First of all, SORRY that I’m been away from the site for so long!  I’ve had little to no time at all to blog.  LIFE HAS BEEN CRAZY!!!

Here is what has been going on, in a nut shell:

Our house was hit by lightning about two months ago and caught on fire.  It is currently being rebuilt!

The private equity and capital markets representation firm that I started 14 months ago has absolutly taken off, we are crazy busy!  We now have 6 partners and an office intern.  Business is outstanding!

The two restaurants have been doing extremely well!

My iphone app is 90% finished, and it is a work of art.  I can’t wait to share it…very soon.

The web development/Hyper-local e-commerce/social media company is getting some significant traction.

My wife is about three months away from giving birth to our fourth kid. 

Anyways, lots of other crazy and exciting stuff going on too, but the big ones are truly the new baby and the house fire.  Crazy stuff, but as they say with a house fire…

When life throws you lemons…squeeze them into a cup, add ice and Vodka

Today I take on my newest Scam-Busters question…Is Online Poker a Scam?

I’ve recently tried online poker at Full Tilt Poker.  Full Tilt was suggested to me by a “poker guy” that I know, and who I believe plays quite a bit.  He told me that if I “bought” $250 of online chips at Full Tilt Poker, that I would receive “matching chips” worth $250.00  SEEMED TO ME LIKE A PRETTY GOOD DEAL! 

IT WASN’T, UNFORTUNATLY FOR ME.

I dropped the $250 that I had paid for pretty quickly…probably stupid to try to learn Texas Hold Um with real money on the internet…but I felt OK about it because of my $250 “Bonus Bucks” from Full Tilt.

APPEARANTLY, I didn’t read the Full Tilt “fine print” well enough.  When I tried to access the Bonus Matching Dollars on my account…there wasn’t $250 there…there was about $6. 

To this day I don’t know why my matching funds were not available, but I think it had something to do with the fact that I didn’t play long enough, AKA I LOST TOO FAST! 

HERE IS WHAT I LEARNED:  Read the fine print, don’t lose your money very quickly and don’t waste your time trying to fine a customer service phone number for Full Tilt Poker.

If you love politics at all, you have got to have a deep respect for the guy who is beating his feet, door to door, to let his neighbors know that he is the best choice to represent their interests. 

In the digital world, this old tried and true political strategy packs more punch than ever. 

Case in point…

Today my wife sends me a text message.  She lets me know a wonderfully nice gentleman named Earl was walking through the neighborhood today, rang our doorbell, and asked for our vote.  He is running for State Representative.  She also mentions that Earl asked what we did for a living…she told him…and wouldn’t you know…I’ve met Earl a time or two. 

This common bond struck up a meaning ful conversation, and my wife became a fan of Earl.  In the digital world of facebook, twitter, four square and the like…suddenly it is easy, and natural, for my wife and I to broadcast to our circle of influence…WE LIKE EARL!

All this to say, IN BUSINESS AND IN LIFE you can never discount the power of the human connection to spark a digital message.  This one easy stop probably will turn into hundreds of impressions for our new friend Earl…and he probably never even thought of that!

Several of the things we’ve looked into and asked for input on still seem scam-like today, while others seem more legitimate after getting comments and feedback from people who support their company or cause.

TEAM CCM may be a scam that I brought on myself. 

Sadly to say, over a year ago, I paid to be a part of Consumer Choice Marketing.  I was paying to become a broker of natual gas service to business customers in Ohio and Michigan.  This seemed like an incredible opportunity for a guy who loves to sell and loves to save people money.  I trusted the gentleman who SOLD ME on the service…but today that same guy is no longer with the company. 

Anyways, things never really played out like I was sold.  While I was selling, we were not able to sell gas against Michigan Gas Utilities in SE Michigan.  This was a big problem for me and others. 

Well, what do you think?  I would love to hear different views.  I’m sure there are folks out there who have made millions selling natural gas…but not me.  There was never enough consistency in the process, and I was never able to build the sales organization that I needed to gain critical mass.  Also, it was very strange to me that the executive who introduced me to the company was simply gone several months after I paid my “utility broker fees.”

Thanks for the input…let’s find out if I was duped!

Simple rule #1 

All that a blog really is is CONTENT…and content has value because there are hundreds of millions of people a day searching for ANSWERS to their questions or solutions to their problems.  I produce content about once a month, and I try to deliver that content as answers to questions.  I consider myself the average joe, and when I google, I ask a questions.  For Example: “What is a good pizza recipe?”

Simple rule #2

It is OK to include advertisements and sponsors near your content!  Google is so good at delivery of relevant advertisments, including adsense ads on your site actually ENHANCES your readers experiences by making it even easier for them to find what they need. 

Simple Ruly #3

Blogging must be fun before it will be profitable.  From day one I was excited about the challenge of making money online!  With the skills that you can acquire online, come economic meltdowns or high water, it is truly possible to make a darn good living by providing content and selling “value” on the Internet…not that is fun to me.

Simple Rule #4

Keep evolving your online strategy.  I believe that the best blog is the one that gets your “feet wet” to the world of online revenue.  For me, this blog has led to full blown e-commerce, iPhone applications, distribution businesses, and my newest venture into the service world of Local Logic.  The world wide web is changing daily, and it is critical to stay on top of the wave!

Part of this journey led me to sit through a three hour marketing presentation by a sales executive for Astonish Results based out of Rhode Island. 

It was an incredible presentation!  Very exciting, and well thought out.  This company had seemed to cover every aspect of marketing your insurance agency in the 21st century.  If this company could deliver on even 80% of what they claimed, it would have been well worth the six figure investment. 

