A WAHumorous World

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I have a friend with a home based business that's been around quite a while.

He delivers newspapers.

"Poor guy", you're thinking, "out in the cold and rain for a few measly bucks..."

Guess again.

When he started this little venture as an independent contractor, he added a little something: a newsletter. It was hardly even that - he grabbed a couple of funny news clips online, copied them onto Word and printed. That's it. He distributed them to all his customers each Wednesday to help get over the mid-week hump with a smile or a chuckle.

By doing just that, he increased his tips by 400% in less than six months. Now he makes more than a few measly bucks and the cold and rain don't seem half so bad.

It does pay to keep in touch!

Labels: independent contractor, newsletter, work at home

The marathon is finally over!

Namely my Christmas/New Years/Wedding Anniversary/Valentine's Day marathon.

I just knew I shouldn't have gotten married in the middle of January during mid-year break at college.

It's the same quandry every year: how to mix up my wife's gifts over four occasions in less than two months. Flowers, chocolates and perfume can't be given so many times, dining out seems redundant when you're buried in holiday food already and jewelry...well, let's just say that my wife didn't exactly react as expected to the perfectly good stainless steel ring I gave to her. Go figure!

While I struggle to choose a suitable gift for all these occasions, my wife stockpiles several until I'm presented with a dozen presents when I had a hard enough time choosing one. No matter what, she keeps doing it and I keep looking cheap, even if I spend $50.00 or more for her gift.
When I do spend a lot on her for one occasion, I'm expected to top that purchase on the next one. Those boxes of chocolates only get so big, y'know.

I'm safe for a while, thank goodness. Now where did I put that gift idea list?

My wife's hinting about Valentine's stuff. I'm worrying about the cost of Valentine's stuff. I am cheap , after all.

I've bought probably 80% of the family gifts online in the past couple of years. I'm online anyway - when my mind draws a blank or I'm just plain bushed, I'll do some casual online shopping. Even at the last minute, it still beats being in a mall full of equally crazed people scrambling for something to give from the last few pickings. Otherwise, when it's not that busy, I just plain hate shopping. I'm a guy with a guy's philosophy about it: go in, grab it, pay and go.

It never occured to me to use online coupons. Instead, I would go to the site that sold what I wanted to get and pay whatever they asked. Done, but not done cheap. This could not go on.

A while ago, I was thumbing through a Readers' Digest and found an ad for a 10% discount at one of my favorite online stores that was already cheap. But was it cheap enough? This time, I looked up a one of those sites and there was a page chock full of Overstock deals waiting patiently for me. Better yet, these included offers Overstock didn't offer.

Valentine's Day tends to hurt a bit more for me because it not only follows Christmas and Nwe Years' Day, but also our wedding anniversary, Yeah, ouch. Those old corroded pennies on the sidewalk start looking mighty good by then.

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Two things happened to me this week. OK, just one thing actually happened to me and the other one was something I heard on the news.

First, I received a concerned notice from a service provider about my business credit card being declined. I replied that I'd look into it. On my credit card's site, the statement showed that the payment was made five days earlier and posted four days after that. I got the concerned notice yesterday.

I think someone needs to communicate better...

I also think this little fire is out and won't become a raging inferno, but who knows? A credit card company once cancelled my account because I attempted a transaction before the month's payment was received. Nothing I said or did was going to change their minds, and I was obviously too slimy and rotten an individual to continue the relationship. Not even a kiss goodbye.

Because of stuff like that, I'm a bit leery of credit cards. I only have one. No, really. I have had as many as three, which is nothing compared to some friends who have those overpacked wallets four inches thick and filled with enough plastic to make a Barbie doll.

Lots of people have the knack for tranferring balances back and forth so it seems like they never pay anything. There's even 0% balance transfers. I don't get it, but they're fanatics about it, like some play the stock market and others gamble. My mother-in-law does it nonstop. When another credit card offer comes with a tempting balance transfer option, she switches...at least until the next one arrives.

That thing I heard on the news is really no news at all. They said that consumer debt is going completely out of sight and keeps right on going. It seems like Christmas is the preferred time in the telecommuncations industry to announce how much in the hole
we all are. Ho ho oh no.

I use mine as a tool for my home business expenses. It seems easy enough, so why can't anyone else do the same? There's lots of credit card advice to be found. Every need and/or want imaginable is bought with a credit card, usually one of several. Have you seen someone whose card is declined who then proceeds to shuffle through a stack of them better than a Las Vegas poker dealer? The truly amazing part is that while they're performing this kind of card trick, they mutter about which are maxed out and which might still have enough of a balance. I hardly know what my balance is on my one and only card.

Most mind-blowing of all about this stuff is using credit cards to pay other credit cards. Stick 'em up, Peter - Here ya go, Paul. No wonder most of us are literally living on the edge. Why not write a check and enter the amount in the checkbook register? Or use cash...even if no one recognizes it anymore.

Well, I have to go apply for another card or I'll have no credit history and be a non-person. Hope they'll take American Express.



P.S. This is a PayPerPost post. For a couple bucks, I tell you what I think and only what I think. If I'm gonna do it anyway, why not?

Membership sites are hot right now. Some are expensive and lousy while others are cheap and excellent. Rarely you find one that's both expensive and excellent, but it's not so easy.

The worst of all are the ones whose owners fade away like the Cheshire Cat after reaching a certain membership level or being distracted by other opportunities, leaving only that big satisfied grin borne of lots of juicy monthly fees.

Not to mention the cost of the software, the setup involved, etc., etc. It then becomes a monster demanding lots of time and attention. Blah.

Lately I've seen a clever alternative to memberships sites: private group forum categories. If you have a well-established forum and are recognized as someone who knows what they're talking about, you can slap this up in a flash and start seeing cash. It's as easy as setting up one more category on your list of topics and creating a private registration for members. The only outside thing you need is a subscription payment processor like Paypal to take those monthly payments.

If your forum is really hopping, you're there anyway. Why not offer private consultations and discussions to your faithful fans?

But don't think that you alone are enough of a draw to make them stick around. Offer some meaty free downloads of whatever you're into. Oh yeah...keep it cheap, cheaper than the cheap membership sites. Push the fact that they'll have direct access to you and your responses to their specific concerns, not prepackaged one-size-fits-all autoresponses that lack that human touch and rarely answer the question anyway.

Why complicate matters?