Make Money on Valentines Day!

In honor of Valentine's day, I thought I would share 13 great ways to make money on Valentine's day. The original post is from WiseBread.com and can be found here. Enjoy!

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13 Ways to Make Money From Valentine's Day

While Valentine's Day is traditionally for lovers, it's also for savvy entrepreneurs. Instead of emptying your wallet to buy your special someone something special (aka "expensive"), you can actually turn a profit by setting up a side gig. Take advantage of the Hallmark holiday by raking in cold, hard cash with these 13 ways to earn extra money from Valentine's Day.

1. Create Handmade Valentine's Cards

If you're crafty or have decent graphic design skills, create your own line of heartfelt or funny Valentine's greeting cards. They're relatively easy to make — keeping them clever will probably be the hardest part — and you can sell them on Etsy, Bonanza, and a host of other sites that cater to handmade items. You'll can find colored envelopes at your local office-supply or craft store, and be sure to account for the cost of materials and shipping when pricing so you can make a decent profit.

2. Deliver Stuff

Not all local companies have the resources to offer delivery services, and that's where you come in. Identify some of the businesses that are particularly relevant around Valentine's Day and contact them to see what their delivery needs are. Places like florists, gift shops, and bakeries may be able to use an extra hand.

Bear in mind that this gig will likely be under-the-table because of insurance restrictions, so consider that before deciding if this is right for you. Even better, you may be able to score private gigs from, say, a guy who wants to send his girlfriend flowers last minute so he can save on the high shipping and delivery costs. One man's procrastination is your extra cash.

3. Play Chef for a Couple's Romantic Dinner

Are you a whiz in the kitchen? Offer to cook a multi-course meal for family, friends, co-workers, or even strangers who want to enjoy a relaxing Valentine's Day at home without all the hassle of cooking a romantic dinner. Plan a special menu of the couple's favorite dishes — complete with candles, ambient lighting, and mood-setting music — and set your fee to accommodate for the ingredients, travel, and time spent setting up, cooking, and cleaning after the meal.

4. Write Love Letters for Would-Be Casanovas

Most people aren't very slick when it comes to writing poetry or love letters, but if you're a gifted writer who can make people swoon in just a few sentences, putting sweet nothings on paper might be your money maker. (See also: 11 Life Skills That Are Now Completely Obsolete)

5. Plan Exciting Date Experiences

Everybody has their strengths, but men aren't always the best at planning special, exciting, or romantic dates. There are some creative dudes out there, for sure, but for the most part, the male of the species needs help in this area. If you happen to excel in this department, put together a few itineraries that are too good to pass up, and then do the due diligence so you can get paid by setting up the date to ensure that it goes off without a hitch.

6. Babysit or Pet Sit

All those parents you know — both of human and fur babies — deserve a break, too. And you can cash in big if you have the skills, certifications, and patience to babysit or pet sit while Mom and Dad enjoy a night out on the town.

According to UrbanSitter's 2015 Babysitting and Nanny Rates Survey, you're looking at about $15 per hour for one child and upwards of $20 per hour for three children. Add in a 15%-20% tip plus pizza money and you could take home a legit payday, albeit with a few more gray hairs. For pet sitting, you can expect between $10 and $15 per hour, as estimated by Care.com's pet care rate calculator.

7. Bake Valentine-Themed Goodies

What's Valentine's Day without dessert? That's the best part! Whip up your famous cookies, cakes, and pastries, and shop them around to local eateries (you'll fare better if you establish yourself as a small business with well-packaged goods and a business card; both of which are easy to do), or offer them up to your private network of friends, family, and co-workers.

8. Unload Unwanted Jewelry

If you have a collection of jewelry with which you're willing to part, you may be able to find interested buyers in your area. Instant-list apps like Wallapop, VarageSale, and OfferUp have made it simpler than ever to unload your items by snapping a photo, writing a short description, and naming a price.

9. Promote Your Party-Planning Skills

There may not be a huge market for amateur party planners, but it's worth a shot. If you're known for throwing memorable shindigs, you might be able to drum up some business. Shop the dollar stores for decorations to keep costs down.

10. Busk, or Serenade Couples

Throw a hat or instrument case on the ground in a well-traveled area and belt out love songs all day. If you want to be more proactive about it, take your show on the road and wander up to lovey-dovey couples for a serenading session. That dude would be a dummy if he didn't at least reach in his pocket for a dollar.

11. Photograph Couples' Special Moments

Valentine's Day, with all the sentiment that surrounds it, is prime time for weddings, engagements, and other relationship-specific photo ops. If you're handy with a camera, offer to snap shots of the special moments that the happy couple will cherish forever.

12. Draw or Paint Couples' Portraits

You don't have to be a well-established or recognized artist to sell your work. Some couples may enjoy the prospect of being drawn or painted, not only as a Valentine's Day activity, but also a gift to themselves that they can hang in the home as a reminder of their love.

13. Host a Singles Party for All Your Lonely Friends

Planning on spending Valentine's Day alone? Not anymore. Host a party at home for singles, if you have a large and diverse network of friends. Charge a few bucks admission to cover the cost of food, décor, drinks, and so you can walk away with a reasonable wage.

Financial Samurai Repost - No Excuses

Hello readers,

Below, I have reposted an article from one of my favorite personal finance blogs, The Financial Samurai. In this article, the author Sam Dogen describes how even janitors in San Francisco can make six figures a year. It's all about working hard! Enjoy.

"Abolish Welfare Mentality: Janitor Makes $271,000, Why Can’t You Too? - Full article here

Let me paraphrase an insightful passage I read that describes the difference between someone with a welfare mentality versus someone with an abundance mentality.

A guy looked at a Corvette the
other day and said to me in a disapproving tone, “I wonder how many people could have been fed for the cost of that car?”

I replied, “I’m not sure. It fed a lot of families in Kentucky who built it. It fed the people who made the tires. It fed the people who made the components. It fed the people who mined the copper. It fed the people who made the trucks that hauled the copper ore. It fed someone who helped sell the car.”

