Why We're in College

You ever wonder why you're studying? I do when I have to do reading for my history class. Here's a little coping thought process:

What do you really want?

This is my favorite question, and I ask people about it all the time. This question can drive friendships, relationships, romantic interests...anything relating to people. Everybody has an intuitive sense of this inside themselves. Personally, it took me until this year before I really sat down and tried figuring this out. It took me between 3-4 weeks, and how I did it personally was through tons and tons of reading and self-reflection. 

The Nature of Business

You ever heard "It's all right you don't have a job, the economy is bad." Complete and utter bullocky. People will always have needs so there will always be jobs for you to seek out. Sitting on your rear because of an abstract concept of "the economy" is an excuse not to do anything.

The Role of College

Society has somewhat lost sight of what college is really for, its no good to you if you don't why you're going there. You go there to learn the skills necessary to do what you really want to do and get proof you know them. What need you want to fill and what function you want to have in the world. My first two years weren't a waste but..I could've been doing so much better. I didn't know what I wanted. College is publicly accepted proof of self-actualization.

So when you have to do something you really think is unnecessary, remember why you're here.

Credit Card Crash Course Pt. 2

The majority of this post is promotional material straight out of this book.


What to Do If You Miss a Payment

Nobody’s perfect. Despite my warnings, I understand that accidents happen and you might miss a payment at some point. When this happens, I use my Indian heritage to beat the companies by negotiating with them, and you can, too:

You: Hi, I noticed I missed a payment, and I wanted to confirm that this won’t affect my credit score.

Credit card rep: Let me check on that. No, the late fee will be applied, but it won’t affect your credit score. (Note: If you pay within a few days of your missed bill, it usually won’t be reported to the credit agencies. Call them to be sure.)

You: Thank you! I’m really happy to hear that. Now, about that fee . . . I understand I was late, but I’d like to have it waived.

Credit card rep: Why?

You: It was a mistake and it won’t happen again, so I’d like to have the fee removed.

(Note: Always end your sentence with strength. Don’t say, “Can you remove this?” Say, “I’d like to have this removed.”) At this point, you have a better-than-50-percent chance of getting the fee credited to your account. But just in case you get an especially tough rep, here’s what to say.

Credit card rep: I’m very sorry, but we can’t refund that fee. I can try to get you our latest blah blah marketing pitch blah blah. . . .

You: I’m sorry, but I’ve been a customer for four years and I’d hate for this one fee to drive me away from your service. What can you do to remove the late fee?

Credit card rep: Hmm . . . Let me check on that. . . . Yes, I was able to remove the fee this time. It’s been credited to your account. You don’t believe me that it can be so simple? It is. Anyone can do it.

Negotiate a lower APR.

Your APR, or annual percentage rate, is the interest rate your credit card company charges you. The average APR is 14 percent, which makes it extremely expensive if you carry a balance on your card. Put another way, since you can make an average of about 8 percent in the stock market, your credit card is getting a great deal by lending you money. If you could get a 14 percent return, you’d be thrilled—you want to avoid the black hole of credit card interest payments so you can earn money, not give it to the credit card companies.

So, call your credit card company and ask them to lower your APR. If they ask why, tell them you’ve been paying the full amount of your bill on time for the last few months, and you know there are a number of credit cards offering better rates than you’re currently getting. In my experience this works about half the time. It’s important to note that your APR doesn’t technically matter if you’re paying your bills in full every month—you could have a 2 percent APR or 80 percent APR and it would be irrelevant, since you don’t pay interest if you pay your total bill in each month. But this is a quick and easy way to pick the low-hanging fruit with one phone call. 

Pay off your Debt Aggressively

Market a Liberal Arts Degree

Over the past couple months, I've realized how great criticism is. I like to think I've gotten more mature but I think its just that I've grown a thick skin from the constant trash-talking that comes with living in a fraternity house.

Anyway, criticism is the to-do list you're not willing to tell yourself. I've started actively pursuing criticism in some aspects of my life, and one of those was the value of a liberal arts degree. Unfortunately I couldn't attend President Paino's "How to Market a Liberal Arts Degree" presentation at the start of the Career fair.

