10 Quotes on Hard Work

Hard work pays off. Take that in mind. If you want to be better in life, persistence and the determination to improve will make you want to really work ward to improve your situation. Here are 10 inspirational quotes on why you should never stop from working hard and from giving your best to become the better you. 

Work hard and strive for success.

Hard work is all you need to get rid of hard luck.

Work hard and you'll achieve what you desire in life.

Success comes if you won't give up.

You won't succeed unless you give it a try.

Hard work plus good intentions are recipes for
success.

Set your goals, priorities things and focus your efforts on what
you want to achieve.

Grab every opportunity that comes your way. 

Nice words from Thomas Edison.

Try and try until you die?... No... Succeed :-) 

4 Advantages of Choosing Home-Based Freelance Jobs

There is beauty in freelancing and in working home-based.
Image: kozhicode.olx.in

Many people nowadays choose to go freelance and do their jobs home-based rather than be employed in a traditional office environment. The main reason for this, of course, is the bigger compensation they receive than being in traditional work setting. But aside from this, are there any more benefits and/or advantages in working home-based or freelance? Below are just some of the advantages freelance workers enjoy.

Flexibility in time and schedule

Most freelance jobs are given with a specific deadline in mind, saying so, it is up to the worker to manage the time completely and wisely to complete the job on or before the given deadline. With this, they can do the work at any time of the day or night, attend a party, watch movies, go shopping—as long as the project is done and ready when the deadline comes. With this also comes the benefit of having more time to spend with the family as they can adjust their working schedules according to their needs, so long it does not affect their given deadline.

The Life of a Young Entrepreneur - A Documentary

Wanna know the secrets of the young and highly successful? In this hour-long documentary, let's take a sneak peek into the lives of budding American and European webpreneurs. It contains interviews with the founders of Vimeo, Soundcloud, Kiip, InDinero, Dropbox, Foodspotting and many others who talk about how they started their company and their lives as an entrepreneur. 

Entrepreneur Success Stories - Custom Made Hand bags by Hoi Bo

Learn how one man's passion for creativity brought him success. Here's the success story of bag designer and maker Hoi Bo.

 

Managing Your Monthly Salary Wisely: 4 Hints and How-Tos

Manage your salary well and you'll never have to worry
about a dime again. Image: idiva.com

Some people, despite having a stable job, find it hard to manage their personal expenses and monthly salary so as not to starve. Some call their lifestyle as “living from pay check to pay check.” But can this be avoided? Yes, with some personal discipline and some helpful hints. Here are some tips that you can use to wisely manage your personal monthly finances.

Save and spend

Most people, upon receiving their salary, spend parts of it and save what is left; however, that is not wise at all. What if there is nothing left for you to save? One good thing to do is allot a portion of your salary as savings—and never touch it no matter what, unless necessary—and the remaining part of your salary to spend. For example, allot a quarter of your salary as savings and three-quarters of it for your monthly spending.

On Unity, Liberty and Charity

Adapted from Miracles, the official publication of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Chaplaincy, West Visayas State University Medical Center, vol. II, 39.
Our life and faith challenges us to be ready to experience tough things and not just peace and tranquility. It even means quarrel and misunderstanding within our homes and families. Living a straight and dignified life demand openness to cruel encounters beyond just sweet talk and friendly communities. There is no better way to become better humans than to confront tensions that arise and learn the hard lessons in life. St. Augustine has enlightening thoughts about this reality: “In essential things unity, in nonessential things liberty, in all things charity.”
Liberty
Diversity is a fact in society. We are different from each other and since choice is the very essence of man’s dignity, oppositions and contradictions will be at the crossroads of our mission. Many will not approve of what we do and there will always be disagreements in our point of view. But St. Augustine’s words are gentle reminders that there are differences that we have to let go because they are trivial matters. According to William Coffin: “Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without.”
Unity
In the midst of divisions, where do we stand? Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” In essential things, in means we have to go beyond the petty things differences but instead focus on life changing reasons. This will never be defined by how deep the unity is but rather how noble he causes are. Thieves could be excellently united but this does not make the objective admirable. The true essence of unity means having the guts to go against the pressures of the majority and the resolution to withstand the compelling voices of the loud and the rowdy. It is about having the spirit that will awaken our commitment to hold on and keep our courage and dedication despite the high stakes and unfavorable odds. It is to confront division with truth and battle malevolence with goodness.
Charity
One adage puts that love conquers all. In all things charity means being guided by love in every decision that we make. In his book The Prophet, Khalil Gibran writes: “When you love you should not say ‘God is in my heart,’ but rather, ‘I am in the heart of  God.’” True love is all about the willingness to die for the beloved. The blindness of the lover which we casually converse about is not about poor judgment but rather a perspective that we fail to see as spectators

