I guess you’ll never know when the creative muse might strike. Most of the time, left-brained folks never really connect with their right side. Or vice versa. …but we’re hoping you’ll be inspired to give it a shot.

Have you entered our poetry contest?

Several months ago, the muse hit me on Aridni when Dolly Pardon starting rocking:

Workin’ 9 to 5 is just your time misgivin’
Makin’ others rich while you’re strugglin’ for a livin’
While others whine on the weekend couch where they all sit,
I’m seekin’ wealth and workin’ hard so I can QUIT.

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

Over the week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the benefits of working for one’s self instead of a 9 to 5 boss. These bloggers really struck a note with me, and I think you might enjoy their works, too:

12-Month Plan to Becoming a Real Estate Investor at Sillicon Valley Real Estate Blog
Summarizing the Wall Street Journal, this article shows you point blank: do these things first. Had I thought about a few of the things mentioned here before I dove into real estate, I might have been a bit better off. Patience vs. preparation…

8 Steps to 7 Figures from DINK
I’ve always enjoyed reading the personalized writing of this DC couple. Their newest book review shares a few lessons on stock investing…
They’ve already started this new strategy.

The Five Ways to Earn Money Part 2 on Pile of Coins
Without even reading the text, you’ll notice two obvious pyramids by Dennis… and notice that most of us aren’t quite in the right place. I love the get-to-the-point style that Dennis uses in this piece. His graphic says it all:

Have a great–productive!–week, and don’t forget to check out our casual poetry contest. Business majors welcome!

In a recent post, how to purchase a rental property, a frequent contributor, Danielle, reminded me of her father’s experience. The real estate agent pushed him to forgo the home inspection so that he wouldn’t miss the hot deal. He took her advice, bought the house, and found himself over his head with maintenance and structural problems. Some things can be fixed; many things can’t.

Know when an ugly property holds potential.

As you purchase properties, start with easy projects. Buy a property that needs a fresh coat of paint, new flooring, and a bit of scrubbing. I can’t stress this point enough: it’s easy to get yourself into more than you can handle, but you have to start simple. Ever see those property flipping shows? The people who always go over budget and over their estimated time are the people who haven’t been in the game for a while; they’re the people who can only envision the quick buck. Focus more on what you’re capable of doing.

As you purchase more properties, you can become more comfortable with bigger projects—fixing a porch, redoing drywall and roofs, updating the electrical. Sweat equity is the way you make money in this business; hiring subcontractors to do projects for you is a huge expense. The liability and workers’ comp insurance alone are out of most restoration budgets.

But is the expense worth it to hire these guys? I guess that’s something you have to calculate for yourself. We’ve hired subcontractors to dig sewer lines, put gas lines in, and install windows. Of course, we’ve also done all of those same projects ourselves once we gained the experience.

Know when an ugly property means you run.

If your first property has too many projects, you’ll get discouraged. You won’t want to be in the business any longer. Projects as simple as cleaning the bathroom sink take five times as long as they do in your own home… that’s why these properties are so cheap. I spent over eight hours scrubbing a claw bathtub once. If every project in the first house is of that magnitude, your “quick project” will be nothing but speedy. Months will roll by… and roll by… and roll by. You’ll start to wonder when you’ll ever be done. And worse, everyone will always be bitter and quick to yell.

I’d never advise someone to skip the home inspection unless that person has enough skill to be a home inspector himself. If you read plumbing handbooks and electrical code books for fun, then you might be on your way to going without the home inspector. We’ve hired a home inspector who did a very thorough job. But like I mentioned in my last post on real estate investing, you’ve got to crawl through the attic and wiggle through the crawlspace yourself, too. (Or have your partner do it! My next point…) My husband found a bit of mold growing in the depths of our crawlspace. Did the home inspector do a poor job? No—our discovery was above and beyond the requirements of his report. Should you perform your own thorough inspection? Absolutely.

Have a partner

As a girl sponsoring poetry contests, you can guess that I’m not one to slip into a one-foot deep crawlspace. Luckily, I have a partner who will. I’ve got someone to carry my 5 gallon bucket of plaster and open jammed windows. But more than anything, I have someone who equally invests himself in the work that interests me. The support system of having someone working with you in your nasty looking property often makes the difference between wanting to work and not wanting to work. A blasting radio while you paint isn’t enough.

The perfect partner has a different skill set than you. But more importantly, the partner has to be as equally committed. Buy those easy-to-do properties first. Your team will grow together before getting stressed out (or divorced!).

Are you a poet? Do you know it? Would you like to win a prize? You can do it, it’s not lies! Check out our Poetry Contest, going on now!

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.