Quite some time ago on Aridni I wrote about a dilemma I had in getting a project done.  I didn’t have the technical skill to actually write the software myself and I did not have the time to learn it adequately enough.

Now that I am actively trying to restrict the number of projects I’m working on, I wanted to get these ideas out of my head.  They are not quite as powerful as they were when the ideas were born, but they might be of interest to someone out there.  If you decide you want to take on one of the projects, great!  Go for it.  I’ll even help you with getting hosting.

The three projects are right after the break.  They are ‘Hivemind Snapshot Project‘, ‘Articles of Organization and Operating Agreement Generator‘, and ‘Auto-task generation… thing‘

Hopefully you will find at least one of them useful!

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Whenever you buy anything online, it’s always a good idea to do a quick search for coupons or discount codes. You can often easily find 10% off, 20% off, and free shipping. Many times the values are even higher than that.

With many purchases or just large ones, these discounts can add up quickly. Whenever you are checking out and see a box for a promo code, it’s always prudent to take a quick look for some codes before submitting the form.

You can find some great discounts with Adobe coupons. (Although university students can get very cheap education packages from their campus bookstores) If you need to get a copy of Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Acrobat, or any of Adobe’s other products, then you should check it out

You can get discounts with Kohls coupons or Macys coupons. This could save you a chunk of change, versus shopping at their department stores. And if you wanted, you could even go take a look at the items in the brick and mortar stores beforehand.

Hopefully you will be able to find some great bargains and codes that will save you money today and down the road.

This post has been sponsored by ‘Coupons for Everyone’.

We all have dreams or plans on becoming quite wealthy. The majority of the top 20 are all self made billionaires. How long until we see your name up on that list?

It also gives information on their background and what they are up to.

20 Wealthiest People

I could only guess the top two on the list!

Then again who wouldn’t guess Bill Gates and Warren Buffet?

Picking a piece of property to build on is a hard task. A few pointers my husband and I have compiled that we think are important in the hunt are:

1. Talk to the Planning Department about zoning ordinances, and get a copy of the zoning ordinances

2. Examine the access roads if you’re heading toward the country. Can you get through in the winter? Do creeks need bridging? Landslide potentials or possible trees that might tip? Oh and who OWNS the access roads?

3. Look at surveys and topography maps. Get a survey.

4. Research utilities. This is the biggie. Internet access? What about power? The line itself costs upward of $6-$10/ft. Then you have to burry it. What about water? Is a well feasible? And sewer/septic. That’s a fun one. These issues are so huge in price that it can make the difference between a good investment and a horrible burden.

5. Check for existing easements* (like access roads, power lines, mining rights, etc.)

6. Look for any liens–voluntary and involuntary

7. Any restrictions placed by previous owners that are on record? (Like “thou shall not build a house here ever”)

8. Who holds subsurface/mineral rights? Check for timber and hunting rights, too.

9. How close are you to large operations like airports, slaughter houses, chemical plants, active mines, and polluted/superfund sites? These things can have a huge impact on the enjoyment of your property. If you’re really lucky, an aerial flight in a small plane or helicopter can show you everything you need to see. Otherwise, check out aerial photos.

*An encumbrance is any right or interest in land that is possessed by a person who doesn’t hold title to the land. These rights can lower the value of the owner’s estate, so you want to check on them. Lucky for us, this task is typically pretty easy; the title company does the labor. An encumbrance doesn’t prevent you from enjoyment of your property or the ability to transfer it.

Good luck with your hunt. Or in most cases right now, good luck with the dream!

Last week, I found myself critiquing and tisk, tisking the coffee selections at an organic grocery store. I don ‘t even drink coffee!

But I was in the progress of reading, Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time. I picked up the book to learn about fast-growing startups and found myself picking up a few tips on the best roast and coolest coffee house colors from the Starbucks point of view. So what did I learn (besides the perfect foam spread) from “one of the most amazing business stories in decades”?

There is no more precious a commodity than the relationship of trust and confidence a company has with its employees. If people believe management is not fairly sharing the rewards, they will feel alienated. Once they start distrusting management, the company ’s future is compromised.

In daily life, you get so much pressure from friends and family and colleagues, urging you to take the easy way, to follow the prevailing wisdom, that it can be difficult not to simply accept the status quo and do what ’s expected of you. But when you really believe in yourself, in your dream you just have to do everything you possibly can to take control and make your vision a reality. No greater achievement happens by luck.

To any entrepreneur, I would offer this advice: once you’ve figured out what you want to do, find someone who has done it before. Find not just talented executives but even more experienced entrepreneurs and business people who can guide you. They know where to look for the mines in the minefield. If they have thought and acted boldly in their own careers, and proven successful, they can help you do the same.

One of the most fundamental aspects of leadership, I realized more and more, is the ability to instill confidence in others when you yourself are feeling insecure.

Success is not an entitlement. We have to earn it every day. Just because Starbucks has achieved all its goals in the past didn’t mean that we were immune to mistakes. We had to be in a mode of constant renewal and recognize that the future of our company was not based on what we achieved yesterday. We had to preserver, even when our near-term targets seem out of reach.

So would I recommend this book? I ‘m not sure. The first hundred pages were great; I couldn’t stop reading. Of course, I also don’t know if I’ve ever been in an actual Starbucks, so I was seeing the business as more than a conglomerate giant that is consuming America and the world. I saw the company from the personal and passionate vantage point of the CEO. I enjoyed wearing the rosy glasses. And I enjoyed the constant reflections the stuff you and I can gain from in our own lives.

But then the book started to drag on. I didn’t see so much reflection, just a lot of bragging. The rest of the book took me weeks to finish, and I didn’t get much out of it. The last two chapters wrapped up in the typical “we ‘ll keep working to be the best and live happily ever after”. I wasn’t reading Disney, though!

A lot of people ask Todd and I what Aridni stands for. Guy Kawaski, author of the blog, “How to Change the World“, has an explanation for crazy entity names that don’t necessarily mean anything at all!

A remarkable name for your organization, product, or service is like pornography: It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.