When I Make It

I thought about things I would get when I make it big. Everyone thinks about it these are some of the things I want to get.

1. want to buy a lamborgini for my brother
2. House for my mom, and personal assistent for her 24 hours a day.
3. a personal nurse for my grandpa, and a chef and house keeper for my grandma
and a gardener for her with a big back yard full of flowers. Also a Slot machine for my grandma that changes every month so she doesn't get tired of playing the same one and of course with a lot of money in it and she wins the slots every once in a while.
4. a bigger ring for my fiancee and future wife. and a aston martin dbs
5. a personal tennis couch for my cousin angela, and anything she wants it's usually video games she's such a good kid.

nothing for me and I'm a pretty moderate guy in chinese there is a word it's called man zhu, it means satisfied little things make me happy and I'm pretty satisfied with my life. though I always want to be first that's why I thrive and hustle.

Finding The Right People

When I'm at work and I'm overwhelmed I often depend on the employee's that we've hired to step it up. So that got me thinking, how do you find the right person for the job? I mean in every instance in life whether it be at work or in life or love, you have to find the right people to succeed. If I was busy at work and the people I've employed are not good, cannot think on their own, or trust them to make the right decisions on certain matters; I would be bogged down by work all the time. Where as if the people I work with, can work independently towards one goal which is the companies goal or success then I'm set with more free time to do my job better.

Recently we've hired a office assistant/operations coordinator for the nightclub I work for. We've gotten really busy and are developing new ways to promote our venue, and needed more staff to accommodate this new endeavor. The person I hired turned out to be someone that worked out great for us. You know honestly when you hire someone you can never tell during the interview process what he/she will be like during a work day. You cannot judge a persons ethics on work or their ability to adapt to things with a 5 minute interview. But in most cases that's what it is a first impression makes a huge difference in the interview process. I look for certain things while I interview someone to judge the quality of work they will do for us. You know you've hired well when you don't understand how you got by the day without them their to help.

1. personality- I usually see if they are upbeat, and if they are they too over the top with it. Because even though they are great for the interview it might get on your nerves after awhile.

2. appearance- even though I hate to admit, looks are very important to me, it they do not fit the mold or the appearance of what your looking for it just won't work. ( mind you I'm not the typical or expectational either. I'm 6ft about 195 pounds I've let myself go but I want to hire people that I feel as though fit the mold of the Hollywood standard) This is what I look at first before I even interview someone, I know it's shallow but I can't help it I think of the venue and the people we want to attract and that's how I hire.

3. work ethic- sometimes a resume can show you if this person has been at a job for a long time, or has worked for a long period of time over all. Places they have worked is important as well. Now if the person just has the appearance and he/she work ethnic is not up to par, they will be out of this establishment quickly that's why the nightclub scene has such a high turnover ratio in staff. Usually you hire people who think it is one way and find out the club scene isn't what they see on TV. They can also be actors, doing a side job and once they get a TV serious or movie they are out of the rotation. If a person works hard takes his/her job seriously doesn't' complain to much and doesn't mind the weird hours that person is a keeper. Note: you have to make sure a persons resume is valid and not something they just punched up to make themselves look good. bottom on this a persons work ethic shows after the first 3 week, and after the first year of work.

4. smarts- when I say this it's very general but what I mean is being smart isn't just doing things by the book, or know what the cubic squared of 1 billion is. It's a combination of street and knowledge and having common sense. You want to hire someone that can go inside and out the box, and but at least know what this box is and can understand the box as well. I hate to say it but from my experience some people have it other just don't. I don't know if it's a learned quality because I feel as though it was innate in me. Sure my experiences in life have change me into the person I am and has molded me in some views that people at a management level think but it hasn't change a lot of my instinct decision making. So that's why some people make it and some people don't.

5. humble- I know people might debate about this because others might say someone who is vain or materialistic understands the Hollywood scene better. I beg to differ on that one, being humble doesn't me you aren't the best, or that you are not as good. It means you know who you are and can appreciate other people as well without seeming to over the top.

6. eager to learn- someone who wants to learn your trade rather then just doing for the money will work harder for you. With money after awhile every job becomes a duty but if your eager to still learn you are benefiting yourself with something other then just money. It's better to be taught how to obtain water then just to get water from others. That's why internships pay nothing but what you can obtain after the knowledge and connections of a internship will benefit you years later. Take learning seriously. I am constantly trying to learn from others, only that way can I better myself on what I do.

If you can't see why these things shouldn't be what you judge a employee by, let me know what you think they should be judged on or better yet it's probably cause you've never owned or managed something. Now was that humble I'm not quite sure.

