LearnVest review

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service

http://learnvest.com

You just got yourself a huge performance bonus. Elated, you headed over to some fancy shopping destination to spend a good portion of the amount, telling yourself you deserve the pampering because you had been working too hard. You got yourself some new clothes, shoes, accessories, top-of-the-line smartphone, even got your mom that pair of earrings she has been raving about for a week now.

All in all, it was a day to smile about.

Before you went to bed that night, at the same time you’re imagining a weekend getaway with some friends, you went ahead and checked your bank balance. This time, however, no matter how hard you tried, all you managed to come up with was an ironic little smile: Where did my money go?

The above scenario is a classic example of money controlling you, and not the other way around, which is a surefire way to mess up your financial life.

Millions and millions of people nowadays are struggling financially. Statistics show that three out of every five Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck, and that 46% of the population is carrying credit card debt. Student loans have amounted to a staggering $1 trillion, an amount which is poised to spike up given that more students are seeking better and more expensive educations.

If you’re sick and tired of your current financial status, the state of your credit standing, or have no hopes for a comfortable retirement given how things are going, it’s time to make a change. Easier said than done, yes, but with LearnVest, a four-year old financial startup, you don’t have to make that change alone.

Aside from an app that affords you the ability to efficiently track your expenses, you also gain access to expert advice on portfolio balancing, retirement, estate planning, among others. The advice you get is personalized and tailored to suit your goals and needs.

Alexa von Tobel, founder and CEO of LearnVest, is a former Morgan Stanley trader who quit Harvard Business School in 2008 to launch LearnVest. The site is one of the latest investment advisers to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

LearnVest offers three financial planning programs and pricing structures: Budget Starter, 5-Year Planner and Portfolio Builder. Consultation is free, and with the help of a certified financial planner, you get to choose which program suits you best.

[Via - NicheGeek.com]

Startups Founded By Former Google Employees - VinAudit.com

Who Owns the Future?

5 Risk Removal Strategies To Boost Online Sales

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions 

10 Sites Where Students Can Earn Extra Cash

Yammer, Chatter Alternative Offers Google Docs Integration

How To Manage E-Mail Correspondence In Bitrix24 CRM

The Business Of Pawn - Money Mizer Story

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

http://moneymizerfranchises.com/

Father-son road trips can be powerful and life-changing. But while most excursions wind up at Cooperstown or the Grand Canyon, Robbie Whitten's yearlong odyssey with his dad ended with him behind the counter of a pawn shop--and eventually, at the helm of an empire.

In 1979 the billionaire Hunt brothers were working to corner the market on silver, ultimately driving up the price from $11 per ounce to almost $50 per ounce. That was when Robbie, then 18, and his father, Robert, hit the road, setting up booths in hotel lobbies around the South, buying unwanted gold and silver jewelry and selling it to a smelter. It turned out to be a genius business, and by the end of the year they had 30 teams of buyers crisscrossing the country.

But when the market collapsed a year later, the Whittens found themselves with a warehouse full of jewelry in Columbus, Ga. "We ended up with really nice pieces that were too pretty to melt down, so we bought some showcases," Robbie Whitten remembers. "We decided we didn't want to be in the retail jewelry business, so we said, 'Let's try a pawn shop.' Thirty-three years later, that original location is still going strong, and we've expanded."

The younger Whitten now has seven Money Mizer franchise locations in Georgia, Florida and Alabama; he's preparing to open five more this year, and eight to 10 per year after that. He let us behind the counter to learn how he has built his business.

How do you deal with the seedy reputation of the pawn business?

We've been fighting negative images for years. Pawn shops can be kind of shady, but the reality TV shows have been a big boost to the industry and its reputation. Now a lot of mom-and-pop shops are cleaning up their stores to take advantage of the interest.

There are a lot of new customers coming in who say they've never been in a pawn shop and want to check it out. We don't want them to feel like they're in a pawn shop. On one side we want them to think they're in a fine jewelry store, and in the sporting goods section we want them to think they're in a Bass Pro shop, with a department store in between.

What sets Money Mizer apart?

Our stores are different from about 95 percent of pawn shops. We're almost like a retail store, and a lot more customer-friendly--and we're on the good side of town. Our employees don't have long hair or tattoos running down their arms. We attract more of a white-collar clientele.

Are the upscale customers buying or pawning?

Our loans have definitely increased to the white-collar side. There are lots of guys, like real-estate agents, who were making six figures that are now living on 40 grand. They can't borrow $3,000 or $4,000 from the bank anymore--they just don't make those types of personal loans. The term we like to use in the industry is "underbanked." But these people have lots of nice tangible assets. They might have a Rolex or a $500 Ping driver they can sell.

