I used to read a lot of personal finance blogs but I’ve stopped because they mostly just make me feel like shit about myself. However, I think what Mrs. Micah is doing is really cool, so I stop by there every now and again. (She does a good job of differentiating herself from many PF bloggers by not being a psycho. Mrs. Micah and I can be friends.)

Anyway, she wrote a post called When Generics Bite Back — Razor of Death, the title of which is good enough that I wish I’d written it. In the post, she basically discusses how a generic razor ate her husband’s face and they’ve struck men’s razors off the list of things that are cool to buy generic. Read More

Let me guess. You can’t afford it.

You’d really love to [start a home business/spend time with your kids/give money to charity/adopt a child from China], you really would, but you just can’t afford it. If I hear that phrase one more time, I’m going to do something drastic.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re lying. You can afford it. You’re just choosing not to. In your case, that could be a wise choice or it could be a stupid choice, but it’s yours and you’re making it.

I could tell you about Christine who spent time hanging out in the upper echelons of homelessness. I could tell you about Harri in Finland, busting his ass and saving like crazy to work from home with his two little boys. Read More

Let’s talk about money, shall we? I mean, we’ve been doing that all week, but let’s get dirty about it. Money is not hard to understand. Earn more, spend less, you’re golden. It’s not exactly rocket science. The problem most people have, though, is that they spend all their time trying to do one of those things, while summarily ignoring the other. Half the world busts their ass to make more money and then promptly spends it all on crap. The other half drives halfway across town to save a nickel on a can of peas, but charges fifteen bucks an hour for their SEO services.

That’s really dumb. Read More

I like risk. Risk and I have spent a lot of time together, and we’ve become close friends. Risk has spent a lot of nights sleeping in my bed, nestled cozily between Jamie and me.

Jamie does not like my relationship with Risk. He thinks we’re too close. He thinks I don’t see Its flaws, the problems It could cause, the havoc It could wreak on our home business. The perfect entrepreneur would be halfway between Jamie and me – someone with a healthy balance. (Maybe we could just have Jack take care of it.) Read More

One of the best ways to avoid the whole living in the gutter thing we talked about yesterday is to create multiple streams of income for your home business. This is a very trendy topic right now and I figured I’d clear a few things up.

In order to succeed using this model, there are two main steps involved.

Step One: Diversify your income streams.

When you are starting out, your diversification involves getting lots of clients. If you run a small business or you are a freelancer and the vast majority of your income comes from one company or individual, you do not have a client. You have a boss.

Lots of clients means lots of checks. If one client flakes out, you’re okay because you have other clients. You make your mortgage payment on time, your wife doesn’t leave you, and everybody’s happy. For now.