How Do You Survive the Pay Check Roller Coaster?

by Miata Edoga

Some of us like a good roller coaster ride. That feeling in your stomach as you look down the big hill.  The realization that you're voluntarily about to do something really, really stupid. It gives you a rush unlike many others.

I don't think anyone wants that exciting, seat of your pants rush with your pay check.

Sadly, roller coaster income seems to come with the territory for many of us. How do you control your income stream when it's difficult to predict what money is going to come in next week? How do you maintain a budget when you aren't sure what the next pay day will bring?

Much like quality acting demands discipline and preparation to create a performance that appears spontaneous, maintaining your sanity with gyrating income requires you to perform a few steps so that your money can work on autopilot. With your money system in place, you'll be better able to ride the ups and downs of pay days without having that pit in your stomach that the rent is due and you're not sure where the money is going to come from.

Here are the basics:

Step #1: Set up a business bank account that's difficult to reach.

You should be able to place money INTO the account easily, but our goal is to set up an account where withdrawals aren't easy. Cut up the ATM card for this account. All of your deposits should go into this account when you're paid. Don't hold back money from this account for "just in case" or "a little extra for me." You'll need the discipline to treat your career as a business for your financial system to work.

Step #2: If you haven't already, calculate how much you need to live each month.

We discussed briefly how to do this in our last two blog posts.

Step #3: Create an automatic transfer.

Now you want to set up a transfer of funds from your new business bank account every couple weeks to your personal account. The bank can help you set this up easily, and you may be able to do this with online banking. This is your "pay check" to yourself from your business. If you can't maintain your entire budget from this income stream--or if you empty the account too quickly--find ways to cut expenses and slow the stream so that funds consistently remain in the business account to sustain you during lean months.

Initially, it's important to make your transfers from the business account to your personal spending account small enough that the business account grows. Here's why:  you're going to have months when money isn't pouring in as quickly, and you're going to need this reserve to meet your basic expenses. This system works because you're able to calculate a minimum amount of money to transfer each month and stick to it. Regardless of this month's work schedule you'll be able to plan your groceries, rent, transportation, and other costs. Because you know how much you're going to be able to live on this month, that's one less roller coaster ride your stomach will endure this month. Now if we can do something about the casting call roller coaster....

That's the basic system. Easy, isn't it? Using a few steps you've successfully set up a program that allows you to:

    * Focus on your craft rather than on the next check. Although money is important, you have to be able to accept projects which are fulfilling or help you gain credibility for higher-paying jobs in the future.

    * Autopilot your financial picture. You'll want to review your automatic deposits and your expenses periodically, but by knowing how much you're depositing in your personal account each month, you'll avoid running to the bank to see how much you can afford for dinner.

In our next article we'll discuss how to look for a good bank account, but don't let that stop you from starting. Get moving now on your financial plan!

©2010 Abundance Bound, Inc.

Abundance Bound was created to support actors, artists and creative professionals in the development of financial stability and independence. To learn how to begin the journey towards prosperity, register for the free resources available at www.AbundanceBound.com

Never Assume Anything

You've targeted a group of successful business owners for your sales pitch. You've sent them all the brochures, literature, emails or links promoting your products or services, and you've dangled various benefits and inducements to get them to read all that stuff.

And now you're getting ready to close the deal. But wait! What are the chances they have actually read the material you sent them? The chances are slim.

Business owners are busy people. They have very little spare time – and what time they carve out is rarely spent on their unread ads and solicitations pile. Even if they initially asked you for information, the likelihood that they actually read any of that bumph is very low.

I learned this the hard way. A few years ago I was asked to speak to a “mastermind” group of entrepreneurs in Toronto. These business owners got together once a month to trade war stories and best practices, and occasionally hear guest speakers. They invited me to speak on a certain topic, and I willingly agreed. And when my contact asked for a one-page summary of what I was going to talk about, so the attendees could properly prepare themselves, I willingly passed that along.

On the day of my talk, once all the small talk was done, I launched right into my presentation. Since the dozen entrepreneurs around the table had already received my summary, I skipped my usual introductory remarks and went straight to the heart of the issue.

At which point my audience started squirming. I sensed this unrest, but didn't know what it meant. Until one alpha male interrupted me to say, “So who are you and what are you here to talk about?” I apologized, explained myself briefly, and pointed out that I had provided the appropriate contextual materials in advance. The entrepreneurs looked at each other and smiled wanly. “Never come in here and assume we've read our briefing materials,” said Entrepreneur Alpha. “We’re too busy for that.”

