16 hours per day for weeks on end, but I will spend a serious part of that time for the stuff I like. It may be a work I want to do at the moment or playing something or anything else that I prefer to keep myself busy with at the moment.

#3. Greediness

I am ashamed to admit that I am a mercantile and greedy bastard. Though my friends or my family will not see it, cause I prefer to give them all I can, but other people are not likely to receive my help, unless there is something in it for me. That is awful indeed. I try to fight this trait of my character, but whenever I see another greedy bastard I roll down to not letting him get over me.

#4. Over-competitiveness

When there is a peer of mine, I always want to be better at least in something (and better in everything). What I try to do it to keep a healthy competitive spirit unified with the teamwork abilities.

#5. Too Much Domination

I like my friends. That is why sometimes when I want to give them a piece of advice or when I see that they are about to make a mistake I can try to dominate them with the authority (which is not always present) or experience (which is quite good for my age, but still not overwhelming). My mistake is that I judge everyone from my perspective and with my goals, while all people are different and should be treated individually.

#6. Disregard to Accuracy

It probably should have been called in some other way, but I hate to be accurate and tidy. For example there are few things that I like less than rereading what I have just written (I hate that I will have to read this article for the second time ;-( ).

#7. Perfectionism

It is hard to explain how this point makes it together with the previous one, but nevertheless I am perfectionist when it comes to the stuff I like.

#8. Paying too Much Attention to Details

I drive my wife (yeah  I am happily married for almost a year now, but that is a different story) crazy with it. I can pay too much attention to details even if it is not necessary at all.

#9. Being a Dull Fish

That is another thing that my wife does not like about me (actually I should have let her write this article, but it would have probably be to long in that case ). At times I can be horrible at having fun. Especially if the fun costs a lot and at the moment I am short on cash (refer to the part about my greediness).

#10. Disregard to Own Health

I spent too much time in front of a PC and I know it. I should kill myself for this, but I guess my work is gonna do it first .

Now, i would really like to hear, what you boys and girls think of the author of this extremely modest (though definitely self-centered article).

Question from Pete.

Question

How do you choose a good career?

Answer

Simple, choose what you like and then find people who pay for it

I wonder what other readers think…

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If you wish you can upload your own Success Story here and it will be published on the Flavor of Success. Or you can ask a question and we together with all readers will try our best to answer it in our Questions and Answers section.

I am a chaotically organized person. This means that I prefer creative chaos in work, but I always try to make a plan of my future actions. Sometimes (more often than I would prefer) these plans become unusable due to the change of circumstances. So, I eventually came to a thought that maybe all those plans are simply a waist of my time. Of course, everyone keeps saying that a plan is a necessary part of success, but history has known many cases when majority was wrong. If a life is too dynamic to be predicted, maybe it is better to follow the flow and not to plan anything ahead ? Let’s take a look at several examples.

Example 1

You are making an article, a scientific paper or something of a kind. You have plenty of materials, lots of thoughts and a whole bunch of other stuff that may or may not be useful for your project. Or you may have a pressing deadline and not a slightest idea that can be used for your article. In any case your actions are likely to be chaotic and are not likely to have any comprehensive result. At the same time you may create a plan that will include main points that you want to bring to your reader. This plan will serve you for at least two purposes: you will know what to do/write and you will most likely see what materials do no fit into the project. These simple advantages can be achieved even if the plan is very little and not detailed.

Example 2

You are having a date with a girl. Of course, having a general idea of what you are going to do is a must, but is a detailed plan gonna help you? It is very unlikely. Sure, there are girls who would be fascinated with how organized you are and how well you have planned everything, but experience shows that they are very rare and that most of the girls would prefer something unexpected, something that would not press on them with deadlines and necessity to be at a certain place at a certain moment. So, the plan can turn a romantic date into a horrible disaster. Naturally, you can make a plan that would look spontaneous and unexpected to a girl, but that is an art that we will discuss in another article.

