Check out this new website by Barnes and Noble called http://quamut.com.  It’s a how to guide of everything from making sushi to setting up your own website.  The website categorizes its how to guides by general categories such as house and home and computers and technology.  The categories break down into more specific topics like automotive/garage and programming/software.  What I like about the site is the in-depth treatment of each topic.  Other web-based how to guides throw a million topics at you, but with little actual information for each one.  By contrast, Quamut devotes pages and pages of information on each topic.  Today’s “how to” is (surprise!) blogging.

Interestingly, I just tried looking up the word “quamut” on dictionary.com.  The word doesn’t exist.  I guess companies are getting very creative about coming up with names for their websites because there are just too many cybersquatters out there hogging webnames for no good purpose other than to try and sell it to you!  My thinking - if you don’t use the web name for six months, you gotta give it up.  That’s my gripe of the day.

I recently received an email from a reader in New York City:

              Dear Financial Gal-

I read your post about disgruntled lawyers.  I am a dissatisfied attorney myself and looking to get out of my 16 hour/day never-see-the-light-of-day associate position at a major law firm.  I have been trying to save enough money to cover my expenses for at least six months so that I can take time off to travel or simply decompress, but I can’t seem to reach the goal.  Although I am making a decent salary, NYC is a very expensive place to live.  Most of my paycheck gets eaten up by taxes, rent, dry cleaning, dinners out, new suits, etc.  My biggest problem is that because I’m so stressed out at work, I tend to spend my free time shopping to blow off some steam.  I have a closetfull of clothes and shoes that I have barely worn.  I suspect that what I’m doing amounts to emotional spending, like emotional eating.  How can I control this bad habit so that I can move on with my life plans?

            Suffering big law associate.

I completely empathize, because I’ve been there myself.  My first job outside of law school required 14 hour days and frequent weekend work.  On those rare weekends where I actually got a day off, I spent them sprawled on the couch or at the mall, trying to figure out which pair of shoes to buy.  Just like digging into a ice cream sundae, shopping was an indulgent fix (albeit temporary) to my stress-ridden life.  Of course, when you are working that much, the last thing you want to do is clean your own house or do your own laundry.  Hence, you incur even more expenses and dig yourself further into the money pit.  Here’s my two cents on what to do:

1. Make a plan to escape.  Just like Tim Robbins’ character in the Shawshank Redemption, sometimes it takes a few pebbles at a time to dig yourself out of your cell.  Your exit won’t happen right away, but if you have a plan, this will instantly boost your spirits.  Chart your goals for the next year.  When do you absolutely want to be out of your job?
2. Once you have your deadline set, figure out how much money you need to set aside for each paycheck to reach your goal.  Then, set up an automatic withdrawal plan with an online bank like www.ingdirect.com.  The money will disappear out of your account before you’ve even gotten your hands on it.
3. Credit card therapy:  Reduce your credit card stash in your wallet to no more than two cards.  Then, tape a note to each card to remind yourself that you are sticking to your plan NOT to spend so that you can reach your financial goal.  If you want to be even more graphic, include on your note a picture of the partner that is making your life a living hell.
4. Go through your closet and rid yourself of the clothing that you no longer wear or don’t ever intend to wear.  Calculate how much money you spent on those clothes.  Write that number down using a big black magic marker and stick it on your refrigerator as a reminder of the cash that was wasted.  Chances are you would have already reached your six month goal had you not made those purchases. 
5. For the clothes that are still wearable (which I am guessing is all of them), donate them to Goodwill or to Dress for Success.  Pat yourself on the back.
6. Last tip:  Reduce your contact with shopaholic friends and family.  You would be amazed at how peer pressure will cause you to spend needlessly.

Let me know how you’re doing and whether you have adopted any of these tips.  There are going to be days when you find it too difficult to resist a purchase here or there.  But when you do make progress, you need to congratulate yourself and remind yourself of your long-term goals.  From all of us disgruntled lawyers, we are all rooting for you!

