NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

Wall Street Journal Mention

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I was interviewed by Wall Street Journal Online reporter Terri Cullen on Monday afternoon, and the article is out today:

Blogs Expose Personal Finance: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The article features other blogs such as:
PFBlog.com
Mymoneyblog.com
Iwillteachyoutoberich.com
The Budgeting Babe
Neville’s Financial Blog
Savvy Saver blog
Insideblogging.com

Congrats to everyone who got a mention!

I really liked a particular quote Terri had:
“Another thing I liked about the blogs I visited was that most have yet to be consumed by the omnivorous beast that is GoogleAdSense.”

Robert Sek

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Yesterday was an incredibly hectic day, but I just HAD to take time to see this guy speak. His name is Robert Sek. I first met him when he came to judge a Texas Entrepreneurs idea competition last year.

I think all the entrepreneurs out there would love to hear a condensed version of his story:

  • His parents immigrated from Poland to the U.S. in hopes of making a better life for their children.
  • He started his entrepreneurial career and the young age of 5 by selling bubblegum in kindergarten, mowing lawns in middle school and developing web sites in high school etc. to make a buck.
  • At 15 he researched during one summer break for 3 months about the legality of f ake I D’s vs. n.ove lty I D ‘s, finding that nov e1ty ID’s were 100% legal to sell because of a loophole he had found in the federal laws pertaining to ID cards.
  • With this information in hand, he knew there was a legal way to make the ID’s. He then researched the in’s and out’s of starting a business.
  • In his freshman year of college at the University of Texas in the Jester dorm (Same place where I lived!) he started his online n0v elty I D business.
  • He went around the campus door-to-door trying to sell them with no success and a lot of discouraging words from friends.
  • He then received his first order online. He charged $120 for an ID that cost him $.25 (yes, a quarter)
  • Everytime he checked his mailbox he got more and more orders, sometimes 50+ at a time.
  • In his freshman year he pulled in profits of $500,000! The next year he broke $1,000,000.
  • The next year, the Senate held a sub-committee meeting on F a k e ID’s and the internet to close the loophole Robert had discovered. As the current largest player in the online ID business, the government went after Sek’s business just 20 days before he was about to shut it down himself. They went into his West Campus condo and confiscated everything they could find.
  • No laws were broken and he decided to shut the business down.
  • With his new found wealth he became an angel investor for several startup dot com’s (This was during the internet boom in Austin).
  • He started a number of companies, some of which were bought out, some of which failed.
  • He lost a lot of money in the dot com bust, but then made it back through other ventures such as international trading, high-tech startups, online dating sites and much more.
  • He is currently the founder of an upcoming company ThermaCode which has patented a barcode technology that reports when changes in temperature have occurred. With a great technology and Robert Sek at the helm, I don’t think this company will have any trouble making untold fortunes!

The guy is a great speaker, extremely successful in his 20’s and mentors many college students on starting their own companies. It’s always great to hear him speak.

February Goal

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I set a goal for 2-28-2005 to have made $3,500 since January 1st 2005. The goal was not met. So far I have only made $1,942 since January 1st, that isn’t good enough.

I have a new goal coming up set for 3-15-2005 which looks like a challenge, especially since I have only 15 days left to accomplish it. It states “Have a third, steady, side income.” I currently have my online business and my job as steady sources of income. I will not count web design and other small projects as a steady source of income. 15 days to come out with a new business that brings in good profits month after month, can I meet the goal?

As for the February goal of making $3,500, it was made to keep me on course to making $11,000 by 4-31-2005. At the rate I am going I will only make half of that.

I’m still a full time student right now, but that is no excuse not to meet these monetary goals! Taking a look back to see why I didn’t reach that goal I noticed a few things:

  • I didn’t fully exploit the money making power of Resumite.com
  • Didn’t set up a 3rd, steady income. My current online business and job put together cannot make much more than they already are.
  • No shorter term stock trades. I do not claim profit on a stock unless I sell it. All my current holdings are long term. My last goals were met through big gains in stock.

On the other hand, I have another article in the Daily Texan, this time on personal finance and savings for college students. I will post the link tommorrow.

Newspaper Article & New Bank Account

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I am currently writing an article for The Daily Texan on how college students should save. The article will highlight :

  • The power of compound interest and its ability to turn a small savings into a huge one over time.
  • Different types of savings accounts college students can open.
  • How much money should be put away per year. I am doing my calculations based on a person putting away $3,000 per year.
  • How to put away $3,000 a year. This section will inform people that only $8.21 needs to be saved everyday to add up to $3,000.

The article will be running this Tuesday, pressing my schedule a bit. This will be especially hard since I have several tests and papers due this week.

On the more financial side, I have opened up another Bank of America account for paying bills. I’ve deposited $300 into the account, and will add to it every week. This account will grow till I graduate, then I will split it up into several different accounts for different bills (car bill, house bills etc.) at that time.