That’s the difference between having an abundance mentality and a welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets and give them dignity for their skills.

If you don’t know by now, many people make or have A LOT more than you think. When you see people playing tennis in the park or lounging around at a cafe on a weekday afternoon, it’s unlikely because they are unemployed. It’s because they either don’t need to work or have flexible business hours.

Every week I hear a new story about a person who makes or has way more than you’d ever expect. I’ve shared some of these stories with you.

* Uber drivers who make more than their Uber corporate counterparts.

* A ~22 year old female art student from China who bought a $2.25M home for cash.

* The 26-year-old non-techie who landed a $250,000 pay package at Airbnb.

* 100,000+ millennials who expect a ~$1.1M inheritance.

* A University of New Hampshire librarian who left $4M to his school.

* A food blogger who makes $500,000+ a year.

* A Hawaiian entrepreneur who started a greasy spoon franchise and was selling his $8M house that only another entrepreneur could afford.

The point of these posts is to highlight what’s financially possible. Going to a good school to get a job in a traditionally lucrative field isn’t the only way to make good money. Just because you couldn’t get into the greatest school on Earth, The College of William & Mary, doesn’t mean your life is over.

Too many people tell themselves they don’t have the knowledge, skills, connections, background, or pedigree to get rich. Some even stunt their growth because they believe their race, gender, or sexual orientation puts them at a disadvantage.

What a shame to think this way when we have a half black president, plenty of first generation immigrant multi-millionaires, a gay CEO at Apple, a Chinese mayor of San Francisco, and J-Lo! Heck, we even have a man who said a bunch of offensive things and still got elected as the 45th president of the United States. Anything is possible folks!

Six Figure Janitor Cleaning Up

Let’s say you still don’t believe you can be rich despite all my examples. How about this example of a Bay Area Rapid Transit janitor who made $235,000 in 2015 thanks to $165,000 in over time pay!

To be a janitor, you don’t need to go to college or vocational school. You don’t need to be a certain race or sex either. All you’ve got to do is be willing to clean unsightly things. In other words, practically everybody can be a janitor, unless you’re too proud.

What’s great about this story is that Mr. Zhang didn’t just accept his $58,750 base pay. He decided to take advantage of the BART overtime system and work harder. San Francisco has a monster $9.5 billion annual budget. We also passed an enormous $3.5 billion new proposition to improve the system. Why not get your honey money too? Mr. Zhang actually grossed $271,243.02 in 2015 if you include his benefits. Over the last three years, Mr. Zhang received a combined $682,000 in pay and benefits over the last three years, averaging $227,000 a year.

“Almost every day of the year Mr. Zhang is cleaning our stations,” BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said. “He is signing up for time that is also available to others — if he doesn’t take them, someone else will. Station cleanliness is a priority for us.”

Did you get that folks? Mr. Zhang wasn’t a “privileged janitor” who got allocated more time than others. All he decided to do was out work his colleagues. Unlike some people who found Mr. Zhang’s compensation outrageous, I say well done sir!

For those of you with similar or more “advantageous” backgrounds, there’s no reason why you can’t make as much as Mr. Zhang if you really want to. If you disagree, tell me why in the comments section.

Related: How To Make Six Figures At Almost Any Age

Traits To Adopt To Be Rich

If you want to be rich, adopt these traits.

Work ethic. 40 hours a week is an arbitrary amount of time to work. There are 168 hours in a week. If you worked just five hours more a week, think about how much more you could make or do with an extra 260 hours a year. Mr. Zhang decided to work almost every day of the week for years! You might not have the same chance, but at least you can work on your side business during the weekends.

Desire. You’ve got to really desire to be free. If you’ve got a cushy job that pays you just enough not to leave, then you’re probably just going to stay put and surf Financial Samurai most of your working hours. Remove the complacency IV from your vein.

Risk taker. Put yourself out there. Rejection is just the name of the game when you are constantly taking risks. But if you’re never failing, then you aren’t trying hard enough. It takes effort to find optimal levels of happiness.

Open mind. Think about the many different ways there are to cook fish around the world. There are even more ways to make money and live a lifestyle you want. Read, watch, learn and participate to open your mind.

Humility. Don’t be so arrogant and presume that your way is the only way. Be humble enough to realize when you’re wrong. And when things start to click, be humble enough to remember when things went wrong. Things can change instantly.

Leverage. “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world,” wrote Archimedes. An individual can only put in about 70 hours a week of before they start breaking down. Instead, leverage technology to reach more people. A website’s quality remains constant 24/7.

Organizational discipline. Think about all those people who’ve made a ton and now wonder where it all went. Once you’ve got a solid handle on your money, you can invest your money in the most optimal ways possible. Tracking your finances through a free financial app is a no brainer.

Believe In Yourself

Thinking about creative ways to earn more is hard. It’s why so few people offered their ideas when requested in “Get Rich By Predicting The Future.” But I promise you that it becomes easier building wealth the more you practice.

Take a look at this priceless piece of artwork below. It’s called “Into The Night” by an artist that’s been featured in many major media publications. Notice the intricate battle between light and dark. It’s a metaphor of our daily struggles where we’re constantly trying to overcome our laziness and fears. If you let your eyes relax, you can see darkness winning the battle.

The painting is exquisite and would sell for over $100 million if Jackson Pollock created it.

Alas, I created this painting when I was 26 on my now rental condo balcony. I used some leftover blue, white and black paint to get creative while waiting for the rooms to dry. Then I created a yellow and black version. Then I created another, and another, and another until I ran out of paint. Then I cut off my ear like Van Gogh! Just kidding.

Yes, my art might look like chicken scratch to you. But to me, they are beautiful because I never thought I’d be able to create any type of art at all until I tried. If I had kept practicing my art every week for 13 years, I’m sure I would have a portfolio of amazing work. No wonder why schools try to expose kids to everything just in case something sticks.