10 Practical Quotes to Achieve Financial Freedom

Do you feel like it's really impossible to straigthen up your finances? Is saving money really that difficult? Is planning for your future making your stressed? Don't worry. It's fine. Set your mind straight to your goals, focus on your dreams of a financially-stress free life and you'll end up achieving financial freedom. Check out our 10 practical quotes to achieve a life of bounty and financial bliss.

"A big part of financial freedom is your heart and mind free
from worry about the what-ifs of life." - Suze Orman

Do something today that your future self will thank you for.

Four quotes from Warran Buffett

Money can't think and decide if it wants to be
good or evil... People do.

Start each day with a grateful heart.

Keep calm it's your payday. (It's OK to) Do
your happy dance and amp-up
your financial future!

If you don't build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs.

Too many people buy things they don't need with money
they  don't have trying to impress
people they don't even like.

Free yourself from debt today.

Choose a job you love and you will never have to work another day.

The Independent Contractor: It’s All About Financial Freedom and Professional and Satisfaction in Freelancing

What's inside the mind of a freelancer?
Infographic: mediameerkat.com

There are over 16 million independent workers in the US today. More than 20 million are forecast to join the freelancing workers before 2013 ends.

Alternative workers accounted for $626 billion in personal income in 2010 or about $1 in every $8 earned.

Who are these freelancers?

47 percent of them are male, 53 percent female; 48 percent or over 7.78 million are gen x-ers; 30 percent or almost 4.75 million are baby-boomers; 12 percent or nearly 1.9 million are gen y-ers; and 10 percent or roughly 1.5 million are matures.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 82 percent of independent contractors prefer an independent or alternative work arrangement to being an employee; 9.1 percent would prefer an employment arrangement.

5 Steps To Achieve Financial Freedom

Financial freedom is within your reach! Image: Ironshield.ca

Financial freedom doesn’t come easily. It comes with hard-work, discipline and the determination to break free from the trappings of materialism. Most of us are dissatisfied with our income and want to earn more.

Sure, there’s nothing wrong with working hard to earn more. But truth is, most of the time, it’s not our income that’s the problem. It’s how we actually spend it! And if we don’t know how to properly manage the money we have, then we can expect to tread the path of financial stress.

Whether you’re earning a five or six-figure sum in one month, if your lifestyle inflates together with your paycheck, you’re still in serious trouble! The key is changing the mindset.

The Faithful Servant: Inspiring Thoughts About the Employer and the Employee

Adapted from Miracles, the official publication of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Chaplaincy, West Visayas State University Medical Center, vol. II, 38.


Image: GetaCoder.com

The relationship of the master and the servant is very crucial in getting things done. In any organization many success stories could be attributed to the quality of service born out of this connection. We hear many stories of kindhearted masters and good for nothing servants or cruel bosses and faithful employees. Indeed, it is a very complex reality that demands a thorough examination and profound reflection that instead of confronting the “who’s to blame” dilemma we rather try to examine our roles because we can be both the master and the servant.

