Back in December when I reviewed  Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, I did not live in a community dotted with a Starbucks at every block, so I have never been to a Starbucks.  I was able to read the book and see the vision Howard Schultz, the CEO, had of the company.  I saw how he wanted the Starbucks image to exist. I wrote my review of his business techniques in the book here.

Now my commute to work passes three Starbucks Cafes, so I decided to check the place out.  My brain carried the image Schultz painted in his book.  The experiences have been totally different.  Yes the employees were great and the coffee was delicious–but it was the other things that were off.  He said they give real cups unless customers ask for to-go cups.  The baristas told me it’s actually the opposite.  They don’t even have enough porcelain cups to accommodate the seats in their shop.  Schultz said his business was green; the places I visited had no recycling for the disposable cups.  The differences between what Shultz said was standard and what I saw were shocking.  But it just goes to show:

A CEO can’t always be in touch with what is really happening in his company.  It’s like a king–does he really know everything his subjects are up to?  There are so many people and so many cups of coffee.

I feel lucky that I read the book before I walked in the coffee shop.  Of course, it means I was disappointed when I walked in while the average person is won over by the experience.  Oh well.  No wonder this book is on clearance at Amazon now.

I thought it might be nice to organize the books that Katie and I own or have talked about here on Aridni.  I’ve started to put together the Aridni Library -click here to check it out- there are still some books that need to go in.  And I’d like to get them linked up to relevant posts later on.

So this is a starting point for that process.  I hope it will become a helpful resource for you as it gets developed more and more.  Pretty soon we’re going to need to get a librarian on staff!!

I’ve moved the new theme for Aridni out of the sandbox and onto the main page.  While this isn’t exactly the final product, I wanted to get it launched as soon as possible.  There will be a couple smaller changes with some color tweaking and minor spacing issues resolved.  As well as some ‘big ticket’ changes.  Primarily with the image on the top left, I’m not liking the weird moon looking shape.

On the right, there is a new feature for Aridni called ‘Bookit!’  With that you will be able to see what books we most recently reviewed and read.

Well, that’s all the news for right now.  Have a good day.

Todd

I’ve started making a list of the posts for Monday. I have determined writing these posts will be no easy task, but of course coming to that conclusion isn’t a big leap.

I am trying to be prepared to write them, but I still have to finish up the new theme that I am working on. So it looks like I am going to have a good part of my evening filled tonight, not to mention the entirety of tomorrow!

Check out this awareness test that I found over at Seth Godin’s Blog.

(Continue reading this article…)

March 24, 24 Hours, 24 Articles, and 1 soon to be struggling with carpal tunnel writer.  It’s beginning to  dawn on me just how extensive this project will be.  I have come up with ideas for some of the posts, and jotted down a few ideas so far.  I want to do the majority of the writing on the 24th.

To many bloggers 24 posts is not a very significant amount for one day.  Then again that is their full time job.  I’m not sure how they don’t get blocked up.  Of course many of them are looking at a newsfeed, commenting on other posts, or bringing up weird stories.  Not that there is anything wrong with this.

My goal is to pack in as much value for you as possible within my 24 posts.  Just 4 days left!

In less than a week, I will be turning 24. Granted this isn’t the most incredible of life’s landmarks, I want to do something different for my golden birthday. With that I am going to do two difficult tasks.

First, I am going to change the look of Aridni. I have had an idea in my head for a new them for a couple of months now. It’s time I finish coding it and get it released. On March 24, Aridni will look quite a bit different. Hopefully it’s for the best.

Secondly, and perhaps quite a bit harder than putting together the theme in one week, I am going to post on the 24th. A LOT. I am going for 24 posts in 24 hours.

To make it fun, I will give away a $24 Amazon gift certificate to a lucky commenter on the this day.

Just in case you haven’t done so already, make sure you are subscribed to the Aridni RSS feed, because you don’t want to miss out on this posting spectacular.

If anybody else wants to join me in the pursuit of a plethora of posts, please let me know and I’ll get a link to your site here.

I need to go stock up on coffee and start stretching my fingers, because the fun is about to begin.

I just went through all of the links in the ‘discover more‘ section and took out quite a few. These of course were the ones that haven’t been updated in months, changed their content dramatically to something completely unrelated, or in one case completly let their domain expire.