Although I gave up art as a young lad, I didn’t give up my creative writing because I believed in myself. Every week someone who doesn’t write for a living tells me my writing sucks. If it’s not my writing they’re criticizing, it’s my website design. If it’s not my website design, it’s my intelligence. The body blows keep coming and I keep advancing. Thank goodness because being able to do something this fun in early retirement is truly a blessing.

If you find yourself chalking up someone’s entire good fortune to luck or if you catch yourself criticizing another for their efforts, slap yourself in the face. Your welfare mentality is keeping you down. Mr. Zhang is out there hustling. So can you."

Cash for Sperm, Easy Money for Men

Check out Bruce Watson's Article from DailyFinance.com, about how to sell your sperm for cash!

Selling Sperm for Money

"When I was in college, I once visited a friend at another university. As with many such visits, I spent much of my time in an alcoholic haze, wandering from apartment to apartment, meeting my friend's friends, drinking odd beverages, and generally getting down Hunter S. Thompson-style. Good times.

In one apartment, I remember watching some90210 on the occupants' big screen TV. Over the course of the show, I noticed that they kept referring to it as "the TV that sperm bought." Finally, unable to contain my curiosity, I asked about the nickname. Laughing, one of them told me that the roommates had pooled their resources from selling sperm and had used the proceeds to purchase a TV. Since then, my research has shown me that, regardless of the the truth of the roommates' claims, it certainly could be true. Advertised sperm donation rates vary from $1 to $200 per week; most donors can expect somewhere around $40 per donation. Given that you can only deposit sperm every five days, your career as a sperm donor will probably only net you enough money to eat at McDonald's. Although, if you save carefully, your genetic material could translate into a sweet home theater system.

When I was a college student, sperm donation seemed like an interesting idea. After all, I'd be paid for doing something that I usually did pro bono, would be able to make some poor ladies really happy, and would pick up a little bit of dough on the side. In the meantime, I was legally protected; there was no way that the little Brucies and Brucinias that were wandering the earth could track their way back to me. Then I read the small print.

To begin with, sperm donation isn't a quick and easy, drop in, drop off, pick-up-your-cash type of deal. Among other minor irritations, it requires months of tests, a six-month to three-year commitment to a sperm bank, and no "liberation" of sperm when you're off the clock. Added to this is the fact that you will probably never know what happened to your children, although recent events are conspiring to strip away the cloak of anonymity under which many sperm donors have made their contributions to society. In other words, regardless of your position on the whole anonymity thing, sperm donation could end up being a little awkward.

That having been said, there is a desire for healthy sperm donors and the money is nothing to sneeze at, particularly if you're currently working your way through your ramen and tuna fish years. Unlike egg donation or surrogacy, the comparable options that are available to women, sperm donation is relatively non-invasive, albeit a lot less lucrative. Frankly, if I had it all to do over again...well, there were a couple of years in the mid-1990's when I could have used a little more cash..."

Thanks for reading, comments encouraged.

Forbes: Converting Ideas into Reality

Check out this article by Forbes.com discussing how to make money in your spare time from home. The article was written in 2007, but much of it still applies to making money online today. 

The 12 Things That Successfully Convert a Great Idea Into a Reality

How many times have you been in a meeting and someone says to you, “That’s a great idea, you should take the initiative and make it a reality.” What typically happens? Most of the time – nothing. Most great ideas remain dormant because people don’t have the courage, resources, time and/or money to take action. And for those who take action, most are unprepared and thus find themselves spending their valuable time and money on a dream that simply goes astray.The same thing holds true in the workplace – where according to a recent study conducted by my organization, the workforce is not innovative enough because we are trained and wired only to execute on what we are told to do. No wonder we are most proficient at completing short term, immediate tasks. On the other hand, employees are least proficient at multiplying the opportunities inherent in the initial task they were asked to complete. Yes, we should be concerned about our ability to remain competitive – as both individuals and in our organizations.Never stop connecting the dots!




Converting an idea into a reality (regardless of the required investment of time and money) is never an easy task. In fact, it is extremely difficult. Whether you are an entrepreneur or corporate executive, “giving ideas life” is much like giving birth to a child. You must own the responsibility regardless of the circumstances. No one will ever understand your idea or the dynamics associated with it like you do. In this regard, you are on your own and the journey will require you to learn about yourself – more than anything else will in your career.


As the old saying goes, “If it were easy – everyone would do it.”


Many articles have been written about this subject, but I have yet to read one that really digs deep enough to help one truly understand what is required mentality, physically and intellectually to go from idea to reality. Perhaps it’s because the process of cultivating an idea into a reality is a never ending cycle if you want to keep the idea alive over changing times. For example, we see this all the time with companies based on great ideas that then did not remain innovative and/or competitive enough to sustain their market leadership positions. . Let’s face it, Blockbuster should have thought of the ideas behind Netflix and Redbox – and made them a reality – well before these two companies became their competitors.

Today’s fiercely competitive marketplace requires us all to either convert our own ideas – or be a part of converting someone else’s ideas – into a reality. If you are not participating in either of these activities, you must re-evaluate your purpose, what you stand for and your desire to be relevant. Everyone must be a part of cultivating innovation around the clock. You must begin to accept that embracing the entrepreneurial attitude is a requirement to cultivate growth and opportunity for the organization you lead and serve.

Entrepreneurship is no longer just a business term anymore; it’s a way of life. You don’t need to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial.

Did you ever think that not being involved in innovative activities was irresponsible? Well, it is – not just to yourself, but to those around you.

As you think about how you can begin to embrace the entrepreneurial attitude more actively, here are 12 things you must actively do – at all times – in order to convert ideas into reality:

1. Believe in Yourself

You can’t take action until you believe in yourself enough to handle the consequences of your decisions. Any time you assume the responsibility to give something that had not existed before an opportunity to become a reality – you become accountable for your actions.