Character

Character is about doing the right things even if no else is watching. It is about the consistency in us with or without the peering eyes of others. We will be defined not in the presence of the crowd but it ins absence. The cliché about the cat and the mouse is proven in the different levels of the working environment. We want to please those who are at the upper level of the bureaucracy but climbing the corporate ladder could also be short lived because ability may get us to the top. It really takes character to keep us there.

4 Ways to Effective Web Content Writing

Image: Money Diver

There are a host of jobs available for someone who wants to parlay a career into the field of freelance online writing. If you have the creativity to weave words into thoughts, if you have at least the basic grammar skills, and eye to spot and edit errors, then, thousands of long-term jobs and short-term gigs are awaiting you. But not everyone who wants to build a career as an online writer is lucky enough to withstand the competition and the great demands of scrutinizing clients. It’s a tough world out there, too! So how do you make sure that you deliver the quality article that will wow your clients and your readers? Read on and find out.

1. Master the skills of writing

Writing isn’t for everyone. If you can speak spontaneously, that doesn’t mean you could write spontaneously as well. But don’t worry writing is a skill that you can hone. Make it a habit of scribbling words into thoughts. Start by writing an article of 300-400 words every day. Schedule a time when you feel like you’re really conditioned to do so. It’s difficult for a starter, but once you get hold of it, you’ll find it easy to compose one. Sooner or later, you’ll be surprised to know you can actually write 3, 4 or even 5 pages every day.

7 Small Business Marketing Strategies

Is it possible to propel your business to the top of success? It is! In this video, online marketing guru Stefan Boyle shares with us seven marketing strategies that are tailor-suited for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to help them boost their sales and profits. 

Steve Jobs Explains the Rules for Success

How did the amazing Steve Jobs built Apple and a huge fortune for himself? Check out this video!

Google Update - Panda and Penguin Explained

What is Google Panda and Penguin? SEO Josh Bachynski gives us a comprehensive lecture  the updates by Google Panda and Penguin and how your website can survive the challenges that these updates pose.

Teen Millionaires and How They Did It

They're young, not-so-wild, and free... and very rich! How did these teens amass million-dollar fortunes? Check out this The Morning Show clip and learn and from the young fortune-making experts.

Use Facebook and Twitter Responsibly

Think before you click. Image: Dreamstime.com

Facebook and Twitter are very user-friendly, which is why billions of people around the world are staying hooked to these social networking sites every second, every minute, every day. They’re very easy to use. Just log on, type your thoughts, hit post or share and everyone gets to read it!

Depending on how big your following is, thousands of people will instantly see it. The Library of Congress actually files every tweet you make, while your Facebook posts are actually cataloged into the Open Graph Search.

There’s no doubt that social media is today’s leading platform of communication. With that, if someone posts something on his profile and you’re an influencer or leader, don’t be surprised if your friends and followers will like, share and comment as much as they stay hooked up to your blog posts, magazine columns, newsletters or books. 

In fact, social media posts are taken even MORE seriously because people are more personal on social media. It doesn’t really matter if you’re a best seller. If you’re arrogant and bossy and your posts show your attitude, you’re bound to getting your reputation destroyed.

Thoughts about the Seminar on Information Management and Information Center

All the participants had a great time listening to the speakers.

Last July 27, I had the opportunity to attend the Seminar on Information Management and Information Technology organized by the Philippine Library Association, Inc. (PLAI)—Western Visayas Regional Librarians Council (WRLC). The organization is headed by Mr. Stephen Alayon, Information Specialist of Southeast Asia Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, himself a highly-acclaimed personality in the field of librarianship. The event was hosted by Central Philippine University’s Henry Luce III Library under the stewardship of its director, Dr. Melda Estember. 

Write a Professional E-Mail in 10 Easy Steps

Writing an email is very easy. Image: Contactually.com

Sending out email has become part of our everyday existence. We email friends all the time. But there’s really a big difference between writing an email from writing a professional email. What is it? Professional emails are always compelling and effective. Here are our 15 simple but profound tips on how to make your email more interesting and sophisticated, making you an effective online conversationalist. 