Rest and Work

After a long work month where I felt as though I didn't have a single day off, I finally got some much needed rest. My schedule has been super crazy working 16 hour days and doing it again after sleeping for 3-4 hours a day. I wonder to myself why I work, and it's really true after awhile even the most exciting job is a drag. I'm thinking about starting a new Ebay business but not sure if I have the time to really put some effort into it. Not that I've ever sold anything on Ebay so it's something new to keep my business brain occupied. I'm always in search of new ways to make money. Some have panned out some hasn't, but I like the oppurtunity to make money.

I've really not had any time to keep up with friends and family, just loved ones overall. Lately I've just been wanting to win the Lotto and sit back in Monte Carlo. But anything you want isn't easy to obtain, I need to get back into the groove of things again. Reading usually helps me maintain my sanity and also gives me new ideas about work and money. I'll try to finish a new book this month and see how I feel. I just need to sell my first item on Ebay to understand how it's done then I can do it on a regular basis. Wish me luck.

Friendships Roles People Play

Friendships and Connections are very important in life, and business overall. If you look at friendships it plays a big role in almost every aspect of your life. I wouldn't of had my job today if I didn't make the connection with a certain person who gave me a chance to prove myself in the nightclub industry in Hollywood California; which is a very cut throat environment driven on introductions rather then performance. If I didn't have the friends I had, I wouldn't of had the connections to be able to do what I do and also keep in touch with them. Even at work I have to realize who my friends are and how they play a role in my work life.

For instance I get into a new job where everyone has worked for the owner for 13 years, they are all pretty set on what they do and they can talk to the owner directly about anything. They have a friendship with the owner, now for me coming in telling them what to do they might feel as though who is this guy. Honestly if they band together they can get me fired, even though I'm doing my job and watching the owners back. So in this scenario what can I do if someone is giving me a hard time. One I can take a stand right off the back, and say do it or else, realistically if the owner will choose does he fire someone that he's been working with for 13 years and who is his friend, Or me? In a idealistic world you would think someone would choose the manager but realistically most people will choose the friend and seniority even though the positions are different and hold different powers. So what can I do, I can't choose to let someone that works for me disrespect me. So I have to choose my alliances and make it where I have the backing of the others before I can take the stand. Once I have more then half of the respect of the others he will be the outsider and his choice will be to conform to my views or quit.

Business is like war, you either do it physically or mentally win your battles. Call it what you want office politics, business management, staff support it is a war zone if you work for someone else who is the boss.

In the Prince by Machiavelli he describes to the prince that alliances are important if you have a chance to never work with the stronger team because they will eat you up, rather work with second best for you will not be eaten up but instead band stronger together. Then in return you will defeat the stronger team and then battle for the top spot. As I get older I see life differently I know it's a skewed way of thinking but in the real world relationships determine rank and power which eventually makes money. Now take that to the bank!

Quality or Quantity

In everyday life and business we have to make a decision, whether to choose quality or quantity. Quality is great because you give a product you can be proud of with the best material that someone can enjoy for a longer period of time. On the downside with quality it's more expensive and if you are selling a product you don't sell at lot of it because pricing is higher. With quantity most of the time the quality isn't as good the materials are less then polished but you'll move so many units. On the down side of that, you have to use more labor and deal with larger orders just to make the same amount of money that a quality vendor might do.

When you get into a market first decide if you want to make a quality product or move on a quantity product it will save you a little time and know how to contact the right people to do want you want to do.

Change Shouldn't Deter Your Dreams

Change is inevitable, it's almost the only constant in life. You can always count on change, the more you want something to stay the same the more it will change. Whether it's gas prices, or your companies rent is going up everything changes. But that shouldn't deter you from making a forward step. There is always ways to go with the change, it's not always easy at first but if you stick around and don't give up you'll find a away. Sometimes a change is good for you in the least way you expect you have to watch for little signs of change. I know everyone is not quite sure why gas going up is a good thing, but tell that to someone who's playing the market and bought crude oil when it wasn't this high. I met a very rich person one time, and he said to me Google happiness and see what you find. After doing so it doesn't say anything about being rich, or getting married, or having kids, but it has a lot to do with yourself. How you will be, how strong your mind set is, how well you deal with change. He also told me if you want to make friends have a great family, and wife, you need to make money. Without money everyone will leave you your woman, your family , your friends. In a sense he might be right or he might be wrong I would hate to think if I was a poor man that even my family would leave me. But in another sense you can think of it like this, if you poorer then your friends you can't do the amount of things they can do. If you are in a relationships your lady will leave you because you can't provide and that can put a strain on your relationship. Whether you like it or not some of these things are true. So deal with change, make more money, and never settle for just average.