But people like to shop here, too. Recently we had a lawyer come in and buy a flawless 2-carat diamond from us. Then he took it to a jeweler and had it put in a mounting. We could have done the exact same thing for less, but he said he didn't want his fiancée to know the diamond came from a pawn shop!

You've started an online business, too. How does that work?

PawnConfidential.com is more for the country-club set who don't want to be seen going into a pawn shop. They take a picture of their merchandise and send it to us via our website with a brief description and how much they want to sell or pawn it for. Our appraisers look at it, and if they agree to the terms, we transfer the money to [the customer's] checking account. Once they pay off their loan, we FedEx the merchandise back to them. We're targeting loans in the $500-plus category; in our brick-and-mortar stores, the average loan is $150.


[Via - Entrepreneur.Com]

Startups Founded By Former Google Employees - VinAudit.com

Who Owns the Future?

5 Risk Removal Strategies To Boost Online Sales

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions   

10 Sites Where Students Can Earn Extra Cash

Yammer, Chatter Alternative Offers Google Docs Integration

Bitrix24 announces integration with Google Docs, offers free mobile CRM and video chat, and provides self-hosted versions of its popular free service.

Bitrix, Inc. has announced a major upgrade of its popular online social intranet service, Bitrix24. The changes include integration with Google Docs, release of a ‘drive’ style desktop app, support for WebRTC-based videochat, and multiple CRM enhancements.

“Despite being just one year old and still a beta, Bitrix24 now offers more options and functions than our more established competitors like Yammer, Chatter, Podio, Tibbr and others. Almost sixty thousand small businesses have signed up with our service since its launch last April, which makes Bitrix24 one of the most popular Enterprise 2.0 tools created specifically for the SMB market”, - said Dmitry Valyanov, president of Bitrix, Inc.

Bitrix24 has continued integrating the service with the most popular Google Apps by adding an option to work with documents through Google Docs.It also released Bitrix24.Disk for Windows and Mac – a desktop application that makes storing, working with and synchronizing documents between personal computers and cloud storage easy and automatic.Addition of a Records Management tool means that there is now even greater flexibility in the product for collaboration using structured data and workflow.

The service has also added a Skype-like group and videochat based on the popular WebRTC protocol. The Android and iOS apps have been updated to support the CRM, which will have free invoicing coming next month.

“Even though we initially intended Bitrix24 to be a tool for small businesses, we’ve had several enterprise clients who wanted to use Bitrix24 on their own servers and customize it to better meet their needs. So we are announcing that we have self-hosted versions that support Active Directory, SSO, MS Exchange, Sharepoint Sync, include learning management, and come with API and source code,” – added Mr. Valyanov.

The Bitrix24 cloud service is 100% free to any business with 12 employees or fewer.
About Bitrix24

Bitrix24 ( http://www.bitrix24.com ) is the maker of a high-end intranet available as a cloud-based service. Bitrix24 was launched in beta in April of 2012 and quickly reached the 60,000 sign-up mark, making it the world's leading social intranet provider for small businesses. The service stands out for its extremely well-integrated and robust toolset with over 35 components.

I Started Business In 2013! Cordelia Blake's Story

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

 http://www.ohgoodypartyfavors.com/

I started my company, Oh Goody! Party Favors, in March, and I launched the website in April. We sell affordable, quality party favors -- about $3 to $8 each -- for kids' birthday parties.

I have an 11-year-old and was surprised at the money parents spend on goody bags for guests, and they're just filled with junk. For one of my older son's birthday parties a few years ago, I went online and bought a bunch of unique Beanie Babies from eBay to give out as party favors, and parents just raved about it. That got the wheels turning.

After I had my second son two years ago, I started looking for a career change. I'd had a Web design company before, but that business is so much about building relationships, and I don't have that much time anymore.

I kept coming back to this idea of party favors. I spent the last couple of years writing the business plan and doing the market research, and then I realized that at some point you just have to go for it. My son was sleeping through the night and I had more time and energy to devote to a new business.

I bought my initial inventory and built the website. My startup costs totaled about $3,000. It's been a very slow start, but I'm hopeful that will change after I invest some time and money into marketing.

[Via - CNNMoney.com]

5 Legitimate Sites To Make Money Online

Startups Founded By Former Google Employees - VinAudit.com Review

5 Risk Removal Strategies To Boost Online Sales

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions  

The Frugal Startups - 29 Bootstrapping Resources That Will Save Your Startup A Ton Of Cash

Top 3 Free Domain Name Generators

Googler Startups - VinAudit Review

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

http://vinaudit.com
Finance gurus claim that a brand-new car loses about 20% of its original retail value after the first year. Even after being driven off the lot, as a matter of fact. Still, buying a used car is an investment and should be regarded with utmost consideration, especially since with some used cars, more than the initial amount shelled out, safety and hidden costs can be issues.

