In this week’s Empire Building Kit, Chris Guillebeau interviews Charles Gilkey, owner and inspirer behind Productive Flourishing. The former college professor/military logistics officer shares his journey to becoming a productivity expert for creative types everywhere. He offers individual coaching, productivity products, and writing on various related topics. If you haven’t read my first two posts, go to the links below Empire Building Kit: Introduction Empire Building
From Underwear Gnomes to Empire Building: Start a Business
Do you want to know what I know about starting a business? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nil. I think there’s a thing with different tax forms and maybe some other kind of thing about being my own boss. That is all. Here is a dramatic re-enactment of my own business plan for Cents, Sense & Sensibility (No Underwear Gnomes were hurt in the filming of
Q2 NY Resolutions Update, and Unicorns
Hi everyone! I can’t believe half the year has gone by already – it’s been busy here. I’ve been successful with 90% of my New Years resolutions over the past three months. Check out my resolutions below, I had everything from from making more time with friends and family; to developing better financial habits; to devising a plan to increase income: Resolution 1: I want to
What Grand Theft Auto taught me about finances
By Phil S., part-time contributor and all-the-time husband As long as there have been video games, there have been people questioning their effect on the player and society. Did pong translate into mad tennis skills? Was Pacman an indictment of the Korean war? Is Grand Theft Auto giving our youth sound financial advice? Wait, what was that last one? Yes, hidden not so subtly throughout
To budget or not to budget? No, really, do a budget
Week 2 in Financially Overwhelmed? series You will see several approaches to putting together a budget in blogs, books and television shows. While there are very valuable reasons to track your expenses to show your spending trends; or to assign categories to your spending; for now, we’re going to work on putting together some numbers that are reflective of your necessary expenses. This is, essentially,
Spring Cleaning = Money
It’s that time of year again, spring is around the corner and you’re looking at your closet/garage/kitchen/under-the-stair storage and wondering how it got to be so crowded. It’s time to declutter your home! Never fear Cents’ers, there might be untapped resources for spare cash lurking in those hidden places. That age old idiom “One man’s junk may be another man’s treasure” is just the thing that
Contests: How you can win big and small!
One of the neatest ways I’ve heard to save money isn’t actually about saving money per se, it’s about opening yourself to opportunities from the comfort of your own home- contests! Contests are a unique way to increase your chances to receive any of the weird and wonderful randomness floating around the universe. My best friend introduced me to this concept a number of years ago and she’s won everything