And he was right. I should have realized that not everyone had read my summary.

Meanwhile, alpha male, to prove his point, asked his colleagues around the table, “How many of you read his summary?” Only one person put up his hand – the contact who had asked for my summary and forwarded it to his colleagues. Not wanting to be seen as weak, however, he defended himself by saying, “But I only skimmed it.”

It was an embarrassing lesson for me to learn. Never assume any business owners have read your material, even if it’s in their best interests or they themselves asked for it.

Business owners march to their own drumbeat, and if you want to be accepted by that group, you have to get in line and join the march. And never assume anything.

The Origins of Labor Day

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

US Dept of Labor website
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

Treat Your Customers Like Fools - Victimized Again

Blaming your customers for your service problems is one of the worst ways you can treat your customers like fools. A couple weeks ago, my wife and I dropped off our daughter at Old Dominion University to start her freshman fall semester. My Ford Explorer was packed beyond capacity with a few hundred pounds of our daughter’s worldly possessions. By late afternoon on a Thursday, after our daughter was settled in, we checked into a Marriott Springfield Suites hotel on the edge of the campus. After unloading a few hundred pounds of teenager belongings, we were exhausted and ready to check in and have a nice relaxing dinner together celebrating our status as a newly childless couple.


My wife, Laura, is a Marriott Rewards Club member. She had booked our reservation on the Marriott internet site using her rewards club card. When we tried to check in under Stitely, we found out that our reservation wasn’t under that name. Our reservation was under Laura’s last name from her previous marriage. That wasn’t a big deal to us. Her Rewards Club card is under that name. She hasn’t been able to change her last name with the club, because they insist on getting a copy of our marriage license to change her name, and it just isn’t worth that much trouble. Yes, I agree with you. There probably isn’t that much of a black market for stolen Marriott Rewards Club points. They probably don’t need quite that much security on their accounts. I doubt many terrorists have used their Marriott Rewards points to buy improvised explosive devices. In any event, we checked in under the name on the account and proceeded to our room. Laura had stayed at this hotel previously and she like it. Since she is just a little bit snooty about hotels, her liking it was a big deal.

When we reached our room on the second floor, we found that we had two double beds in the room instead of the king sized bed she thought had been booked with her reservation. We could have complained and demanded to move to another room, but we were tired, hungry, and it just wasn’t that big an inconvenience for us. We would have to sleep in one of the small beds together. My wife is a blond, cute, former high school cheerleader. I highly recommend snuggling up with one if you get the chance. Just don’t snuggle up with mine – thank you very much. Get your own. We dropped our one suitcase off in the room. There had been no room in our Explorer for any of our stuff except for one small bag. Then we went off to dinner together. Laura and I learned one thing together during our weekend stay in Norfolk, Virginia. The best place to eat in Norfolk is in nearby Virginia Beach. In other words, the restaurants in Norfolk stink. I got food poisoning from one of the places on the following Saturday at a restaurant down by the waterfront.


At least, we enjoyed the time we spent together at dinner. We returned to our hotel room about 8:30 PM and got ready for bed. Our day had started at 5 AM with a three and a half hour drive from Northern Virginia to Norfolk. Then we delivered our new freshman to her dorm room and unloaded a few hundred pounds of junk over the course of a couple of hours. We were ready for bed right away after returning from dinner. We crawled into bed together, and Laura turned on the television. I was asleep within ten minutes.

About fifteen minutes later, Laura heard someone pound loudly on our door. Laura heard it. I didn’t. I hear nothing out of my left ear as a result of having the measles twice in second grade. I typically sleep with my good right ear buried in my pillow. You can set off a nuclear warhead off next to me when I am asleep that way and you won’t awaken me. This was a great advantage in my college years living in a dormitory. Laura assumed the pounding on the door was a drunk who couldn’t find his room. He was trying to get his buddies to let him in. Yes, Laura is sexist. She assumed it was a drunken guy. That is profiling. Profiling is wrong. You ladies need to learn that. Fortunately he (she) didn’t bang on the door for long and Laura fell asleep as well.


At 9 PM a nuclear device exploded on my side of the bed. I know this because I was awakened. Actually it was the hotel phone. Apparently I can’t sleep through a hotel phone. We didn’t have those in my college dormitory - a fatal flaw in my theory that not being able to hear in one ear is really a blessing. The hotel night manager was calling.