On an unrelated note, a family friend that lives right next to me just bought a Lamborghini Gallardo. He starts small businesses (like storage facilties, car washes etc.) and sells them. He also owns many rental properties and apartments. With a little persuasion and lots of begging, I may even get to drive it!!

More Crazy Business Ideas

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Every so often I like to list a few business ideas I write down. Some of these ideas can actually be pretty big money makers if properly carried through with. Feel free to comment. Enjoy!

1.) Color Changing Urinal. A urinal that changes color when it comes in contact with “liquid.” C’mon guys, how cool would it be to relieve yourself and draw a picture in the urinal at the same time! When you flush, the “drawing” would be erased. A fish tank urinal would also be pretty neat, and might even get some press coverage.

2.) Legal Street Racing. Around my house, people from all walks of life meet every weekend on an industrial road which is slightly longer than a 1/4 mile long. Some states have found that people will race no matter what, so they legalized it in certain areas. The racers only need a helmet to participate. This way the racers are happy and the authorities are happy they are away from street traffic. If you could legalize an operation like this in your area, you could easily sell all sorts of concession snacks and beverages every weekend. An easier idea would be to find the places racers meet, and sell chips, cokes etc. out of the back of a truck.

3.) Urinal TV Advertising. Once he is at a urinal, you have a mans’ absolute, undivided attention. When a patron approches the urinal, a 20-30 second TV advertisement can play right in front of his face. This is actually a really good idea. Don’t ask me why I have so many urinal ideas!

4.) Solar Power. In Austin they have started a program that allows residential homes to recieve up to a $5,000 check per year simply for having a solar system on your home (that generates a certain amount of power). You could offer free installation of solar panels on homes in exchange for these yearly checks. A lot of people would jump at the chance for “absolutely free” solar panels, especially in green-place like Austin. Outfitting a home with a solar panel system generally costs $15,000 – $20,000. For commerical buildings, the city writes checks of up to $100,000 per year. Looking out at my aparment complex, putting solar panels on each roof would be discreet and bring in 100 grand per year, plus save the complex tons of money. This was an idea I was pretty involved with for a while. The solar industry is becoming huge in the United States, take advantage of it!

Real Estate

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One area I have always been interested in is real estate. I have some experience, and plan to make a purchase soon.

For any of you interested in buying/selling houses, a great place to start is:
Shaun’s Real Estate Adventures

I’ve been reading his blog for a while now and really enjoy it. He also has some great articles on how to get started.

Time Management

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As things start to gain speed at school and I have more and more non-academic projects to attend to, I sometimes feel like there are not enough hours in the day.

If I kept a minute-by-minute log of my daily activities, I can see there are enough hours in the day, I just don’t use them efficiently.

At a few points throughout the day I notice large time wasting periods. I’ve found a huge factor in my laziness during these times is food. If I am very full, not much gets accomplished. I work at night some days, so sometimes dinner starts cooking around 1:00am, while other times I eat at a more regular 7:30pm. My dinner is usually very heavy, as I often don’t get much time to eat lunch on campus, so I get tired after dinner and laze around. I currently don’t have a roommate for the next few weeks, therefore I have no one to make me feel self-conscious of my laziness.

The time I spend on campus is always more productive, but I can’t spend whole days there without spending a fortune on eating out. I enjoy being at my apartment, but I just don’t get a whole lot done there.

My workout times are sporadic also. Sometimes I go to the gym at 3:00pm while other times I start working out after work, at midnight till 1:00am. For now, moving closer to campus is not an option. I am only 4 miles away, but rush hour traffic (5-6:30pm) through downtown Austin makes that 4 mile bus ride an hour long.

I need to start regulating my eating times and scheduling a routine workout time. This would help me have more energy and ‘pep’ during the day. If I could properly utilize the time spent at my apartment after meals etc, I would get twice as much work done in a day!

Portfolio Update

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My portfolio is currently valued at $9,217 with Dynegy (DYN) and Syntel (SYNT) up today, but Fortune Brands (FO) slipped.

The amount of my money invested is $8,550, so I am currently at a 7.8% gain in my portfolio. Not bad, not great, but better than what I would get in a bank account! All of these stocks except Syntel are longterm, so I’m not going to draw any profits or cut any losses in the near future.

4-31-2005 Goal Uncertainty

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My 2-28-2005 goal of making $3,500 was made in order to meet my 4-30-2005 goal of making $11,000. Unless I come up with two grand in the next 6 days, it looks like I won’t meet it.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I need more income! I realize I have school which keeps me extremely busy, but I need to form another steady stream of income that is very low maintenance like my current online business. It brings in between $500 and $1,000 per month with less than 20 minutes of maintenance per day.

Resumite.com is my other potential income stream, but takes a large time investment. Even with all the craziness of school I must still dedicate some more time to opening side businesses like in the past to meet my $11,000 goal!

Lots of money yet low maintenance…seems too perfect, but it’s possible. I need to keep thinking!