When does Zero become Millions

I've only been writing in my blogs for about a month or so. How fast do I expect to make real money from blogging? I guess not right now, I read John Chows archives a lot and it seems like it took him almost 8 months before he started to see any real money from it. I'm not a fool I don't expect to make a living blogging, but I do expect to make a something come out of blogging. At first John Chow's site was just like mine, talk about what he knows ( which was mainly about tech industry) and mostly about his personal life issues. I guess in a way my blog is just the same as that, a place where I can freely express my ideas and sometimes rambling about nothing which I hope some people might find interesting to read. Next month I was thinking about writing an article about my work life. I think people might actually be interested to see what the night club industry is like through the eyes of someone that works in it 24/7. I'll post pictures of what attracts guys to the clubs, and of course use the sex appeal card to draw in more readers we'll have to see if it works at all.

On a side note now that I blog more I feel as though I'm actually practising my writing skills, and that isn't at all a bad thing either.

Updates

My site has been up for a month now and I wanted to give everyone updates on all the resources I've been using to gain readers and also stats on google adsense.

Update Myspace- my experiment of trying to add people from myspace to refer to my blogsite has not yet taken off. Myspace has really locked down on their adding policies it's quite time consuming to add person by person unlike before. I also get a lot of spam myspacers but they aren't the type that will direct into your blogsite. This month I'm thinking about using a add bot for myspace not sure if it's legal or not but the program adds people from myspace for you.

Facebook continually is good but I feel as though it's just most of my friends reading up on what I'm doing but still it generates a good amount of unique visitors. My good friend Success2Success has has brought 7 readers to my site. You can always count on his site being the most well written and informative site about investing in real estate and being a entrepreneur.

here is what my Adsense and Analytics look like for my first month.

Adsense

Page Impressions
613

Clicks
18

Earnings
$2.95

Google/Analytics


299 Visits

93 Absolute Unique Visitors

488 Pageviews

1.63 Average Pageviews

00:03:07 Time on Site

73.24% Bounce Rate

29.10% New Visits

I'm far from making a living blogging and I realize since the start I've slacked off a bit but who knows this is a new venture it takes time and I won't give up on it just yet. For next month I'm going to write a article a day or at least 5 articles a week. Also add more people to myspace for my blog site. Also I'm going to join MyBlogLog.com which is a resource for bloggers.

Things I Learned From My Mother

Growing up it wasn't easy, but no ones childhood is a easy up bringing. I got into the occasional trouble. I wasn't the best student in my class or even the best athlete, I kinda just averaged my way through everything. But through it all reflecting back, if it wasn't for the teachings of my family especially my mother I'd be somewhere picking trash on the street. When I was a child I thought I knew it all my mother would tell me things and I'd just think she doesn't know whats going on with this world. The older I get the more I realize that she knows a whole lot more then I ever did or maybe ever will. Lets hope I do learn more actually on this one.

My mother in her twenties went to Sydney University to do her undergrad, she told me while going to school she had to work two jobs( waitress in a restaurant, house sitter) to put herself through school and also send money back for me. After that she moved to LA and got her masters from UCLA. She was a curator for the natural history museum and had a short stint in TV promotions. In her late 30's she started her own television company from scratch on very little funding. At times she was the editor, broadcaster and writer before she got any kind of staff. I can still remember her working in the den of our old apartment editing tapes she would be there when I slept and still at the same spot when i went to school. Through it all I've seen her lead conventions, I've seen her give presentations at board meetings with industry executives where she was the only woman in the room. She in my mind has always been a powerful woman. Her television company lasted 15 years, before a long fought out litigation case with her partners where she lost all her money. But to see her rise was a wonderful experience and one day I hope to bring her back into that light again. Below are some of the things my family and especially my mother has taught me.

1. Knowledge is like a vitamin bottle, if you never take off the cap how can you get what you need.

2. Always buy the most expensive item you can find because it usually means its the best, assuming you can't do research on it.

3.Finish one thing before you start doing another thing.

4.Never embarrass your enemies or give them only one choice to live because when it comes to that they will fight back and fight harder. Always give you enemies a way to get out gracefully.

5.It doesn't matter if you read a thousand books or walk a thousand miles you learn the same knowledge.

6.Only way to learn is to travel and find out what other people are doing.

There are so many more I can mention and when I have more time I'll write about what her teachings means to me. For now you can read up and hopefully one of these can help you realized or open something in your life or business.

Business Ethics

For many of us, we've heard about business ethics or throughout our business ventures have learned about business ethics. What does it really mean to most people, a good friend of mine taught me that in business there is always a winner and a loser. It does make sense, money is either gained or lost in business everyday, and everyday there is a store closing or opening to either compete or have been run out of business. Let take this example, I own a business and it's been doing well. I have 25 employee's that work for me, and I teach them everything about my business. Right down the street someone else saw what I was doing and decided he could make money doing the same thing and started his own business. In business ethics you would think an ethical person will go about business not trying to take customers from you. He would some how have his own resources and find his own money. But everyday a business will open and fight for the same customers you do and try to take you out of business. When a competitor opens right beside you, you can assume your revenues will decrease either a lot or a little depending on your product and customer loyalty. Now what if that person decided to take your employees away from you to learn your business and have more resources from you business. What will you do then? Ethically is that right? either way it happens everyday. Many of the best inventions were not invented by the person who enjoys the benefits and monatory reciprication of his invention. Take microsoft windows, many people think Windows was invented by microsoft and bill gates. That is farthest from the truth, during a walkthrough at the xerox plant bill gates and group saw the technology. A few months later took the technology and had a big gathering for windows.