With that, the discover more section has been significantly improved. There are some really good sites on there, and now it is even easier to find the gems.

If you are interested in getting your site added to our blogroll, we’d love to hear from you.

Just a quick note that the CNBC million dollar investing challange has begun once again. This time around the prize is actually a million dollars.

In CNBC.com’s Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge, you play the market starting with $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks. Every day you’ll be ranked based on the size of your portfolio, and each week we’ll award a winner $10,000 for earning the largest weekly percentage gain. At the end of ten weeks, the weekly winners, plus the ten highest ranked players - will qualify for THE FINALS.

On May 14th, those twenty street savvy investors start all over with $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks in a brand-new
portfolio. They’ll compete to see who can build the biggest portfolio in just two weeks - it’s a winner-take-all challenge for $1,000,000 (that’s real money!)

So whether you’re in from the beginning or late to the game, have a strong long-term strategy or one solid week, you can make it to the finals for the chance to win $1,000,000!

During the their last game, the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio I didn’t do so great. I mostly stayed at the same level during the whole game. I was ahead a little at the end, but just not enough to win.

If you want to check out a contest where your odds of winning are a little better, make sure you check out our Aridni Poetry Challenge

I always expect my Saturday mornings to be a little groggy. This morning, though, I woke up with a million ideas about wealth and net worth, the good feelings that make me excited to begin my day. The following articles in our achieves can help bring the same freshness to your Saturday.

After all, the weekend is the time to make money for yourself, not your boss!

• Your goals are the engines that move, how’s yours running?
  Think of money from a grassroot perspective. “I want a million dollars” isn’t the same as thinking “This is how I’m going to get my first million”

• I met a millionaire today
  … I never would have guessed it, though. At age 53, she hasn’t worked in years. Read her secret.

• Time: what I’ve learned in my 90 years
  This afternoon, I am meeting with a 90-year-old friend for lunch. He flew into town for an aircraft convention and recertification conference. He shared his wisdom on time with Aridni—lessons about today that we could all benefit from in the path to wealth.

We are having our first ever poetry contest here at Aridni, but with a little bit of a twist. We want to see poems that relate to entrepreneurs, business, and finance. We want to find out how many Bukowski-Buffets, how many Walt Disney-Whitman’s and how many Ralph Walton Emersons are there out there and reading our little site.

We want to see how funny/creative/poetic you can be about money. Any form of poetry is accepted, so if you call it a poem, so do we! We’re looking for creative expressions on money, business, stocks, and just about everything! If we would talk about it on Aridni, then it is fair game.

The contest will go until the end of March, so if you need time to craft a masterpiece, you have a little. However, there is no limit to the number of entries that you can submit. So let your little poetic heart go wild!

PRIZES!
We’re giving away a couple of Amazon gift certificates to the winners.

The winner of the best poem will be given a twenty dollar certificate.
One random entry or trackback will be awarded a ten dollar certificate. Every poem–If you have a website / blog and would like talk about the contest, you’re eligible for the randomly selected price. Make sure to send a trackback to this article.

Rules

• 1. Poems must relate to Aridni topics
• 2. One entry per comment… submit as many times as you wish.
• 3. Contest ends Saturday March 31, 2007.
• 4. Tell others about the contest!

Well, perhaps number 4 isn’t exactly a rule, but depending on the response we’ll be able to host future contests, prizes, and events. We will announce the winners on April 4.

Get out your feathered ink pen and a stack of paper and start crafting some rhymes about making those dimes. Oh wow, I’m off to a good start!

Post your submission in the comments section below. Remember to use a valid e-mail address so we can pass over your prize.

Seems like a lot of people are making money through becoming landlords. Thinking of taking the plunge yourself? Landlords have to put up with a lot of crap… yet I’m finding that the crap may very well be worth the effort if you’re smart and know how to work the numbers. I’ve also written several pieces about how to buy your first house and what to do when considering real estate investments that may be useful to you.

What to look for in a good deal

The best piece of real estate that you can buy follows the rule of tens:

Don’t put down more than 10% on the property

Don’t pay more than 10% interest

Buy at least 10% below the market price

1. Don’t put down more than 10% on the property
The coolest thing about being a landlord is that tenants pay off your property. The entire mortgage is tax deductible. If you don’t have a lot of cash sitting around, use leverage—let the bank’s money make you money. The less money you invest in the house, the more banks carry and tenants pay off.

