NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

2009 Goals

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Flashback to January 2007 I decided to try not having any yearly goals. Well that didn’t go well as planned (or…unplanned)?

I like how Earl Nightingale put it:

Think of a ship with the complete voyage mapped out and planned. The captain and crew know exactly where the ship is going and how long it will take – it has a definite goal. And 9,999 times out of 10,000, it will get there.

Now let’s take another ship – just like the first – only let’s not put a crew on it, or a captain at the helm. Let’s give it no aiming point, no goal, and no destination. We just start the engines and let it go. I think you’ll agree that if it gets out of the harbor at all, it will either sink or wind up on some deserted beach – a derelict. It can’t go anyplace because it has no destination and no guidance.

While 2007 was a good year, it was also a relatively stagnant year. At the end of 2007 I wasn’t much further along as I should or could have been with clear cut goals. It’s a pretty gross feeling.


Bad idea.

Somewhere in the February to April part of 2008 I once again started focusing and making very clear cut goals on yearly/monthly revenue and other things. It worked great. Making month to month comparisons was especially helpful because you can literally SEE yourself slipping or getting lazy in numbers:

Before I made my 2009 list of goals, I made sure to really think about each goal first. I used this criteria:

  • Is this goal something I REALLY want?
  • Am I willing to put in the time and effort to accomplish this, or is it just something I’d “like” to accomplish?
  • Will this actually benefit me?
  • Be specific.

Here are some of my top level biz goals for 2009:

  1. Have first $83,333 revenue month at House Of Rave ($1,000,000/year equiv) by 4th quarter 2009.

  2. Spend around one full month with the House Of Rave drop shipper to re-vamp and improve processes.
  3. Make and upload two HoR product picture/video reviews per week.
  4. Keep a more aggressive track on month to month income, taking a few minutes on the 1st, 10th, 15th and 25th of the month to make sure monthly goals are being met…and if not, ways to meet them by months end.

  5. Start preparing for holiday seasons & mini-seasons 3 months in advance. One month for product additions, two months for tweaking.

  6. Any changes made should be measured. Don’t simply make changes and see they improve things, actually measure what was improved. How did each specific change effect traffic, conversion rate, or revenue (and other metrics)?
  7. …tying in from #6: Keep a close watch on month-to-month trends and numbers. Print out charts and keep in a folder like I keep my daily to-do lists.

  8. Maintain and increase current year-to-year growth rate of House Of Rave: If I compare House Of Rave revenue from X-month 2007 to X-month 2008 there was a minimum of 177% increase and a maximum of 504% increase. I’ll post the numbers at some point. Profit was increased by 307% from 2007 to 2008.


SOME PERSONAL GOALS:

  1. Start buying proper furnishings.
    For some reason I hate owning a lot of big stuff, especially furniture. It has nothing to do with money, but everything to do with portability and freedom. Previously I’ve lived in furnished apartments which provide all the furniture (and it’s nice furniture too). When I started living in a house I absolutely detested the idea of having to BUY a bed. It took the combined force of my mom and my roommate (who owns the house) to make me buy a bed. My mom literally stuffed hundreds of dollars in cash into my palm saying I had to buy a real bed with it…and my roommate said he wouldn’t let me live there if I slept on anything but a proper bed.

    I can sleep on the floor with a thin sheet for all I care, so a bed seemed like a ridiculous notion to me (I know I know….I sound like a homeless person).

    Anyhow, a few months ago I think I officially became an adult when I…….bought new pillows. Under my own will power I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought a king sized pillow and a body pillow. It was a big step. It was the first (non-forced) purchase I’ve ever made that benefited my own physical comfort. This is the first cautious step into slowly becoming somewhat of a grown up.

  2. Spend a few short minutes every morning for some thinking time.
    I used to take yoga classes and after an hour of intense positions you’d just lay there. Those few moments made all that work worth it. Like clockwork this sudden feeling of mental clarity would hit me. My mind would slow down to a halt and this euphoric sensation would take over. It’s hard to describe, but very cool.