Accountability requires believing in yourself enough to be 100% dedicated to getting the work done. Most people fail to take an idea to fruition because the unexpected challenges become more than they think they can handle and thus they no longer want to be accountable. They lose the belief in themselves to see things through all the way to the end.

2. Create Your Own Personal Board of Advisors

Learn from those who have done it before. Don’t ever think you have all of the answers, just because it’s your idea. Ideation is distinctly different than execution.

Allow your personal board of advisors to guide you with wisdom born from their own failures and subsequent successes. I talked to a couple of fellow entrepreneurs about this and they offered some of their own wisdom.

Rich Melcombe, President & CEO of Richmel Media & Productions, says that: “If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, listen to everyone because you never know when you will hear a good idea. Advice from stakeholders is usually more meaningful, but not necessarily right. Few people will have enough context to fully understand what you’re trying to do. Synthesize their comments so they make sense to you, understand the thinking behind any negative comments, and then make the decision on your own.”

Brad Lea, Founder & CEO of Lightspeed VT, adds: “Although it is valuable to have a personal board of advisors, be careful not to let them deter you from your vision. Steve Jobs’ board said he was “crazy” to enter into the cell phone space because it was saturated and it would not be worth the long and laborious effort.”

In the end, carefully evaluate any input that you get – but proceed with your own gut instinct.

3. Embrace Risk as Your Best Friend

Risk becomes your best friend when you give birth to an idea. If you can accept this fact, you will approach the process with a lens that keeps your dreams and ambitions in perspective and on track. When things don’t go as planned along the way, stay focused on the mission at hand and do not allow disruption to set you backward. Risk is normal and steps #1 and #2 will keep you looking forward.

You often hear that “working hard” is an imperative to convert ideas into reality. But in fact, it is the most fundamental commitment one must make to assume any form of risk management. As such, you must find a way to make this level of commitment if you want to continue on the journey.

4. Be Extremely Patient

Compromise is a choice, not a sacrifice. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Take the time to appreciate the journey and understand how things work. Most people are too anxious to get their desired results and thus start to make bad decisions as they go.

One thing is certain: the journey will be filled with unexpected outcomes that you may not be prepared to deal with. Don’t let this get you down, but keep your head up and respect the process and where it takes you. You will learn a lot about your threshold of risk and ability. Equally, you will learn that many doubters are ready to stand in your way and may attempt to bring you down; this is when the ride gets uncomfortable. Constantly reevaluate those with whom you are sharing the journey (i.e., your inner circle).

5. Learn How to Sell Your Vision

Converting your idea to a reality requires you to help others understand your vision. Selling vision is much like selling change. Clearly define your value proposition and how it can generate revenue. Selling lofty ideas without understanding how it will achieve financial results will never get you the right audience. The bottom line is what gets everyone’s attention (you can see this played out every week on the TV show “Shark Tank”).

Simplicity is the key to selling the vision for your idea. Making it easy for someone on the “outside” to understand what you are trying to accomplish will create engagement and increase your probability of expanding buy-in for your idea. This skill comes into play when selling to possible investors. Learn how to sell your vision sooner than later. Don’t wait as it takes time to piece together and refine your message.

6. Connect the Dots Along the Way

Everything is connected to something else. Learn how to spot the paths of connectivity along the journey. What may be your “core idea” today can mature into something bigger as you connect other tenets that naturally associate with your idea along the way.

For example, I launched a food business in 1997 called Luna Rossa Corporation. I started with a product line of specialty vegetables anchored by my flagship product of marinated artichoke hearts. The idea was to market a gourmet / higher-quality line of Luna Rossa branded products inside warehouse retailer Costco – which we successfully accomplished. Over time, this core idea led to gourmet line extensions that included pasta sauces, salad dressings, etc. We sold products to over 6000 retail stores throughout North America, eventually creating new brands and entering into licensing arrangements.

7. Be Passionate With Your Pursuit

The pursuit of excellence requires you to unleash your passion. When you put your passion into everything you do, it gives you the power to become a potent pioneer. You will blaze paths few would go down, and see them all the way through to the end. Your passionate pursuit of converting your idea into a reality will open new doors to endless possibilities.

Your ability to remain passionate about what you stand for is the ultimate enabler for the success of your idea.

8. Be Purposeful

Your intentions for your idea must have purpose and meaning. If not, your probability to quit along the way will increase. It will also increase the likelihood of you “psyching yourself out with unnecessary excuses.”

Rich Melcombe adds: “Entrepreneurs must have passion and believe in what they are doing or they are destined to fail. You need to make a commitment to yourself and have a fiduciary responsibility to anyone who supports your idea or concept. Your purpose is to execute the idea and make others believe too.”

Purpose fuels your passion and makes your journey less lonely. Perhaps this explains why family-controlled firms outperform their public peers by 6% on company market value. Today, one-third of all companies in the S&P 500 index are run by families.

9. Focus on Building Momentum

Carefully identify all of your resources and build upon them via relationships, networking and sharing of resources to expand the opportunity for your ideas. Building momentum is critically important to convert your idea into a reality.

Stay focused, stick to your plan, eliminate distractions and neutralize the noise. Remember to manage your time wisely and never get overly excited about new opportunities that stem from your original idea. Step-back, don’t commit too quickly, and understand how the dots connect.

Building momentum has a lot to do with timing and the management and deployment of resources. Every resource counts. Know when and when not to use them so their value is optimally utilized at the right place and time.

10. Always Make the Idea Better

Never grow complacent. You can always expand upon your idea and make it better. When you begin to see how the dots connect, challenge yourself and your personal board of advisors to make your ideas even better.

This is what Steve Jobs did with Apple, Pixar Animation and Apple again. Continuous improvements were part of his legacy. He never stopped thinking of ways to make his ideas better. The Japanese even have a name for it: Kaizen.

11. Make Work/Life Balance a Priority

No matter how smart, passionate, or focused you work, without balance we are all susceptible to burnout. Mind, body and soul must be properly aligned. Take the time to make work/life balance a priority. It will give you greater clarity of thought and help you keep things in perspective.