Having a hard time getting your teen off the couch and doing meaningful work this summer?  Having a summer job, no matter how menial, can be a good experience for a teen.

My summer jobs ranged from answering the switchboard at a local bank to running a gift shop at a local hotel resort.  The worst one?  Probably a cashier at a grocery store, where I couldn’t figure out how to process WIC vouchers during my short tenure.  Despite the mishaps endured at my various short term jobs, I did learn a few lessons. 

1.    Money is hard to make, so don’t blow it all in one place. 
2.    Stay calm, don’t panic, and persevere, even with a long line of angry customers.
3.    Stay in school.

This last lesson was never really a choice.  Just ask my parents.  However, the summer jobs did reinforce why school was so important.  At the grocery store, I slogged alongside older co-workers working for minimum wage and remember how difficult it was for them to hold down a job, take care of kids, and pay bills on a paltry wage of $4.15/hour (or was it $3.85)?. 

A recent articlein USAToday on the past jobs of CEOs demonstrates, any experience, no matter how gritty or filth-ridden, is a valuable learning experience for a teenager.  The profiled CEOs shoveled dirt, hawked encyclopedias door to door, and held menial retail jobs, taking in lessons like overcoming adversity, developing ambition, staying in school, and having a positive attitude, no matter how nasty the customers can be.  So, why the continued slide in teen employment?  The article points out that the more well-educated the parents, the less likely their kids are going to hold down summer jobs.  Interestingly, Borders bookstore CEO George Jones’ teenage son, Dylan Jones, who barely has worked in any Borders store, but has traveled to 30 countries.  In this day and age of helicopter parents who expose their children to unique and diverse learning experiences, holding down the menial job at McDonalds is low (or nonexistent) on their list of priorities.  But ironically, that job may teach them a lifetime of good values.

What do you do when you have a great idea but don’t know where to start?  For instance, you may be really excited about your idea to start brewing your own jasmine tea or making organic marshmallows, but the idea just stops right there.  Then what?  How do you take your idea from the drawing board to a real live operation?  I’ve often wondered about this myself, as I constantly pitch ideas to my husband and friends.  But an article in the Small Business section of Fortune magazine about the granola company Bear Naked shows that it may be as simple as going shopping at your local grocery store.

Two friends, Kelly Flatley and Brendan Synnott, started Bear Naked, which makes natural granola products, in 2002.   In Fortune Small Business, Flatley and Synnott describe how they took this simple idea and developed it into a multi-million dollar business.  How did these two twentysomethings start out?  They did the same thing we do all the time.  They went to Costco.  But instead of dropping hundreds of dollars on tubs of spinach tip for their personal consumption, they invested in the business.  Flatley and Synnott scooped up granola ingredients like bags of nuts and gallons of honey and canola oil, so much that they scored Costco’s customer of the month title in fall 2003.  Flatley and Synnott also recall that they were the accountants, distributors, kitchen cleaners, and the cooks for their product.  After five scrappy years, they grew the brand so well that it reached $65 million in sales in 2007.  Even better, the Bear Naked brand caught the eye of Kellogg, which bought the company last year for a whopping $60 million.  Although the money is good, Flatley and Synnott describe themselves as proud parents of the brand, noting that with the sale to Kellogg, Bear Naked granola can reach an even wider audience. 

Bear Naked epitomizes how perserverance and a belief in your own product can take your company to dizzying heights.  It’s also a real-world example of how starting a company doesn’t have to involve fancy business plans or Silicon Valley venture capitalists.  It can be as simple as taking that baby step of going to Costco and mixing up a batch of your Mom’s secret recipe.