    I would try to duplicate this some mornings without the hour of yoga preceeding it, and I found that simply sitting in a comfortable meditation-like position (but not comfortable enough to fall asleep), would yield a similar clarity, but without the brain-shutting-down part. This means I can think about my plans, goals and objectives for the day in a clear state. I also tend to get some great ideas during this time (although about 50% of my ideas still come to me whilst showering).

    Doing this morning exercise every day would feel great and be very beneficial.

So far these are the only goals I have that I know I can stick to. They can always be modified or added to during the year.

Anyhow, have a great 2009!

Xmas and the Spending Account 2

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For the most part you’re going to spend more money during the months of November and December than any other time of the year.

I found this out long time ago in college when every holiday season my Spending Account (explanation of accounts here) would get stretched very thin.

Solution: Spending Account #2

In addition to my other accounts, I created another spending account for myself which would cover only gifts, vacations and general holiday spending. I initially used to just put $20/week (aka $100/month) in this account through automatic transfer. That means during the holidays I had an additional $1,000+ to spend on gifts and going out for the holidays. That extra cash is mighty helpful during these months when spending goes through the roof.

Now I put about 10% of all my income in this account. It pays for vacations and everything without having to worry where I’ll pull that money from.

If I randomly see a great gift at the mall or someone, I can usually buy it without much price consideration thanks to the previous 10 months of savings in the Spending Account #2. Same with hopping on a plane for vacation…the Spending Account #2 takes care of it.

If this season you’re struggling to find where all that extra spending money is going to come from, I’d HIGHLY suggest creating a Spending Account #2 for yourself to make the next holiday season much less monetarily stressful and more enjoyable.

Hi. I’m Neville, I Own A Rave Company

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Here’s a typical introductory conversation with me:

Nev: Hi, I’m Neville.
Person: Nice to meet you, what do you do?
Nev: I own the largest online rave company.
Person: Rave company!? ::eyes bug out::
Nev: Yes, rave company.
Person: So, do you…like…throw rave parties?
Nev: Nope, I’ve never been to a rave in my life.
Person: Then what do you do?
Nev: I sell light up stuff.
Person: So you sell glowsticks?
Nev: That’s part of it. The store mainly sells hard to find lightup novelties.
Person: So are raves still popular?
Nev: Not really sure. Most of my customers aren’t ravers.
Person: So do you keep all the stuff in your garage or a warehouse?
Nev: It’s all drop shipped. I rarely touch any of the products.
Person: That’s so (cool/odd/interesting).
Here’s what I imagine it’d look like if I told this to the Prime Minister of Malaysia when I met him at The WCIT 2006:
Ever since high school I’ve been running some small business or the other, but I’d always considered myself a student first. No longer a student, that response doesn’t work, so I started saying I was a “business owner” or something like that, but that elicits an avalanche of questions about every business I was involved in. Much as I enjoy talking about them, it became a cumbersome question.

So over time I’ve just started saying, “I own a rave company” which is actually pretty fitting for what I do (HouseOfRave.com). This response is interesting enough to keep the conversation going, keeps the questions fun to answer, and allows for an easy segue into another conversation.
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One trick I learned to avoid the whole “what do you do” conversation is say, “I’m unemployed.” The conversation generally stops immediately! Great for people you don’t want to speak with or when you’re in a hurry to leave.

How to make $100 today

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So I’m just chillin when I get this text message from my buddy Tim Sykes:

…instead of just emailing him back, thought I’d make a post about it.

I didn’t speak with him on the phone about this, and have no idea what he’ll be presenting on The Today Show, so I thought I’d make my own criteria based on what I THINK he is requesting.

I’m presuming he’s asking how a person of average ability can make $100 in 24 hours in a legal way without many resources, specialized knowledge or abilities.

Remember, you can see how much money you will make by evaluating the amount of service you give to others. Since $100 is a small sum of money, these are all usually small-scale jobs that only provide a marginally important service.

So here we go:

1.) Selling bottled water
I’ll start with this example simply because I’ve proven this can make money in The Bottled Water Experiment and Part Deux. If you don’t partner with a homeless guy like I did, the profits could easily be $100 on a good day. In one of the undocumented attempts of this experiment Barry The Bum made $60 by himself in one day, and would have made $100 profit if half the money didn’t go to me.

