A Review of Online Bill Pay
If you're anything at all like me, you weren't in need of constant reminders to pay all of the monthly bills. And don't we all know that there are plenty of them including credit cards, electricity, cable, water, rent, and car loan or I will simply forget all about them. I've attempted many ways to overcome my little absent-mindedness, including such things as posting notes to myself on my refrigerator so I see them each day, using a PDA to keep track of due dates, and declaring a specific day each month when I will set everything else the size and take care of paying my bills right then and there. But none of those things were very effective, and I kept getting whacked with late fees and threats of all kinds. Then a friend suggested an online bill pay service. Since I joined, I have yet to be late on even a single bill.At

Why Many Entrepreneurs Don't Make Enough Money
Are you making hand crafted products and wondering why you're working hard but not making enough money? I might have the answer for you.A Common MistakeA common mistake entrepreneurs and handcrafters make is thinking that if you’re selling your product at double your cost, you’re making 100% profit.Surprise - there is no such thing as 100% profit.Profit is always figured as a percentage of your selling price, not by comparing it to your costs. Here's a handy formula for you.Profit % = ((Selling Price – Costs) divided by Selling Price) x 100For example, if your product costs are $20.00 and you sell your product for $40.00, here’s how the formula would work:$40 (selling price) - $20 (total costs) = $20 (profit dollars) divided by $40 (selling price) = 0.5 x 100 = 50% profitI had a message on my desk the plant manager wanted to see me. As a newly promoted fresh-faced department head I hadn’t been jaded to the fact I was wanted in the plant manager’s office. To my eagerness this was an opportunity for face time. To shine. To please my boss.

He asks me to close the door and have a seat. The tone was stern and unemotional. His first question to me was, “Russell do you want to be a success in this business?” Of course! There was never a doubt. How could he question this? I answered immediately, “I’ll do what ever it takes to be the best manager I can be.” He smiled, sat forward in his seat and said, “I knew you’d see it my way.”

He continued, “The first thing you need to do is get rid of the boots. I don’t care how polished you keep them and how nice they are, they’ll always be sh*tkickers in my book and no one in management in this company wears those things to work. Second, you have a personalized license tag on your car and your car is a Cadillac. That just won’t fly here. No one needs to be calling attention to themselves with anything other than a regular license plate and let your wife drive the caddy and you get a pick up or smaller car – like mine. Now, what’s this I hear you have a solid gold monogrammed chewing gum case?”

I laughed at that and showed him the brass gum case my wife found in a newspaper supplement for 88 cents. I tell him it keeps my gum from gett

to close the door and have a seat. The tone was stern and unemotional. His first question to me was, “Russell do you want to be a success in this business?” Of course! There was never a doubt. How could he question this? I answered immediately, “I’ll do what ever it takes to be the best manager I can be.” He smiled, sat forward in his seat and said, “I knew you’d see it my way.”

He continued, “The first thing you need to do is get rid of the boots. I don’t care how polished you keep them and how nice they are, they’ll always be sh*tkickers in my book and no one in management in this company wears those things to work. Second, you have a personalized license tag on your car and your car is a Cadillac. That just won’t fly here. No one needs to be calling attention to themselves with anything other than a regular license plate and let your wife drive the caddy and you get a pick up or smaller car – like mine. Now, what’s this I hear you have a solid gold monogrammed chewing gum case?”

I laughed at that and showed him the brass gum case my wife found in a newspaper supplement for 88 cents. I tell him it keeps my gum from get

manager I can be.” He smiled, sat forward in his seat and said, “I knew you’d see it my way.”

He continued, “The first thing you need to do is get rid of the boots. I don’t care how polished you keep them and how nice they are, they’ll always be sh*tkickers in my book and no one in management in this company wears those things to work. Second, you have a personalized license tag on your car and your car is a Cadillac. That just won’t fly here. No one needs to be calling attention to themselves with anything other than a regular license plate and let your wife drive the caddy and you get a pick up or smaller car – like mine. Now, what’s this I hear you have a solid gold monogrammed chewing gum case?”

I laughed at that and showed him the brass gum case my wife found in a newspaper supplement for 88 cents. I tell him it keeps my gum from get

n management in this company wears those things to work. Second, you have a personalized license tag on your car and your car is a Cadillac. That just won’t fly here. No one needs to be calling attention to themselves with anything other than a regular license plate and let your wife drive the caddy and you get a pick up or smaller car – like mine. Now, what’s this I hear you have a solid gold monogrammed chewing gum case?”

I laughed at that and showed him the brass gum case my wife found in a newspaper supplement for 88 cents. I tell him it keeps my gum from get

ve the caddy and you get a pick up or smaller car – like mine. Now, what’s this I hear you have a solid gold monogrammed chewing gum case?”

I laughed at that and showed him the brass gum case my wife found in a newspaper supplement for 88 cents. I tell him it keeps my gum from getting wet in my pocket and… He cuts me off in mid-sentence and tells me to get rid of it and that is all he had to say and I am excused.

When I get back to my office I am a different person than the one that left there fifteen minutes ago. I’m stunned. My success is predicated on my footwear?

For the next two years I tried to fit in. I complied with all the requests except the car – and I quit being who I really am. Finally, I took a stand when I was asked to “quit being me” when it came to an ethics issue. Enough was enough. After ten years with the company I walked away and the biggest mistake I made in my career happened the day I quit being me and tried to be what someone wanted me to be.

1. Be who you are and find the right fit

Have you ever been forced into a mold you didn’t really fit? How did it make you feel? How much did it carry over to your personal life? How did it impact your self respect and confidence? How fast did you want to get out of that situation?

I see many people wedging themselves into jobs they fit into about as well as I would into a Speedo. What an ugly sight! Why do you do thi