An $853,492 powerball lottery ticket expired unclaimed yesterday.
Seems like this is a pretty regular occurence. Each year millions of dollars in unclaimed lottery money goes back to the states hosting the lottery (or in the case of powerball, selling the willing ticket).
It’s not even small lottery winnings that people don’t claim. In 2003 a $30 Million winning Powerball ticket in Indiana went unclaimed.
People buy lottery tickets then lose them, accidentally dispose of them or just plain forget about them. People who buy lottery tickets are usually (more…)
and this is one of those times…
You see, an email just landed in my inbox from a concerned student. He saw an ad for a book that was titled 
“From credit ****** to credit millionaire”
and was concerned that someone was violating my copyright.
He’s close. While the content of the book is totally different (and, incidentally, has very little to do with credit or anything else, for that matter), the title directly violates a trademark I hold on the words “credit millionaire”.
The worst part is, the author was misguided. Someone had told him that the phrase “credit millionaire” was commonplace (more…)
In my quest to improve my business’s #1 asset (me), I’ve been refocusing my energies on my health, good nutrition and exercise.
I thought… I need a good visual. A good future image of myself, with the body I’d like to have.
Of all the people I had to choose from, I chose Halle Berry. This woman is just absolutely gorgeous. I grabbed that famous photo of her from the James Bond film…you know, the one of her walking on the beach in a bikini. Then off with her head and on with mine!
However, I won’t be posting that here. For this site, I’ll choose a more elegant shot. Halle from the 2005 Oscars in this stunning gown. I would wear this dress in a heartbeat, even without the knockout figure to go with it.
So thanks to Halle Berry, for the dress. It’s gorgeous! Oh, yeah, and the body!
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The SBA says that 50% of all businesses fail within the first year, and 95% fail within the first 5 years.
I’ve seen dozens of top 10 lists that highlight why small businesses fail. Here are some of the reasons I’ve read on lists from dozens of articles:
- -poor record keeping
- -bad location
- -lack of qualified leads
- -lack of product diversification
- -poor planning of workload
- -making a hobby a business
- -no business plan
- -lack of discipline
- -too much entrepreneurial enthusiasm
- -run by technicians, not business owners
- -undercapitalization
- -poor money management
- -ignoring (more…)
So I must confess, I’m addicted to The Sims. They just released a new expansion set, Open for Business. Now a Sim can pick up the phone and buy real estate, go to the lot and construct a business, then hang their shingle and start getting customers.
I’ve learned a few lessons from playing the game, that really mirror life. It’s amazing how principles that I’ve learned by being a real business owner also apply in the game world. Here are some of the success principles I’m leaned from real life and noticed in the Sims:
- -it’s as easy to sell a high ticket item as it is a low one
- -pay your employees fairly and they’ll do their job. Underpay them and they slack off. Over pay them and they’ll work even when they are tired.
- -If you get to know your employees, and consider their needs, they don’t -quit quite so easily.
- -some people are just browsers. They keep coming back, acting like customers, but really have no intention of buying anything. No amount of persuading will help.
- -customers like to complain. It’s best to just listen to them.
- -customers like a clean store, friendly employees, items in stock and fast service. If you have all that, they have no complaints.
- -employees with more skills and talents cost more– even if those skills and talents have nothing to do with their job. It’s about how much they value themselves, not how much you value them!
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