1. Keep your email objective-driven

Why send him an email for the first place? Emailing for no reason at all is like putting yourself at an embarrassing situation. It’s like beating around the bush. Organize your thoughts and never let confusion over-rule your brain. Keep your intentions clean and you’ll stay focused your email that way.

2. Be Straight to the Point

Stop from being prosaic. Skip the meaningless intros, don’t use stuffy words but be wise all the time. In emailing, “less is always more!”

3. Always Put Good News on Your Email

Why would someone waste his time reading your email? Simple. Because you have good news for him. Whether it’s all about freebies, discounts or huge bargain sale, if you don’t make it look like it’s a good news, it’s worth nothing for the reader. 

Inspiring Quotes to Live By

Feeling down or low? Here's some inspiring quotes to boost your spirit and renew your zest for life!

Why It’s a Waste of Time to Use Odesk, Elance and Other Bidding Sites

Don't waste no time on freelance bidding sites. Image: Flickr

If you are a startup or writer, you will always ask yourself: "Which freelance bidding site should I use?"
Elance? Odesk? Or Freelancer?

Actually, it isn't worth spending your time and hard work on these sites.

Why?

Rates for writing jobs on these freelance bidding sites are way, way low. In fact, any decent writer won’t want to get paid at least lower that $5 for a 300-word project. 

Aside from the fact that rates are ridiculously low on these sites, take note you also have to bid for jobs; even though you'll be paid dimes.

Benefits of Hiring an Online Coach: Why Seek the Help of an Expert

Get the help of an online coach so you cal build your own online business empire.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

It is not easy to compete with several companies that have already started their operations online for quite some time. If you are to go head on with them, you will end up as a loser. It is like going to a battle without weapons. The good thing here is that you need not come to a fight without anything on your side. You can go for an online coach so that you will be guided from the start until the end.

Online coaches are experts in online marketing and internet business. They know exactly what should be done so that aspiring online business owners to compete well in this very cruel market. They will also be there to help beginners get through the obstacles as a beginner. Take note that these experts will not be called experts for nothing. They have gone through a lot in this field. Hence, they were able to establish a good name and eventually deserve to be called experts.

Another benefit of these online coaches is that they will help beginning business owners, lessen their expenses. Of course, when everything will be done on a trial and error basis, there will be more expenses incurred. However, with experts on your side, you will just go a straight direction. This means that you will not go through a different path and spend more.

4 Types of Funds You can Live Without: Saving and Investing that Make Sense

Saving and investing is key to a prosperous future.
Image credit: Prosperity4Kids.com

If you are planning for a less worrisome future, you will really be troubled at the start because you have to consider so many things. Indeed, saving and investing are never easy, as much as it is difficult to make money. But, hey, it’s your future that’s at stake here and you just can’t afford to resort to your credit card when hard times hit. And, by the way, credit is the number one enemy of any wise, budget-savvy, so as much as you can, avoid using it. Or, better yet, get over it. Throw it and cut your credit card line. Even if you’re not using it, you still have to pay a minimal sum for it. And just imagine paying something for nothing. That something can be set aside for savings and investments.

Now, you have four types of funds that you just can’t live without. Others say five, some say six. But let’s stick to the four most essential: emergency fund, health and health insurance fund, educational fund and retirement fund. Saving for them is really important. They’re not just an option. They’re you’re necessity if you don’t want to stress yourself when it’s time to pay your child’s tuition, or an accident happens, or retirement time comes.

5 Steps for Great Keyword Research: Tips from Matthew Davidson

Keyword research is highly essential for any successful SEO campaign.

There's no question that keyword research is an all-time essential strategy for any SEO campaign. After all, Matthew Davidson quips that anyone who wants to attract new visitors to his website must start with thoughts of keywords behind his back.

