The Group About Absolutely Nothing membership has soared smashing  all previous records! And without any promotion during the last six months. We are now up to 86 members...proving that you can make something from nothing! So let's try to break that magic number of 100 members. Please invite all your friends on active rain and remember .... keep having fun.

James Frazier   Group Founder

www.jamesfrazier.com

OK, I am no financial wizard but then those guys don't seem to be very effective anyway so I thought I would share an idea I have that might help anyone as well as stimulate our failing economy. While many people may be wondering whether to put their money into gold as a hedge against the crashing stock market, and others are scrambling to get their assets liquid, I suspect that for the vast majority of us the amount of money that we had saved up may not be all that much or even if it is, the interest we might earn by pulling money out of the stock market and putting it into a saving account will barely offset inflation.

What the economy needs is for us to be spending, but with the current uncertainty most folks are pulling back which in turn hurts the economy even more. It becomes a vicious cycle. (Yes, I know that we should have been saving all along but now may not be the best time for the economy to have everyone suddenly become conservative in their spending). So, what if we could have our cake and eat it too so to speak. What if there was some mechanism to help us save as well as spend? I believe that there is a simple, effective method that will help. I freely admit that this is not a "solution" but I do believe that it will benefit everyone if implemented.

So what is my grandiose plan? Simple really; to save money while spending money, determine what supplies that you will always be using, Soap, Paper Towels, Bath supplies, cleaning supplies, etc. Now determine how much of those products that you will use over the next year. Next how much money can you afford to spend (save). Next look for sales where the price of any given product is reduced by 20% (not hard to do if you shop around) that is far more than you are likely to earn in either stocks, bonds, or saving. Buy a year’s supply when those items are on sale. You "earn" 20% on your money, you have your assets in usable convertible currency in that this is stuff you are going to buy over time anyway and the retailers get a shot in the arm.

If only 10% of our population spent $1000 on these have-to-use items it would rapidly add 30 billion to the economy. OK, it is not much when compared to where we are but is it a small step and doesn't really cost anyone but rather saves them money. It is a win- win. You earn a high rate of return in the form of savings and the retailers get to move inventory.

Where are you going to earn 20% on your money in the next year? If you like this idea, try it and pass it on. Maybe if enough people endorse this we could start a movement and get the retailers to active participate. I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

James Frazier, MA   Pesonal Development Coach    www.JamesFrazier.com

As many of you know, I have, on occasion, railed against people who cut and paste from Internet sources and then pass it off as their own work despite the fact that with every post Active Rain makes you check a box stating that you are not doing so. Well, now they have put some teeth into their stated policy and have hired an employee to check to make sure members are not plagiarizing material. I urge you to read this post.

ActiveRain New Hire - Welcome Harlen 'The Copyright Crusader'

This is an old subject but it seems to need revisiting every few months so here it is again. Please take a moment and read it.

Let me preface this blog by saying I have no wish to perform the Labours of Sisyphus attempting to police postings on Active Rain. That said however, as a writer, I am forced to make a plea for giving credit where credit is due. Every writer is entitled to copyright on her/his material and the right to control when and where it is used as well as getting proper credit for said works. Many people assume that just because something is posted on the Internet if is free to all. They assume they can just "cut and paste" and then put it in their own blog without even taking the time or courtesy of stating where they got the material.

This is unfair for a number of reasons:

1) It is illegal as most material on the Internet is copyrighted and should not be used without the express permission of the author.

2) Active Rain ask each and every time you post if this is original material or if not do you have permission to use it. That's right its the final button you have to click before you post. So if you cut and paste and then click this button you are be less than truthful if it is not yours or you do not have permission to use it. There is a box to check if you have permission to use copyrighted and in addition the pop-up box plainly ask the following: "Please confirm that this entry does not contain copyrighted material. Posting copyrighted material without permission WILL result in being removed from Active Rain. Post entry?"

It is usually considered acceptable to quote short pieces from someone's article- two or three sentences-as long as you cite the source by giving the author's name and the publication as well as the date and and other information that would allow anyone to look up the original article. The key here is citing the source; that way it does not appear as if you are attempting to pass it off as you own.

3) It undermines our professionalism and creditability. There is plenty to say without ripping off other people. How would you feel if you discovered that someone was taking your original writing and doing a cut and paste without giving you proper credit or asking your permission.

Even if the material is obviously meant for public domain have the courtesy of citing the original source if possible or at least where you found it. That way you are not implying that it is your writing.

I am posting this on some of the  groups I am most active with here in the Rain. Please let this serve as notice for the Group about absolutely nothing . If you post non-original material and fail to give credit for it you will be warned and then if you fail to correct it by citing the source, your post will be removed.