Marketing a Liberal Arts Education...yoink

Take the popular interview question, "Why should I hire you?" The unspoken full version of this question is "Why should I hire you over every other candidate? What makes you special?" Here's a good liberal-arts way to answer the question:

"Because I know that the one constant in organizational life today is change. I know your company will undergo change, and my strong liberal-arts education has prepared me with the flexibility to adapt to the changes I'll inevitably face."

And another:

"The cultural awareness I've developed as a result of my solid liberal-arts education prepares me to collaborate in a team-oriented and diverse workforce."

Or how about if the employer is even more explicit: "Why should I hire you over a graduate who has business training?"

"Because one of the hallmarks of the excellent liberal-arts education I've attained is the ability to learn. I'm confident I can get up to speed quickly and meet your needs in this job. My education has also prepared me to be an articulate written and oral communicator, so I know I can be a real asset to your firm."

These answers are...as close to perfect as I've found.

My Mom goes "when are you going to start making money from video games?"

When I have enough free time to get really good at them. But I'm going to school, Mom. Jeese.

"The value of an education in a liberal arts college is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks."

—Albert Einstein

Finding Knowledge You can Use

Ask yourself: What do you really want? Be brutally honest. Once you've figured it out...wouldn't it be nice if somebody far wiser and more experienced than you--who's accomplished what you want to do--put all their knowledge, insights, stories and emotions at your fingertips?

It took me 20 years to fully realize it but that's exactly what a book is. What I really want is to be at the forefront of the privatization of space, whenever that may happen. To do this, I need to be able to effectively manage people, my network, time, and money. Since the industry doesn't technically exist the way I want it, I need to be able to envision and actualize goals and desires of mine. So I've been reading up, and I've got some books to recommend to anybody who wants to make something of themselves.

I Will Teach You to be Rich is a witty, funny introduction on how to effectively manage your money and the options available to you as a 20-something college student. If you've ever worried about what to do with or how to manage your money, get this book and follow it--your worries will be a thing of the past.

The Wealthy Barber was recommended to me by a CPA in Canada. Where I Will Teach You to be Rich leaves off this book picks up: what/when/why you need certain types of insurance, how to get them, wills, investment strategy and a myriad of other specific tips and insights. This is a book I'll be reading once a year the rest of my life.

Never Eat Alone is about networking. How to effectively manage the thousands of contacts you will get during your life. How exactly to help you and your friends get what you really want professionally and personally. I constantly reread passages from this book.

The Practice of Management is by Peter Drucker. Drucker created the entire field of management theory. If you read one book on management, ever, this is that book. If you don't read anything else on this list, read this book.

Good to Great is about what, specifically & empirically, separates average companies from great ones. At some point in my life, I want to lead a large company. This book is the how-to guide to that. Did you know Walgreens used to be in the restaurant industry? I didn't. This book follows how they've consistently and dramatically outperformed the market for years.

All together these books cost me way under $50. The wisdom, inspiration and insights I've gained from them which I will use the rest of my life are worth far more than that. For a little snippet from one of these books, check out the middle of this post.

The Value of Intensity

Last night I walked by the library to go to the rec and saw some people I knew studying. As I walked back an hour and a half later my friend Nick, who is in all the same classes, saw them there. "They're still in there?" he snickered, "I can do twice the amount of work in half the time."

As Oscar Maroni says, "Humility is the pride of the incompetent."

In order to truly exist at the top of a competitive environment, you have to be able to produce results like Nick. To get and maintain this level, you need intensity and stamina. I have an acquaintance who worked at PriceWaterCoopers in South Korea, one of the most intensely competitive financial firms in the country. He writes about professional development from time to time and his latest entry perfectly coincides with my experience last night.


Intensity makes up for talent. 

REGARDLESS how more skilled someone is, or more talented, intensity can make up the ground for it.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Gattaca, I actually named my son after the actor Ethan Hawke for this movie and 2 others (before sunset, before sunrise). In the movie, Ethan is the older brother who was born 'naturally' in a time where genetic birth modification was possible; he is born with a heart defect and relatively short for that time period; whereas his younger brother was born with the optimal genetic combination of both their parents. 