Coming up with the right search terms for your SEO efforts is "the most important thing that you can do to ensure that you have success on the search engines." With no keywords, no SEO campaign is bound to succeed. Remember that searchers will always type a set of keywords on Google's search box. That's why identifying what are the top keywords that these searchers use are essential because you need top placement in search engine results so searchers can notice your website. This all boils down to coming up with a keyword-based content marketing strategy to boost traffic to your website.

Now, here comes the need to conduct the right SEO keyword research. This does not take too much time, but the end result is great because it helps you narrow down your choices of keywords only to those that are highly-researched, eliminating "the risk of targeting search terms that either have no search volume or are so competitive that the search terms will be nearly impossible to get into the first page of Google," writes Davidson.

Money matters: You are still liable of paying your credit card debt even if your bank shuts down

Even if your bank closes down, you still have to pay your credit card debt.
Image credit: allieddebtconsolidationloans.com

You hold a credit card from a bank that failed. What’s going to happen to your account?

When one bank fails, another bank takes on an existing credit card account. But you need to realize that the bank is not required to keep offering you that card. It will first investigate your account and decide if you are a good credit risk. And consider this, one of the reasons that a bank fails is that it was too lenient about extending credit, it stands to reason that the acquiring bank may not want to keep your business.

Bottom line? If the bank thinks that you are a sort of credit risk, your credit card should be shut down.

Another question. Now thatg your bank has failed, do you still need to pay off your debts?

Of course you have. There’s no way that you’ll ever get out of your personality responsibility. You made the charges, so you’re responsible to paying them up. Keep paying anyway. But make sure to keep your receipts. While the transition to your new bank may be seamless, but you can never tell.

Online Marketing Coaches Help Online Marketers Tap the Market and Build a Successful Online Money-Making Business

The internet holds so many promises of fame and fortune, but not too many are lucky enough to succeed, let alone meet their expectation of monetizing their online-money making efforts. While a few are lucky enough to hit the jackpot, a lot of wanna-be technopreneurs lag behind failure and disappointment. If you are one of those who faced setbacks in launching their online businesses, don’t worry. It’s not the end of the world, so much more the end of limitless opportunities that online marketing has to offer. Remember, the internet is replete with thousands, probably, millions of opportunities that you might grab sooner or later. If you are finding trouble of bringing luck to your side, perhaps, what you need is consult an online marketing coach.

But why get an internet marketing coach?

Remember that much to your desire to win it big yourself, your experience—or at the very least, your expertise—might not be enough to drive enough traffic to boost your sales. These online marketing gurus have all the years and industry background that made them the people to reckon with. They don’t just offer words of advice for the sake of letting you know that they know more than you do.  They’re like you. Once, they’ve been dreamers.

Why You Should Build Your Business Around something that You Love Most: Tips from Martha Stewart

I have always been a Martha Stewart fan, and when I grabbed a copy of her book The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success As You Start, Build, or Manage a Business, I can’t help but sink myself into it. She writes that if you really wanted to run a successful business, it pays that you build it around what you love doing most. Just take a look at her. She loves keeping houses clean. She loves cooking. She loves gardening. She loves making craft. She loves renovating and decorating old houses. She great at them and she made millions because she monetize what she was most passionate about.

"Build your Business around something that you love--something that is inherently and endlessly interesting to you," she writes.

Money Matters: It’s More Fun To Save Money

It's more fun to save money

A lot of people think they can’t save because they need every penny. Wrong. Remember a penny saved is a penny earned. By and by, you’ll be surprised how those small expenditures have racked up into huge amount over time. Try this: Write down everything you spend—for your Starbucks coffee, eat-out at McDonald’s or even your cellphone load. Do this for two months and you’ll see where all of your hard-earned cash is going. Then, you will start to realize you have actually spent more on the things that you don’t need. You’ll also realize that you can stash away money at the extras and put that money into savings.

It may seem difficult to save money, especially if it's your first time to be very serious with this habit. But remember that how you save money has so much to do with how you determine your financial stability.