How to Attain Greatness

How does one go from selling one product to selling millions of products? How does one go from one reader to millions of readers? There must be a tipping point to this if you want to follow the book it's fine but here is another theory. Let me tell you about the 100th Monkey effect, and how it can help you attain greatness.

The story goes that in 1952 Japanese Scientist were studying the macaques(type of monkey) on the island of Koshima. The scientist were observing the monkeys eating habits, which consisted of the monkeys picking up sweat potato's from the beach and eating them. The monkeys would pick the sweat potato from the root, and eat the clean half tossing out the dirty root half. This you can imagine was a waste of the potato and also more time consuming because the monkeys had to search and pick more to fill up their bellies. One day while observing the macaques a research noticed that one sole monkey began to wash the potato in the a near by stream. The researchers were puzzled maybe the monkey saw the researchers do it to their food. The monkey after washing the potato in the stream ate the whole potato because it was clean from root to tip. The monkey could for the first time eat the whole potato instead of having to discard the dirty portion. One would think this was a break through and monkeys would embrace this everywhere, but this is where it gets interesting.

At first the sole monkey who discovered the washing technique of the potato was ostracized by the older monkeys. He was no longer able to be in the group, the older monkeys would hit him if he tried to rejoin the group. But the sole monkey still washed his potato in the stream, he ate more and had more time for other things. Slowly the younger monkeys started to imitate the sole monkey and they began to eat more in less time as well. It still wasn't done by all monkeys, until one day the researchers noticed that when the 100th monkey decided to wash the potato that it became wide spread. Hence the 100th Monkey effect, the number 100 seems to be the key for your product, your daily viewers, whatever it maybe to take off into greatness. For my blog to truly become great and become widespread I'd have to have 100 daily viewers a day. That should be my goal and that's the key for my blog to take off.

Saving is Investing? So what is a Roth IRA

I've pondered this question before if saving money is actually a way of investing. You can look it both ways. Some people believe if your really investing there is risk but when you save there shouldn't be risk. That brings me to the Roth IRA, if you don't know what it is your missing out on the best investment of your life. A Roth IRA is a retirement savings accountant, the basics is this.

Upside

1. You are taxed for the amount you put in but not taxed when you withdrawn you Roth IRA account.

2. You can invest your ROTH IRA money in stocks, real estate, mutual funds, or savings accounts like a CD. You will not be taxed on the money on withdraw at starting at 59 1/2.

3. You can deposit up to $5000 as of 2008, it was $4000 before 2008.

4. You can deposit the money in the account and watch it grow even if you hit the ceiling at a later date.
a. Lets say at 25 years old you are not making $101,000 ( which most of us are not making), and you start depositing in your Roth IRA the full amount of $5000 dollars a year for five years. On the fifth year you make more then the maximum and ineligible to deposit anymore money in your Roth IRA account. Your Roth account will still grow, and when you take it out at 60 years of age, you will have $481,000 dollars tax free from your five year of deposit when you were 25 years old. That’s a great return on your money. Here is a basic calculator for your Roth IRA account(make sure you put zero for the taxes).

5. You can take money out to buy your first home, tax free up to $10,000.

6. You can also take out money to fund your children education tax free.


Downside

1. you cannot deposit more then you make, lets say you made $3000 during the year on side jobs. You cannot deposit $5000 dollars in your Roth IRA.

2. There is a ceiling for the amount of money you make as well. If you make more then $101,000 dollars a year you are not eligible. Unless you file jointly that ceiling is $159,000 if you file with your spouse.

So whether you think the Roth IRA is a savings or a investment, the benefits definitely out weigh your drawbacks. Here is a great article to learn more about the Roth IRA, and how to open a Roth IRA.

Elevator Trouble to the Top

Today I had the scare of my life!! I started the day feeling kinda sick and tired. I should of known something was going to happen. So I got dressed ready for work like usual. Driving to work I was feeling stressed, I was wondering how the heck was I going to make it through the night I was so tired and I felt as though I was getting sick. When I arrived I parked and walked to the elevator. Pushed the button, then waited with about 4 other people next to the elevators. One elevator opened up but the up and down lights didn't go off, I was kinda apprehensive about it but decided to go cause I didn't want to walk. We all got in, as the doors closed the scare became a reality.

