Tech Venture Micro Lending

Ever wanted to learn what it takes to bring a business idea to fruition?
Does it take a great idea to make money?  Does it take great marketing?  What kind of team do you need to bring together to create a great product?  At what stage do you create a business plan?  Where do we get funding once we can prove it will be profitable?

A great group of guys and I were assigned a project where we were given somebody else's WORST business idea and turn it into a viable and profitable business.  We had a week to create a commercial.  Here is the result.

Let me know what you think. Is this a viable business model?  Would you want to participate?  Would you care?

First draft:

Black Founders Conference 2012

I've been out of touch lately. So out of touch I missed the Black Founders Conference "Ideas are Worthless 2012".


This conference took place April 11th, 2012 and it's a "forum to connect, educate, and inspire every attendee towards execution. Hosted by Black Founders Startup Ventures and Goodwin Procter LLP, the conference will bring together a diverse perspective of tech entrepreneurship, while providing a platform for emerging companies, entrepreneurs, and investors to connect and take action."




This conference helps small business owners and startups geared toward tech to take that next step, whatever that next step is.  It's great to have an idea but what's the point if you don't take action towards bringing that idea to fruition.  These guys come to NY once a year and there are many others out there.


This was my basic premise for 2011 and will continue throughout 2012.  I have a boatload of ideas in many different areas and many have come to fruition ... some profitable and more of them absolutely NOT profitable.  I have plenty of ideas that have been brewing and many more will fail and many more will be successful.  Honestly, all it takes is one decent idea and great execution to make it happen.  


I constantly hear people talk about how rough things are in this economy.  More millionaires are made during a depression than any other economic cycle.  Get off the couch, put it to paper and get started!

A Setback is a Setup for a Comeback.

"A Setback is a Setup for a Comeback" 

- Willie Jolley

What better place to restart this blog than Mr. Jolley's quote?  I don't know if he coined it or not but this is the first time I heard it.  I thought about restarting this blog many times but 'life' gets in the way so to speak.  Some people call them setbacks.  Me, I had to dig deep to remember Willie's quote!  

7 Rules for coming back

1. Refuse to accept defeat - Laugh in the face of disaster and get on your feet.
Many of us give up too easily. We need to realize that every failure brings us closer to success.

2. Decide to fight - Manage your emotions and take action.
The latin root for Decide means to cut off from ... when you make a decision you "cut off" all other options. Put yourself in the mindset that you have no option but to move forward with this goal. Think of the Trojan warriors (Trojan Horse).

3. Get Mad - Well, you're probably already mad but you need to use that pain as fuel and take action.
Get over it, go back to your plan and do what you need to do to make it happen.

4. Get Creative - What's that saying about life giving you lemons? Turn trouble to your advantage. Choose to see every situation as an opportunity for a second chance.

5. Focus on results - Why focus on anything else? Your results are the outcome of  your actions.  They provide a place for you to sit back and evaluate what was done and how it was done.

6. Take a chance - "Good things come to those who risk!"

7. Enjoy the ride - after all life is a journey and your destination will always be there so enjoy the journey.

Seduced by a K.I.S.S.

We have a million things on our plates, projects, plans, family, school, new ventures, etc.  My original idea for this blog was to keep it strictly finance and maintain other blogs for other things.  But over time those blogs have also fallen by the wayside.

When things got crazy everything stopped.  So today an acquaintance showed me her blog and one of the themes was to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Simpleton!).  So after work, followed by a board meeting and a late dinner with a friend I decided to rethink my blogs ... this one in particular.

The original goal of this blog was and still is to educate readers through my experiences.  I think I may have kept it too narrow because I didn't include many of the projects I have been working on.  All of my endeavors on this "Quest" are helping to attain the goals of being financially independent so why not include them?

Join me on my journey for financial independence as I continue on my "Quest for Dollars"!

Start Over, Finish Rich: 10 Steps by Richard Bach

Richard Bach has been writing the "Finish Rich" series for as long as I can remember. His latest addition to the series is "Start Over, Finish Rich: 10 Steps to Get you Back on Track in 2010."

Compared to his other books, this is a short one and seems to be a quick start to getting back on track. Most of us in the USA have been affected in some way shape or form by the economic downturn over the past couple years. Mr. Bach's followers were no exception as he illustrates in chapter 1, not even his students are immune to our current recession.

Many ideas introduced are steps that you should have implemented in some of the previous "Finish Rich" series. He updates the steps with some online resources and updated forms on his website.

If you have never picked up any of the previous books and want a quick read that gives you the actions steps you need to get started right away pick it up.