Anytime you plan to spend money, but you’ve second thought that you really don’t need to or found ways to get the things you want without ever spending a dime (buying brownbagging lunch instead of buying at the cafeteria or borrowing a book at a library rather than buying one), set that money aside for savings. Once you’ve accumulated, say, P5,000, you can already invest this via stocks and mutual funds. Yes, you can invest in stocks and mutual funds with at least P5,000 at hand. Click here to see some of the best dividend yielding stocks in the market.

Money matters series 2: low-interest credit card is not a substitute for an emergency fund

You have this low interest credit card which you do not use and it’s there only for emergency purposes, like you really don’t have the cash but you need to purchase something very important, like medicines. Now, you’re worried that if you sell it, you might get charged with a high interest rate.

What do you do?

Start by building a real emergency fund. Credit card will never help you. Now what happens if you can’t pay for the balance? You will only put yourself deeper and deeper into debt.

An unpaid balance where there once was none makes a credit card company nervous. It can also make other credit card companies you have accounts with nervous. This will lead to your credit card limit being cut and the rise on your credit card’s interest.

The only solution is to stop using your credit card and start building a savings account where you can stash away money for emergency purposes. 

What I want to do before I die

I want to enjoy life to the fullest

Just some random thoughts… what if I found out that I have six months to leave an God appears to you and tells you you will be granted three wishes before you die. Now, what’s that gonna be. Perhaps, you would panic and tell Him to come back some other time because you want to think it over. Well, if He asks me, here’s what I’m gonna tell Father, dear:

Online money making made easy with Writer Bay

In his book Teaching Writing Online: How and Why, Scott Warnock was very nice to point out that online writing has loads of benefits to offer. I have been working at home since August 1, 2010, and believe me, I find it easier and more comfortable to work this way than get myself trapped in an office environment. For someone who’s control freak as I am, it’s liberating to know that I can make money even if I don’t have to go to work. I can work as much as I want and anytime I want. I am an early morning person, so, I really find it a delight to start working at 5 or 6 in the morning. I do take afternoon naps, I would to that for about an hour or two. If I am in an office, I can’t do that. But because I am working at home and I got no boss or office mate to watch every move that I make, I have no worries. Likewise, I am in control of where my career’s heading to. I can take as many work as I can, then outsource some to others. In that way, even if I am not working (which I rarely do), I still get the guarantee that the tasks get done on time.

Last year, I discovered Writer Bay. It’s an online academic writing website that gives excellent opportunities to stay-at-home writers like me. What I find great about Writer Bay is that they offer excellent fees to writers. The opportunity to bid makes it more competitive, too. The topics are wide ranging and various, so if you’re someone who’s adept at writing different topics, then, you have more chances of getting assigned.

Money Matters Series 1: The case of a cancelled credit card: What to do

What happens to you if your credit card has been cancelled?

What do you do? First, try to pay off your debt as soon as possible—and get out of it! The lower your balance, the lower you’ll have to worry. It will ultimately do you a lot of good if don’t have any credit card debts at all.

There are two scenarios that you are most likely to encounter with a cancelled credit card. First, how will it affect your credit-to-limit ratio and, second, what happens to the interest rate of your unpaid balance.

In most cases, with revoked credit cards with unpaid balance, the credit card company will automatically increase your interest rate by up to 30 percent. If you pay only the monthly minimum, you’ll never get out of the debt on that card. 

There's a reason for being, a purpose for living

How many times have you awaken up from the depths of your sleep simply because you have to? Every morning I would try as my might would permit to get up at 4 or 5, but there would be times when crazy thoughts come into my mind and I would ask myself should ever I?

Why?

Because there’s a reason. I have to… for so many reasons.

I do it for a purpose.. and that’s for my family and all those who need me. Living with and taking care two elderly grandparents, running a small business and working at a library, I have to be as early as a bird to do all that is expected of me.

While a lot of people my age (I’m just 24) fill their hearts out on late night partying, club-hopping, drinking or making the most that our young age and still-vibrant health have to offer, I have to suffice myself on the fact that I am thrusted upon this obligation ever since I was college.