I won't get into the plot, but Ethan's younger brother does everything better than Ethan and they always played this game of chicken where they would see who could swim out the farthest to the sea. Ethan's younger brother always won, except one day, one day Ethan won that race and actually carried his brother back and then disappear after than and followed his own dreams.

At the end of the film, after many years later, they reunite and Ethan's brother asks, 'how did you beat me that day?' And Ethan says, 'I never saved anything for the swim back...' Intensity...  

From here.

 Intensity is the ability to put in 100% effort every time you work.

Stamina via Routine

Stamina is the ability to maintain the same level of performance over a long period of time. Stamina is ONLY gained through routine.

At many of the top fortune 500 companies, the CEO and the top executives work out or run 5 miles in the morning, every morning before 7:30. The eat breakfast at the same time, they get into the office and have a very minor routine of things they do first, email, paper, coffee. 

Now this all sounds so boring, but what it does is that it eliminates any minor distractions and things that do come up unexpectedly can be dealt with, with their full attention. It as though, you're always prepared to simply leave everything as it is and go right into the issue. 

When you're not routine, all the little things in life add up, you can't work now cause your hungry, you feel bloated cause you didn't work out for 3 days, you're tired cause you when to bed at 3 am, just because. And when there is an issue that requires your intensity, all these little things either nag you at the back of your mind or else will effect your overall performance, because you're not at your best. 

From here. 

 I've looked around for different articles, opinions on how to start a routine...but nobody says it better.

So what to do, how to start. 
1. One time, just go to bed at 9:30 pm, just one time.
2. You'll wake up at 5 or 6 am, you may say, I'm not a morning person, bull@#$&, everyone is a morning person, its just that they haven't woken up that early since they were 6 years old. 
3. Stretch and do a set of exercises that you can do over the next week for 15 mins; 10 push ups, 10 sit ups X 5 (or whatever you can handle) 
4. See what time it is: take a shower
5. Get a coffee or tea or whatever, sit down, get out a note book, and write out all things you need to do today and put the time it takes and when you are going to do it.
6. leave you house and do your day, keep note of when you leave.

Now repeat for a week. Try to get up at the same time, do the same thing, and leave the house at the same time.

Eventually that note book's tasks will become more accurate, eventually your routine will extend throughout the day, and you'll tweak your exercises etc.  

From here. 

Discipline = Effectiveness

1. Do 5 major tasks a day
2. When you touch something, finish it.
3. Don't waste time complaining. Spend it planning.
4. Admit when you don't know something, sit down, and figure it out.

The movie 8 miles with Eminem has him trying to score it big and when he finally does, his boys say, lets go out and celebrate, and you know what he says, 'sorry boys, I gotta go back and work at the factory and keep my shift'. 

From here. 

"No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings." -- Peter Drucker.

How to write a blog post

I've been reading around through all the blogs on here. I'm interested to see what's written and by who. There're some interesting posts about stuff I never would have thought about. But, as I periodically (try to) do, I took a step back and examined my own blog and all the others I've read carefully. The purpose of this entire blogging assignment is to learn how to effectively write blogs for an organization. Its safe to say that if you're reading this, you've got the technical side down. Using twitter, using blogger, this is the first hurdle.

But who wants to read an article if it isn't engaging? I don't. Nobody does. I noticed some things which I think could benefit everybody in some way.

• Write to your audience.

I had this notion of what being "professional" meant. I altered the way I wrote and the content I'd include to fit this notion. One of the assumptions I had was that my audience was everybody. But that assumes everybody on the internet is reading this. Isn't that kind of ridiculous of me? In my most recent post I cut portions of the interaction out and omitted information I didn't need. Granted, I think the post worked out after all. But I could've made it better and more interesting for you to read.

We're all in the same class. By and large, we're the only people who are going to be reading each other's blogs. Furthermore, when I read a blog about an organization, its interesting when I learn about tidbits from their lives. It gives me a sense of the person on the other end of the message.

