Archive for the ‘advice’ category

My Survival Guide

March 23rd, 2012

I wrote a book a few years ago (just after the financial crisis of late 2008), and made it part of my Secrets Package (it still is part of that collection, which is available at http://www.thesecretinformationsite.com). It is called The Survival Guide for Interesting Times. Just recently I updated it and published it separately as a Kindle book here:

The Survival Guide for Interesting Times

If you don’t have a Kindle reader, you can download a desktop version for free here:

Kindle for PC

It looks at survival from a broad perspective, to say the least. I start with basic financial matters like how to get out of debt fast, live on less, develop streams of income, and prepare for unexpected events. I move on to what to do when “interesting times” arrive, including how to raise cash fast, find survival jobs and start low-investment businesses.

As the book moves along it gets into more and more extreme scenarios, and the preparation you can make for them. Epidemics, wars, and “Mad Max” futures are » Read more: My Survival Guide

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Three Tips for Writers

December 28th, 2011

Just to get a post up (it’s been a while), I’ll give a little bit of “insider information” for writers who have a book being published, or those who hope to soon. Three items come to mind as I think through the process of getting my book “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” published.

1. Negotiate

It may seem that as a first time author you should just take the deal given to you, and in general that may be true. But there is always room for negotiation. When the contract was sent to me by Wiley and Sons, I had problems with four or five relatively minor parts of it. They  agreed to changes in all of them. The details are unimportant here, since they will be different in your case, but I didn’t ask for  more of an advance or higher royalties. I suspect that first-time authors would not often be able to negotiate higher royalties or advances unless they are famous or in the news.

2. Buy Your Books Online

Should you buy your own copies of your book from the publisher? Maybe; but check the price that you pay and if it only pennies more to buy online, get your copies there. Many publisher/author contracts will require that » Read more: Three Tips for Writers

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Who is the Puppet Master?

November 12th, 2011

The mind is the puppet master… Some of you have not read my book, Beyond Mental Slavery, so to encourage you to do so I am posting the following excerpt. It is from Chapter Two: Who Is the Master? The book is available as a paperback, as well as on Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook e-book readers. The excerpt:

Most of us automatically assume that we know who we are and that we control our lives purposefully and consciously, at least most of the time. Chances are you suffer from this illusion to some degree, along with the rest of us. The following short story might help with your disillusionment. That word usually has negative connotations for people, but it is typically defined as “a freeing or a being freed from illusion.” Isn’t that kind of freedom something exciting and desirable?

 

Bob turned on his computer one morning and it told him, “You have too much to do today, so you’d better start rushing.”

 

“Yes, I’d better hurry,” Bob agreed, moving faster as his blood pressure went up a little bit, and he thought about what he needed to do.

 

“You’ll feel better if you make a list,” the computer told him, so he did that, even adding » Read more: Who is the Puppet Master?

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Posted in advice, mind, story

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A Lack of Self Control?

October 6th, 2011

If you feel the urge to do something, do you “overrule” the feeling if the consequences are clearly not what you want in the larger context of your life? Do you stop eating when you know you’ve had enough, even if you still feel hunger? Do you get out of bed when you need to, even if your body says it wants to sleep more? In other words, do you have good self control?

More than one person has noted that the inability to plan or carry out a plan, and the tendency to indulge every whim has become more prevalent in recent generations. This isn’t the usual generational complaint about things that are really matters of taste (music, clothing, social norms). It is about a real shift in the basis and motivations for what we do. More than ever it seems that what people say they want, and much of what they acknowledge would be good for them is never accomplished, because any and all impulses they have between here and there are indulged, thus eating up the time, energy and resources that might have been put to use for » Read more: A Lack of Self Control?

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Working While Traveling

September 30th, 2011

I like the idea of working while traveling. I even bring this full-sized laptop that is in front of me now (in the past we just brought a mini). But it isn’t actually easy to work while on the road or in airports.

At the moment we are in a hotel in Portland Maine, and I have already done the usual five minutes of daily work that gets done when traveling: checking email. This is my feeble attempt to do more than that; a simple post–but even that just a short note on my personal blog. In a few minutes we are heading out to sea on a schooner.

It is worth at least » Read more: Working While Traveling

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Posted in advice, internet, money, personal, writing

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Working at Home

September 24th, 2011

One of the great things about working at home is that you can take a break whenever you like. One of the problems with working at home is that you can take a break whenever you like. My routine consists of working for a while, and then eating, maybe taking the cats outside (they don’t go out unsupervised), and then working some more. This pattern of work mixed with other activities continues throughout the day. When we are not traveling, Ana and I work seven days per week.

Now, I thought I was working quite a bit. Years ago it was easier to make a living online, and I worked about 20 hours weekly, but lately I had been really putting in the hours–or so I thought. About ten days back I started tracking the time I spent on my writing and our business (which are the same thing). I just wrote down how much time I had spent at the computer whenever I left it.

It wasn’t very many days before I realized that » Read more: Working at Home

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Wise Giving

September 19th, 2011

I previously wrote a post titled, “Give Until it Hurts?” My answer to the question was no. Humans who develop normally are generous and will help others when their own needs have been met, but to alleviate suffering at the expense of your own is ideology, not love, and it makes no sense. Today, though, I want to look at wise giving.

How do we choose charities wisely? How do we do the best we can to do the most we can with the money we have to give? Here are a few of my thoughts on this…

First of all, if you want to help other people, it is most efficient to choose just a couple causes and devote your money to these, rather than give a little money to many organizations. This is because there is a cost to each organization for having you as a donor. This is mostly a set expense, and it eats up little of your donation if you give $1,000 annually to an charitable organization, but a large percentage of smaller contributions.

For example, when you donate $20 annually to a cause, the organization that gets your contribution will maintain your name, and send out reminders for your contributions. This costs money. If they are like most charitable groups they are also likely to send regular mailings asking for special or extra donations. In all, they may spend as much as $12 or $15 each year, meaning the programs they support get as little as $5 in net benefit from your contribution. It may seem nice to be able to support 50 causes with that same $1,000 by way of these small donations, but the net effect can be » Read more: Wise Giving

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Posted in advice, philosophy

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Televison and Radio Interviews for Authors

August 13th, 2011

Having done a number of radio interviews and now a couple television interviews, I always think I am ready. Perhaps I am mostly ready, but it seems that there will always be something more to learn about the publicity process. Yesterday I was on KKZZ AM 1400, a Ventura, California radio station, with “Billy the Brain,” talking about 101 Weird Ways to Make Money. An hour after that I had a television interview with KOAA Channel 5 from Colorado Springs. So for those of you who are publishing a book I will share my experiences and the lessons learned.

First of all, radio shows are much easier than television interviews. I had my notes laid out in front of me, a cup of tea ready, my book next to me, and my computer browser open in case I needed to look something up while talking on air. Here is the audio of the show:

Billy the Brain Interviewing Steve Gillman

By the way, one thing I discovered » Read more: Televison and Radio Interviews for Authors

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