Example 3

You have lost a job (if you have never been through this horror you are loosing lots of adrenalin and life experience, so it could be a wise decision to get on the bad side of your boss and get this unforgettable experience, if you are in for extremal kinds of sports). You have some savings that will keep you alive for a while, but still need a new job. Many people in this situation (especially if this kind of fun comes unexpectedly) freak out and start to do everything at once. This panic stops them from making adequate decisions and eventually they may end up on the street.

Another kind of people make a precise plan for this critical situation and follow it with the diligence of a scout-boy. If everything works according to the plan they are fine, but if at least a slightest trifle goes wrong they do not know what to do and think that the whole world is falling apart around them.

Successful people act in a different way. Of course, they also get on trouble and can sometimes be very unlucky, but what differs then from those two previous types is that they make a plan and then constantly make a reality check for it. A reality check in this case is when you look back at what you have planned and compare it to the way things have worked out, if there are any differences you simply adapt your plan to them and go on with it. Sometimes you may have to create a brand new plan, but still it will be dictated by the circumstances and generally you should be moving in the same direction that you have chosen before.

Conclusions

We have seen in these three examples that plan is not always the best thing you can be spending your time for, but when you do create it, you should be ready to change it with time and this is the way a plan should work, as we cannot predict everything (which is kind of cool, for it makes life an interesting toy to play with).

Recently I have been watching TV (a thing that does not happen often, as I mostly use computer for entertainment) and saw several commercials of mobile phones on Android platform. Though advertised companies were different they all used the same argument: their devices are extremely convenient for social networks. Despite the fact that I practically live in the Internet, I am not very much involved with social networking in my private life (you know, I like to keep it PRIVATE). Of course, I have profiles on several of them, but usually communicate with my friends and clients via email. So, it was kind of surprising for me to see how popular these networks are. I mean I realized that they are very popular, but I could not have imagined how VERY VERY VERY MUCH popular they are (and these are the words of a person who uses almost each one of them for promotion of his website… go figure).

So, today I would like to start a series of articles devoted to social networks and their place in our life. I remember, when I was a student, every new subject started with the utterly boring classifications and definitions of the most obvious things. Partially in the memory of my professors I am going to start with a thing that would have made them outrageous, as it is absolutely inappropriate for the first article in a series. As you have already seen in the title, we are going to witness an epic fight of Facebook and Myspace. Who is going to beg for mercy, and who will be victorious? Let’s see. G-e-e-e-e-e-t ready for r-u-u-u-u-u-u-mble!

Round 1 – Two Sandboxes

I cannot talk of Facebook and Myspace other than as of two sandboxes. OK, we all like to play regardless of our age, but let’s be realistic: both social networks are for showing off and it seems to me rather childish. I would understand that you want to show off in your CV, the reasons are obvious, but in Facebook and Myspace you are doing it simply for the sake of your ego.
Then Facebook only started it was offered to public as a place for college students to communicate. It even required a university email to sign in (personally I haven’t seen it, but the word is in the streets that this was the case). The usage, however, was far from academic: students simply boasted shared their photos and quantity of friends.
Myspace was quite different. It was initially overwhelmed by teenagers, showing off for whom is a part of developing as a personality (at least this is what they say in their defense). Naturally this place was also used for boasting.

So, the first round is a tie. Both projects had little practical value when they started and were basically invented for fun. Yet again all work and no play can make anyone a dull boy (just watch “The Shining” by Steven King and you will see that I could not have used better words).

Round 2 – Kids in the Sandbox

I have already touched on this matter in the previous round, so here is the summary: Facebook is for almost anyone and though it was introduced only for college students in the beginning, very soon it was used for marketing and even head-hunting (no murders, simple search for professionals… I hope), at the same time Myspace is almost never used by professionals (unless they are musicians or artists, of course), due to its limited functionality when compared to Facebook. So, basically Facebook became a tool for everyone, but Myspace remained a harbor for teenagers who need to show their individuality. The sad thing is that Facebook won this round not thanks to the level of its audience (who said that a punk is worse than a professional manager?), but due to the huge number of its users. There are too many Facebookers compared to Myspacers.

