Quicken Online is FREE now for PERSONAL Financial Tracking

If you've gone through my Profit Center DVD or Photo Biz Boot Camp you know that we need TWO financial tracking systems. A personal tool and a separate business tool.

It's VERY important to track both of these separately not only for tax and budgeting purposes but because we know that what is watched, improves. If we track our finances, we can make educated decisions quickly about giving, saving, and spending. Cash flow is not as much of an issue if we're smart about tracking and budgeting.



About a year ago I became a bet-tester for Quicken Online and have since paid $2.99/month to track my personal finances there this year. Quicken has been a great tool for me over the years and I was glad that they were coming out with an online version because the best (and I admit nicely designed) alternative, Mint, never worked right syncing with certain bank accounts... and I needed the real-deal for personal financial software.

Last week I received an email that we will no longer be charged and that the program is now free to use online! Yeah!

So if you're not signed up already, go do so and get your accounts all synced in so you can watch them closely. If you're looking for a tool to use for your BUSINESS, check out Quickbooks or Successware for photographers.

Happy tracking!!

The Money Answer Book

I posted earlier about Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover... and here is yet another gem from this money-guru: the Money Answer Book.

It's small, it's concise. It answers all of the important questions about everyday finances. Of course a lot of it has been said before but the format of this book makes it a super quick and easy read for those that may be intimidated (or just lack the time/focus) of reading one of the thicker books in his collection.






I'll go ahead and share two of my own personal take-aways (yeah, stuff I've already known but am actually focusing on during this point in my life):

Take Away One: Buy Used Vehicles with CASH

"Americans have a 'love-fest' going on with their cars. Where else can you find people flat broke, living paycheck to paycheck, with two vehicles in their driveway less than two years old?

The average monthly car payment is $378. If you only have one car payment you're shelling out almost $5,000 in one year. Investing $378 per month in a good growth stock mutual fund from age 25 to 65 will be worth more than 4.4 million!! A one-time investment of $25,000, leaving it sitting for 30 years (same terms) would net you more than $495,000. Hope you like your SUV!!"

Advice: Buy a car 2-3 years old with CASH instead of financing a new vehicle. Ramsey stresses the point that cars loose most of their value in the first two years so only the SUPER RICH should buy new cars.

I grew up thinking only new cars were good because I never knew much about maintenance or cars in general but my car is 5 years old now (it was paid off early) and it's still runs like new! I figure if I can keep a car like-new than other more car-knowledgeable folks must have amazing 1-2 year old cars! Plus thousands of leased-cars are turned in each year often with very low mileage and in superb condition.

Action Plan: I really do plan on driving my current paid-off trustworthy Honda for as long as I can (hopefully another 5 years!?) but in the meantime I'm going to build up that cash-for-car fund so when the time DOES come that it needs some TLC and/or I need to throw in the towel and purchase another ... then I can pay cash for something pre-owned.


Take Away Two: Invest in ROTH IRAs


"Because the Roth IRA growth is tax-free, you'll get to keep all the money in your Roth IRA"

Of course, the benefits of Traditional IRAs vs ROTH IRAs may be different for individuals (for example if you are not self-employed and your employer matches your investment aka Free Money... it may be worth investing in the company IRA before the ROTH).... but in the case for most of us investing in a ROTH IRA is a win-win because it's likely we're going to be in a higher tax bracket as we get older and closer to withdrawal time it would be beneficial to pay taxes up-front instead of on a huge lump-sum later.

The great thing is the government is increasing the amount we're allowed to invest each year so in 2008 we can put up to $5,000 in a ROTH IRA as long as we've made at least that much income. You can even get someone a ROTH IRA as a gift... that could eventually grow to hundreds of thousands of dollars if they leave the $ in there! Now THAT is the gift that keeps on giving!!

Action Plan: Finish rainy-day emergency fund then fully-fund a ROTH-IRA this year and every year following at the maximum amount. Research and think about gifting ROTH-IRAs vs giving gifts that depreciate and do not hold value :)



Well... there's MUCH much more in this little book packed with straight-forward $ advice.... so pick up a copy for yourself and pass it around when you're done!

Back in Business!!

Thank you everyone for the wonderful support and recommendations as we went through through all of our server-issues this week!!

In the end, our best choice to switch to is Lexiconn. It came recommended, is compatible with what we needed, and has some added tools that we'll be able to use with our existing shopping cart. I was told they are a very-expensive, roll-the-red-carpet-out, service-oriented host. I'm happy to report that the new host is everything I was told they would be and somehow ninja-ed their way in to take hold of my files on my old server and got everything up and running again in a matter of 24 hours or so!