If you own any of the previous "Finish Rich" series. Re-read your old book, then visit his website for the updated resource material.

Step 1 attempts to mentally prepare you for the rest of the book and helps you realize that you cannot truly "Finish Rich" unless you make a commitment to take action on these steps.

Step 2 addresses additional preparation in the form of organizing your finances online using web based tools like wasabi.com or mint.com; offline using the Finish Rich Folder System and removing clutter. This chapter also visits the patented Latte Factor philosophy created by David Bach.

Steps 3 and 4 touch on debt. Namely, the evil that is credit cards. David introduces the reader to the DOLP system, credit scores, what to do in certain circumstances and how to fix and protect your credit.

In Step 5 David reminds us of the importance of rebuilding or in my case building an emergency saving account. We all need to have approximately 3 months savings somewhere just in case.

Retirement is the focus of Step 6 and it made me realize that re-balancing your portfolio periodically is just as important as opening the account.

The secret to "Finishing Rich" is Step 7, Automation. Once you create a system, set it and forget it, you will be much less likely to miss bill payments, 529 contributions and retirement contributions.

Step 8 focuses on mortgage and provides options for anyone purchasing a home to someone who is in default.

Step 9 discusses college funds and how to navigate those waters no matter how old your child is. David even provides ways to have other people contribute to your college savings.

Step 10 is the last of this series and gives you 25 ways to save $5k. Some of these will work for you and some won't. I don't think anyone will be able to use all 25 ways.

Step 10 is followed by a chapter on giving. It lists a number of charities and even if you can't give $$ it discusses ways you can give your time.

In the last Chapter Dave tells us what motivated him to write "Start Over, Finish Rich" and his experiences with having to "reboot" his life, his business and his thought processes in order to truly start over and make this book happen.

Overall, this book was very helpful and I like the fact that it was action oriented. It took a little longer than I planned to actually finish the book but I took the time out to actually perform many of the steps recommended by David. Not everything in this book is for everyone but it forced me to take a look at the major areas of my finances and tweak where needed. This was an easy read that actually made taking these steps painless.

Recovering from a Setback.

I started the last post by stating that it feels like I've been experiencing life at a rate of WTFs, which led me to this post.

How do you handle a setback? There are only 2 things you can do when faced with a setback:

1. Back down
2. Rise above

Backing down, giving up, quitting, falling off, etc. No matter how you slice it, when you give in to defeat you are truly defeated. Just because you've lost the battle doesn't mean you're going to lose the war. You'll never know if you just quit and let whatever happened take control.

Rising above, facing defeat, planning your next move and using your setback as a lesson learned will help you recover. There are 5 steps you need to follow to overcome defeat.

1. Decide to do something about your situation. (decide that you will not be defeated)
2. Take action on your decision.
3. Focus on the future. ( focus on the solution not the problem)
4. Close the past and put that defeat behind you.
5. Believe in yourself and learn from the experience. (move in the direction of your dream)

Someone once told me "Winners Have Options"

Gratitude

Lately it feels that I've been experiencing life at a rate of wtf's per minute.  Yet, I am still grateful that I'm here to blog about it.  Which brings us to .....

Gratitude.

Gratitude is the ability to be grateful for everything we have in our lives.

So I've been trying to ignore the WTFs and make gratitude a daily practice.  Someone once told me that an attitude of gratitude protects us from negative emotions. I'm not 100% sure yet but I'm trying to get there.

Seriously, "do you bless everything that comes your way? How deep is your gratitude? Are you thankful for you meal? For the store it came from? For the migrant workers that picked the crops? How about the farmer that planted the seeds?" Heck, I even thank the company that genetically engineered the seeds and sell 'em to the farmers every year. Well maybe not but you get my point.

My Quote for 2010
"You can be grateful because you are happy, but you can also be happy because you are grateful."

Credit Secrets Revealed: Loan Modifications

I've been on a credit kick lately and I think its time I start looking at a loan modification. I've been thinking about it for a while since all of this hoopla about homeowners losing their homes and others saving their homes.

My home is worth less than what I currently owe and the minimum payments on my credit cards are going up due to the CARD ACT, so if the bank is willing to work with me it's worth a shot. I did some research and you don't have to be behind in payments or in financial trouble at the moment.

Let's start with a definition of what a loan mod is then we'll get into the details.

Simply put a Loan Modification or Loan Mod is a change to the mortgage terms which are agreed to by the lender and the homeowner. The lender modifies the existing loans in order to work with the homeowner because of hardship. The changes are usually in the form of a rate reduction, where the interest rate is fixed for a certain duration of time or a term extension, where the length of the loan is increased by several years.