Round 3 – Sandbox Design

We have already seen who and why play Facebook and Myspace. Now it is time to see how they do it. If you have ever seen each of them, a single look will be enough to understand what is the main difference in design and functionality of these two social networks. Facebook is very organized… no, not like that, it is overly organized. It has all that stuff that you may ever need to get in touch with anyone you or any of your friends have ever seen regardless of the fact if you need or use any of these tools. At the same time, Myspace is absolutely disorganized, its chaos is shown as an advantage and its design can cause an epilepsy attack, as some people say.
The funny thing is that, though personally I prefer to be organized, this round is a tie, because style and functionality of Facebook and Myspace are relevant to their audience (or does the audience choose the one that suits it better?).

Facebook Wins

By the results of two rounds Facebook defeats Myspace with a tiny advantage of millions of users. That’s the sad reality: size does matter

Question from Konnor.

Question

I am a successful person. I have a decent income, a house and even a loving family. I have achieved almost everything that I could have ever wanted, yet it does not make me happy. Well, of course, I am happy at times, but most of time I realize that something somewhere went wrong and I am not satisfied with my life. What can I do to become happy?

Answer

Konnor, success and happiness are not the same. You should not expect always to be happy from achieving your goals. Unfortunately life does not work that way. Every person becomes happy in a different way. You should look deep inside of you and find there an answer on what makes YOU happy. Then, just do it

And what do you guys think?

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If you wish you can upload your own Success Story here and it will be published on the Flavor of Success. Or you can ask a question and we together with all readers will try our best to answer it in our Questions and Answers section.

Thanks for the image to AppleTan

Recently I have finished two articles about making money online traps where described most common traps in which you can fall while venturing onto the path of online business. Today I would like to share some of the not so pleasant truths about making money online.

Truth #1 – A Real Business

Despite a very common illusion, making money online is a normal business that requires everything what a traditional business takes. Once my aunt called me and said: “I have heard that there is some work in the Internet, could you please tell me on what page I should go to make money online?” That was fun, but it shows that many people do not understand that Internet is merely a new arena for our traditional activities like production, services and other.

Truth #2 – Hard Work

Having an online business is always a hard work. To make it a success, you will have to spend much more than 1-2 hours per day or you will have to hire other people. Besides taking long enough online business also requires concentration and dedication to prosper.

Truth #3 – Not that Cheap

Unlike common opinion online business is not free. It can be cheaper than establishing a similar conventional business, but making money online still takes spending them online and offline as well.

Truth #4 – Not so Easy

Never and I mean NEVER believe that making a blog or opening an online store is easy. Sure it can be easier than opening a newspaper or a shop, but it is definitely not easy. It takes planing, management, finance, programming, marketing and what not to start making some decent money online.

Truth #5 – Takes Long

Of course, every case is individual, but setting up an online business and making it profitable will take time. For some people its a month for others a year. There is no definite term that online business takes, but experience shows that it can often be longer than you expected.

Truth #6 – Requires Lots of Knowledge

Although making money online can be a one-man business, it will take knowledge from different spheres. You will have to be an accountant, marketer, web-designer, web-master, SEO specialist, sales representative and a lawyer.

Truth #7 – Can be Stolen

Regardless of he type of your online business, your digital property will be easier to steal than ever before. If you are a blogger you will face plagiarism, if you have an online shop you will have to deal with credit card frauds. Whatever you will have will be a subject to theft. Be prepared to protect it.

Truth #8 – Can Fail

The saddest truth of all – your business may fail. There are many various reasons why it can be that way, but basically it can and you should have a plan for that case.

I hope that this bunch of unpleasant facts did not make you doubt your abilities. Instead think of them as of a list of issues wich you should be ready to face and everything will be fine… eventually

In our previous article I have started to describe traps that await a person on the journey to making money online. Today I will share with you the rest of my experience.

