February, 2010
WHO: Alyson Hoag
WHAT: Authentic Beauty
WHEN: 2008
WHERE: Atlanta, GA
HOW: As a department store makeup artist, Alyson Hoag saw beautiful women come to her counter each day. They’d look in a mirror, after having makeup put on, and start talking about eye lifts and nose jobs… things that Hoag didn’t like to hear at all. “I had been sitting on an idea I had that could transform the way the beauty industry does business,” says Hoag. From where makeup is sold to the environmental impact of an eye shadow, Hoag developed an idea for a beauty business that would encourage women to use makeup to enhance their features – not cover them up.
Fully aware that she was far from business-savvy, Hoag began to educate herself using as many resources as possible. After taking seminars, meeting with business coaches and potential investors, Hoag developed a plan – and began executing it. More…
What’s your definition of great customer service – the kind of customer service that would lead you to recommend the business to your friends, not to mention give it additional work yourself? Mine, if I defined it a week ago, would have been something like this: Make sure the customer has what she needs, when she needs it, with as little hassle as humanly possible. Now it includes a postscript: And, when possible, throw in a little surprise.
Let me explain. I just returned from a week’s vacation – a little tanned, a lot rested – ready to tackle the list of things that come with taking a week off: grocery shopping, many loads of laundry, opening and answering the pile of real mail that seems to be shrinking every year and opening and answering the stack of e-mails that seems to be growing. Oh, and I had to follow up on the car.
The week before I left, I hopped into my relatively new Volvo wagon to drive my kids to school. We’d gotten some snow, but the roads were cleared, the white stuff piled on the side. As I rounded the corner from my street to the next, I hit the curb on the passenger side. More…
Established in 1996, the annual New York City – Southern New York Chapter of the National MS Society’s Books for a Better Life Awards highlight the top self-improvement books in 10 categories, to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis research. Last night, during the awards ceremony at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City, my book The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper In Even The Toughest Times was honored as the 2009 Book for a Better Life in the Personal Finance category.
I am so glad that The Difference has helped so many see the steps we can take in our lives to make ourselves financially healthy and happy. More than that, I’m happy to report that — to date — the Books for A Better Life Awards has raised $1.6 million for MS research. MS awareness is so pertinent and crucial today – over 400,000 Americans alone live with this disease.
If you’d like more information about MS — and how you can help, click here.
If you’d like more information about The Difference, click here.
“My husband and I have been the victims of 8 fraudulent credit cards, embezzlement and forgery committed by his former secretary and her family. We are in dire need of your help. The bank that allowed her to get away with this has now put us in collections for a fraudulent credit card.” - Jean, New Hampshire
I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this – many people don’t realize, but about a third of identity theft cases are committed by friends or family members of the victim, making your situation all the more common. The first thing you need to do, if you haven’t already, is file a police report. This is important, because you may need a copy of a police report to legitimize your claims. You should take that to the FTC to file a complaint there — which can then be used to make debt collectors stop collecting on those fraudulent debts. More…
If you have a child either in or about to enter college, you likely know that we’re in the midst of FAFSA season. This one form – the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – gets the ball rolling on any financial aid your child may receive for school. In order to qualify for Pell grants, Stafford loans, PLUS loans, and work-study programs, you must fill it out.
Unfortunately, it’s also a form that has many parents pulling out their hair, year after year. If that’s you, I’ve compiled the top five ways to simplify the process. Much like doing your taxes, it’s never going to be painless, but these tips will certainly make it easier: More…
WHO: Judith Bright
WHAT: Judith Bright Designs — Chic, Affordable Handmade Designer Jewelry
WHERE: Nashville, TN
WHEN: 2007
HOW: A wife, mother of three boys, and full-time employee to boot, Judith Bright had the busy lifestyle of many mothers today. However, after 11 years in a job she loved, Bright felt it was time to move on to something bigger and better – pursuing her lifelong dream of designing affordable, high-quality jewelry.
Based in LA, but with family in Nashville, Bright knew that, within a few years, they would relocate to Tennessee. Bright had taken some jewelry-making classes close to home, but she and her family didn’t feel they were quite ready to move to Nashville – but were more than ready to leave LA. “We decided to take a gap year,” says Bright. “We sold our house and packed up our stuff,” she explains, and the family of five moved to Florence, Italy – one of the world’s most historic, artistic cities. There, Bright brushed up on her jewelry designing skills at the Arti Orafe school – so, upon her family’s return to the states, she was prepared to launch her business, and be in it for the long haul. More…
I was recently laid off, and after searching for a new job in the same field for several months, I’m considering starting over in a new field. What are some fields I should look into? – Emily, Massachusetts
Whether you’re in a job right now that you just can’t stand, or, in your case, looking to start over, it’s important to consider a few things. Ask yourself some questions – what are you good at? What industries need people with the skills you have? The U.S. Department of Labor offers an Occupational Outlook Handbook right on their website, which is a great way to find out what jobs your skills might match up with.
Once you’ve found a few jobs you think you’d be good at, you should start to look at what’s out there – not only on job-search sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, but by asking friends, fellow alumni, and anyone else who would be an asset to your business network. More…
“I am just getting started with working full time. My job offers a pension which is automatically taken out of my check. My job also offers a supplemental retirement plan. I currently have no savings. I am going to contribute to a supplemental retirement plan AND I would also like to start saving for a 6 months emergency fund, hopefully, with ING Direct. Should I contribute more to my retirement plan or a 6 months emergency account?” – A. Santos
This is a perfect question because it shows that you are thinking in exactly the right way! The answer is that your emergency savings comes before the supplemental retirement plan. Figure out how much that emergency nut has to be (six months worth of living expenses — i.e. money you’d need to sustain you if you lost your job not the amount of money you choose to spend every month), More…
One of the easiest ways to save money on a regular basis is clipping coupons – and yet, so many of us just don’t take the time to do it. I asked my favorite source on the subject, Stephanie Nelson, otherwise known as the Coupon Mom, to share some of her tips with us this week. You can find more in her new book, The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half: The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs.
I’ve been teaching shoppers how to save money with coupons for a decade, and the most common complaint I hear is that it takes too much time to clip, organize, sort and find coupons when you need them. Most shoppers give up in frustration after just a few weeks of trying to use coupons. It’s no wonder that 99% of grocery coupons are thrown away each year!
If you’d like to get your share of the over $300 billion worth of grocery coupons thrown away annually, then I suggest you take advantage of easy tools on the Internet to simplify using coupons. Last year we saw the greatest annual increase in coupon usage–a staggering 27% increase in coupon redemption. I believe this was partially due to the fact that more shoppers are using the Internet to find and organize coupons. More…
WHO: Brian Pitzer
WHAT: Avitae – Natural Caffeine + Purified Water.
WHEN: 2009
WHERE: Columbus, Ohio
HOW: I’m the first to admit that it’s often tough for me to make it through the whole day on just my morning cup of joe. Brian Pitzer felt the same way. Not a soda drinker, Pitzer knew there had to be a way to mix caffeine and water, without having to add colors and flavors to make it look and taste good. At the time, he was VP of a marketing firm, well aware of the growing health trend around the country – and well aware of the potential this product had in many demographics.
Pronounced “ah-vee-tay,” each bottle contains 45mg of caffeine – the same amount found in most sodas. Unlike soda, however, Avitae is simply water and caffeine, with nothing else added. More…
