St. Lucie Clerk of Courts: We ain’t got no internet

It’s 2008. Really. But if you live in St. Lucie County, you might not know that.

I just had to pay a speeding ticket I received sometime ago (thanks FHP!). Apparently, “sometime ago” should not be much longer than 30 days. Else you get a nasty letter from the State of Florida. The patrolman who wrote the ticket was nicer than the letter I got from the Department of Motor Vehicles - and he had a gun.

So, I called today to pay the ticket. Over the phone. Big mistake.

Interviewing Myself as an Entrepreneur

I don’t really think of myself as an entrepreneur. I can barely spell the word. But if I had a million dollars, I’d be a billionaire overnight. So, when I saw a little miniature interview that Shane and Peter were promoting, I thought about taking it. Then I realized there was a possible prize, so what did I have to lose?

I’ve talked about Shane and Peter, web developers, a few times here and here. All the questions here, except the last one, are from Shane and Peter. They also want each participant to come up with their own question as part of the contest. So that last doozy is mine. Don’t blame them for that one.

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs by 2012 - or Else!

If you haven’t heard, President Bush signed a new energy bill into law. FiveCentNickel has a pretty good summary here (although a bit critical).

The biggest change is that traditional incandescent bulbs will be outlawed, starting with 100 watt bulbs by 2010.

If you recall, I announced that I would switch my entire home to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s) in February of 2007. As of now, I’ve had all CFL’s for about 10 months. I have not replaced a single bulb since then. I used to replace at least one incandescent bulb per month.

Solo Income Up and Running

I’m excited to announce a project I’ve been working on for a long time. I came up with a way for the average person (uh, that’s probably you) to make some extra money, working at home, with very little investment of time and money.

The best part about it is that anyone can do it - if you can type an email you can do this. And you only have to do the work once (about 40 hours worth) to make a monthly income for years.

How Expensive are Children, Really?

My wife recently had a conversation which we’ve had many, many times before. A near-40 year old married man commented that he hadn’t had children yet because they are “too expensive”. Really?

This tired argument is perpetuated by ridiculous studies with little merit, like this one at MSN Money which states that families making $70,200 a year or more will “spend a whopping $269,520 to raise a child from birth to age 17″.

Change a Bulb. Change Everything.

I recently discovered a new Yahoo site called “18 Seconds.Org“, but it is probably easier to get there by going to http://green.yahoo.com. The site is designed to encourage people to switch their incandescent bulbs compact fluorescent bulbs to save energy and money.

Thanks to Paul Stamatiou for pointing this out. As a right-wing conservative, you might already think I’m betraying the cause by pointing this out, but I don’t think so. Here’s why.

How to Save Money at a Car Dealership - From an Ex-Car Salesman (Part 2.5)

I thought I’d take a quick break from the series to review a few things about car dealerships before we get into Part III - The Test Drive.

Let’s review how you might have wound up at a particular dealership in the first place. As you know, car dealers spend an enormous amount of money on advertising - radio, television, and newspaper. They also use a lot of billboards and online advertising. Under “newspaper”, I’m including the little auto trade magazines you see at fast food restaurants, Walmart, etc.

How to Save Money at a Car Dealership - From an Ex-Car Salesman (Part 2)

I’ve been meaning to get back to this series since Obadiah’s death, but just haven’t had it in me. But, I know a lot of people seem to have found this helpful and have been looking forward to the next part. I’m going to try and get through Part 2 of it today.

Today, I’m going to try and cover Step 2 - The First Ten Minutes on the Lot.

7 Efficiency Tools for Small Businesses

If you aren’t using these seven tools, your business is run by fools. Okay, let me try that again. If you want to break some common sense rules, avoid these seven efficiency tools.

So I don’t have the poetic left-brain side up and running today. But, that isn’t why you read my articles. At least I hope you don’t. You could be in for some considerable disappointment. But, this list should be considered a must-have for a small business.

How to Save Money at a Car Dealership - From an Ex-Car Salesman (Part 1)

I was going to create a seminar and charge a lot of money for this information, but I changed my mind and thought I could give back to the community by giving away this information - for free. It will be the last free thing you get before you set foot in the showroom of the car dealership. This is going to be part one of what will likely be a four or five part series.

A Few Disclaimers

The foibles of Blockbuster’s monthly plans

As we all know, we will be solicited by Blockbuster employees to join a monthly payment plan. The fact that we are in their store, money in hand, checking out videos is no longer good enough for Blockbuster. To offer a monthly payment plan for those who like that sort of thing is understandable. But apparently, the corporate monkeys at the top of the Blockbuster empire have instructed their employee to spare no customer the simplicity of just “checking out”. We are to be harassed. I probably go to Blockbuster over 100 times a year. When I have money. And check out a DVD or two (or more). But in the eyes of Blockbuster corporate, I’m scum. Pond scum. Rebel scum. Here’s why.

7 Tips to Manage your Agency

I wrote this a while back for insurance agency owners, but it may equally apply to your business.

1. Track (religiously) anything that you want changed. Information is power - and not a burden to track when it helps you achieve your goals. If you don’t know, well then, you don’t know. And if it takes you 30 minutes to find out, you won’t access that information very frequently. The old saying is true: What gets tracked, gets done.

The American Culture Defined by Television Commercials

In an age of multi-media entertainment, digital storage, and ever-advancing technology, it is possible that the idyllic American culture has been forever lost to photo albums and sporadic home web pages. In some instances though, critics might defend the traditional American culture in their renouncement of these modern approaches; they may go so far as to say that these mediums do not rightly represent the “real America”. Therefore, let us closely examine a singular medium: the American television commercial. Does it, in fact, represent the “real America”?

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