2.) Painting curb addresses
I pseudo-tried painting curbs and found out it wasn’t all that hard. It may take some trial and error testing at first, but in a day a person can easily make much more than $100 in a day. In fact one of the readers of this blog (a college student) makes $80,000/year doing this very thing. At $25/house making $100 in a day should be simple.

3.) Manual labor for a store
I’ve personally seen and spoken to bums on the street who do this from time to time: help out a store in exchange for cash. Often stores with have a very messy back-room area or trash area in the back. If you’re willing to clean this area up, the store manager wouldn’t mind hiring you for a small fee. Usually the bums I’ve seen get these small jobs are employed to break down boxes that are being sent for trash or recycling. Glamorous? No. But asking around at a few local businesses if they can part with $100 in exchange for your services can work. Keep in mind they’re going to want to pay you low as possible, lower than $8/hour.

4.) Selling goods from your state surplus store
When something gets confiscated or lost at a state building or airport, it all ends up at your state Surplus Store. I did an experiment to see if I could sell confiscated stuff from the airport and it worked. Selling these goods over eBay obviously wasn’t a one day affair, but perhaps you could get lucky, find some good stuff and sell it at a pawn shop or flea market.

5.) Pawn or Ebay your stuff
Self explanatory. You got junk, trade it for around market price for cash or PayPal funds. This isn’t really “making” money, so I’m not sure if this will qualify for Tim’s list.

6.) Power washing driveways and houses
I’ve also actually performed this a long time ago (unfortunately it went undocumented). I borrowed a power washer from a friend, rolled it around a neighborhood and asked people if they wanted their driveway power washed. My only cost was $2 worth of gasoline, and you can power wash a driveway for $45, and a house for well over $100.

7.) Mow lawns.
This one’s pretty obvious.

8.) General help wanted post
Post an ad on Craigslist in the “Gigs” section or alike saying something along the lines of, “Hard working, general help for one day. Will do anything (legal) for 8 hours. Price $100.” I’ve seen posts like this on Craigslist, and based on my experiences from finding ANYTHING on Craigslist, it’s highly likely you can find someone who needs some general help for the day.

If you have some special talents, abilities or skilled set of knowledge, you probably stand an even better chance of #8 working. If you know how to setup Quickbooks for a business, or are good with computers etc. you can post those qualifications (and command a higher price).

9.) Experiments on college campuses
Go to the psychology building of many college campuses and scout for flyers boasting “get paid for research.” I used to participate in these experiments if I had some free time. They usually pay between $10 and $25 for an hour or two of your time. This suggestion is more wishful thinking than the others. Yes, it COUULLDD make $100, but it’s unlikely you’ll make more than $30 in a day (if you are even lucky enough to catch an experiment taking place on a certain day).

10.) Bum it….creatively
I’ve always wanted to try this out, and would LOVE to see it done. Make a big ass card board sign that says “NEED $100 FOR (insert purpose here)” and then draw one of those fundraiser thermometers next to it. Stand on corner and basically fly the sign like bums do.

I never give money to bums, but would probably toss a few bucks someone’s way if they had a sign that said “Need $120 more for rent” and showed their progress through the day. Whenever someone gives you money, use a Sharpie to bump up the amount on the sign. After the bottled water experiment I got to know a lot of bums and see who gives what at the street corners, and sincerely think this suggestion could make $100 quicker and with much more ease than any other suggestion! Artist rendering of what it might look like:

Anyhow, there you go Tim; my suggestions for how anyone could make $100 in a day.
-Nev

My 26th Birthday

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Most people I’ve heard turning 26 rue the day because they’ve already “started to feel old.”

There’s a lot of funny things that start happening around this age, such as my favorite radio station in Austin plays, “Old hits from the 80’s and 90’s” which of course makes anyone feel a bit old.

However I find it odd that anyone in their 20’s can be considered “old.” Whenever I walk nothing hurts, I can still take a fall without breaking anything, I can for the most part eat whatever I want without any significant weight gain and I still have my dashingly good looks (subject to verification).

I can’t imagine the number of people in the world who would give ANYTHING they have to be back at my age. As I wrote the aforementioned sentence I instantly remembered some passages in Felix Dennis’ book How to get Rich (Felix Dennis is a very wealthy publishing mogul):

He writes:

Ask me what I will give you if you could wave a magic wand and give me my youth back. The answer would be everything I own and everything I will ever own.