I've watched movies where people get stuck in the elevator and can't get out, I never thought it would happen to me. As me and the 4 other people got in and pressed the floors we needed to stop the doors closed. As the elevator began to go up, it was grinding along like when you start scraping metal to concrete. It opened up on the next floor then another person came in. As the doors closed this time, the elevator went up grinding away then suddenly fell a floor. As the 5 of us gathered ourselves from the scare, I realized it wasn't over. The elevator was teetering up and down, it felt like we were on a bungee cord. I pushed the emergency call button, the response was quick. I called out and told them that we just dropped a floor and was teetering in the elevator. One of the people in the elevator mentioned that if we fall it'd be 4 floors down. Suddenly I realized how quick your life can change and it can be over. It seemed like a lifetime but as we started to panic the elevator teetered again and the doors opened. I called security to check on the elevator to make sure no one else stepped into it.

Even though it was a scare, I realized something. One when a life threatening ordeal happens to you your cold is gone, you wide awake again. Everything seems to smell better and taste better. So I want to say maybe everything is just in the head cause now I feel great I don't feel sick or tired anymore shows you how much the mind has to play in our everyday life. It is said we only use 10% of our brain capacity wonder what an extra percent will do for you life.

How to add more readers

so in the last two days I've started a myspace account using 02millions. I noticed how many viewers I've got from facebook and it's about 8 new viewers putting a myspace account might be a good idea. I just wanted to experiment to see if I can add about 1000 random people betweene the age of 25-35 how many would actually bounce to my site and read my blogs. I think myspace is a great resource because they have so many registered users you can add and blast a bullentin too. So far I've been only able to add about 6 people, Myspace has really locked down on the random adding process. So I'm going to add about 10-20 people a day using myspace, in a month I should have about 300 extra people on my Myspace account. I will document to see how many of those people translate into readers to my blog.

April 7th will be one month into my 2 year experiment, I'm excited to give you guys a glimps of what has transpired during this month, and give you guys a projection of the following month.

Beijing 2008 Olympics

At the most sacred of ceremonies for the Olympics there was unrest, it seems like there is a lot of people that doesn't want the games of 2008 to happen. I wonder was there more protests when it was held in Berlin, Germany in 1936. Here is the video at the lighting of the torch in Greece. Notice how the one security guard couldn't even subdue the person, if it was something dangerous what would have happened.

Maneki Neko=Money Cat

Many of you have seen this cat, it's called Maneki Neko(also known as Money Cat). The reason I'm writing about this is because even though I believe in hard work I also believe in a bit of luck. So for my site I wanted to put up a Money Cat to welcome everyone to make lots of money. Also here is an interesting story I've picked up from the web about how Money Cat came along.

This is the legend of the Maneki Neko:

In the 17th century, there was a rundown and poverty-stricken temple in Tokyo. The temple's priest was very poor, but he shared what little food he had with his pet cat, Tama.
One day, a wealthy and important man was caught in a storm while hunting and he took refuge under a big tree near the temple. While he waited for the storm to pass, the man noticed a cat beckoning him to come inside the temple gate. This was so startling that he left the shelter of the tree to have a closer look at this unusual cat. At that moment, the tree was struck by lighting.
As a result, the wealthy man became friends with the poor priest, and the temple became prosperous. The priest and his cat never went hungry again.
When Tama died he was buried in the Goutokuji Temple's cat cemetery with respect and love, and the Maneki Neko was made in honor of him. A Maneki Neko in your place of business, your home or on your website is said to bring in good luck and visitors.
Maneki Neko is Japanese for "beckoning cat." The message he's holding says "Please come in. You are welcome!" and he is beckoning you with his paw . (In Japan, the gesture of beckoning is pretty much the reverse of the gesture used in the West.)

Make Money Twice In Oneday

I ran across a sales tactic reading in a magazine today, it’s the art of the back-end sale. If you are like me you’ve probably never heard of the back-end sale. I ran to the computer to Google what it was, and to my delight it was actually very interesting. A back end sale is a tactic to make an old customer a new customer again. You ask how it's done? Simply put it’s selling something new to an already established customer. If your like me you'll need a real life example so lets see if this helps.

Example: You are selling a product online, we'll use lingerie for instance. 10 customers buy your lingerie item, instead of searching for new customers. You find another item and sell that item again to them at a discount for a limited time only. Lets say half buy your second item, right there in a instance you have a new audience and sold your second item. Still confused? It took me about 10 reading to figure it out.

Caveman Example: Bob, Shawn, Jim, Ann buys your lingerie at $10 dollars. After the sale instead of finding new customers which means more marketing or waiting around. You find another item or have one already one in place, lets take stockings at 5 dollars but give them a 10% discount which makes the product $4.50. Now if half of the group bought the second item, you just made a back-end sale(and a profit of $9 dollars extra) to the same customers without spending anytime or effort.

You can use the back-end sale for anything, people use this tactic for bring readers back to their blogs as well. Come back tomorrow for what an Inside Sign means.