Have you ever fantasized about walking into your boss’s office and telling her to take this job and shove it?  In a recent segment on CNBC’s “the Big Idea with Donny Deutch,” Suze Orman debated Donny about the pros and cons of throwing caution to the wind and “realizing your dreams” by starting your own business. This was one of Donny’s more interesting segments in recent memory.  Usually, he has guests on the show that are ra, ra, ra, I started the business with $40 in the bank, maxed out my credit cards, and lived on wheat germ for three years before selling out to Google for a jillion dollars.  Suze had a bit more practical advice for all us budding entrepreneurs.  I won’t go into it in detail here, but suffice it to say that her bottom line was make a plan and save a bunch of money before you take the proverbial leap off the cliff.  What should you do before quitting your day job to start your own piece of utopia?  Here are my two cents. 

1. While you are still employed, put 12 months of expenses in cold hard cash away in in a boring savings account (no high-flying stocks please).  Consider stashing the cash in a savings account at online banks like INGdirect, which is offering a decent interest rate of 3%.  To save that much case, you probably will have to seriously scale back your standard of living now.  But trust me, you will be grateful for it during those cash-sucking first months, or maybe even years, as you get your business off the ground.  Businesses always need more capital than your best guesstimate.
2. Pay off all of your discretionary debt, before putting in your notice.  This includes credit cards, auto loans, home equity lines of credit, student loans, etc.  You want to wipe out as much debt as possible before you go out on your own because those loans amount to anchors around your neck when you no longer have the steady paycheck to tap.
3. Secure some source of capital, like a home equity line of credit that you can access to fund your business when customers are slow to pay.
4. Have a business plan detailing how you plan to generate revenue for the business and how you are going to make a profit.
5. Live like a pauper in the months before you plan to quit your job.  Even if you have sufficient cash tucked away, you want to get used to the fact that starting a business requires considerable sacrifice to ensure long-term success.

Speaking of living like a pauper, I do feel a little guilt-ridden about splurging this weekend on some books at Barnes and Noble and clothes from Nordstrom Rack (still cheaper than the mother lode).  Oh no!!! False alarm.  I decided that it was OK to treat myself because we have been living quite frugally in recent months and have made significant headway towards our financial goals.  Obviously, you and I are only human, and just like dieting, there are days where we will fall off the wagon.  But, although I struggle sometimes, I’ve found that, over time, it has become easier to defer instant gratification, i.e., buying more stuff.

Here’s a neat trick that works most of the time.  Whenever you feel tempted to spend some serious cash on something like the Wii Fit, recall in your head the day that your boss chewed you out for forgetting to staple your report on the top left side of the page.  Practice makes (almost) perfect.  Yey!

This is the age-old question.  Do you have to love what you do to make money?  Several bloggers weighed in on this issue in the Shifting Careers column at NYTimes.com, writing that it depends on the circumstances.  For instance, Problogger and Grammergirl both question this premise, noting that you can be passionate about something that won’t necessarily translate into a successful business.  J.D. of Getrichslowly also doubts this notion, pointing out that he knows many people who are passionate and poor as well as miserable people who make a ton of money.

I think this premise is a bit more complicated than just “you have to like what you do to make money.”  As a recovering lawyer, I have seen a lot of lawyers make six-figure incomes, but are more miserable than a drowning rat.  But then I also see a lot of entrepreneurs who make a lot of money and absolutely love what they do.  Even Warren Buffet, the richest man on this planet, says that he skips to work everyday and would do what he does now even if he weren’t being paid for it.  So what is the distinction?  Here are my two cents.

• Misery loves company:  It’s a lot easier to be miserable at a job - you show up, your boss overloads you with work, you go home miserable, BUT at the end of the day, you still get a paycheck for your troubles.  After awhile, you show signs of zombie-ism (is that a word?) at work.
• Like a marathon, you crave the pain:  In contrast, if you’re an entrepreneur, you have to create your own workplace - whether it be going door to door hawking electronic encyclopedias or selling organic pizza to corporate clients.  The difference between this and a high-paying job is that there is no guarantee that you will ever get paid any significant sum for your troubles.  When you become an entrepreneur, you get a crash course in Murphy’s law, like a dearth of capital, maxed out credit cards, negative cash flow, lazy employees, skyrocketing health insurance costs, and slow-paying customers.   Given all this, it’s pretty obvious why you need to like some aspect of the work - otherwise, why put up with all of the headaches?  If you like the fundamental business - e.g., brewing tea, teaching yoga, making wine - you’re more likely to put up with all the other stuff to keep at it.

