From the creators: “The apartment rental experience is broken. Let’s fix it. With RentHackr, you’ll see how much apartments are currently rented for, use tools to discover track your best apartments and see ahead of time what apartments will be available.”
The site is already growing in NYC, but the best results have yet to come, because the more people who join, the better the system works. (via RentHackr: Find the Price of Apartments Nearby)
I love it when a startup comes along that shifts the balance of power back towards the consumer!
Source: thenextweb.com
npr:
This 14-Year-Old Girl Just Bought A House In Florida
When a 14-year old can afford to buy a home, does that mean home prices have hit bottom? Willow Tufano is a child of the housing collapse. Her real estate agent mom scrapes together a living in Florida by selling foreclosed properties. Willow found her own niche scavenging abandoned washes, dryers and furniture from her mother’s properties and selling them on Craigslist. In just six months, Willow saved enough money to buy a two-bedroom fixer upper for $12,000. -Chana Joffe-Walt (Photo by Chana Joffe-Walt/NPR)
(via teamproctor)
Source: NPR
The things we fear are probably feared by others, and when we avoid them, we’re doing what others are doing as well. Which is why there’s a scarcity of whatever work it is we’re avoiding. And of course, scarcity often creates value. The shortcut is simple: if you’re afraid of something, of putting yourself out there, of creating a kind of connection or a promise, that’s a clue that you’re on the right track. Go, do that.
Seth’s Blog: Fear, scarcity and value
Awesome thoughts from Seth. Do what others are afraid to do.
Source: sethgodin.typepad.com
Dismissing an idea is so easy because it doesn’t involve any work. You can scoff at it. You can ignore it. You can puff some smoke at it. That’s easy. The hard thing to do is protect it, think about it, let it marinate, explore it, riff on it, and try it. The right idea could start out life as the wrong idea.
Source: 37signals.com
Ask an Expert: 'Shark Tank' judge on being an entrepreneur
He arrived in Halifax, Canada, on a boat with his parents after escaping communism in the former Yugoslavia. As he says, he had but “one suitcase, few prospects, $20 and no understanding of the English language.”
Starting out delivering newspapers and waiting tables, Herjavec launched a computer company from his basement, became an entrepreneur, and eventually sold one of his businesses to AT&T and another to Nokia for $225 million.
If you aren’t watching Shark Tank, you’re missing out on an invaluable crash course lesson in business negotiation.
Everything that is a big deal today was once unknown.
Just because people aren’t paying attention to what you’re doing now doesn’t mean they won’t take notice at some point. Keep at it, and great things can happen.
Source: helpink.org
Taking Risks
There’s no question that successful people take what appear to be risks along the way to get to where they want to go.
In reality, though, they are hardly taking risks at all in their own mind.
It’s not because they are completely blind to the potential pitfalls of their decisions. Rather, it’s because they have put so much thought and research into their decisions that they eventually become fairly certain of the outcome.
At that point, they are no longer gambling. They are working the system.
Do your homework. Work the system.
Would-be entrepreneurs who want to have a better work-life balance are in for a rude awakening. For at least the first few years, you may be on the job at all hours. If a customer has a problem in the middle of the night, you are the one who’s getting up to address it. And if the company goes under, you are solely accountable for that failure, sacrificing your financial livelihood in the process.
These days, the traditional business world gets a bad rap. But there are some highly valuable aspects of regular jobs that we don’t think about until they are gone. These are the three P’s: peace, prestige and perks.
Starting a Business - The Romance vs. the Reality - NYTimes.com (via amexopenforum)
If you think working for yourself makes up for these negatives, then you’re a candidate to run your own business. If not, you may be better off in Corporate America.
Source: amexopenforum
Eras
For every era that ends, another is just beginning. Are you creating something in your garage that is going to change the world? If so, we can’t wait to meet you.
Calling all personal finance bloggers!
Do you run a personal finance blog on Tumblr? I want to hear from you! Leave a note so I can follow you back.
How to Make a Living on a Crafting Hobby: 3 Etsy Entrepreneurs Tell All
When and why she quit her day job: August 2009.
Glenn saved up enough money to live for a year before relocating from Spokane, Washington, to Denver, Colorado. “I had crappy jobs before I moved,” Glenn says, “and I didn’t want to go back to that. I told myself, ‘If I can just make it on Etsy, I don’t have to go back to Kmart.’”
Source: mint.com
