2012 is the year of the Dragon! Do you have an idea for a product that you've been dying to create?  Something you know people would love but you don't have the know-how or the capital to even dream about beginning?  Well... guess what?  You live in the 21st century so you don't need know-how OR money!  One of the latest methods of raising private money for your projects is a concept called "crowd-sourcing".  Basically, if the idea is a good one you can create a summary of your idea, with a video, put it out there for the world to see and offer people rewards (that you will give them in the future) or allow them to pre-order a product before it's made in order to raise enough money to make the product come to life.  One of the most popular websites out there that supports this type of fund raising is www.kickstarter.com.  They have developed a platform that allows people to create "campaigns" for any sort of artistic project or product with any monetary goal for whatever it is you need money for, and people can become "backers" for your idea.  They put up a little bit of money and are allowed to pre-order something or they get some other sort of kick-back from becoming a sponsor.

 

I have recently created a campaign for a dual-language children's book that I am writing and I am offering it on Kickstarter.  The books are not printed, but as soon as I reach my goal (of $2400 for publishing) the books will be printed and shipped to all of my backers.  Other rewards include things like a kids' puzzle with some of the illustrations on it, a printed book tote bag, a mousepad with the book character on it, etc.  But if I don't reach the $2400 goal, all the money is returned to the backers and I don't get to print the book!~  Take a look at this video I made and if you know anyone who might be interested, PLEASE forward it along to them!  The campaign has been on the website for about a week and a half now, and I have already raised over $700 toward my goal.  

 

So if you have a project that you've been wanting to get underway, I would strongly encourage you to check out this website for your own benefit.  Take a look at what is on the site now, get a feel for the things that are being successfully funded, and try to figure out how your product could succeed in this type of campaign.  There are also other crowd-sourcing websites out there like:  www.indiegogo.com 

 

Good luck!

This will be a quick one. If you get movies at Redbox (those big red machines at grocery stores and drug stores) you should know about how to get them for free :)
You can use the codes below when you check out the movie - just press "Enter Code". You still need a credit card but it will not be charged unless you keep the movie for more than one day. Each of these codes will only work once per credit card:

BREAKROOM
DVDONME
DVD4ME


This website has more codes, but the three above I have tried many times without fail. Enjoy!

First of all, don't watch pointless crap television. It's not good for you. Watch a the news and one or two shows that you really like, and don't bother with the rest. It's of no value to you and the progression of your life.

Secondly, if you pick the shows you want to watch and seek them out online you will be much more disciplined about not channel surfing. Most networks are broadcasting their shows online now and they are free to watch. Plus you miss out on lots of commercials. A one-hour show online is really only 40-50 minutes.

Image via CrunchBaseBeats me!!

No but seriously... I don't know. Here's what I do know, however. There's a whole lot of people out there scared of actually going to stores and spending their money. Those same people are coming home and spending time online looking for tips on saving money, self-help blogs to help with depression, political articles to keep up with how the media is portraying the recession... And they're frantically clicking all over the place to try to find peace of mind.

What I'm getting at, is that you should all make a million dollars with Google Adsense.... okay.. easier said than done, trust me. But they do make a lot of sense this year. They appeal to a demographic that is not required to spend a penny and are just looking for help, which is exactly the kind of demographic that is rapidly spreading all over the U.S. and beyond. And I think it will be many moons before companies stop advertising with Google, so we're pretty safe there.

You probably have already done this, but if not, check out www.google.com/adsense to start putting ads from all sorts of companies on your blog.