Needless to say... the blog, the site, the email, and the shopping cart are all up and running again... yeah!! Thank you for your patience over this past week and please... if you sent an email that has not gotten through/gotten a response.. please resend as it may not have reached us when all of this was going on :)

Now back to fun blogging...

Demon Web Service Providers: Startlogic

It's seldom if ever I believe in posting issues up on the net regarding customer service and issues with a particular company. I'm afraid though that it is time for a fair-warning.




You may have noticed that:

-I've been MIA
-My regular blog is down
-My sites give "server errors" and "404" and "403" errors
-My shopping cart is down so I cannot get you all products you're requesting (don't worry-- it's not you!!)
-My email has not been working

***WARNING: RANT BEGINS HERE*** LOL

Well, for the past week (yes, it always starts when I'm out of town on business) I've been dealing with my Demon of a Service Provider, Startlogic.com.

Years ago I would have given them glowing reviews but this past year has been filled with nothing but trouble and lost work time because of issues on their end. It makes you realize just how much we rely on companies like this to do what they promise and we often operate our business in the trust that they will complete their end of the deal. This is hardly the case for Startlogic. This is the third week in the past year where I've spent 20+ hours on with Tech Support with no resolution or follow-through on their end. The crazy thing is they are ranked up as #1 on many of the major ranking sites.

Earlier today Sara (who's been here while all of this is taking place) says "you really do have demons after you" and I said I felt like I was being attacked this week. Funny thing is we found this site that reviews other's experience with startlogic and someone quotes "Now I know that there is only ONE startlogic experience. The experience of waking up knowing a demon has your site, your countless hours of work, in its hands. If you are the type of person who would let a convicted child molestor take care of your children then startlogic.com is your ideal host. "



Soooo... I say my prayers, rally up the legal support, file my BBB report, and pray some more....

Oh yes, and if ANYONE has recomendations on hosts that do not give you the run-around and have servers and employees that actually work FOR you not against you, I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE the recs!!

***RANT OVER***

The Momentum Theorem

While attending to some of the many errands I have to accomplish before I leave for Spain in a week, I minimized my driving-in-Atlanta-traffic-boredom-and-stress by listening to some pre-recorded CDs including one called the "Momentum Theorem" from when Dave Ramsey came to visit last Spring.

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Here's an excerpt from this article that explains exactly what the Momentum Theorem is:

"Isn't it funny how most people work their tail ends off for years only to be labeled an "overnight success"? Right now, our team is experiencing growth like never before! But this isn't how it's always been. We've paid an unbelievable price to get this momentum. We've put in the time, the money, the heartache, the sweat, and everything else we had left. And then, everything took off. But it sure didn't occur overnight.

One thing my team and I have learned over the years is that this type of unstoppable momentum doesn't just happen. Momentum has to be created. There is a process to go through before momentum can result. It takes focused intensity, over time, multiplied by God, to equal unstoppable momentum.

( Fi / T ) x G = UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM

Focus? Really? In a society where everyone "should be" on Ritalin? Focus? In a time when my teenagers can have five IM screens open while checking their e-mail, talking on the phone, keeping up with VH1, and doing the homework that gets them on the Honor Roll? We live in a world of true multi-taskers and I'm asking for focus! "

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You can access the whole talk for free HERE (5/6/07 called "Momentum").

This REALLY hit home and reinforced that I need to keep taking it ONE STEP AT A TIME -- persevere in what we're doing in business and life. I think we all go through cycles where things are exciting, new, and fun -- and a time when things balance out a bit and get to be routine. For us creative folks, the routine tends to get mundane (and that's where I'm tempted to "check out"). Then there's the freak-a-zoids like me that like to think up the ideas a LOT more than they like the execution part. In fact, most of the time the actually-doing-it part is a big feat.

In the past three years, God has opened a LOT of doors for me in areas that I'd been working on faithfully for years and years. After six years in this business, and twelve working in small business, I was a so-called "overnight success" as a destination wedding photographer according to magazines like PPA and such. I certainly do not feel that statement is warranted but heard it enough to know it was a common perception. People talked... gossiped... questioned.

Here's the thing though... there's no way for them to see all the blood, sweat, tears, and focus that goes before the "overnight" part. Do they know about the 4-hours-of-sleep-per-night for six years plus, or the working numerous jobs part, or the studying for three-degrees-at-a-time part, and bar tending before I could make enough in photography part? How about the 20,000k in credit card debt part? Then the smartening up and paying it off part? I look at the hottest people in different industries now and have a little flutter inside when they claim "it's so easy!" "it can happen overnight". Because, truth be told, it may seem to happen overnight... but true momentum only happens with focused intensity and TIME.

