In some rare cases, this may just work. But usually anyone who feels they can charge out onto the business battlefield without at least a small army backing them up is almost certain to fail.

Even the smallest idea needs more than just one head tinkering away at getting it off the ground and rising to be the next big thing.

Many, if not most, successful entrepreneurs have had some sort of mentor to help them get started. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness; it shows you are serious about your big idea and you want all the experienced help you can find to make it a success. Read more…

Sometimes in our endless pursuit of getting the best price, we put the blinders up and actually end up sacrificing the quality and longevity of the items we buy. After all, the discount brand may look pretty good next to its name-brand competitor on the store’s shelf, but what about when you get it home and it doesn’t quite work how you’d envisioned?

Look, in no way I am I advocating a name-brand-only approach to shopping, because that’s just silly. A lot of the time, you’ll end up getting the same quality product, if not the exact same product, from a discount brand for a fraction of the price. However, there are some items that, when it comes time to foot the bill, it is worth your while to pay for the genuine article. Read more…

While flipping through a few programs recently, I began to notice a common theme popping up again and again. In one show, a lead character had amassed untold thousands in credit-card debt and was having difficulty discussing this with her partner. In another show, one of the characters received a large cash prize and, when asked if they were going to make a contribution to their 401(k), the character simply said, “Oh yeah, I guess I should get one of those, you think?”

Now, it may just be a coincidence, but with the holiday season just around the corner, I think that there may be something we can actually learn while still enjoying our favorite shows.

You see, money matters are one of the topics that people seem to rarely discuss around the dinner table. Sure, everyone may fantasize about their first purchase after winning the lottery. But, when it comes to managing money properly and considering savings for the future, these things seem to go left unsaid. Read more…

Many honest people seeking jobs get scammed by fake mystery shopping companies. There are so many companies online claiming to be recruiting mystery shoppers and you may not find it easy knowing whether a company is legitimate or not. It will be in your best interest to find out some of the wrong steps many prospective secret shoppers take so you won’t make the same mistakes. There are also other companies, though, that are legitimate, trustworthy and very reliable.

The first thing to do is to make sure you are told exactly what you will need to do before deciding to accept a secret shopping job and you should be alarmed if you are asked to pay any amount of money before being assigned a job. Many fake mystery shopping companies make their money by exhorting from desperate prospective secret shoppers and you should know that this is bizarre because most legitimate shopping companies don’t ask for any upfront investment from you when you haven’t made any money yet. Some fake companies also exhort money from secret shopping job seekers by asking them to pay for some training materials, membership fees, certificates, etc and you should avoid paying for any of these. You should also be alarmed if any company promises you overnight riches from y shopping assignments and you should always use common sense when you come across such offers. Read more…

When asked to name the greatest invention in human history, Albert Einstein, one of the most influential and best known scientist and intellectual of all time replied – “compound interest”. Let’s try to understand what he said with a very simple example:

• Jerry starts saving when he turned 25 and invests Rs 50,000 every year. He earns a return of 10% every year.At the end of ten years; he has been able to accumulate Rs 8.77 lakh. After that, due to financial constraints, he couldn’t invest Rs 50,000 anymore. But at the same time, he does not touch the money that he has already accumulated, hoping to live of it when he retires. At 60, when he retires, he would have accumulated around Rs 95 lakhs (assuming a return of 10% every year). Read more…