When the bank makes these changes it makes the loan more affordable for the homeowner, it keeps a foreclosure off of the banks books, it allows the homeowner to keep the house and it keeps the property values from plummeting.

Credit, credit, credit: Get it together!

OK since we've been visiting and focusing on credit lately, I decided to get my affairs in order.

Credit Report
First of all I need to get my credit reports.
According to the Federal Trade Commission there is only 1 place to go to to get your free annual credit report.

http://www.annualcreditreport.com/

It takes a few minutes but when you are done you will have all the information that 3 of the major credit bureaus have about you. Once you get it, review it and make corrections by writing the bureaus or following the instructions on their websites.

If you need more information about credit reports, the credit bureaus and pricing:
http://www.credit.com/credit_information/credit_report/How-to-order-your-free-annual-credit-reports.jsp

Credit Score
You also want to get your credit score. My favorite site is www.myfico.com
They charge money for the information but they deliver it to you in an easy to read format and also provide all sorts of calculators and other information.

If you want to wait until you clean up your credit to start paying for those types of services there are free alternatives.

One is Credit Karma. They provide you a credit score from TransUnion and they also provide a credit "report card".

Credit Report Cards
Another free tool is Credit.com's Credit Report Card. A nifty tool that also attempts to rate your credit based on the information pulled from the credit bureaus. It also provides you with an "estimated" credit score.

Which One?
At first glance, there isn't a huge difference besides CreditKarma.com offering a free score from transunion. According to this article Credit Report Cards: Credit.com vs Credit Karma, Credit.com tends to be more accurate in terms of pure data. Check out both websites and see which ones appeal to you. I've been using Credit Karma for about a year and don't have any issues. I don't see a need to switch, but that's just me.

Mint.com
Since we are getting our affairs in order, you might as well sign up for Mint.com. A real easy way to track your finances, it includes some calculators and budget tools to help you see where you need improvement. Mint.com needs its own article and I will provide one in the future.

Investigating the massive consumer loan industry and what's ahead for customers and banks -- a FRONTLINE-New York Times co-production.

Since I've been posting so much about credit lately. I came across this Frontline investigation also available on DVD.

As credit card companies face rising public anger, new regulation from Washington and staggering new rates of default and bankruptcy, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates the future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/creditcards/etc/synopsis.html

Watch the whole program on PBS Frontline.

Crunch or Be Credit Crunched Pt 2: An actual letter from "CityBanc"

In Part 1 of "Crunch or be Crunched" we discussed the CARD ACT, what it is and some of the changes we have to look forward to. If you missed it go here.

I wanted to address the letters that the card companies have been sending out. I got this one from "City" and it basically states:

Dear Quest,

We are making changes to your account terms.
To continue to provide our customers with access to credit, we had to adjust our pricing. The terms of your account will be changing.

Changes include:
- increase in the variable APR to 19.99% (currently at 5%) for purchases.
- increase in the variable APR to 29.75 if you default.
- increase in the variable APR to 25.24% for cash advances.
- increase in the transaction fee for balance transfers to 5% of the amount of the balance transfer.
- increase in the transaction fee for cash advances to 5% of the amount of the cash advance.
- changes take effect December 29, 2009
- if you do nothing, you accept the changes

To accept the terms do nothing and earn interest back every month if:
1. Your payments are on time every month.
2. You charge $500 or more in purchases every month.

Earning interest back = a credit on your billing statement equal to 10% of your total interest charges on your PURCHASE balance.


You have the right to Opt Out.
If you do opt out

you can pay down your balance under your current terms. If you opt out, you may use your account under the current terms until the end of your current membership year or the expiration date on your card, whichever is later.

How to opt out:
Call or write "Citybank" by December 28, 2009.

Opting out:
- your account will be closed
- you will not have access to credit
- you must repay the balance under the current terms
- you will not be able to earn rewards
- you will lose any rewards you have accumulated

So what does it all mean? Join us in part 3 as we break it down for you.

Crunch or Be Crunched: Your Card company is raising its rates and what you can do about it.

Did you know that most of the credit card companies are raising their interest rates by the end of 2009? If you don't read those letters and notices that you get from your credit card companies ASAP, you will not have an opportunity to stop those deadly rates from rising.

Most credit card companies have been trying to find new ways to make make money because of potential hits they may take due legislation passed in May 2009. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 also known as the CARD Act or CARD took effect on August 20th, 2009 and will be implemented in multiple steps with the bulk of the changes coming in February 2010. This multi-phased approach allows the credit card companies as well as consumers to prepare for the coming changes.