Of course, there are those entrepreneurs who don’t necessarily like their work, but have started the business because they find that it is the only way to make a decent living.  Some of them do become quite wealthy.  However, they eventually become burned out after decades of grueling hours in labor intensive businesses like restaurants or convenience stores. 

So what’s the bottom line here?  If you are content working for the man, make sure it is something that you can tolerate or even like once in a while.  Life is really too short for a job that you end up working at 80 hours a week but keel over before you’ve even had an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of your labor.  If you want to become an entrepreneur, try to pick a field that you are passionate about, with the caveat that it will not be all rosy all the time.  But remember the payoff - you are building something for yourself, for the present and the future.

Everywhere you turn, the media has some new story on the R-word and the tough economic times.  I was just reading an article in the Washington Post about how middle class consumers are finding themselves clipping, scrimping, and saving in these high-gasoline and high food prices.  The byline of the article is  “[e]gg prices are up 35 percent, with bread and milk not far behind.  Consumers are scrambling to find ways to cope.”

But as I read the article, I noticed something funny.  The word “scrimp” in the title of the article conjures up images of penny pinching until Lincoln screams.  But these people, who are solidly middle-class (e.g., government civil servant, trainer at a public utility) aren’t cutting up a chicken 10 different ways to stretch their dollar or eating one scrambled egg instead of two for breakfast.  Rather, they are making such ”sacrifices” such as not buying sushi at Whole Foods or foregoing brand name items except when shopping at Costco.  One 29 year old mother programmed messages into her Blackberry to remind herself to pick up the cheap milk on sale days at Kroger.  Am I missing something here?  The article heading suggests some severe economizing.  When did a lack of sushi and organic groceries warrent “coping” as the title of the article says?  Has the consumer culture gone so out of whack that shopping at Whole Foods is a necessity rather than a luxury?

I’m not trying to make light of the truly difficult times that some are going through.  However, I think that some media reports of economic plight are greatly exaggerated.  Here’s my two cents on the issue.

• Shopping at Whole Foods is a luxury, not an entitlement.  By the way, you can get cheaper organic groceries at Trader Joe’s.  Some of same non organic fruit carried by Whole Foods, such as Mandarin oranges, can be bought at an Asian grocery store for a fraction of the cost.
• If you are strapped for cash and you find yourself economizing on groceries, ditch the expensive accessories like the Blackberry:  There is something really perverse about someone who runs out to buy cheap milk to save 50 cents, but is carrying around a costly Blackberry that is saddled with high monthly charges.  (assuming that your office did not give you the Blackberry for work purposes).
• Finally, be appreciative that you have enough food to eat:  I know this sounds a bit corny and preachy, but it definitely puts things in perspective.  In many parts of the developing world, as the Post article did point out, people don’t have enough calories to consume.  They are not worried about whether their foodstuffs is organic or not.  They are concerned whether they will starve to death.

Starting your own business is a real nail biter by itself, to say nothing of doing so in this “economic slowdown” (as characterized by the Prez).  But a looming recession should be no deterrent to pursuing your entrepreneurial dreams.  According to Inc. magazine’s May 2008 edition, iconic companies like Coors Brewing, Herman Miller, General Motors, and Microsoft, to name a few, were started during past recessions.  But how do you figure out whether you are even cut out for the self-employed world?  Moreover, how do you maximize your chances of business success (or minimize headaches)?  Remember those tests you had to take in high school to assess what you should be when you grow up (nurse, doctor, firefighter, professional wrestler)?  Well, the Small Business Administration has something similar for business wannabes; it’s called the “Small Business Assessment Readiness Tool.”  Styled like those high school career questionnaires, the SBA “Readiness Tool” asks both general questions about your aptitude and willingness to be self-employed as well as specific questions like whether you know the tax requirements for your business.   Starting a business presents all sorts of huge challenges and requires massive amounts of homework and dedication.  But this SBA tool is a nice place to start, if just to give you a general framework for many of the issues that you should consider before taking the entrepreneurial plunge.