He then goes on to say:

If you are young and reading this then I ask you to remember just this: You are richer than anyone older than you, and far richer than those who are much older. What you choose to do with the time that stretches out before you is entirely a matter for you. But do not say you started the journey poor. If you are young, you are infinitely richer than I could ever be.

Wow….hard to express that in any better way. It’s my opinion that being “old” is a state of mind, or state of life. For example:

  • Edison was 32 when he invented the light bulb and was just getting started.
  • Gandhi was well into his 60’s and 70’s when his most famous works and movements were done.
  • Nikola Tesla was 32 when he got his patent on the induction motor and was just getting started.
  • Felix Dennis didn’t become a millionaire until he was 35 and continued building his businesses well past that.
  • My dad got his pilots license at 58.
  • At my age Henry Ford was still farming and running a sawmill and hadn’t even begun experimenting with gasoline engines or quadracycles.

Also at 26 I seriously doubt I have come even close to experiencing the joys/frustrations of marriage, the birth of a first child or raising a teenager. I once heard my dad tell someone half-jokingly, “When they turn 16, go find a good cardiologist.”

I remember my parents telling me that when I was born, the doctors said I couldn’t breathe correctly, so they hooked me up to an oxygen tube and tied my baby hands together with a rubber band (because I kept removing the tube). My parents said that sight was the most terrifying thing they ever saw. It’s doubtful I’ve ever experienced a fear like that…yet. I think that’s when they grey hairs get their cues for appearance.

…anyhow, up till this point in my life I’ve been concerned mainly about my own life and survival, which I think is FAR easier than worrying about others….and that part of my life has yet to begin.

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As I write this entry, I realize that four years ago to this date, the eve of my 22nd birthday, I was creating this very blog as a means of tracking my financial goals.

The goals I setup then have been preserved, untouched since then:
https://www.nevblog.com/2004/11/my-goals.html

I was still in school back then, and didn’t quite know what I wanted, but those goals were the ones I set that night. The important thing I learned from those goals is that HAVING A GOAL is the most important thing. I did not meet the first “ideal” short term goal I had of making a dependable $7,500/month just one year later, that came a little later, but I did meet the “minimum requirement” goal of being able to pay all my expenses and savings through my own businesses in the allotted time.

The “Medium Term Goals” are of more interest to me, let’s see what we’ve got:

Goal 1.)
Have at least 4 different sources of income, balanced in different industries to survive good and bad markets.
I currently make money from a full time business, this blog, royalty trust dividends and consulting. That’s exactly 4 different sources of income. I used to think making money from a million different small sources was better, not sure if I fully believe that to this day.

Goal 2.)
Accumulate somewhere near $1,000,000 in liquidable assets by age 27. This includes cash savings and stock.
What I meant by “liquidable” back then was “Not including the house or property I live in.” Technically speaking a house is an asset, but I never liked it when people figured the remaining value of their house as part of their net worth. I always thought it was a cheap way of making someone who has $15,000 in the bank look like they were worth $450,000. Anyhow, I think this goal should be pretty attainable. Of course this sharply falling economy over the next few years isn’t going to help, but it does offer (or force) the opportunity to be more creative.

Goal 3.)
Get mentioned in at least 5 of these sources by age 27: CNBC, New York Times, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Register, The Financial Times, Yahoo News, Google News, Bloomberg, BBC, Wired, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics.
This goal was completed years ago, almost promptly after it was written on this blog. I’ve also been in lots of foreign news sources since then too. It sounded like a cool goal back then, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly when you realize how easy it is to get into a newspaper or magazine.

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Well, looks like it’s time to create some new and updated goals for the coming years. These might take a little more time since I’ll properly think them over, rather than just type some stuff out for the sake of having some goals. I’ve officially been alive for 9,498 days, I look forward to accomplishing more in the next 500 days than I have in all the past days combined!

A Word On Business Cards

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I attend tons of events, networking parties and all that jazz, one thing in common is coming back with a pocket full of business cards.

Some are big, some are small, some are normal, some are fancy. By and large, it doesn’t make a single bit of difference what your business card looks like. I have never once decided to contact some someone back based solely on their business card.

