Seth Godin say’s that “you can’t have good ideas unless you’re willing to generate a lot of bad ones,” and while I’ve generated a lot of bad ones, I’ve also had a few gems. The funny thing about those “gems” is that after many false starts, I’ve come to realize that that the concept or idea doesn’t matter, it’s all about how passionately the idea is pursued that makes it worthwhile.

For example: the Snuggie.

Generally speaking the Snuggie is not a brilliant or even original idea (it’s been in SkyMall under a different name for years); basically someone marketed a bathrobe being worn backwards. But it’s a hit, people love it to love it or they love it to mock it, either way it is selling like crazy! In fact, the only reason we all know about this lackluster idea is that someone was crazy enough to wear a bathrobe backwards and passionate enough to see his idea all the way through. (The marketing and pop culture phenomenon behind it is a completely different case study).

Back to my problem: I need something to look forward to entrepreneurially. I have a few fairly well thought out ideas, one of which is a complete revamp of this site to allow for “user generated content” (kind of), another would be very legally intensive because it borders on the line of legality (though everyone I’ve pitched it to loves it), and yet another is to start my own juice bar (I’m kind of obsessed with smoothies).

While I am confident all of the ideas would work, figuring out which concept to commit myself to is another question. Revamping this site would hands down be the easiest and least capital intensive, though the revenue model is questionable. At this stage it’s probably a tossup for the most capital intensive concept between the storefront and the legally questionable concept (which would obviously require a legal team.) The most exciting idea is legally questionable (would create incredible buzz…I already own the domain), the most promising is probably revamping the site, and the juice bar probably has a chance to do the best from a cash-flow standpoint.

My problem really comes down to me being horrible at making decisions. I hate making them; in fact, I’m horrible at it, the only way I cope in day to day life is that I force myself to make a quick last second decision because I know I will be fine either way (Soup or Salad?).

Currently I’m leaning towards revamping the site due to the fact that it is the easiest to moonlight. I still have a lawyer looking into some things for me to see if the waters are navigable for the other concept, but for capital purposes at least I should be able to see a relatively quick result on the website, as opposed to the other two.

I’m sure I’ll always be keeping my eyes open at various ventures, and coming up with random ideas that would work if I was passionate and pursued them, but for now, I’ve built what I feel is a pretty good brand and I’d like to follow it down the rabbit hole to see where it takes me.

After too long, a site revamp is coming. Stay tuned, and I may just need your help.

Thanks for listening.

Related posts:

1. Entrepreneurship: Just Do It!
2. Why Do You Save?

In order to aid your navigation of the website I created a one stop shop for my best posts on Haggling!

The Rules of Haggling

Haggling Builds Self Confidence

Ten Pointers to Successful Haggling

Also be sure to check out some of my other Personal Finance Favorites!

The 7 Effective Habits of Highly Frugal People

Ten Tips for Saving Money on Gas

What Makes a Millionaire

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy!

-Daniel P. Bowen

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1. Why Is Money Taboo?
2. The Rules of Haggling

It has been two months since my last post, and I wish I could attribute my lack of writing to not wanting to include politics in my own blog (true), an utter lack of motivation (also true), or to the fact that the economy is front page news and people who are much better writers than I are writing about things I’ve been saying for the last year, but after giving it a great deal of thought I believe my lack of posting has been due to fear.

I have quite a few irrational fears, and I I readily admit to them.  Walking up escalators that aren’t moving, the sound and thought of metal, silverware or other, against teeth, and roller coasters.  All of these fears are very real things that creep me out for reasons I do not understand, but none of these fears have made me not want to post.  I think one of the things that usually motivates me is what made me not want to post: the fear of letting people down.

When I started this blog it was a fun experiment, it was a personal journal for my own fiscal responsibility that a handful of people I didn’t know might stumble upon.  As most newbie bloggers do, I became obsessed with how many page views I got and the analytics behind it and became determined to grow, and grow I did.  Soon I decided to start telling people about it, I promoted it on Facebook and LinkedIn and my friends began to subscribe, at which point a good friend told me that he thought he learned more about me by reading the blog than he ever knew about me from our 8+ years of friendship.  People started e-mailing me to write certain topics, and friends started asking when my next post was going to be, and the pinnacle was when a Fraternity brother of mine was told to read my blog as part of his internship.