Successfully converting an idea into a reality is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself so that you can reflect upon the mission at hand. Always be aware of what you are attempting to accomplish. Don’t overwhelm your mind; give yourself some breathing room and allow your creativity to expand.

12. Build a Legacy Around Your Idea

Let’s say you made the commitment to assume the responsibilities associated with the first 11 steps and have already been successful. Your original idea was born and its impact has now morphed into multiple areas that you would have never thought possible at the beginning.

You have “earned your serendipity” and the opportunities you have created for yourself and others have been momentous. The success of your idea is now real; it has become something more significant and it is up to you to make sure its legacy remains sustainable.

Once you give your idea its life, it is your responsibility that its impact stays alive forever.

Original Post: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2013/04/01/12-things-successfully-convert-a-great-idea-into-a-reality/

How to Get a Summer Internship

It's now Winter break. Time to relax and not use your brain for a month? No way! It's time to start thinking about what you want to do over Summer break. I don't care who you are, get a summer internship. Here are some tips:

1. 1.Make a list. Figure out what you want to do – what interests you, what do you want to learn how to do, or what do you think you want to be in 10 years? Write down a few places or lines of work that come to mind. While you’re at it, scribble down a few basic things to narrow your search – what town or area, paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, for school credit or not.
2. 2. Research. Look into big companies in your area; most big corporations have internship programs. Stumped? Talk to your school counselor or parents’ friends who have jobs you think are interesting.
3. 3. Get creative. Don’t want to work in a stuffy office while your buds are hitting the beach? No problem. Look into museums, art galleries, publishing houses, nature centers, eco-research centers, whatever.
4. 4. Hit the pavement. Online research for big companies and orgs is a great starting point, but walk around your city or town to see if any other places spark your interest. Be bold, if something looks interesting, walk in, ask for an application, or leave your info (including a resume) with them. Don’t forget to smile!
5. 5. Don’t give up. So your dream workplace doesn’t have an internship program? The search isn’t over yet! Look up who you can contact in Human Resources or who the managing director of a certain department might be, and contact him! Let him know that you’re interested in interning and ask if the company has a program or a way for you to help and learn a few things.
6. 6. Make sure you can do it! Once you have a few places, ask yourself: Got a ride? OK’d it with your parents? Is it realistic for you to get to the internship during the summer? Make sure you can get a ride (or map out your bus/train route), and if you can walk or bike, even better! You don’t want to commit to something and have to pull out at the last minute, so cover your bases.
7. 7. Get that resume in shape. What’s a resume and how do you make one? Check out Do Something’s How to create a resume and 11 tips for a great resume!
8. 8. Make contacts. If your internship has a formal application program, write out your application and apply, AND do a little digging to find out who might be getting that app. Give HR a call and ask who handles hiring. Send her a written note or an email explaining why you’d like the job and what makes you good at it. A little extra goes a long way.
9. 9. Spread your net. It’s tempting to put all your efforts into that dream job, but there are ton of people vying for internships, so make sure you look into at least five options and make contact with them so you have plenty of choices!
10. 10. Snagged an interview? It’s important to dress appropriately and remember a few simple things. Check out Do Something’s 11 ways to ace an interview and 11 Common Interview Questions!
11. 11. Follow-up. If you talked to someone at a company or had an interview, make sure to thank them and remind them you’re out there and would still love to intern with them.

Original Post: http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-ways-get-a-summer-internship

3 Steps for a Successful Interview

Want to make money in college? One way is to simply get a job, or ideally a paid internship. You're biggest obstacle will be the interview, make sure you are ready for it!

Jason Nazar, CEO & Co-Founder of Docstoc (‪http://www.docstoc.com/‬) knows that making a good first impression is of the utmost importance and perhaps no where is that more evident than a job interview. Check out these 3 helpful tips to ace your next job interview. 

Get Expert Advice

College career centers can be helpful with deciding on a major or letting you know when campus recruiters are around, but what if you wantspecific knowledge about a particular industry? What if you need to tailor your resume and cover letter to a company and position that your career center doesn’t know much about? and what about the interview??

Students facing these problems need a resource outside of their school’s Career Services Center. They need advice and help from experts, people within their targeted industry willing to share their knowledge with determined students.

Evisors.com connects these students to experts in various fields for resume advice, mock interviews, Q and A sessions, you name it.

Evisors (founded in 2010) “is an online marketplace for expertise and advice that puts consumers in command of an extraordinary professional network[...] For an affordable hourly rate, anyone from students and executives to job seekers and entrepreneurs can reach beyond their personal and professional networks and gain access to expert advice related to a variety of topics including admissions, career counseling, entrepreneurship and industry expertise.”

Evisors’ experts hail from prestigious schools and organizations, representing over a thousand companies across a wide range of industries and offer previously unavailable guidance and insights.

The company has also recently been focusing on a Webinar series that cover various relevant topics. Caitlin Quan of Evisors says “With the fall semester winding down for students, we are already gearing up for next semester’s recruiting season. We are putting together our spring webinar series that will include 18 live broadcasts from our top experts who will discuss a wide range of career topics and provide their insider insights. We’re also constantly adding more experts and evolving the product, so keep an eye out for new additions.”

Expert advice is a valuable but often underutilized resource for college students looking to land their first job, but it doesn’t have to be. Evisors makes expert advice accessable to anyone with the desire to learn and better themselves, and their chances of getting hired when they graduate.

Steve Jobs Commencement Speech

If you haven't seen the Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech video yet, today's the day. Get your motivation on.

 

Here we see Steve Jobs delivering his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005. In it he talks about getting fired from Apple in 1985, life & death.

College Return on Investment

When people talk about the value of a college degree, they mean different things. A report last year by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce pegs the median value of a four-year bachelor’s degree at $2.3 million, which is the average earnings for a degree holder employed full-time from ages 25 to 64. The value of a college investment calculated by PayScale, a Seattle-based compensation data company, for Bloomberg Businessweek is a small fraction of that amount, and to understand why, you need to know a little bit about our methodology.