In fact, most of the very successful people I meet have exceedingly simple business cards. Name, contact info and maybe a company logo. Nothing ornate because it doesn’t matter.


What my business card looks like (except a different email address, this was an old photo and I was too lazy to take a new one).

The funny thing is, usually the people with brand new companies which aren’t even making money generally have the coolest/most expensive business cards. I interpret that as a very ominous sign.

Not all cool business cards are bad though. If you’re making good money with the company, then sure, go nuts, although it’ll unlikely make any difference. I like some business card designs that tie into their industry, like some of these which would be great for tradeshows….but for most occasions, a standard personal business card would do fine.

If you’re actually of any interest to a person, it doesn’t matter if your contact info is written on a napkin, they’ll get back to you. If you’re relying on a cool business card to get you a call back, then you’ve probably got some work to do on yourself.

Just remember: You are making the impression, not the business card.

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Random:
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  • In 2007 I bought several hundred business cards with a 2007 yearly calendar on the back thinking it would be a good idea. It wasn’t. Now in 2008 I still hand out those business cards and mention, “…and on the back you have a nice 2007 calendar!” which always gets a laugh! However a more timeless card would’ve been preferable.
  • VistaPrint.com has really cheap and easily designable business cards.
  • I keep about 3 business cards in my wallet at all times, it really comes in handy.
  • Sometimes at events I get a person who introduces themselves and nearly immediately hands me a business card *cough* real estate agents *cough* …these generally go immediately into the garbage. Only trade cards if there’s at least a small possibility of you two connecting again.
  • Even if you don’t have a business, a personal business card with your name, email and phone number would be nice to carry.
  • I don’t like glossy business cards, you can’t write on them.
  • It’s helpful when you get home to write interesting information about the person directly on the business card in case you forget. This has helped me several times.
  • Generally when I get home, I checkout the websites listed on the business cards I get.

Whole View of Economy Skewed?

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I was born in 1982, and taking a look at financial records, the United States was in a secular bull market since 1982 till 2000.

This means my entire upbringing as a child was in the wealthiest nation in the world, during a bull market. Not a bad time to grow up! However that good fortune and easy times as a child may not last much longer due to the current economic outlook of the United States. Now I’m an adult trying to build a fortune in the largest debtor nation in the world. So now the fun begins.

There seems to be a few different reactions to a coming economic downturn:

  1. People who will get scared, then bitch and complain. Most likely will blame certain incidents, the president or other scapegoat for their troubles.
  2. People who will research and understand what is going to happen before it happens, then react accordingly.
  3. People who have no idea what’s going on, will soon be affected, then react later to the new environment.

I’d like to be in that minority of people who understand FIRST what can happen, then prepare in a way which will keep me financial stable and even prosperous despite a bad economy. This course of action requires the most work, reading and research which makes it a sure bet only a tiny fraction of the people will do it.

Of all the really crappy financial information I’ve screened through, I by far think the absolute best advice anyone is giving right now is Peter Schiff. He’s got two recent books out (both which I’ve read) which are excellent. Just Google him and do your own research. He’s been deemed “Dr. Doom” in the recent years because in all his past interviews he used to predict “crazy” things happening like a housing industry meltdown or investment banks defaulting. Well people are starting to take notice now.

The only thing that can “fix” the economy is a recession. This will flush out all the bad businesses, bloated companies and excessive government expenditures.

Here’s an analogy I tell friends which compares the United States to a regular guy (perhaps themselves):

Imagine a guy who works a normal job, doesn’t make all that much money, but lives a really nice lifestyle. He spends more than what he makes because he just puts everything on a credit card and makes minimum payments. He can live this way for a while, but he just goes further into debt and eventually he’s got to pay for it. He must either make more money or spend less to get out of debt.

He can’t just easily start earning enough more money to pay for the debt, so he must start cutting down his expenses.

The United States is just like the guy in debt. The only way to “fix” his problem is to get rid of the nice apartment, stop eating out as frequently, or stop buying so many expensive gadgets.

You can log onto hundreds of financial blogs which started because the owner was deep in debt, and almost invariably got out (usually in just a few years) because they cut their expenses and paid off the debt. Same thing will happen with the U.S….or at least should happen.