Have you ever dreamed about working from home?  Wouldn’t it be nice to sit out on endless meetings that drone on and on.  You don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn just to make your three-hour train ride into the city.  You even get to sit in your home office in your Charlie Brown pajamas, with your stylish bedhead hair.  Well, I hate to admit it, but the reality is much different than the fantasy.  Being on maternity leave for the past two months, I actually miss the 9 to 5 (or 6) routine and the social interaction with my co-workers.  Being able to bounce ideas off of others at work is an oft-overlooked benefit of going to the office.  It’s also sad to say, but going to work and wanting to leave work on time motivated me to accomplish more while I was at work.  At home, there are simply too many distracting nonwork-related tasks.  Nonetheless, the situation is only temporary - I return to work in about a month.  But what if you are a one woman startup who can’t afford fancy office digs or any office for that matter?  Ahh, one solution might be coworking.

What is coworking?  Dan Fost of the New York Times defines it as a community workplace for solo entrepreneurs.  Fost’s recent article on coworking discusses the recent increase in coworking sites, where someone sets up an office and rents out desks and conference rooms to other people.  The setup can be very casual or quite formal, depending on the place.  You could drop in and take a place at a large table or have your very own temporary desk/cubicle space reserved just for you.  What are the benefits?  For one, it’s cheaper than setting up your own office, particularly when you are just starting out and cash is tight.  But, as Fost points out, the ability to connect socially and share ideas with others is the key benefit for those who hate toiling away at home alone.

Fost also profiled Ingoodcompany, a business consulting and community workplace specifically targeted towards female entrepreneurs.  Recently opened in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, Ingoodcompany combines workplace, community, and learning.  Members who signup and pay an annual fee can rent a conference room to meet clients or a lease a desk for their daily work routine.  Ingoodcompany also holds workshop seminars and networking events and offers opportunities for members to consult with the company’s founders, Amy Abrams and Adelaide Fives.  Because it’s more than a mere office space to park yourself during the day, Ingoodcompany sounds like a business incubator of sorts, where you can testdrive ideas with other “coworkers” as well as business experts like Abrams and Fives.  Fost’s article, however, smartly recommends out that you should only sign up if you are truly interested in growing your business, not just if you merely want a place to hang out or people to chit chat with during the workday.  I agree - it’s probably cheaper just to go to Starbucks. 

I visited my sister in car-obsessed Los Angeles over the weekend.  Cars are a daily fact of life in L.A.   Los Angelenos practically live in their cars because it takes so long, both in distance and traffic jams, just to get somewhere.  It took us 40 minutes to get to the nearest Target from my sister’s house!

My sister is a dentist and over the weekend, we went to meet her dental assistant at her office.  We pulled up to the parking garage so that my sister could let the dental assistant, “Monique,” into the garage.  Monique was driving a Ford Expedition.  I marveled at how large her car was.  My sister remarked that usually Monique takes the bus to work because she can’t afford to fill up her tank, but that because it was a Saturday, she chose to drive to work.  My jaw dropped - what is the point of having a car if you can’t afford to fill it with gas?  I take public transportation to work, but that’s because I don’t want to deal with parking or the horrendous traffic jams.  If it came down to “I can’t afford a tank of gas,”  I can’t drive the car; therefore I wouldn’t have the car.  My sister told me that Monique actually wanted an even bigger car, i.e., the Ford Excursion, but her mother said she shouldn’t.  What’s the lesson?  You should always listen to your mother.