Trap #5 – Mysterious Secretes

If you are not a new blogger, but still lack experience to turn your blog into a profitable business, you are very likely to start thinking that other bloggers who are actually making lots of money online have some secret that helps them. And then some shady person comes from the dark alley and promises to reveal you these secrets for a tiny price of $10-$20 dollars. And he promises that these secrets will help you to make hundreds of thousands of dollars online. I always had a question in this place: “Why don’t you use this information to make all those money by yourself then?” The answer is plain and simple – the “secret” is not real, but selling it to 100 000 people will bring from one to two million dollars.

Trap #6 – Why not Me?

These gurus will tell you: “There are plenty of people out there who make lots of money online, why not you?” While, the attitude is rather positive, it is not in the right place. You should be very clear (at least with yourself) regarding your goals. Most likely to want to make your blog a profitable business. In this case attitude “there are people making money on this, why not me” is very dangerous. It implies that you rely on chance. On a pure luck that will bring your business to success, and that is not a very steady wind for the ship of your success. If you want to start a business, you shouldn’t ask a question “Why not me?”, but you should ask “How exactly will I do this, and this, and this? And what am I going to do next?”

Trap #7 – Not so Expensive

So, they are asking only $5 for a guide that will help you to make a six figure income, you think “These are not such big money, even if it doesn’t work, I can live with that loss.” The problem is that it will never cost only $5. Even if the author will not offer you to buy an advanced course after you buy the first book (“You know advanced courses are only for the best, but they cost much more”;-) ) you will still have to pay for: domain name, hosting, designer services, various “professional tools” that you were advised (almost forgot to say that many bloggers live from affiliate sales of professional tools ) and some other trifles, that do not cost much, but make a rather large sum altogether. But what is most important is that the blog will take your time. We rarely evaluate the cost of our time, but this can be easily done. Just divide all your working ours on your income. And now imagine, how much time and how much dollars the blog will cost you.

Trap#8 – Hurry Before Others Do it

They will tell you: this information is so fresh and so useful that, unless you take advantage of it immediately, others will do it and take your profit. Of course, there exists information like that. But it is almost never sold to everyone, if somebody gets it, he or she will either use it or share among the most trusted people. Remember you will almost never be able to buy one million dollar bill for a nickel. So, try to avoid making hasty decisions.

As you see these traps are very simple, and that is exactly why they work. I hope that this article will help you to avoid some of them and I would like to encourage you to share your own experience in comments.

Trap #1 – Concept

The first trap in most of the schemes that you may face, if you ever want to start any online business, is a misconception that you can make lots of money working very little. The sad truth is that making money online is not much different from making money in any other place.  Of course there are projects that become an instant success, but this is rather an exception than a rule. In all other cases hard work comes before success and usually long before money.

Trap #2 – Be Like Me

The main point all those guys are proving in order to persuade you to buy their books and methods is that they are making money on their blogs. This is not always a lie, but they make most of their money on the books they are selling. Blog is similar to a newspaper or a magazine that helps to promote stuff and often makes money on advertising. In reality one of the most efficient ways to use a blog is to leverage its informational value in order to promote other products that you have.

Trap #3 – This is Only for Smart People

This trap is one of the hardest to avoid. They tell you that this specific “Make Money Online” method works only for smart people (yet they provide exact instructions, so not a very bright person can handle it ). Usually you will think this way: “OK, they are limiting their audience only to smart people, a fraud would try to grasp all possible buyers” and this is where you fall into this trap. You see, only a tiny amount of people see themselves as complete idiots, others think that they are pretty smart. So, even if they say that this method works only for smart people, you still should know that they are targeting about 99% of the whole audience

Trap #4 – Simple Steps

“Make money online” trainers in 90% of cases offer you very specific and exact steps that should lead you to success. As you understand there can be no exact recipe of success and whenever somebody tries to sell you one, you should be very critical towards this person.

Well, that was something, but not even closely everything that I would like to share with you. Read our next article with the rest of these nasty traps.