What that means for me (and you) is that when I'm writing an article I shouldn't be afraid to reference things which happened in class or around Truman. Always be sensitive to whether or not it should be shared online but by clearly defining who your target audience is and how you want to write you do two things. You keep a consistent writing voice throughout posts which makes you more believable and relatable, and you become more engaging when you close that invisible mental gap between "the internet" and "your life."

ex: This entire post is a product of self-reflection. I can do it with writing, but I still can't bring myself to watch the video of my interview. I was so nervous for it I couldn't speak at the start and I feel like I'll look like a complete dunce. Now isn't that funny, watching it would be one of the best things I could do to develop my interviewing skills (thanks Dr. Smith for putting those up!) but I'm fine with anybody but me watching it. There's a toastmasters international club starting up here at Truman, I've gone to one of their sessions but I was scared away by the entry fee. I think it would be a good thing if I joined after all. After I'm done writing this, I'm gonna open up my interview on blackboard. Wish me luck^^

• Tell a good story

Emotions are what drive us all. A good story will stay with you, inspire emotion and action. If you can tell a good story you can be a successful person on that skill alone. I think the best way to drive this point home is to tell a story.

I've been reading a book by Keith Ferrazzi about networking and in it he talks about how important remembering people's birthdays is. Here's what he said.

I was in New York some years back and up popped a reminder on my Palm: "Birthday--Kent Blossil." Kent was the man who successfully got past my gatekeeper. When I met Kent that day, and I received his contact information, I asked for his birth date, as I try to do with everyone. It's not intrusive, and most people forget the moment after they tell me.

Kent was a Mormon. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, he had upward of ten brothers and sisters. With such a large family, you'd think the man's phone would be ringing off the hook on his birthday.

I hadn't spoken to him for over a year. It was a busy day for me, and I didn't see the reminder until close to 3:00 pm that afternoon. Generally, I like to make the birthday calls in the early morning. This way I get someone's voice mail, and when they come in to work that morning, they're greeted with my rendition of "Happy Birthday." I can't tell you how many New York City cabdrivers must think I'm an utter lunatic.

So when Kent actually picked up his phone that afternoon, my personal Pavarotti of "Happy Birthday" greeted him. No greetings. No Niceties. I just let it rip.

Normally, I get laughter and a grateful "Thanks." This time, after I had finished, the phone went silent. "Kent, you there? It's your birthday, right?" Nothing. Not a word. I thought I'd made a jerk out of myself and missed the day or something.

 "Kent?"

Finally he stammers out, "Yeah." He was choked up, audibly holding back tears.

"You all right?"

"You remembered my birthday?" he said. People are always shocked by this.

"You know, Keith, this year none of my brothers or sisters or family...well, nobody remembered my birthday. Nobody remembered," he said. "Thank you so much."

He never forgot. People never do. 

I immediately turned on my laptop, went to facebook, got out my phone and put in the birthday of every single person on my contact list. It took 2 hours, but I felt a need inside myself. Wouldn't you feel so alone if that ever happened? I never want anybody I know to have their birthday forgotten. Ever. Go up and read the first 3 lines of this bullet point again, they'll have a whole new world of meaning for you.

• Use examples

This one is hard to encapsulate. It's easy to say "be organized" or "think about personal finance!" That doesn't mean jack. Anybody can say that. Find something that happened which relates to what you're talking about and plug it in there. For my examples about examples, I'm gonna be a jerk. I feel being able to criticize is a necessary skill. So, Sorry Mike, you're going under the bus (but its only because I think you can handle it)!

Read this post. It gives good guidelines for crisis management. As part of lifeguarding I'm required to memorize emergency action plans like this so I know how effective and necessary preparations like this are. But it lacks 2 things, 1) Background and 2) Examples.

1) I know this blog is about PR because I've read it before and theres a little line above the title hidden in the background saying "Great PR representative qualities." I had one of my friends look at the page and read it. He couldn't figure out what it was about or why it was important. When I explained everything, he went "ohh." If this is the first time somebody is reading your blog (inside your organization or not) it should be clear to them what's going on.

2) Use an example. There are a ton of people and companies making big mistakes all the time. Focus on one of those and describe what worked well and what didn't. Some recent examples are the Tiger Woods Infidelity scandal, BP's Gulf spill, or any of the massive amounts of recalls happening. 