I am still here although I have been absent the last couple of weeks...long story...anyway, I am regrouping and will be back full force shortly. Meanwhile check out the new gadget that I have on my profile. Jeff Turner told me about it  and it is way cool. You can record messages from you cell phone and they show up on your widget! Check it out.   (sorry Jeff I have tried repeatedly to link to your post) Look at Jeff Turner latest blog post for more information (use the search function>profiles>jeff Turner)

Mr Mental Health 

Although I have asked this question before, I want to give it another shot. Can anyone recommend a really really good sync option/program/service to sync Outlook 2007 between two or more computers. There seem to be a wide variety of options but before I put down the cash, I was hoping to get some reviews form any one who may have actually used said programs. It defies the imagination why Microsoft seems to go out of their way NOT to provide easy backup or sync options on one of the most ubiquitous e-mail and contact management programs on the planet!

Sometimes people like me just need a good hobby. The absence of said hobby leads to all sorts of problems and vexations. I tend to notice small things that really should be ignored but they stay with me and I turn them over in my mind again and again until I am nearly bursting at the seams to speak about them (or often rant about them,as the case may be). I am apt to point out small examples of stupidity such as the recent case where I insured a 27 foot Winnebago motor home and was asked by the insurance agent if I planned to use this for recreation or driving back and forth to work less than 10 miles! I wanted to reply, " Yes I planned to drive it back forth to my job at Burger King but my 87 year old grandmother might use it once a year to drive her Harley out to bike week at Sturgis!" Of course, in my defense, I am also apt to point out my own lack of intelligence as well. Gods knows that is no stretch. I have, in these very pages, opined that my intelligence might be lower than my shoe size. And I don't have big feet. I suppose on one level even going into the home staging business might cause anyone to question their IQ or their sanity.

 

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else found it at least mildly ironic that the word "blog" is not found in the spell checker of the world's largest real estate blog-Active Rain.

"Hey Ho, Hey Ho." K. Vonnegut

Today I am officially announcing a new service designed to help fill a void in the home staging business. Since there appears to be an extreme shortage of male home stagers and since some of the female home stagers have expressed a desire to occasionally partner with said male home stagers, I have decide to launch a new "virtual male home stager" service. Armed with a digital camera, a high speed broadband card, your trusty laptop, and a cell phone, you simply walk through the house taking photos and simultaneously downloading them to me as we speak on the phone. I will be offering philosophical advice,moral support, psychological insights, helpful suggestions, and home-staging coaching from a male perspective- all in real time. As an added bonus, I will also recite experts from James Joyce's Ulysses or, if you prefer, some poetry from Blake.

Think of the "team' approach to home staging and how beneficial this might be. Take your business to a whole new level. Please feel free to contact me for details and pricing.

James Frazier Professional Home Stager...."Real miracles..reasonably priced".

I posted this little poll after I started reflecting on the fact that although we only have four members in this group, we appear to haev many times that number of readers. So please take a moment to fill out the poll and helps us get an idea of our readership.

 

 

How I got a bi weekly column on a local newspaper.

 

 

 

Since I am not eligible for this week's New Creativity Challenge I thought I would give my answer as a separate blog post. The challenge was to come up a creative way to meet and make appointments with Realtors. So here is one of my strategies.

Where I live we have a local newspaper that is absolutely fabulous. It is not owned by some big corporation so that they can say what they want and most often do. Their editorial content is excellent both for national and world news and they provide equally excellent local coverage of events and happenings. Anyway, I had long been an admirer of this publication. I have been most impressed with the difference between them and the national owned "large" newspaper that is their competitor.

However, I had noticed that their real estate section was lacking. I got the idea to propose a column written by me that would interview local realtors. One of my observations since getting into the home staging business was the appalling lack of understanding of real estate, realtors, and how homes are actually bought and sold. So I proposed that we do a column to give Realtor's a place to speak about some aspect of Real Estate in an effort to educate the public on real estate matters. This would accomplish three major things. One it would expand the newspapers real estate section, adding local market information and providing a forum to attract advertisers. Two, it would provide each realtor interviewed a place to present themselves as having some expertise and thus added public exposure. And then finally, the big one for me, is it would provide me with a way to meet and get to know Realtors by first providing them with something to help their business.

Well, it just so happened that at the same time I proposed this, they had been considering expanding their Real Estate section so they accepted.  This has been a win win win situation. It requires some work but it is a very fast way to get to know the Realtors on a different level than just doing a presentation at their office.

If you would like to view the publication see the following links. The first one is an article that I did with Josh Ryan, a Realtor in my area. The second link is one of the articles I did to fill in when a Realtor did not come through for me. It is a simple article on home staging.

 

http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.new.pl?cmd=viewstory&id=16256     Josh Ryan on CMA pricing

http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.new.pl?cmd=viewstory&id=17725   James Frazier On home staging

I would love to hear your feedback.