In the United States, CARFAX is perhaps the leading platform when it comes to conducting history checks on pre-owned cars. Information provided include vehicle registration, title information, structural damage, accident indicators, odometer readings, service and repair information, among a bunch of other things.

For most people, however, shelling out $35 for information on a car that they might not even buy can be a total waste.

VinAudit.com (TRY FREE coupon) thinks so, too, which is why for just a fraction of the cost CARFAX charges, you get the same car history report from VinAudit.com. David Wu, an ex-Googler and VinAudit’s founder, believes that vehicle history data should really be free, just like the rest of the Internet. His company isn’t quite there yet, but David believes that making vehicle history reports as inexpensive and publicly available as possible is a stride towards that goal.

Through a collaboration with NMVTIS, the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, VinAudit provides easy access to a national database used by law enforcement agencies to fight car robbery in the U.S. This database contains information supplied by state DMVs, salvage yards and insurance companies. With VinAudit.com, users can now be provided with instantaneous reporting on all available records linked to a VIN (Vehicle Information Number).

Depending on the user’s preference, the generated report can be exported as a PDF file, printed out or forwarded to an e-mail address.

If you’re a car dealer, you can sign up for a dealer account and get bulk vehicle history reports for as low as $20 per month or $1 per report. You can also participate in VinAudit’s reseller program as a hybrid affiliate or reseller. This allows you to sell vehicle reports under either the VinAudit brand or your own brand, including full custom integration of raw vehicle data over the Internet through API (application programming interface).

[Via - NicheGeek.com]

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions  

GTD Review: social intranet

The Frugal Startups - 29 Bootstrapping Resources That Will Save Your Startup A Ton Of Cash

Selling (superior) air - Archerment.com story

Top 3 Free Domain Name Generators

Selling (superior) air - Archerment.com story

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

http://www.archermen.com/

Entrepreneurs: John Bleeden, Todd Durston and Berk Wasserman, founders of Archer Air Superiority, a line of air fresheners aimed at male consumers.

"Aha" moment: In 2011 the three colleagues at a Chicago ad agency decided to fill a hole they saw in the housekeeping market. "We're really tuned in to trends, given our backgrounds," Bleeden says. "We wondered why men weren't represented. Each of us contributes to the shopping and cleaning duties at home, and we don't want fragrances that smell like cinnamon-apple pie or spring meadows. We realized we're the guys we should be targeting."

Man caves: Archer Air's first collection of three sprays strives to replicate the smell of "manly places." Hunting Lodge combines scents of stone, gunpowder and "damp timber"; Distillery is inspired by bourbon, with notes of charred oak; and European Sports Car has hints of leather and aftershave.

Getting airborne: The team had visions of wearing lab coats and goggles while testing scents. "It wasn't as glamorous as that," says Wasserman, recalling the tedious back-and-forth with a local scent company. Dreams of being their own best ad client also subsided, he adds: "We thought we'd be able to make ads without anything getting in the way; then starting a company got in the way of making the ads."

Fresh funds: Each of the three invested $1,000 through the development and planning process, then another $5,000 for production, insurance, trademark and web development. They looked at it as an alternative to business school. "People pay a lot of money to learn what we're learning on the job," Bleeden says.

Design scent-sibility: The screen-printed, stocky aerosol cans (with eco-friendly, nitrogen-based propellent) were strategically designed. "It's very manly to hold a steel can and get that instant gratification from zapping it," Wasserman says. Finding a manufacturer willing to work on Archer's small initial order proved difficult until a stroke of luck found Durston sitting on a plane next to a chatty businessman with a connection.

Cost: Last summer the trio hit up stylish retailers in Chicago to carry their product, a process that helped set the $14 per-can price point.

Wafting fragrance: With no initial advertising budget, the three launched an aggressive campaign aimed at building viral interest. It worked: A September 2012 post on the influential men's website Uncrate.com generated $13,000 in orders within five days. The room sprays are now available at ArcherMen.com and at 29 upscale design and men's fashion boutiques in the U.S., Canada and Hong Kong.

Up next: Archer plans to unveil at least one new scent in 2013 and expand to other products, starting with a dish-washing soap called Archer Dish Whiskey. The goal is to go beyond kitsch. "We don't want to be a novelty item. Our goal is to be more of a premium match for consumers," Durston says. "We want to create something that not only smells good but looks good, something you wouldn't mind leaving out on the sink rather than hiding under it."

[Via - Entrepreneur.com] 

Floridian Startup PrePaidAutoClub.com Offers Traffic Ticket Insurance

VHS May Be Dead, But iMemories Found A Way To Make Profit From Old Tapes.

Duda Mobile Takes On iOS And Android

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions 

Social enterprise tools: is an industry in denial?