That's how I think your blog can be a ton better. 

How to Control Your Spending

I went to eat at the new Mongolian BBQ + Sushi place where the Happy Mexican used to be. On the car ride there, I was talking with one of my good friends. He complained about how he felt guilty eating out despite not having done it the previous several weeks. He said he had ~$600 in the bank and was always wanted a sizeable chunk in the bank as an emergency fund.

I didn't feel guilty at all. I gave him some advice and he got excited about the prospect of not feeling guilty about doing day-to-day activities. Here's what I told him:

Have a savings account and a checking account.

Savings Account: Have almost all your $$ in the savings account. Personally, I use an online bank because they offer the highest interest rates and -- this is both an advantage and a drawback -- it takes 3 business days after you request money for it to get transferred to your checking account. This means you can't spend all your money on an impulse purchase and regret it later, you have built-in consideration time.

To sidestep the 3-day delay, you can set up automatic transfers to your checking account. I have mine deposit amounts automatically each month. I have all the money I need for fixed costs (rent, utility, dues) and then an additional amount for everything else. The everything else is whatever you deem important. I like eating out, having fun with friends, and one-time unexpected charges ALWAYS come up so I have an additional amount alloted for that.

Checking Account: Have a $50 or $100 buffer in here. Touch this only if you NEED to, its safety against overdrafting. If you go below this mark you're in the red. If you write all your transactions down in some sort of tracker, don't include this in your total. If you spend more than your alloted amount consistently then you either need to increase your monthly stipend or figure out where you can cut your spending with the least detraction to enjoyment. If you have extra leftover at the end of the month, great! Deposit it back so you're down to your stipend.

And naturally, I suggest you have a credit card too. Not only will the extra credit help you out in a pinch (you go to the hospital or legal fees) but having this function as your spending medium instead of a checking account can net you a lot of bonuses.

By the way, there are some things about the Mongolian BBQ which confused me at first. You fill up your bowl with all non-meats, then go fill it up with meats. At the end you fill a little dish with the sauce you want and give it to the employee there. He/She'll give you a number and you go sit down. They'll bring it to you after its cooked. It's mouth-wateringly good.

Credit Card Crash Course Pt. 1

Credit Cards should be called Short-Term Loan Cards. Sure, they both mean the same thing...but one puts a little more perspective on the plastic in your pocket, no? What many Americans don't know is that credit cards are one of the best tools for your money available. In this post, I'll go over a list of reasons why you should have a card, the guideline for safe use and how to find the card which will benefit you most. Here's that list:

1. Consumer Protection. This means if you buy a big-ticket item like a TV and it doesn't work or you're not content with it, give your card provider's company a call. They'll refund you the price automatically and mobilize the full force of their legal officers to your cause. 
2. Automatic Warranty Doubling. Up to a year. Just because you purchased something with a credit card as opposed to cash or debit. Need I say more?
3. Trip-Cancellation Insurance. Can't go? No problem.
4. Establish Credit. This benefit is severely underrated and misunderstood. I'll go over how your credit score works and how that affects you in a later blog post, but rest easy that proper credit card usage can save you thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of dollars down the line.
5. Concierge Services. Need a last-minute reservation to a restaurant? Need a ride? Most companies offer 24/7 customer support and many other services in major cities. Most people never even know of these additional services. This varies from company to company, but finding out is simple as a phone call.
6. Rewards. Plane tickets, cash-back, gas-rewards, grocery-rewards, etc. Imagine every time you brush your teeth you get paid for it. Awesome, right? Well if you bought your toothpaste with your credit card, you are. (Note: Cash-back cards generally save you the least. Find a need you have and then find the card to fill it.) 
7. Tracking Your Spending. This isn't for everybody, but credit cards make it really easy to track exactly what you spend on. Personally, I use http://www.mint.com/ to monitor my spending habits. It's all free and surprisingly informative. And embarrassing.

Sounds great, right? Well it might not be great. It might ruin your life if you don't follow this one rule: Always, always always pay your full balance on time. Always. If you can't pay the full balance, pay as much as you can. Most cards will hit students with a 20.99% interest rate for late payments. I won't get into the math this post (how credit card debt works and what you can do to minimize it is in Pt. 2), but if you can't handle this then don't get a credit card. If you can't control your spending you'll be doing yourself more harm than good.