Some of the changes include:
- new restrictions on credit card lending
- elimination of over-the-limit fees
- 45 day notice of rate change (not required if you have a variable rate or an introductory rate)
- delivery of periodic statements 21 days before your bill is due
- elimination of due date traps (due dates on weekends or holidays, due dates that change without warning)
- no increasing interest rates for cardholders in good standing if reasons are unrelated to the cardholder's behavior with respect to that card.
- payments at local branches be credited on the same-day
-

According to an article in foxbusiness.com:

Lita Epstein, author of 25 books on personal finance, said lawmakers made a grave mistake by giving the card companies so much lead time between passage of the law and its implementation. To have the best effect, she said, legislators should have frozen card agreements at the time the bill was signed into law.

“By giving them an idea what restrictions were coming, they gave banks free rein to work around those restrictions -- so by the time the law is in place, the restrictions will have very little meaning,” she said.

Stay tuned as our series will explore what your options are and how you can protect yourself.

It is 24 days, 3 hours, 36 minutes and 35 seconds until Friday, January 1, 2010. What are you doing to start preparing for next year? It's not too early.

So I've been thinking ....

One of my goals is to come up with a new business idea every day. Good or bad I have to come up with some thing that people need or want. The rules are:

1. There are no limits except my imagination.
2. It must be something that I can sell or a service that I can sell.
3. I need to keep track of this list.

Blog title...

Out of all your goals for 2009 are there any that you can still accomplish? There are 27 days, 9 hours, 09 minutes and 09 seconds until Friday, January 1, 2010. Not too late to get them done. I will remind you daily Facebook. I still have 6 pounds to go!

29 days until the New Year not to late to accomplish those unfinished goals!

Bohemian Rhapsody Remix featuring The Muppets

Is this the most awesome video of all time? 

The muppets meet Freddy Mercury and Queen when Muppet Studios created a video remake of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and released it on November 22, 2009.  This music video spread like a virus and it's popularity continues to grow.  Google hot trends lists it at number 38 and gives it a rating of "Spicy" which is a 3 out of  5.  In this day and age keeping a rating that high for this long speaks volumes.



Fun for the whole family, my 4 year old, my wife and I were all thoroughly entertained as we rewound Animal's part over and over again.

The best description of this viral sensation came from gather.com

They take some liberties with the original Queen lyrics and beautifully make it completely family friendly while keeping to the quirky personality traits of specific Muppet characters. For example in the beginning, the original lyric is “Mama just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead” that lyric has now been expertly transformed into Animal just repeating the one word “Momma” in his own unique Animal style. The lyric is no longer about guns and death but about mommas. Later in the song Fozzie The Bear (the Muppets resident slapstick jokester) sings, “let me joke” instead of the original lyric of “let me go” brilliant!

 Source: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977916554&grpId=3659174697244816


Some background Info
For those who don't know, the original was released by British rock band Queen in 1975 on their album A Night At The Opera.  According to Wikipedia:

When it was released as a single, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became an unlikely commercial success, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks. It reached number one again in 1991, after Freddie Mercury's death, achieving total sales of 2,176,000 and becoming the UK's third best selling single of all time—beaten only by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and Elton John's "Candle In The Wind 1997".^[1]

Muppet Studios did an awesome job with this video and once again Freddy Mercury and Queen has topped the internet video charts. Here is a link to the original song.

Just in case you wanted to see the original lyrics which aren't so family friendly:

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy (Poor boy)
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me, to me

Mama just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life has just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody
I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, oooooooh (Anyway the wind blows)
I don't want to die
Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

[Guitar Solo]

I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me
(Galileo) Galileo (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro
Magnifico-o-o-o-o
I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go
Let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let me go (Will not let you go)
Let me go (Will not let you go) (Never, never, never, never)
Let me go, o, o, o, o
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
(Oh mama mia, mama mia) Mama Mia, let me go
Beelzebub has the devil put aside for me, for me, for me!

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here

[Guitar Solo]
(Oooh yeah, Oooh yeah)

Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me

Any way the wind blows...

Manage All of Your Social Networks With One Tool!

Do you use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and are tired of updating each and everyone of them separately? Would you update more often if you could find an easy way to manage all 20 of your social networks?

Manage All of Your Social Networks With One Tool!

How to be a Twitter!

How to be a Twitter!

A short easy to follow pictorial on how to create a twitter account.

I'm Moving

This blog is being moved to:

WWW.WhyWeTri.com

We plan to be up soon.

Check in periodically to get triathlon news and information from the perspective of a newbie.