The PayScale methodology differs from most others in several key respects. Instead of using lifetime earnings, it starts with earnings over a 30-year period. From that figure, we deduct the earnings of a typical high school graduate (since most people who don’t go to college would still have earnings, albeit at a much lower amount). In our return on investment (ROI) calculation, the “investment”—or total net cost—is the amount spent on college over the actual time it takes students to graduate, whether four, five, or six years. Finally, our ROI figures are adjusted using each school’s graduation rate. After all, if you don’t graduate, you’ve made an investment with very little financial return. The result is a return that reflects what incoming students can reasonably expect from their investment.

[More from Businessweek: Student Loan Debt, With Little to Show for It]

In 2012, both the cost of a college education and graduate earnings took a bite out of the 30-year college ROI, which fell 2.3 percent to an average of $353,182 when comparing the same set of schools in 2011 and 2012, and fell 7.8 percent to $333,455 when comparing both lists in their entirety, 691 schools in 2011 and 853 schools in 2012.

While our methodology underwent significant changes last year and this year, those figures represent an apples-to-apples comparison. On the cost side, they reflect the college sticker price for tuition, room and board, and books, without financial aid factored in, which increased 6 percent. On the earnings side, they reflect the earnings of college graduates (which decreased by 1 percent) in excess of the median pay of a high school graduate.

Two important changes to our methodology in 2011 and 2012 had the net result of reducing ROI dramatically. Since many students receive grant aid from their institutions, starting last year we began deducting average grant aid from college costs, which has the effect of increasing ROI. But starting this year, we made a second change that has the opposite effect: using 75th percentile high school graduate pay (instead of the median) to calculate how much each college’s graduates earned over and above the pay of high school graduates. We believe the 75th percentile more accurately reflects the pay of individuals capable of winning acceptance to college or who spent a few years in college before dropping out.

[Related: College Degrees With Highest Unemployment]

Looked at that way, ROI is only a fraction of what it was last year: on average, $152,114 for all 853 schools on our list, including two separate ROI calculations for state institutions using in-state and out-of-state tuition. Private schools did far better than publics, with 30-year ROI of $222,047, easily surpassing public schools for students paying in-state tuition ($122,987) and out-of-state tuition ($100,155).

Nearly a third of the top 30 schools were engineering schools, including the top three institutions: No. 1 Harvey Mudd College, No. 2 California Institute of Technology, and No. 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All three schools had 30-year ROI well above $1 million, a claim only 11 schools could make. On average, engineering schools had ROIs of $603,362, more than double the ROI for liberal arts schools ($245,943), more than triple that of business schools ($141,014), and more than 26 times that of arts and design schools ($22,328).

The only schools that fared better than engineering schools were those in the Ivy League. Seven of the eight Ivies are in the top 15, and the average ROI for all eight was more than $1 million. While costs for these schools are high, several factors worked in their favor, including generous financial aid and excellent graduation rates—both in terms of how many students ultimately graduate and how long it takes them to do so. The weighted net cost to graduate was $84,241—less expensive than half the schools on the list, and half the cost of the most expensive.

[More from Businessweek: Best Undergraduate Business Schools 2012]

Schools in New York, California, and Massachusetts dominated the ranking, snaring nine, eight, and eight top-50 spots, respectively, with California and Massachusetts claiming half the top 10. New top schools were crowned in six states: Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, and Montana. In California, Harvey Mudd took over the top spot from Caltech (in the state and the nation). In Illinois, an elite private research institution, the University of Chicago, lost the No. 1 ranking to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a state school with far lower costs.

Overall, the cost to receive a degree from the schools on our list averaged $85,276, a figure that reflects not just the tuition sticker price, but also average grant aid and how long it takes the average student to graduate. Private schools ($99,206) and out-of-state students at public schools ($98,538) paid the most, followed by in-state students at public schools ($55,861).

One reason why our ROI calculations differ from many others is that ours incorporate graduation rates in two different ways. First, each school’s ROI for graduates is adjusted, using its six-year graduation rate, to reflect the risk of not graduating. Second, the percentage of graduates who receive their degrees in four, five, or six years is used to determine college costs. All other things being equal, schools that graduate a large percentage of students, and who do so in four years, do a good job of holding down costs and as a result fare well in our calculations. Those who don’t, don’t.

On average, all 853 schools in this year’s ranking only graduate about 59 percent of their students, and less than two-thirds of those receive their degrees in four years. For the top 50 schools in the ranking, graduation rates are a big differentiator. On average, they graduate 88 percent of their students (compared with 51 percent for the 50 lowest-ranked schools) and 84 percent of graduates receive their degrees in four years (compared with 61 percent for the lowest-ranked schools).

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that many of the schools with the best ROI are the kind of highly selective elite private research universities with sterling reputations whose graduates tend to fetch the highest pay. Average annual pay for all the schools on the list this year was $61,426. Of the top 50 schools with the best ROI, 38 also have top-50 graduate pay, with alumni earning $81,000 or more per year. Six of the 10 schools with the highest graduate pay were either engineering or Ivy League institutions.

[Related: The 1% of the Student Debt Crisis]

On the other end of the spectrum, there are 191 schools where graduates had negative ROI. At Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, where only one out of three students graduates in six years, in-state grads earned $289,000 less over 30 years than a high school graduate earning at the 75th percentile, after deducting the cost of the degree. For out-of-state graduates, the figure is $338,000.

At all 191 schools with negative ROI, graduates actually fared worse than those who dropped out after a few years—the financial benefit of earning a degree was so meager that the added expense it entailed was simply not worth it. At these schools, at least from an ROI perspective, dropping out was the smartest thing to do.

Original Post: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/college-roi--what-we-found.html?page=3

6 Steps to Getting Anything Done-- The Buried Life

The Buried Life Bros

Once again, the guys from the Buried Life have a ridiculously motivational post on their tumblr. Check it out, read up, and cross some things off of your list.