How to Maximize Your Life and Business

We all need a little extra time for ourselves in a day's time, sometimes I feel that there isn't enough time in a day to get all the work or relaxation done. That's where the 80/20 principle comes about, basic premise 20 percent of work should retain 80 percent of the benefits. You can apply this to every aspect of your life, from business to leisure to whatever you want. Lets take the example of business for right now. We all know of a business or am involved in a business of some sorts whether owning to working. The principle lets you evualate your business according to what is giving you the biggest output and what is not. For instance when I look at my anaylytics, its showing that I get the most viewers from the blogger site search and the fewest viewers from google search. Rather then concentrate 80 percent on google search I should be putting my effort to increase reader through blogger website.

Increase Revenue and Productivity! Hawthorne Effect

The Hawthorne Effect derived a study in the 1920-1930's at the Hawthorne Works manufacture. The researchers wanted to test if subtle change would increase workers productivity and of course that would mean more revenues. They did experiments on lighting making them brighter in the work place and employee's working in groups rather then individually. In all the research the productivity increased with every test. For awhile different companies took the research and ran with the idea that brighter lights would increase productivity, but as soon as the results increased it would decrease just the same. Then it was found that it wasn't the lighting that increased productivity. The source of the increase was the testing when workers know you are testing something or measuring something they produce more and work harder. It's a psychological effect that when people are measured on what they do, they work harder feeling that if they are measured they cannot come in last.

I've dealt with this effect before, when our workers knowing that management is measuring their productivity or when we say we are going to monitor their work by watching them, they always seem to do more rather then less. Let's take the example of a bar, tell the bartenders you will monitor how much they ring up in alcohol per customer in the venue. Tell them you will document this to review at a later date on performance, across the board I bet you will have increase revenue and productivity. Sometimes just telling someone that they will be monitored on performance will do the trick being that Hawthorne Effect is psychological. Try it pertaining to your industry and reap the benefits of it for at least a little while.

Increase Readers With Entrecard?

I read recently online about Entrecard so I went to their website. They have a cool little video about how Entrecard can help you increase readers by putting their Ad card on your website. The idea is this, they give online credits to you when people read or click their Ad box on your website or another person website. You get online credits to put your ads on other peoples website which doesn't cost anything. Instead of paying someone money to advertise now you can put your widget(they like to call it) on their site or other Entrecard holders websites from the credits you've collected. Easy concept, I guess but but how is the navigation? Since I believe I have the intelligence of a caveman when it comes to online navigation I'll put it to the test to see if it's caveman prove. So signing up wasn't so hard it's just the normal name, email, etc. Once your verified your email with them, you can now log in and create your Entrecard. They give you an option or take one of their generic cards, which I did. You type what you want on your card, watch the box on the right it only allows you to type so much to fit on the card. You can also download a picture that makes it unique for you card, here's where my first problem comes in. The picture has to be 125x125, I'm not good with photoshop, so for me it's a hassle I hope they could get a system where you load the picture they frame it to the size for you (Caveman Note: blogspot needs to do the same thing make it easy like myspace or facebook for pictures). So I went with the generic picture, then it's just copy the code and paste onto your blog (Caveman Note: to paste a code on your blog, go to layout , add element choose html, then paste)

The one thing I can't figure out is how to get the credits or ad your widget on another persons page yet. That to me is still a mystery, I'll give it another shot today and see if I can figure out the specifics of Entrecard. I checked through Google Analytics I get one or two hits from the website so it's definitely worth the time to get to Entrecard more. I've also had five people drop their card on my Entrecard site but I don't know how I'm suppose to approve it yet or even if that's what I'm suppose to do. Anyone have any suggestions or more info on the site leave a comment to fill us in.

Investing Millions

I read this article recently about a powerball winner who wanted to be the next billionaire. How you might say would he accomplish that through investing his money. After he won he had rounded up a group of financial advisers to give him ideas about where to invest to maximize his money. So I got to thinking if I used the same investment plan he had, with 10,000 dollars will I make 100,000 dollars. Here's how he's investing his money, and his story.

(Fortune Magazine) -- Brad Duke, 34, a manager for five Gold's Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005. He spent the first month of his new life assembling a team of financial advisers. His goal: to use his winnings to become a billionaire. Here's what Duke has done with his money so far.

On the right side is the percentage of investment from the 85 million

1. $45 million: Safe, low-risk investments such as municipal bonds 53%
2. $35 million: Aggressive investments like oil and gas and real estate 41%
3. $1.3 million: A family foundation 1.5%
4. $63,000: A trip to Tahiti with 17 friends .0007%
5. $125,000: Mortgage retired on his 1,400-square-foot house .0014%
6. $18,000: Student-loan repayment .0002%
7. $65,000: New bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike .0008%
8. $14,500: A used black VW Jetta .0002%
9. $12,000: Annual gift to each family member .0001%

So I broke down what Brad Dukes is investing in through percentages and using 10,000 dollars as a base for investments. I wanted to see what I can invest in and how much I have for leisure, car, vacation trip, gift to family. If he wants to use this system to become a billionaire, then I can use this system to make 100,000 dollars.