To find a credit card you will have to do some looking around. You should never, never apply for a card offered to you in the mail or by retail chains. I'll be more specific: if you don't seek out the card based on your needs, you shouldn't apply for it. Ever.

I'll keep this part simple: go here. You can sort the types of cards you view but I specifically linked to all the student cards. And don't use Capital One. From personal experiences my friends have had, this place has a reputation for horrible customer service. Nearly all the major chains offer 24/7 customer support for free. Capital One doesn't last I heard from a fellow student my age. Naturally, you can explore options through your bank and other outlets too (various websites, friends, family, anything you can access with your network).

Closing Thoughts
Don't let your parents decide whether or not you should get a credit card. Your financial future is yours. My parents were vehemently against me getting one. In addition to not having any problems with it, I got a free bottle of a cologne I wanted for Christmas. They didn't get it for me, mainly because I'm pretty sure they think nothing can make me smell better. Anyway, it was over a $100 value for little more than 10 minutes a month reviewing my statement and paying it off. Almost a dollar a minute.

I'd like to caution you to read the rest of this crash course before you apply for one. In Credit Card Crash Course Pt. 2, I'll go over how to maintain your credit card. This includes the quickest and cheapest ways to resolve any problems you might encounter. 

Are You Getting Paid What You're Worth?

I was talking with a friend who works at the local Hastings here in Kirksville. He told me he had just gotten promoted. After congratulating him, the first thing I asked was "Is the raise worth the work?" He said he didn't know. "Did you get as much as you could?" Maybe.

The first topic I'm going to explore is salary negotiation. Most people make the largest part of their income through their jobs. So naturally, work is the place you can see the largest gains with comparatively least amount of effort.

Check out this video for a quick crash-course:

Practice negotiating with people.

For some different perspective, check this out. Use a salary-comparison website to give yourself a number to work off of.

Don't underestimate the subtle nuances of communication, either.

When you hear the offer, repeat the top value - and then be silent. "The most likely outcome of this silence is a raise," Chapman writes. The book offers a specific technique for responding when you hear the salary offer, a technique that's designed to give you time to think about it while also putting a little pressure on the employer.

From here.

Back to my conversation with my friend. I asked him "Did you negotiate at all?" Not much, he admitted. But he did find out what the typical pay for his position was and managed to get that.

Make sure you get paid how much you're worth.

p.s.: If you're more interested

How to Get the Stuff You Want, Smartly

I think most magazines, websites and advice for money management get it wrong.






Ouch.
They focus on how to limit spending and focus on things which, while they will save you money, will cost a lot of effort and time—for marginal results! There are better ways to save time and money.

Most of all, there’s an entirely better way to approach how you look at your money. Rather than seeing it as a "budget"—a limiting and negative way to view personal finance which doesn't work—it’s really a tool to get the things you want in life as quickly and intelligently as possible.

I'm going to say that one more time. It’s a tool to get the things you want in life as quickly and intelligently as possible. Here are some of the things I'll be posting about:

• Credit Card Crash Course
• Why Budgeting doesn't work—and what to do instead
• How to Negotiate Your Salary
• How you can get the most out of your bank
• Managing your personal financial infrastructure so you can do the least amount of work possible

A knowledge of personal finance helps your professional development in a subtle but major way. Imagine a company of workers who are strangled with credit card debt. Constantly stressed out by money, they work paycheck to paycheck. They don't have an understanding of how money works and through their mismanagement they can't truly live their lives the way they want to. When they go out to eat, they order the cheapest thing and feel guilty about even that (not to mention it kills a major networking tool). They lack a major life skill necessary to lead a happy a life.

...

Now imagine a company full of workers who know how to manage their money. They have interesting hobbies, directions in their lives and a general sense of contentment. There's no underlying source of desperate stress running through the office. In fact, they're used to actively identifying, creating or otherwise pursuing methods to make their lives more efficient and cheaper. They see opportunities and alternatives employees at the first company don't. A lack of financial intelligence is a crippling thing.