6 Steps

After 6 years of crossing things off our list we’ve noticed some patterns. Whether it’s playing ball with Obama or writing a #1 New York Times Bestseller, these are the 6 steps we’ve used to cross anything off our list:

#1. Stop and think about it. Really think about it.

What is it that you really want to do with your life? Start a business? Reconnect with an old friend? Dive to the bottom of the ocean? Smoke a cigar with Castro? Forget what you think you should do, what excites you? What feels impossible? Be honest with yourself. Your answers don’t need to make an impression on anyone but you.
For many people, the four members of The Buried Life included, the impetus to make a life change only comes with crisis. The summer before we started The Buried Life, I was struggling with depression; Dave was struggling with his weight; Duncan had recently lost a close friend; and Jonnie was just plain angry and disillusioned with our generation (“No one protests anymore,” he used to say). The four of us were so beaten down that we had no choice but to reevaluate what was important to us. Our project grew out of that frustration. Sometimes it takes a debilitating low or a crushing loss to snap you back to reality, but don’t wait for it. Ferris Bueller put it well: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

#2. Write it down.

Simply put, it’s not real until you write it down. And by that I mean, take your dream and turn it into a project. Dreams have a funny way of staying dreams. But a project is something that needs to be done. Approach it as you would any other item on your daily or weekly to-do list. When you have a deadline— a presentation, a grocery list, a birthday gift you need to buy for someone–you find a way to get it done. Treat your dreams the same way. Add it to your list. You need to buy toilet paper. You need to spend the weekend in Paris with someone you love. When you write it down, you’ve taken the first step.
When we first started the project, we put things on the list almost as a joke. We didn’t think about whether they could actually happen; we just pretended that anything was possible. “#53: Make a TV Show” was a dream we’d shared since we were young. We had no filmmaking background and no connections in the business. And we lived on an island in Canada. We decided MTV in the States would be the place to have a show because it was the biggest and best platform we knew of for reaching people like us. So we wrote it down. And then we started filming it, because that was just the next logical step. Every step led to the next. Four years later, we were executive producers and creators of our own show on MTV.

#3. Talk about it.

Everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone.
After you’ve come up with your list and written it down, start talking. Tell everyone you know. Tell your parents’ friends. Tell new people you meet. Talk to your cabdriver. Talk to your boss. You never know whose uncle’s wife may be able to help you. And don’t just talk about it, but talk about it passionately. Enthusiasm is infectious, and people want to help when given the chance. Help can show up in the most unusual places, oftentimes the least expected ones.
We didn’t come from money. We had an idea, we talked about it, and people showed up in incredible ways help us. Our first lawyer was our parent’s friend who had heard about what we were doing and offered to lend a hand; our first manager was my godmother; I met my first Hollywood contact while traveling in Mexico; we cold-called local companies in our hometown to raise money for our first tour. Help often came in strange places. In 2007 we were able to finagle a five-minute meeting with Jann Wenner, legendary founder of Rolling Stone magazine, in order to discuss what it would take to cross #15 off our list, “Get on the Cover of Rolling Stone.” The five-minute meeting turned into a 45-minute meeting (after Jann threatened to kick us out and asked his assistant for a knife), during which time we talked about everything from protests to Bob Dylan to the difference between our two generations. We told him about some of our most ambitious dreams, including “#19: Write a Bestselling Book.” Jann was later instrumental in helping us get our book published—introducing us to a company where we met the smartest, most talented, best-looking book editor alive (hi Lia), who eventually offered us a deal.

#4. Be persistent.

Most people give up just before they reach their goal. We all hear “No,” a lot, but we’ve come to realize that “No” usually just means “Not now.” Be creative in your persistence. Don’t piss people off by nagging them—think of innovative and clever ways to grab their attention. Be different, and never say die.
Last year, we broke into the Playboy Mansion. We rented a giant stripper cake and decorated it like it was for the Willy Wonka–themed party. Two of us dressed up like Oompa-Loompas and hid in the bottom of the cake, which was then delivered to the back door of the Playboy Mansion in a rented delivery truck. Security saw our homemade Playboy logo on the cake and allowed it to pass through the gates. After waiting inside the cake for six long hours (peeing in bottles and filming in night-vision), we hatched out unnoticed and partied at the Mansion all night with free rein. Security assumed we were just very rowdy employees.
Playboy had no idea we had been in and out, or that we had filmed our first episode. But when we went back a month later to ask for permission to air, they said, “If you air the episode, we’ll sue you and have you charged with breaking and entering.” We got ahold of the company’s vice president, and he echoed that sentiment. MTV told us to move on and film another episode. Our production company said there was nothing we could do. In a last ditch effort we decided to send Hugh Hefner a handwritten letter along with the rough cut of the episode. A week later, we received this response from Mr. Hefner himself: “You can air the episode. Just know I’m not very pleased with you boys.” I always thought that crashing the Playboy Mansion was my dream, but getting scolded by Hugh Hefner was way better.

#5. Be ballsy.

The Buried Life boys playing ball with Obama.

The majority of people don’t go after their wildest dreams because they think they’re unrealistic. Tim Ferriss says it well: “Ninety-nine percent of people believe they can’t do great things, so they aim for mediocrity.” The level of competition is highest for realistic goals because most people don’t set high enough goals for themselves. But not only do you statistically have a better chance of achieving what may seem like an unrealistic goal, doing so fuels you. Once you feel the first high of accomplishing something major and seemingly unattainable, you want to go bigger and badder, and you force yourself to fulfill the need all the more. Even better, the technically smaller goals suddenly seem less daunting.
We put “#95: Play Ball with the President” on the list because it was literally the most unattainable goal we could think of. I remember Jonnie called me from his dorm room in Montreal in 2008 right after Barack Obama had been elected and Jonnie said, “We should add ‘Play Ball with Obama’ to the list.” I chuckled because it was so absurd and agreed. I found it humorous not only because the idea was so outrageous but also because I knew Jonnie was calling me from his “room,” a tiny space he was renting for $200 a month, which he shared with a washer and dryer. Of all people, we weren’t the best candidates for a pick up game with the leader of the Free World. Nonetheless, two years later we found ourselves shooting hoops with the President in the backyard of the White House. It’s a long, complicated story, and I don’t want to bore you with the details, but this is the kind of thing that the four of us chuckle about sometimes. It’s as if we have horseshoes up our butts, but it’s also happened too many times to be luck. When you dream big, you surprise yourself.