The bad part is, when a country “cuts down on expenses” it means the entire country goes into a recession (at least “recession” is the scary term used to describe a slowdown of spending). However the upside is when people get rid of all the debt, they come out smarter about their purchases, can operate with less and can then start saving for their futures or investing back in themselves so they CAN make more money.

I won’t bother going into anymore economic analysis than that, it’s your job to start doing some financial research on why the dollar is falling and will continue to fall, but it brings me to this point:

In the coming years, it’s imperative to be working harder than ever before. Absorption of sound financial information is essential. I’d also highly suggest you increase your savings right now…just in case. Research, reading and frugality will be more important than ever before (Well, not EVER….I mean in my generations lifetime). This is also an excellent time for lots of opportunity, as you’ll find lots of new opportunity when things are being shaken up!

Idea – More Efficient Highway Lighting

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Here’s an idea that could be widely used:
Self power generating highway streetlights.

Whilst driving along the freeway one night in Austin I realized everything was darker than usual. Apparently a large section of freeway had the overhead lights turned off.

Suddenly I realized, “I drive by this freeway every day and never consciously noticed the whole thing was beautifully lighted the whole way.” I looked ahead and saw literally hundreds of tall, light posts illuminating the freeway, and my first thought was, “I wonder what the electricity bill is like?”

*Notice: I’m simply theorizing here. I’m sure all you smart alecs out there can poke huge holes in the feasibility of this plan…it’s just a thinking excercise.

A typical freeway system will have hundreds of these high-output lights populating urban lengths of road:

In an effort to save on the massive electricity costs, it would be cool if these tall posts could take a hint from those widely available solar garden lights you can buy at any store:

A quick Googling of something similar reveals that solar light posts do exist. However they generally run off L.E.D. lights and are not very bright.

Even better would be to have a wind energy component since the lights are generally very tall and must catch a lot of wind. This “city-turbine” (which is in actual use already and can be readily purchased) spins no matter which directing the wind blows from:

These are compact enough to where they could fit nicely atop a pole, something like this:


(Please excuse my poor, non-scaled Photoshop rendering)

Not only would the turbine create energy to operate off, but it would most likely create an excess amount of energy which could be put back into the power grid for a profit.

Obviously a self-generating light pole would cost more money upfront, but the longterm benefits could offset those costs in the long run. It would also be great for more remote areas without access to the main power grid.

How Much I Spent in 2007

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A little while back I figured it costs me $24,160 to be alive each year based on my 2007 spending totals. That number was for the basic neccessities, but for some reason I never tallied the actual amount I spent in 2007.

This post will actually be the first time I’ve really tracked what I personally spent for the year. I’m very good at keeping a tight track of everything I spend for the month, so these numbers are quite accurate.

Jan-07 – $1,415
Feb-07 – $2,214
Mar-07 – $5,441
Apr-07 – $2,895
May-07 – $1,965
Jun-07 – $2,694
Jul-07 – $1,461
Aug-07 – $3,505
Sep-07 – $2,415
Oct-07 – $3,105
Nov-07 – $1,280
Dec-07 – $1,615
2007 TOTAL – $30,005

I often pay bills like car insurance, health insurance or gym memberships 6-12 months in advance, so the numbers vary quite a bit sometime from month-to-month. There’s also zero debt on my books, so these numbers are not inflated by credit card payments, car notes or anything like that. These also don’t include business spending (those numbers get more fun)!

In the post which calculated $24,160 in living expenses, I stated, “That’s just to live, doesn’t even account for going out, travelling etc.”

The total discrepancy between the estimate and actual number is less than $6,000 for the whole year, and since I know I spent more than $6,000 going out and travelling for the whole year, that means I’ve been good at keeping my monthly costs low.

Here’s a fun game for younger people to play:
(I would hope all older people already have this figured out):

1.) Tally last years total expenses.
What does it come to? That number = EXPENSES

2.) Now suppose for a moment you lost all your current income sources.

3.) Do you have at least enough money to cover EXPENSES for the next 12 months?

If yes; good.
If no; that’s your business.

I’d like to see a comparison of Noah’s monthly expenses from the time he was in the SF Bay Area compared to living in Austin now.