02millions

1. $5100 dollars in safe long term stocks like municipal bonds, mutual funds
2. $3900 high risk stocks oil, gas, real estate
3. $147 for family foundation
4. $7 to take a trip with family, friends
5. $14 for mortgage
6. $2 to pay back to student loan
7. $2 to buy a car
8. $1 to give to family
9. $8 for myself to buy whatever

so general is invest all you have use nothing for yourself and you can make it happen I think I can be a financial adviser. Brad of course has more money for leisure , friend , and family but it just shows if you want more then what you have you need to invest in real estate or stocks. Also quick note of how he said he won the lotto he has a lotto numbering system, if you want to learn more about that go to Fortune to read up on it.

How to Form your own LLC.

Lately I've been doing research on how to form a LLC (limited liability corporation) yourself instead of using a third party either lawyers or accountant, reason being I'm starting a new company with a good friend of mine Mitch. I have a LLC already established for another company that I own which deals with Nightclub promotions. We used a accountant to do all the work but it cost around $1200 dollars so I wanted to see if we were actually getting a deal or was the accountant setting it up was getting most of the money. Some of you might not know what a LLC is, so I found this site to give you the quick 1 page information about LLC and what it is. If you want the long version go here Long LLC.

Ok back to the topic I really need to keep on track more. So I searched the web more and clicked numerous links to online business who will help you form a LLC for you. The average price was around $150 dollars, what they don't tell you is that that their fee doesn't hold the cost it needs to form the actual LLC which can be anywhere from a few extra hundred dollars to about $1000 or so. Then I found the perfect website if you have questions about forming your own LLC, the site is called MyNewCompany. When you get there click start my new company then it will take their instant quote section. Once your there click the button that says LLC, once you done that click the state you reside or the state you want your LLC registered in. Then presto everything comes up with a price next to it. What I found out was in California the state I'm in they charge you a franchise tax for any new companies filings.

California imposes an $800 Franchise Tax on all newly formed LLC's. This tax is due approximately 4 months after your LLC is formed (all California entities have to pay this tax, foreign and domestic). The appropriate Tax documents will be included with your order. NOTE: LLC's cannot obtain a California state Contractor's license; if you need this license, you will need to form a Corporation.NOTE: LLC's cannot obtain a California Real Estate Broker's license; if you need this license, you will need to form a Corporation.

so this is what I have to pay if I did the LLC myself.

$800 dollars franchise tax
$79 dollars state filing fee
$20 stamps and gas (for sending files and driving)
$25 Tax Id (so you can open an business account at a bank) also called FEIN.

total
$924 to form LLC myself

what I paid to form one with my accountant
$1200

that's a difference of
$276

Not to mention that time is valuable to me and all this stuff would take more then I probable would like to spend I'd rather just use my accountant again. But if you want to save around 300 dollars you should do it yourself. Maybe in your state it might cost less. I remember reading on John Chow that he only paid $500 dollars doing it himself but he lives in Canada.

Google AdSense

I got my confirmation through email that I was approved for Google AdSense, I was happy to say the least it took longer then other people around 5 days to approve me. It might be because I have a Yahoo email and not a Gmail registered, or possibility because they are swamp. I was excited to put my ads up right way. They send you a email with links you can click to ask questions, video tutorials, slides. But like I said I'm not the most tech savvy guy in the world. I watched the tutorials about 3 times couldn't figure it out. Tried to apply my own brain power to it didn't work. Finally I did it the old fashion way I called my friend and mentor in this blogging thing Mitch he tried to explain to me what was the problem and help me figure it out. But after 10 minutes of that I couldn't do it as well. When I tried to post the HTML it would give me code instead of the actual Ads from Google. I gave up and was feeling quite the duffus seeing how everyone can get their ads up and I couldn't. But when I logged into it today the code became ads I guess the web crawler bot came and viewed my blogs. Even though they aren't the ones I want I need to learn how to change that next time. here are the simple steps to getting y our ads up.

1. After signing up for blogspot at the end of your process it will ask you if you want to sign up for AdSense click yes. Fill out the appropriate info and they will send you a email.
2. when you verification email comes click the link and it will approve you in a few days mine took 5 days.
3. After you received your approval mail click the AdSense link which takes you to your account, go through and customize a ad. It will give you a choice on color and size. at the end they will give you a code. take your mouse highlight the code right click and copy the code.
4. log into blogspot again hit customize. Then hit layout. Hit add element. a window will pop up hit either html or AdSense. now paste the code in the HTML and in a day you should have your adds.

this blog is all confusing I"m going to have to structure it bit in a day or so.