On any big decision like this, I suggest to anyone who will listen, that you take 30 days or so to get over the hype and excitment of a new product, and research…research…research. 

That being said, myself and several others have been contacting Astonish customers to get feedback on weather or not they are happy with the investment they made in Astonish Results. 

The feedback that we have received has resulted in a mixed bag.  We were disappointed that about the first 5 agencies we contacted were very unhappy with the system and more or less felt like they were not getting their monies worth.  The Astonish sales executive suggested that we contact clients off of the reference list that they had provided.  I’m always weary of provided references…I prefer to rely more on random samples of data. 

All that being said, I’m hoping for feedback from anyone who has any knowledge of Astonish Results.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  I would also appreciate any insight into other companies that offer digital marketing solutions for independent insurance agencies. 

THANKS!

Well, I’m about to find out if a good idea and great partners is enough of a foundation in the iPhone Application development world to make for a good investment.

This week, I’ve funded the development of an exciting new iPhone app.  The app is a productivity tool for moms and dads, and is “top secret”!

I admit, I know little to nothing about iPhone applications, but when a good idea rips you out of bed at 4:00 in the morning, the entrepreneur in me has to pay attention.  I’m truly excited to keep you all informed, and to consistently blog about the progress and performance of developing and marketing a new idea for the iPhone App Store…and please don’t hesitate to pipe in if you have some insight or perspective!

Personally, I thought that was one of my finest posts (if I do say so myself).  But alas, I only received 18 comments…not nearly as many as the 65 comments that have been exchanged on the Quicken Loans post.

Anyways, here are my thoughts for 2010, in no particular order:

1.)  Save as much of your income as you UNCOMFORTABLY can!  I know this seem like an impossible and crazy goal, but I took some time last week to plug some family budget numbers for my team of 5, and surpisingly, it appears that if we made some marginal sacrifices, we could save ALOT more money every month than we currently do.  Now I haven’t discussed it with my wife yet, but I believe she will be on board, and that it makes sense to hunker down and become “uncomfortable savers”.  No doubt, we will thank our “younger” selves in the future!

2.)  Place a bet on US stocks.  I believe that over the next 20 years, investing in strong US based companies is going to provide significantly better financial returns than CD’s or Money Market accounts.  Make it a point this year to talk to your financial advisor or stock broker about some potential investment opportunities.

3.)  Study IRS tax laws!  I feel like a significant path to wealth is to be wise and strategic with your money.  One step in the right direction in 2010 will be to actually do TAX PLANNING.  Hire a good CPA and really invest your time into understanding your options within the US tax systems, then take the steps necessary to take advantage of every tax deduction or credit that you are legally entitled to…the IRS is not going to do it for you!  If you don’t educate yourself, and take advantage of good things like Electric Vehicle Tax Credits, or Energy Efficiency tax savings, no one is to blame but yourself!

4.) Work Harder!  This one is a carryover from 2009, but is still a timeless truth!  Times are STILL tough and many great people are losing their jobs.  My suggestion to you is to work that much harder at whatever it is you do to bring home the bacon.  Become the “we cannot lose, period” employee at your job.  This is often thankless extra effort, but it is worth it in the long run.  I believe great effort is always richly rewarded over the long haul!

5.)  Strive to become debt free!  Easy advice, enough said!  Too many people WAY smarter than me have preached on the debt topic!

6.)  Be Generous and Be Thankful!  Life is a gift, and is way too short to not take full advantage of it!

7.)   “Have fun, love people, and drink great coffee!”

HERE IS TO A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2010! -TAM

If any of my friends or readers have some input, please post a comment pointing me in the right direction.  Fell free to leave a link in the body of your message to where I can get more information on any cool text programs you have come accross.

Thanks much!

TAM

A link in an email can be part of a phishing scam or linked to a virus. So even if it seems to link to a well known organisation, you should still double check. This is especially true when it comes to organisations that are expected to take your payment details, like eBay, Amazon, banks and even supermarkets.

To check if it’s the real McCoy, right click on the link and choose “properties” to reveal the link’s actual destination. Then see if the address makes sense. If it’s different to the organisation’s normal web address, then it’s almost certainly bogus – even if it’s just one character out. So get into the habit of looking at web addresses very carefully indeed. If you’re providing personal details of any kind you need to make sure the site is real and secure. Identity theft is common online, but is totally avoidable and all internet users should know certain facts to avoid their bank accounts being accessed.

How do you know if a site is secure? Well, if you’re a regular online shopper or use a range of personal finance tools, or if you receive your bank statements and access your bank account online, you should know to check for two key things:

1.      A padlock in the browser window to signify that the site has a security certificate

2.      An address that starts ‘https://’ – rather than the usual ‘http://’

If you’re asked to enter bank details or private information and these two key features are missing, you are doing so in a site that is not secure. And remember, if you’re ever asked for full details of personal information like your user name or password, when you are normally only asked for some of it, something isn’t right.

A further word of caution – just because these features appear in an email before you click on the link, don’t assume they are real. Furthermore, when you double click the padlock, the security certificate for the site should be displayed. So if you ever get a warning that the address of the site does not match the certificate, do not continue.

That’s why it’s good to get into the habit of entering the address of any banking, shopping, auction, money management or financial transaction website into your browser yourself – don’t just depend on the email links, no matter how convenient that might seem.

Finally, make sure you’ve installed the latest version of your web browser – Internet Explorer version 7 and Firefox version 2 have built in filters to detect fake sites – and check your credit card statements and online bank accounts regularly, to make sure nothing is amiss.