Craig Newmark – Founder of Craigslist

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I had the opportunity to see Craig Newmark speak at the brand new AT&T Center over here in Austin, TX., and it was an interesting speech. He is the “Craig” of Craigslist.org….one of the largest and most heavily trafficked sites on the planet (roughly 22 billion page views per month).

I’ve personally used Craigslist to find programmers, sell stuff, find stuff, buy my car, buy my scooter, found an apartment, got feedback on issues and the list goes on…all for free.

Most CEO speeches I’ve seen say “Work as hard as you can and you might make it to the top” …something like that. However Craig ended up founder of one of the worlds largest websites through a slightly different…some would say “lucky” story.

Directly from his speech:

  • In 1994 he was doing IT for the financial firm Charles Schwab, nothing big.
  • 1995 he started regularly sending out an email to about 12 of his friends with a bunch of events around the San Francisco Bay Area.
  • His friends would forward the email to their friends, and then their friends etc…
  • Eventually he had 100+ people on the email list, and people would also send him notifications of events they heard about.
  • It started building some momentum, but he never thought of it as a big deal. Lots of people on the list said, “You should make this into a website.”
  • Since he was a programmer, he made an easy tool that would convert the emails into webpage format and post them on a website.
  • He was going to call the website “San Francisco Events” or something along those lines, but many people suggested he keep his name in the title to make it personable. So “Craigslist” was born.
  • The site was hosted on some cheap server, and when it hit 240 users, it broke….so using his own personal funds he got some better web hosting (still very cheap).
  • Around this time the housing market in San Fran was going through some bad times, so people using Craigslist thought it would be nice to help each other out with apartment listings. So after everyone pushed him to do it, couch potato Craig (his own words) got around to making an apartment listings section.
  • After this new section, people wanted more sections. So requests for a dating section came in, then more like “For Sale” and “Free Stuff”
  • Through organic growth and word of mouth the site started getting 1,000,000 page views per month. Not bad!
  • Microsoft approached him about placing banner ads on the site which would make him money. He didn’t like banner ads, and they didn’t add to the user experience, so he declined.
  • In 1998 people wanted to start running the site on a volunteer basis. He let several volunteers take over the site, and the plan failed miserably.
  • In 1999 he made Craigslist into a real company by incorporating it.
  • The site is 99.99% free, but in a select few cities people posting job ads must pay $25 per listing. This makes Craigslist plenty of money to keep the rest of the site free, and also eliminates lots of spam and scams in the job listings sections. They are starting to do this in more cities because it increases quality of the postings and brings in needed revenue to keep up with Craigslists massive infrastructure demands. They are also starting to charge on some of the housing sections of certain cities.
  • He eventually hired Jim Buckmaster to be CEO and run the show, and Craig now only does customer support. He works as a normal customer support representative.

Some interesting facts I picked up from the speech and Q&A:

  • Craigslist has only 25 employees, and they are looking to hire (just FYI).
  • When asked about Craigslist’s relationship with eBay (They took money from eBay at one point), he simply responded, “You can go on the Craigslist blog and lookup the post called Tainted Love.” You can view that post here. He wouldn’t comment further.
  • Server wise, he said they have several co-locations in different server facilities….and he doesn’t even know where they are since he doesn’t handle those network aspects. He said, “I know we have several co-location facilities, with about 200 servers in each one.”
  • He said the idea behind Craigslist is , “Giving people a break, people giving other people a break, people helping each other out and treating people well.”
  • He frequently gets invitations to weddings from people who met their spouse through Craigslist.

So the really unique thing about Craig is his ideology of keeping Craigslist mostly free. He said, “Once I made more than enough money to satisfy my current and future needs, I didn’t want anymore.” Not something you usually hear from the founder of a big company.

Usually companies try to keep expanding their profits, but Craigslist tries to keep them flat.

So anyhow, before and after the speech I got some pictures with him. I made a “Free Stuff” sign signifying my favorite section on Craigslist:


Ihad to bend down because the sign didn’t come out because of too much sun exposure.


I’m bending down so the sign could be read, but now I really look like a hobbit.


So finally I got a decent picture with my free stuff sign!