He said, “May I ask your name?”

“I suppose you can,” I replied. Yes, friends, I too thought they had a reservation system that might actually know that already. “Stitely,” I continued. Then I spelled it for him. Admittedly, my last name isn’t easy to spell. He didn’t sound particularly satisfied with my answer, but apologized for the interruption and went away like a good little hotel night manager should after waking up a paying customer. I was upset a little and it took me about twenty seconds to fall back asleep. Ok, I wasn’t that upset. I was already well into writing this chapter and stupidly assumed that karma would protect me from being a customer treated like a fool during that time period. I assumed I had immunity. I was wrong.

About 10 PM, another nuclear device exploded next to my bed. Again, the hotel phone was ringing. I answered. It was the night manager again.


He asked, “Who did you say is in this room?” Yes, he should have asked “whom.” Hotel managers don’t specialize in grammar. I told him again who was in the room.

“Sir, we don’t have you listed as having a reservation with us at this hotel this evening. Do you actually have a reservation with us?” By his tone, this nitwit dweeb, probably an Old Dominion University drop out, was accusing us of sneaking into his very exclusive, high-brow, five star hotel.

“When we checked in this afternoon, your front desk clerk apparently thought we had a reservation.”

“Indeed she did. Sir, what is your name again?”

“Stitely. Don’t you guys have a computer that would tell you that already?”

“Sir, we don’t have a reservation under that name. Are you certain you have a reservation in this hotel?” At this point, I was pretty certain we were on the verge of being tossed out of his rinky-dink, fleabag hotel.


“Didn’t we do this an hour ago? You seemed happy when you woke me up an hour ago.”

“Sir, we have no reservation under S-T-I-T-E-L-Y, Stitely.” I really didn’t like the way he sneered as he pronounced my last name. The stream of profanities I had unleashed before I had answered the phone had awakened Laura. She realized the problem was most likely that the registration was not under Stitely but her last name from her previous marriage. I gave the vermin dweeb the magic name and he sort of apologized for bothering us.

Before we ended our delightful exchange, I asked, “How many more of these calls can we expect tonight???” I was tempted to set the alarm for 11 PM. I would call the dweeb and tell him, “I thought I would call you before you call me again. I so enjoy talking to you and your winning personality.”

After the final witty repartee with the night manager dweeb, Laura realized what had probably happened. Remember that we expected to have a king sized bed when we checked in. Instead we had twin beds. She theorized that we got a room intended for someone else. That person, probably a father with a daughter tried to check in late at 9 PM. He expected a room with twin beds assuming that he wasn’t an incestuous pedophile. We were in that room, and the hotel was full. He was understandably irate. I don’t blame him. The hotel screwed up. If the night manager, college drop out dweeb had enough intelligence to figure this out on his own, he might have been able to correct the situation. However, he decided to blame us instead of admitting his failure. I have been sorely tempted to write another of my patented “Dear Asshole” letters to him. But you guys are keeping me too busy writing this. I also doubt he is capable of reading. The point of this story isn’t just that you shouldn’t awaken me out of a dead sleep. You definitely shouldn’t do that. If you want your small business to survive, you can’t blame your customers for your service failures. Instead of one unhappy customer, the night manager created two – one of whom happened to be writing a book covering just this topic.

Could Video Work for You?

by Shannon Suetos

A study conducted by ComScore is reporting that, “clips generated by Facebook users were watched by 41 million people in April, more than three times as many as a year earlier, when there were 13 million. YouTube grew 25 percent to 135 million unique viewers over the same period.” So what does this mean? If you aren’t using video as part of your marketing strategy, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers.

Educational Purposes

Educating your audience on your product, service or even industry is a great way to pull them in. In a study conducted by King Fish Media, Hubspot, and Junta 42, they concluded that the number one reason marketers use video is for education. Video doesn’t have to be a costly production, and can actually be done for fairly cheap.

Just like writing, the video needs to have content that is useful. If you are producing an educational video—make sure it is just that educational. Have VALUE in your video, this will make the video more viral, and useful for your clients.

Great For SEO

Nate Elliot, a Forrester Research analyst points out that, “because of less competition, a video is about 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of results than a text page using the same keyword.” This is extremely important for businesses that may have a hard time competing with high volume keywords.

