Joe Cirulli - The Believer

There's a fantastic article in Inc. Magazine this month (August 2008) about Joe Cirulli, the founder of the Gainesville Health & Fitness Center.

When he was flat broke at 24 Joe wrote a list of 10 things he wanted to do in his life like "Save $1 million" and "Own a health club in Gainesville." And now he's accomplished everything on his list as well as being a major factor in Gainesville being the healthiest city in the country.

Makes us want to recommend 43things.com.

Fully updated and now with a Social Network!

We've been working hard and are proud to announce that all the jobs listed on the site are ready and waiting to be clicked on to offer you information and inspiration.

What's more...we now have our own social network! Now we can all commiserate and stir up trouble together! So excited.

Our apologies for the delay on these items. The zip-line from our balcony down to the hot dog stand was a bitch to install. Did not budget our time for two months. Nor for the fact that the vendor would move on. So rest assured we'll have plenty of time to devote to your questions and comments!

The Challenge - Only 2 days left!

I had a feeling this was going to happen.

I've never been very money hungry. I am intrigued by the idea of amassing wealth but I tend to have a hard time executing plans to get there. I get distracted.

The first roadblock I tend to face is my compulsion to live in the now. I don't want to spend a lot of time stockpiling money for later. If I'm sitting there, concentrating on something I've been meaning to accomplish and the opportunity to have fun or experience something new arises, I'm gone. I just can't see why I'd skip it when I'm only working hard now so I can have the freedom to do fun and interesting things.

The other roadblock is that my priorities don't necessarily jive with making a lot of money. What I really want in life is pretty simple. I want to be a good person. This is extremely serious business. I give myself daily assessments of how I'm doing and try to take advantage of as many opportunities I can to be an asset to the universe.

While I have a lot of ideas on how I can make a lot of money, my biggest struggle right now is how I can make them a compliment to what I really want in life. I know it can be done. And I'm going to figure it out.

The Challenge - Day 16

We're over halfway through. It's time to take stock of our progress.

I feel pretty good. Today I made $1! It was from a referral earned on the Amazon Associate program. I'm so excited. It's the first money I've made off the program so it gives me hope for my future plans.

I also built a fun store:
Jackhuahua owners seem excited to see their dogs in the Photo Gallery. Feel free to take a spin around the site to see the changes!

I'm trying to take one idea at a time to give them the proper attention and then as soon as I'm done move on to the next idea. I got another huge idea yesterday. Better go check on domain names for it!

The Invitation

We've all been in a room surrounded by people and somehow still felt lonely. Oriah Mountain Dreamer captured it beautifully in The Invitation. I read it often to keep things in perspective. Take a look!

The Challenge - Day 13

I've still been trying to get my ducks in a row since I have so many ideas. I need to find a way to keep track of everything I need to do in a way that will keep prompting me to do it. I made a list on legal paper. It went onto a second page. I don't think that's going to work.

The last few weeks haven't been as much about making a quick buck as they've been about saving. I've managed to cut out so many costs I'm running out of news ways to save. Here's what I've done.

-Work-out videos at home and jogging around the neighborhood to cut out gym costs (I also signed up for a free yoga class through our community college)

-Starbucks/Coffee Bean no more than one time per week

-Eating lunch at home rather than going out on work days

-Only going shopping when I've made a list

-Cleaning my house myself instead of hiring a maid

-Having my husband do the yard rather than hiring a gardener

Bottom line--I'm living below my means. Amazing how this puts me in the top 10% of wealth worldwide, isn't it? It doesn't take too much! I read an article that said it only takes $2,000 in the bank to reach that echelon of wealth.

However, I do believe there's something to be said for having a maid and a gardener as it does create jobs. I'm not sure where I stand on that.

NonOfficeJobs.com Challenge - Day 11

I guess Day 11 is where you start to wonder what the challenge you embarked on was really about because the goal seems insignificant to the process.

Jason and I have been getting really good ideas for projects we want to do. We can't execute them all in 30 days and we're not getting too bent out of shape about it. We're also actually trying to think of good ideas for each other while we go along. We're not great competitors. Don't expect this thing to end up like Chariots of Fire or anything.

I put up a new website yesterday, www.GoOnlineSantaMaria.com. I'm really excited about it. I also woke up the other morning and had THE IDEA for my first screenplay. It is just so exciting.

I think I'm going to post a ridiculous video on Sunday. I'm so sorry my camera doesn't have great video quality. I think I might be asking too much of it.