Beijing 2008 Olympics

There has not been a time in recent year that China has been in such a uproar, they are so excited they can burst. What you ask is doing this it's the thought of the Olympics in Beijing this summer. I remember hearing the news years back thinking wow that's such a long time away, but now it's right before my eyes. China which has been on a tear spending billions into reshaping the old into the new, while I lived in Beijing, there was construction cranes everywhere. The pace of the sky rises going up was so fast you almost felt like everytime you drive down the road you see something new. Like wow I didn't know that was there, and someone well tell you it wasn't until today. I"m exagerrating a bit but you get the point. I've seen the change throught Beijing in the recent years, I remember a age where bycles where everyone and cars were scarce but now to make it 2 blocks it's faster to walk then be stuck in traffic. You don't see the old people sitting on the side walks playing chess and fanning themselves with a tank top on and some ragged shorts as much. But name brands are everywhere on people, billboards, buildlings. I mean they have a Starbucks inside the forbidden city.

I could remember going to Beijing in the 80's it almost felt like it was my little secret place, with all the traditional sites and the people were less about money and more about living. Now I feel like China is more about living for money which in a way sad but that's how all countries are nowadays and for China to be one of the leaders it needs to be about the money.

I can't wait for the 2008 olympics in Beijing, I'm curious to see how it well effect Beijing and China overall. When I was in Beijing in 2007 I saw a lot of new laws being passed, they were blasting out commercials on cortesy and how to represent the city to visitors. I want to see if people change. I heard from a few of my Korean friends that after the Seoul Olympics people acted different to each other there was more love. One can only hope.

China Trade

Lately I've been asked from numerous people on how to get stuff from China, or do I know manufacturers from China. Since I worked in China for 2 years I've learned a few things but never really delve into the import/export business. But the safe bet for people to look for manufactures in China is to go online and use Alibaba they are a huge online resource that connects you to sellers and buyers from all over the world but they specialize in China manufactures. They are safe and reliable because most of the registered manufactures have worked in the past with companies in the America's, Europe and so on. They have a review process kinda like Ebay for manufactures so if they had problems in the past you can see it from the comments. It's really quite easy go on their website punch up what you want to buy for your store or future store and presto 1000 manufactures for that product before your eyes, look for the gold seal for the good ones. If your thinking about buying from China, it's great to start off with Alibaba. Everything is free they don't charge you for anything or not that I know off. They have 70% of the manufactures in China cornered in on there website their closest competitor which is global sources only has 21% of the manufactures. You can even go to their forums and ask questions which will be answered by other members or their staff. So next time you have a idea to manufacture or sell something and don't know where to get your product look up Alibaba.

Always Cook Your Meats

Note to self always cook a left over steak on the pan or bake it for goodness sakes because what might happen isn't pretty. I had a left over steak from my all time favorite restaurant Mastro's for my birthday a couple of days ago. My fiancee brought some back, in my haste a few days later I was to lazy to cook it so I just microwaved it for about a minute and in goes the steak. I didn't really feel the effects of it until 5 hours later. What transpired afterwards I will leave it to your imagination but it wasn't pretty. I was trying to make an inspiring ordeal about this but honestly I think it's just a life lesson with meat nothing more. Interesting thing while looking up the website to Mastro's Steak House, everything on the net wasn't Matro's restaraunt website at all. After Googling it for about 5 minutes I really couldn't find anything wonder how many hits the other websites get when people are looking up Mastro's. Now how can I do that with my site? Maximize Google keywords?

Mitch Matsuno and John Chow

Ok so this is the second attempt on posting and figuring out what blogspot.com is. My previous post in the middle of posting shut itself down that's the one thing I hate about Vista on my new computer.

I was introduced to blogging by my good friend Mitch Matsuno you can find him under success2success when I figure out how to link his name to the site I will do so. He sent me a email about JohnChow.com awhile go. Mitch is usually really good about always finding new and creative ways to make money so I take his words and recommendations seriously. But honestly the email about John Chow was buried in the massive amount of emails I get everyday because I was busy with work and having my fiancee here. It wasn't until my trip up to SF to visit Mitch and my fiancees family that Mitch explained to me what JohnChow.com was then I remembered reading an article in Entrepreneur magazine about him, he was the guy who made money blogging online and teaching others how to do it as well. John Chow now is making 27 thousand dollars a month blogging, and his motto is everyone can do it too with a little work of course.

So here I am blogging, trying to see if me an average guy who doesn't know much about design or the Internet can make money blogging. I feel like if I can do it then anyone can because I am the true newbie part of the computer illiterate. This is an experiment for 2 years to see if I can catch enough interest with this website to make a buck. I will give every single detail to how I did it. Actually if I don't make money at least you can always point to my site and say well that's where he messed up or that's why he couldn't do it. So with this I start my experiment wish me luck.