Before you load your video you need to have a home for it. YouTube is great for a number of reasons, and SEO wise it will get you indexed by Google right away. If you want to host video on your page, you need to make sure Google knows it is there. For now Google can’t read Flash files very well so, “the best way to appear in Google’s blended search results is to submit your video to Google using a Video Sitemap. This is similar to an XML sitemap, but is formatted specifically for video, and only contains information about your video content. It is submitted using Google’s Webmaster Tools,” recommends Fliqz CEO Benjamin Wayne to TechCrunch.

Inc. recommends to, “optimize the URLs of pages on your site [that are video] by including in them information about the page itself (In other words www.store.com/maytag-dishwashers.html is a better URL than www.store.com/product12345.html.)

The same logic should be applied to the page that contains your video:
www.mysite.com/video/seo-tips.html is a stronger URL than www.mysite.com/seo-tips.html”

Test

The best way to decide if a new marketing strategy is right for your company is to test it out. Instead of spending a lot of time making and producing multiple videos start with just one or two and see how it goes. Test the waters and see if video is a viable option for you. A quick search on Google can give you numerous ways to help optimize your video for SEO.

Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on POS systems based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as point of sale systems at Resource Nation.

"PR Magic: How to Make You and Your Business Buzzworthy and Gain Coverage in TV, Radio, and Print"

Free Teleseminar Presented by Ali Brown & Anne McKevitt

Imagine having your dream clients calling you out of the blue, even before you spend a dime on advertising!

Think it's just a pipe dream? Well, it may not be the traditional approach for most entrepreneurs, but that's exactly what Ali Brown's mentor did within months of starting in her first business. She's gone on to do the same thing again and again since then.

Ali's hosting a free one-time teleseminar on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 for everyone who wants to use strategic media and public relations to build their business and their brand. She will be talking with her mentor Anne McKevitt, a popular speaker and seasoned PR and media pro from both sides of the camera.

Anne has grown her billion-dollar companies by generating interest from the likes of Elton John, Sophia Loren, Vogue magazine, and major retailers worldwide...all by getting MAJOR newspaper, radio, and television coverage that works like no-cost advertising!

And now they'd like to show you how to do it, too!

"PR Magic: How to Make You and Your Business Buzzworthy and Gain
Coverage in TV, Radio, and Print"
with Ali Brown and Anne McKevitt

Wednesday, September 8, 2010
8:00pm Eastern
Learn more and register here:
http://www.millionaireprotegeclub.com/prmagic

On this special complimentary call, you're going to discover...

* how to use strategic PR within weeks to explode your business growth - whether you're just starting out or you are ready to leap to the next level

* how to get a team of influential and respected media mavens to "spread the good word" about you -- without EVER paying for traditional advertising

* who you REALLY need to reach if you want to captivate the media's attention... so they come looking for YOU for stories their audience will love

* two great ways to generate compelling stories and content that enhances your reputation at the same time it builds your business buzz (it's easier than you think!)

* where to go to reach a tightly targeted "insider" group or to cast a wide net...and when to use each one for your company's different growth stages

* exciting new details about our upcoming telecourse series "Your Complete PR Agency Toolkit(TM) - How to Build a Buzz About You or Your Business and Launch Your Own Campaign"

If you'd like to know how to crack open the floodgates to your business by getting popular media on your side, be sure to register now for this complimentary call:
http://www.millionaireprotegeclub.com/prmagic

Women Entrepreneurs the Secrets of Success for Wednesday, September 1st

Julie Barnes

Julie is a Freelance Writer, Internet Entrepreneur, and Artist.

She's passionate about entrepreneurship and enjoys writing about all aspects of the journey. Julie has interviewed some of the most inspiring entrepreneurs for her weekly column at Get Your Biz Savvy.

Her youngest entrepreneur was just six years old. Julie keeps her writing portfolio updated at her writing site http://www.onewhowrites.com.

Julie is also passionate about health and wellness and enjoys sharing the Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge. For more information on taking the 90 Day Challenge go to http://www.ksbodybyvi.com.

Julie loves mixed media art, crafting, and graphic design. She will begin working on an Associate in graphic design in Fall 2010. Julie is currently creating items for her Etsy store that will be opening soon at http://www.etsy.com/shop/toobizylady.

8:00 pm EDT
Listen to the live or archived show at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/CoachDeb