I’ve decided if I meet certain goals every month, I will take a small vacation every quarter. These little trips may be just a long weekend type thing to visit friends in various parts of the country, or just to get lost in a new city.
So at least 4 times a year I will pack up for a few days and get out. While these trips will be mainly for fun, I’ll always be keeping my eyes open for new trends, ideas etc..
First destination is Chicago, I leave on Thursday.
I’ll only use the funds in my Spending 1 and 2 accounts for the trips. Therefore if I don’t meet certain monetary goals every month, I simply won’t have enough money to go. 10% of my income goes to the spending 1 account, and 10% goes to the spending 2 account.
I’ve already bought a ticket which cost me $300 roundtrip.
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Income and Expenses for the month of March 2006 were as follows:
Income: Exceeded $5,000
Expenses: $2,317
C u r r e n t B a l a n c e s :
-General Account: $2,370
-Spending Account 1: $413
-Spending Account 2: $590
-Investment Account: $2,130
-Bills Accounts: $1,517
-Permanent Savings: $5,215
-Charity Account: $338
-Stock: $10,715
-Roth IRA: $6,705
-Emigrant Direct: $1,007
T o t a l: $ 3 1 , 0 0 0
-Credit Card: $0
-Business Holding: $9,818
T o t a l o n H a n d: $ 4 0 , 8 1 8
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House of Rave profit this March was $1,915. Looking back at my 2005 profits from HoR, I made $946 last March 2005. The income has more than doubled with very few actual changes to the website or increase in time spent on the site.
The first step to the increased profits was “Bob” shattering my complacency with making $700/month from HoR by asking, “Can you make more money with it?” I told him I could, and I even knew how……I just never thought about applying those changes until he asked.
I attest the increased profits to a few very small changes. A small change with a BIG result was using Outlook instead of webmail, and integrating HoR customer emails with my personal email. This way I am forced to see customer concerns or questions immediately….not simply whenever I feel like checking them. There were also other minor changes such as taking my own pictures of products. I am around the $2,000/month profit level with House Of Rave, now the next step will be adding another $1,000 to that every month.
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On Monday (4-3-2006) I met Max of HowToBePoor.com, who is thinking of moving to Austin, TX.. It was fun talking to him and his wife, and I forced him to write good stuff about me on his website.
He’s been experimenting with Adsense, ecommerce sites and advanced programming….things that may not be extremely profitable at the moment, but he is building a strong foundation. I like.
There are TONS of people out there with lots of great ideas, but they lack the know-how to implement them into a viable businesses. Max has the advantage of knowing computers and programming inside and out, meaning when he has a good idea, he can act on it immediately without hiring a programming team. It’s always fun to make new like-minded friends!