It soon stopped being fun, and it became expected that I write.   I kept trying to outdo myself for my friends and family, to constantly impress them instead of writing what I really wanted to write.  I became scared of letting them down, and instead of I using this fear to motivate me, I shut down.

For those of you who posted or e-mailed me about my absence, I very much appreciate your concern, and I am back to writing.

Related posts:

1. The Art of What Not to Post

I’d like to think I’m a decent writer, I know some of my connections may be a stretch sometimes, and my ideas don’t always flow, but I try.  Some of my posts have been much bigger hits than others, but that’s the way it goes!  I’m just thankful that people have actually found me!

Eventually Ryan Paugh of Employee Evolution found the site and invited me to be a somewhat of a syndicated blogger at his new start-up Brazen Careerist, which he co-founded with Penelope Trunk (Author of Brazen Careerist, the book) and Ryan Healy, also from Employee Evolution.  So that is what the large B on the right is for.  Brazen Careerist is an awesome site with tons of Gen-Y Bloggers covering everything from life, to money, to careers.

Now I am honored to say that I have been listed as a top 10 Gen-Y Blog by people I have never met, nor do I have any connection.  Their goal was to include marketing related Gen-Y blogs, which I am not…but according to them:

“While you are not are a marketing blog, we both feel that you are sharing something unique with the millennials, and God knows our generation needs all the financial advice we can get.” 

Amen.  They are kind of harsh to Y&F on their website though, but I must admit, I’ve been in denial, I now must own up since someone actually wrote it…my site is ugly and is hard to read (not an issue if you are subscribed to an an RSS Feed or E-mail Feed).  I will be revamping my site in the relatively near future, so keep your fingers crossed.  And if anyone is good at that type of thing and would like to help please contact me (daniel [at] this website dot com).

Regardless, I am honored to have been included on the list, and I sincerely thank Jess Neill and Ryan Stephens for including me!

Also, if you feel so inclined, I’d appreciate a vote on their site!  Or if you like one of the other blogs there, feel free to vote for someone else, Employee Evolution is on their, and I almost voted for them, but I figured a little self promoting couldn’t hurt .

Related posts:

1. Thinking Aloud
2. An Open Farewell Letter To My Co-Workers
3. The Art of What Not to Post

First off, I would also like to thank you for stopping by, it’s been two weeks, and I have had over 250 page views! OK, I really don’t know if that’s good or not, but celebrating this little milestone makes me feel good! I’ve also gotten a few nods on some websites from people who apparently like what they see, which is very exciting for me.

I have changed the tag-line to add business to the blog, because business is a passion of mine, and I don’t know how I could not incorporate it when writing about personal finance. Most of my business related posts will also be entrepreneurial to help keep it more interesting.

We haven’t earned any extra income that I spoke about in my first post.  But we have thrown around some great ideas that I know we will be pursuing.  I might give tutoring a whirl, and Mary and I are both going to get certified to be personal trainers, though she will make a much better one than I will.  (If anyone knows of any good personal training certification programs, please leave a note in the comments or send me an e-mail through the contact section.) 

I’ve also toyed with writing a business and personal finance column for a community newspaper, it’s something I think I’d be good at, they are my two passions, and I really enjoy writing, plus I could use it to promote Y&F. 

Another idea is my pet product that I want to develop a prototype of this weekend.  If it works for Lexi (our 2 year old Lab) I would love to see how far I can take that!  

Between writing posts, running, and working my day job, I have been able to stay very busy, which has proved to be a blessing to me.  Before I started the blog, and before I was running and working out 4+ times a week, in my spare time I would watch TV and surf (shop) the internet.  Now that I’m busy, I’d be willing to say I have definitely cut down my spending, and my mind doesn’t feel as numb! 

-Daniel 

Related posts:

1. The Playful Entrepreneur
2. The Art of What Not to Post
3. The Party Always Ends