#6. Help others.

We’ve crossed off more than 80 list items over the last six years, but the moments that stand out the most are the ones when we’ve been able to step into someone’s life and share something real with them. I’ve been surprised by how little it takes to impact someone’s life. Something as simple as asking the question, “What do you want to do before you die?” and taking the time to listen is often all it takes. If you’re feeling lost or depressed, you might find what you’re looking for in someone else. Into the Wild said it best: “Happiness is only real when it’s shared.”
Your dreams are closer than they appear. There’s nothing about us four guys that makes us more able than anyone else to accomplish our goals, other than the simple fact that we’ve decided to go after them. George Elliot said, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” Don’t wait.

Original Post: http://theburiedlife.tumblr.com/page/2

Paying for college with fertility clinics, sugar daddies

Everyone is recognizing the high costs of college tuition today, and many are turning to creative ways to pay off their debt. Check out this article from CNNMoney

By Blake Ellis | CNNMoney.com – Tue, Sep 18, 2012 5:11 AM EDT

What do sugar daddies, medical studies and pawnshops have in common? They help some students afford a college education.

With the average family reporting that they are only on track to meet 30% of their college savings goals, every extra dollar counts -- and nothing is off limits.

John McKinley-Campbell had no job, $135,000 in student loan debt and he wanted to go back to school to get his Ph.D. at Florida International University. In order to afford to make it all happen he became a lab rat.

He has been participating in medical studies for pharmaceutical companies ever since his aunt saw an advertisement for one on TV. He lived in a medical facility for 14 days to test an arthritis medication and then signed up to receive injections of a breast cancer drug through an IV over the course of 8 days.

Those two studies alone will earn him about $8,500, which he plans to put toward an $1,800 GRE preparation course, the GRE test fee of $175 and the university's $100 application fee. The rest will go toward housing and tuition if he gets accepted. "If I can't find work [while in school], there's always a headache medicine I could test," he said.

Norah, who asked that her last name not be included for privacy reasons, has taken a slightly different route. She decided to become an egg donor at Shady Grove Fertility Center in Maryland this year, one of the largest fertility centers in the country.

The 24-year-old grad student earned $6,500 for her first egg donation, which almost covers her entire first year of school. A couple more egg donations will leave her with enough money to pay the full cost of the program -- around $15,000.

"When I worked a second job [between college and graduate school], it took me almost a year working in retail to make this same amount I've already made from one egg donation," she said.

Along those lines, a sperm donor at California Cryobank, who requested to remain anonymous, said he has earned $2,600 from making sperm donations for the past year, helping him cover his college living expenses and lab fees.

California Cryobank, which has several locations around the country, said nearly half of its qualified donors are college students, and sperm donors can make up to $1,200 per month -- or $14,400 a year -- if they donate three times a week.

Other cash-strapped college students are using their looks and sex appeal to find "sugar daddies" who are willing to foot their tuition bills.

One 21-year-old student said she receives a monthly allowance from a 37-year-old "sugar daddy" she met through online dating site SeekingArrangement.com, which helps rich men find young women who are looking to be supported financially. In exchange for her company, she says her sugar daddy has been making her full tuition payments of $1,500 each month.

According to SeekingArrangement, that allowance is low compared to what most college students on the site receive. About 41%, or 350,000, of the sugar babies on SeekingArrangement.com are college students, and two-thirds of them say they are using their sugar daddy as a primary or secondary means of paying for college -- receiving an average of $4,200 a month for college expenses, according to the company.

Parents are also finding creative ways to cover their kids' college costs.

After coming up $4,000 short for his son's tuition, Dave McDougall, pawned 15 pens from his $40,000 collection of luxury and vintage pens as collateral for a $4,100 pawnshop loan. The loan came with a steep 6% monthly interest rate -- amounting to a 72% annualized rate (personal loans often come with annualized interest rates in the low teens). He plans on paying it off in September when he gets his bonus check from work.

Another parent, Carol Carlisle, hosts international students who come to the United States to learn English as a Second Language at a program called Intrax in San Francisco, which pays host families about $32 a night. She's using that money to pay back the home equity loan she and her husband took out to pay for their daughter's college tuition.

Carlisle began hosting students in June and has already made about $2,700 -- $1,800 of which she put toward the loan. She expects to be able to completely pay off the loan after hosting students for a few years.

"When our daughter graduated high school in 2005, we thought we would use our home equity to pay for college and would pay it back, but then 2008 came around and my husband is a builder and everything collapsed for him," said Carlisle. "Besides being a joy [to host ESL students], we get this check every month, and we can finally make payments on that home equity."

And if you thought it couldn't get any more unconventional, Wayne Perry has started saving early for his son's education by making money off of a YouTube video that unexpectedly went viral, featuring his newborn son holding the forceps used to cut his own umbilical cord. With more than one million views, Perry said he is raking in around $1,000 a month from Google AdSense, which places ads on YouTube videos and other online content and pays the publisher based on how often the ads are clicked on or viewed.

He says he's putting that money -- $8,000 so far -- into a college fund for his son, who is now two years old. If the payments continue, he thinks he could easily have more than $100,000 saved by the time his son is 18.

"We're middle class, where we make too much to get a lot of [college] grants and low-cost loans but don't make enough to foot the bill for a really great school -- and imagine when he's 18 what the cost of tuition will be," said Perry. "I could never have saved that kind of money for him without this -- never."

View this article on CNNMoney