Recently I have been selling old books on Amazon. I discovered that it is actually a great way to get rid of them. The Amazon Marketplace is a very efficient and fairly easy to use system for sellers. And the prices are surprisingly high.
I tend to read books only once. I have about 10 favorite books that I can read over and over, but besides those I generally never read a book twice. If it makes a good reference book about trading or programming, then I might look at it many times. I take care of them and after I have read them they are still in new condition. That means they fetch a high price on Amazon.
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Business Strategy, Internet, Money, Success
Amazon, books, business, fulfillment by amazon, Internet, Money, sales, shipping, technology
After writing about Zappos yesterday, I remembered a few interesting things that I didn’t mention in the post about the company. I had heard about the wonderful customer service and company culture about 3 years ago. So I decided to do a little experiment. I called the customer service line to talk with whoever answered, to find out what it was like to work at Zappos.
Tony Hsieh, Co-founder of Zappos
I had heard about what a great company Zappos was, but I was a bit surprised when I actually talked to the customer service representative. Before I tell you what happened when I called Zappos, let’s think back about what a “normal” customer service call is like.
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Business Strategy, Dreams Come True, Success
Amazon, business, customer service, happiness, shoes, Success, tony hsieh, zappos
Recently I have written a bunch of posts about America’s worsening financial situation, and the economic chaos that could ensue. I believe that it is important to manage our finances in a responsible way, and that it will serve Americans as well as the rest of the world to clean up our financial mess. However, that doesn’t change the fact that America is the best country to live in.
Everyone wants to come to America. Nobody is sneaking into Cuba. Nobody is sneaking into Iran. Everyone wants to come to America. We have the most opportunity, the best government system, a good legal system and, most importantly, freedom.
America is so great because anyone can come here and succeed. Millions of people have come without any money or even knowing the language. However, our free economic system allows anyone to work, build a business, and become wealthy. That’s why America is the land of opportunity.
In fact, the desirability of America has been its greatest asset. Smart, hard working people from every country in the world have come here because it offers them the most. As they grew and succeeded, so did the country. In just a few hundred years, America became the most powerful economic power in the world because of the hard working people who came here.
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Success, US Economy
america, business, countries, immigration, india, legal system, Success, Uruguay, Vietnam, work, world
This article on Yahoo Finance talks about how the housing market is continuing to decline. As with most government intervention, the effect of the first time buyer’s credit had a short term benefit and I think it will have a long term negative effect.
Besides that, it enticed the most naive and inexperienced buyers to buy at the worst time possible. The housing market is going down and there is nothing to slow it down. Unemployment is high and the economy is weak. It is quite easy to see that housing prices are not likely to rebound any time soon.
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Money, Success, US Economy
business, buyers credit, entrepreneurship, foreclosure, government, housing, markets, unemployment, yahoo
When reading about finances or talking to people, I always hear the same useless advice: “You have to learn to save money.” or “It’s hard because the economy is so bad.”
This kind of talk is really just complaints and useless advice. Everyone already knows that saving money will improve their finances. But they have no idea how to do it.
After reading this great post that Matt found over at My Wife Quit Her Job, I noticed that the reason I like Steve’s blog is because it contains information that is fairly rare. It’s not about saving money, it’s about building a powerful positive cash flow asset. It’s not about lamenting about how hard life is and how hard it is to get a job. It is about how Steve’s profit is going up as unemployment rises and the economy goes down.
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Business Strategy, Internet, Investing, Money, Success, US Economy
advice, blogs, business, economy, entrepreneurship, Internet, Money, my wife quit her job, saving, Success, unemployment
As I continue to play Tycoon$, the popular Facebook game, I am struck by how useful it is as a learning tool. Many people write it off as a stupid or unsophisticated game, but I think that it holds many lessons for those of us who discover them. It is interesting to see how things have changed since my first post.
One interesting thing that has happened is that inflation has taken off within the game. Prices are up about 25% in the last month. What has caused this massive inflation?
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Business Strategy, Internet, Investing, Money, Success, US Economy
business, economy, facebook, games, inflation, learning, Success, tycoon$, tycoons
There’s a difference between productive meetings and meetings.
Productive meetings need three things:
- A purpose
- An agenda
- A time limit
Most business people just don’t get that and meetings become ego jam sessions–or maybe ham sessions–where people strain for more face time and hope to instill among their co-workers just how important they are.
After all, it’s just an hour or two, right?
Now we have the ultimate tool that proves this wrong.
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Accelerating Technology, Business Strategy, Money, Online Investing AI, Success
business, meeting, Money, technology, time
Passive income is often touted as a work-free, pain-less, time-agnostic way to earn money.
The logic goes like this: You employ a few vehicles that can earn money on a 24-7 basis. You can invest and earn money through trading or dividends. You can create a blog or web site. You can do some affiliate or search engine marketing.
And, alakazam, you make money.
It works. Or, it can work.
But passive income does require four distinct phases that do require your attention and due diligence.
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Online Investing AI
affiliate, blog, business, dividends, earning, income, Money, passive income, pay, work at home
Pic courtesy of redjar @ Flickr Creative Commons
When you were young, did you ever dream of some day, one day–one blessed day–waking up and finding yourself a member of a cross-functional team?
Or, a sub-brand analyst?
Be honest. Most of us wanted to join a professional football team, or be rock stars and astronauts. I don’t recall anyone ever telling me that their dream was to manage cross-functional teams.
Somewhere along the way, we passed on our dreams to earn a paycheck. We became busy. And actually, those dreams were vivisected into discrete little occupational niches and awarded excruciatingly long, and utterly useless titles.
All in the name of being busy.
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Accelerating Technology, Business Strategy, Internet, Money, Online Investing AI, Success
business, busy, entrepreneur, lazy, productivity, startup
One interesting thing I have noticed recently is difference in thinking between people who work for themselves (or own a company) and people who work for others. It is a difference in “can do” vs. “have to”.
As an employee, it is easy to fall into the habit of thinking in terms of “have to”. “I have to go to work at 9AM everyday. I have to work until I’m 65 years old. I have to sit in traffic because that’s how I go to work.” We are focus on the things that we have to do, and forget to think about how to improve the situation.
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Dreams Come True, Internet, Success
blogs, business, employee, entrepreneur, motivation, self employed, Success
is one of my favorite financial books of all time. It's an allegory about a guy who has a terrible job, and how he overcomes challenges to achieve his dreams.