2. Don’t pay more than 10% interest
Investment properties hold higher interest rates with banks because they’re a bigger risk. Investments don’t hold much sentimental value. If you’re in a pinch, banks know that you’d rather pay off something that matters to you personally—like your own home.

3. Buy at least 10% below the market price.
Rental homes don’t need to be the nicest on the block. And the misfortune of leasing your property is that it’ll probably be in worse shape than when you started. As I said in the point before, you take better care of things that you are emotionally attached to. Since tenants don’t own your property, they’re less likely to be as meticulous about the home’s care. Plus buying undervalue property means that when you sell at value, a few extra dollars will come your way.

When you’re ready to make an offer

The person with the highest offer isn’t necessarily the person who the owners want to sell to. Sellers are interested in the extras. A few of those brownie points that I have found helpful are:

Keep your offer simple

Offer a quick closing

Buy “as is”

1. Keep your offer simple
You can line up a lot of contingencies on a property purchase: home inspection, mold inspection, lead-based paint inspection, bank financing… The list goes on and on. Owners get nervous when you start checking off that list of contingencies. They just want to sell the property! Keep the number of check points smaller; it equals a quicker sale in the minds of an owner

2. Offer a quick closing
Sometimes, a closing can drag on forever. It can take months. Owners have already detached themselves from the home, and they’re ready to move on. They want the money. You know that phrase: a hen in the hand is worth two in the bush? Why’d that line come about? Because we’d rather have less now than wait for more later. People are impatient, which is great for you. Offer less, but offer it now.

3. Buy “as is”
Owners want to sell. But what if the house is filled with problems? The electrical needs some work, the carpet is stained, the windows in the back bedroom are cracked from baseball games. Say you’ll take the house as is! (With a lower price, of course) Be sure to have a home inspector evaluate the severity of the home’s faults if you’re not well experienced. The last thing a seller wants to think about is making all those minor repairs.

It was about a year ago that Katie and I started Aridni, and in the last year we have had some all kinds of articles. Some good ones, some Great ones, and of course some lousy ones. Today I want to highlight what I think have been some of the years best articles for each month in 2006.

1. January - Investing: When can you start? How can you start?

One of the earlier articles from Aridni to help get you going in the stock market. What are the issues and skills you need to be aware of and possess?

2. February - I’ve got a Big Sky Booya coming at ya!

Watching Jim Cramer is like jumping into the stock market. It isn’t easy for the novice, but here are some tips to getting started.

3. March - “Acey said ten percent.” – Why less is more.

I still really like this ideology about investing less to learn more.

4. April - Weekend Homework: Define ‘Value’

What is important to you? How are your actions stacking up to what you hold important?

5. May - Marketing with MySpace

While this approach works out well in theory, it’s a lot harder than my article makes it look. I’ve been trying things out and will certainly post some new ideas about it.

6. June - How you might destroy $1,000,000 dollars or more today.

Do you keep track of your ideas? Tomas Edison didn’t either, until got fed up with losing to many. From then on Tom and ‘the boys’ filled up thousands of notebooks with all kinds of ideas and discoveries.

7. July - Expand your business with “The Three C’s”

What’s the best way for you to set raise the capital needed to increase the output of your business?

8. August - An employee finds a second job. An entrepreneur finds an opportunity.

Katie takes a moment to ask just what exactly is she working towards.

September - Have you ever considered that you are not good enough? With Billions of people in the world, you might not be good enough. By no means does it mean that those who are won’t be willing to work with you.

9. October - Is real estate calling you?

This is an article Katie wrote about some of here experiences and thoughts after spending some time in the real estate market.

10. November - On hiatus for the month!

A little break before it’s back to the grindstone.

11. December - Step back from the obsession with $

Katie gives us some reflections about money and the desire for wealth. What is money, and how does it work?

Katie found some of her favorite posts from the past year and put them in an article called Seeking Goals and Reaching Objectives - THIS YEAR

I hope that we can provide another great year of ideas and inspiration. And as always, feel free to leave a comment or even send a message with our Contact form