Choices

Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "The history of free men is never written by chance but by choice, their choice." When your today becomes your yesterday, you will look back and realize that that day was a result of your choices and your choices only.

Civil Wars - It had to come to this

My wife and I have been participating in a wall street investment "shoot out" tournament for the past few weeks. We knew that if we continued winning in our respective brackets that we could end up going head to head against each other. Well, it happened. This next week will see us battling each other to see who can grow a $100,000 investment portfolio the largest in one week.

We usually help one another to find the best stocks for our different portfolios. Next week we will be doing our investigative work in secret. It should be interesting. Actually, I think my wife will win by a landslide. She takes greater risks but often sees the greater returns because of it. I am more conservative but able to make steady gains. I'm excited to go head to head with her.

I expect that we will both do well. Come watch our portfolios grow. Better yet, join us in a weekly tournament to test your investment strategies. The tournaments are FREE. We'll set you up with $100,000 virtual dollars that you can invest in the real stock market. Join our community and learn to make money on Wall Street.

Click here for a free membership to BigSmarty Wallstreet.

Look for the Shoot Out Tournament. My ID is EZ Money.

Friday's Finds

It's time for another issue of Fridays Finds. The one day each week when I share with you some of the many unique places I find on the web. The sites listed could vary in content from funny to educational, or bizarre to just plain enjoyable. Some might be commercial sites selling unusual items and others might be freely sharing whatever information they have. I'll include a description with the link to give you an idea of what to expect if I have the time. Otherwise you'll be on your own. But, in most cases you should be able to figure out what to expect by the name of the site although some may surprise you.

So climb aboard, fasten your seatbelts, keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times but please have fun!

1. Animal webcams

2. eBay Auction Sniper

3. Letterpop

4. Worried About Alien Abduction?

5. Create an adventure here.

Thursday's Thinkers

I'm going to make this a regular feature. Every Thursday I'll post at least one, but probably more, questions to get you thinking. Leave your thoughts or comment on others responses. Let's have a dialog! Here's todays questions:

1. You see an elderly woman shoplift bacon at the grocery store. Do you report her to the grocer?

2. What is the "Good Life"?

3. If there anything you care enough about to give your life for it? How would the giving of your life affect the other things you care about?

4. How committed are you to obeying the speed limit?

Office Humor

Just some office humor for Wednesday. I hope you enjoy but mostly I hope your day isn't like this:

Off Track

My life and hence my schedule has gotten off track the past week and a half. I woke up this morning thinking it was Monday and only just realized it's Tuesday. I typically feature an eBay Tips and Tricks column on Tuesdays and I am totally unprepared for it today. So here is some general advice for you eBayers out there.

1. Set up an eBay Store. You'll never achieve the success you want without one. The cost is minimal and even if you don't list store items it will display all of your auction and Buy It Now listings together. This is great for buyers who want to browse.

2. Learn some HTML. It doesn't take a lot of knowledge about HTML to be able to dress up your listings and give them a more professional look. eBay buyers like to shop in the stores and listings that are pleasing to the eye. Make yours pleasing. This is one of my favorite sites to learn some basic html code.

3. I recommend using whatever FREE tools eBay offers. Selling Manager has some wonderful time-saving features and it's free with a Store subscription. Use it! Use the marketing tools that are available on your Manage My Store page. The listing header, Promotion Boxes, Cross Promotion Displays, etc. They will all help to generate traffic to your store and listings!

Good Luck!

Thought for the Day

"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done." -Vince Lombardi