So a note of encouragement to all the photo-biz people I've been honored to spend time with this past year... keep on doing what you're doing... feeling uncomfortable... taking it ONE step at a Time... even if it becomes routine... because then you know "time" is taking it's turn in the equation ;)

What will you be focused on during your lifetime???

Brief thoughts on album design software options and workflow...

After a year and a half of use, I too am convinced that Photojunction is the slow (though good) choice if you want a template/official album software...

....with that said, I'm now convinced that there's a MUCH better option out there... thanks to Kevin's quick tutorial... on using Adobe's InDesign.

I called Adobe a while back and upgraded my misc. Macromedia and Adobe products to the Web Premium Creative Suite (CS3) for less than the price of InDesign alone. Downloaded the free 30-day trial to try it out while it ships.

Opened up Kevin's tutorial on one computer, InDesign on the other and Sara was able to get through a pre-design in record speed (and while she was learning it!) Now she's got the wedding edited, shipped to Pictage, slideshows prepared, and an album draft design complete sometimes by Monday after the wedding using my Crazy Simple Workflow and the Album design in InDesign.

Here is the album she did for the wedding we photographed this weekend. The bride & groom had the slideshow link by Monday afternoon:




Also check out a Guestbook she designed from a recent engagement shoot we did up in North Carolina a few weeks ago...



PS... we design EVERYTHING square so we can print in multiple album types after we design it. After all, our time is $$ so if we can help our clients out by offering duplicates at a lower price it's a win-win for everyone (because we don't have to redo the design, just resize and submit the order).

PSS... We've also designed in Photoshop and using Pictage's tool... so far InDesign is the quickest as it allows the most "organized fluidity" as I like to call it... without adding unnecessary steps that drag the process out....

PSSSSS +++++..... Album design is NOT for everyone. I'll design every blue moon and the clients love them but when it comes down to it I'm just not as good as others are... if you're weary of album design, OUTSOURCE it! In fact, I think Sara will be offering up her services to others soon too so post here if you want her to email you with info once it's up ;)

Breakfast with Rudy Giuliani

Archive: Originally published May 18, 2006

This morning I had the awesome opportunity to join a bunch of other Atlanta area business people at the AJC's 100 Best Georgia Companies Awards Breakfast with former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

We had killer seats right up front and it wasn't until 15 minutes into breakfast that I realized Giuliani was parked at the table diagonal from ours. He talked with us for about an hour about six qualities that strong leaders all have in common. It was interesting because just before he went on, they had a panel of 5 CEOs from the top-ranked Georgia companies for this year answer the question of "what is the most important quality a CEO must have to lead their organization successfully."





I would love to go in depth about "Rudy's Six" but fear that time is not on my side today so here they are:
1. Strong Beliefs (devote time to thinking and making goals)
2. Optimistic - focus on solutions and remain calm and positive
3. Courage - does not mean a lack of fear, it means recognizing fear and overcoming it. We MUST be willing to take risks.
4. Relentless Preparation - If you prepare for everything you can think of, when the unexpected happens you will still be prepared because it will be a variation of your practiced scenarios. He used specific examples from 9/11 how they had not planned for a disaster of that magnitude, but all the other plans (like triage and evacuation procedures) allowed them to move forward.
5. Teamwork - A leader asks themselves 'what are my weaknesses and how do I balance them with strengths of others.'
6. Communicator - A leader is able to communicate all of the above. i.e. A coach of a football team does not do a thing on the field but is a teacher and a motivator and leads the team to victory because they can communicate effectively with the team.

In the end, Rudy says: "You can do all of these things but none of it matters unless you CARE about people. Organizations are comprised of people. People with emotions, personal lives... you can not ignore these things. If you are successful in this area, you and your organization will be successful too."

If you ever get a chance to hear Rudy in person - go! - He's a phenomenal speaker and quite the comedian too!

Best Books

Last week I sold one of my plasma TVs as it was never watched but merely a temptation to put down my books to watch something mindless. Granted, the TV stood on a bookshelf that hosted a handful (okay, 50-60) of my favorite books.... and now the shelf is being used elsewhere. With a pile of books all over my floor now and a new shipment in from Amazon last week, I've been inspired to update my "Best Book" list online. (I'll update periodically so feel free to bookmark)

Here ya go...




***CLICK HERE TO SEE MY BOOK LIST***

Photo Business Boot Camp

Ever wondered what a BBC is like? Here is a short clip of a few recent participants!