4 Books to Jumpstart You in 2009!

One of the best investments you can make in yourself is to continually learn through reading. That doesn't just mean reading blogs online, but even old-fashioned page-by-page books as well. There's some classic financial, business, entrepreneurial and "get rich" style titles out there as well as, dare I say it, self-improvement. Everyone can improve, so to think that genre is only for people with a thick psychiatric file folder is a huge misconception.

For this blog entry, I wanted to provide you 4 books in particular I've enjoyed that can help you along on your way towards more success in 2009. They provide positive insights into how our minds work and how to "re-wire" our thinking so that we can become more motivated and successful! While they may contain several overlapping principles amongst them, you can definitely jumpstart yourself in this new year by picking up any or all of these titles!

1) Think and Grow Rich! by Napoleon Hill - This book is considered the blueprint of most other success books that have been written, and also the blueprint for your own personal path towards riches (monetary or other). Hill studied the attitudes, traits, habits and skill sets of the most successful people he could find. From his findings he produced a fascinating book with recollections throughout US history telling how those individuals achieved sucess, and how you can translate that to your own success. This book includes everything from discussions of American History, to how to conquer your six internal ghosts of fear. If this book doesn't get you inspired with its nuggets of wisdom, nothing will!

2) Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Ecker - Ecker admits in the intro to this book that what he presents are merely truths about how the rich become rich, and why the poor stay poor. It's definitely an interesting read and gives you all sorts of great advice about how to plan, create and maintain a rich financial future. One of the things that separates the rich from the poor is that the rich manage money well while the poor mismanage money well. A great suggestion Ecker gives is to create separate accounts for necessity spending, luxury spending and investment spending, as well as the idea of dropping loose change into separate pots daily to help you learn to manage your money well.

3) The Success Principles by Jack Canfield - Canfield is famous for being one of the authors behind Chicken Soup for the Soul, which made him filthy rich. In this book, Canfield seems to have summed up many of his predecessors from the success genre, which makes the book extremely valuable. He'll teach you exactly how to go from where you are at this point in your life to where you really want to be by examining your life, goals, dreams and desires. It's a lengthy book, but you'll find that Canfield can propel you to set goals, motivate yourself and become the successful person you've always wanted to be.

4) Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy - Brian Tracy presents tips that other successful people have harnessed to achieve their maximum potentials. He also presents a look at how we turn out based upon our parents' attitudes and roles and how they've shaped us. It's a book which relies heavily on the "mind over matter" theory, like most success books do. Tracy discusses ways to focus on your goals, ignore negatives or overcome them, and even ways to handle personal relationships such as those with your parents, spouse or children. Tracy's book also encourages the reader to actively participate in the included steps and guarantees more success to those who keep with them. A riveting read that will put you in the positive frame of mind for achieving at your maximum success level.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up copies of the above and get started. Even better, find any of the titles at your local library and get a free investment in your own growth and future! The New Year is still young, so there's no better time than right now! Here's to your success!

Win an eBay Gift Card from Vitamin eBay!

John Paul writes the eBay themed blog "Vitamin eBay" which covers the world of eBay selling as well as other interesting tidbits related to the auction site. John's a current eBay Powerseller (www,asapsellsit.com) and right now is offering a $25 eBay gift card in a New Year's contest he's running for the next week. Entry simply requires heading over to the contest post at Vitamin eBay and leaving your email in the comments.

You can gain bonus entries by doing any of the following:

-Post the giveaway on Twitter.
-Post the giveaway on your blog.
-Post the giveaway on a group or forum discussion board.
-Post the giveaway anywhere that someone other than yourself might see it. (keep it clean)

The winner of the $25 eBay gift card will be chosen in a week from today, so get on it folks! $25 on eBay is a nice extra for many people these days. It could provide you with a special gift to pamper yourself in these tougher economic times or allow you to resell the gift card for a small cash bonus!

Make sure to refer to the official Vitamin eBay contest post for full details. Good luck to all who enter!

A New Year, A New Computer!

With 2009 starting to sink in it was time to improve my productivity and that starts with the personal computer here at home. These days just about anything and everything can be designed, ordered or performed via the computer. You do everything from writing your blog, building websites, do your taxes, watch movies, stream music to your stereo or even order a pizza using your PC. And as always, speed in computing is of the essence. Right now Hewlett Packard is running a great special of $289 for a newly built computer (HP Pavilion a6600z AMD Dual Core 2.3GHz Desktop PC), with free shipping, and The Monetizer just couldn't resist it.

Here's the rundown of the HP's tech specs:

Operating system: Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
Processor: AMD Sempron(TM) LE1300 (2.3GHz)
Memory: 2GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024)
Graphics card: Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE [VGA]
Hard drive: 250GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
Networking: Ethernet Modem
DVD/CD drive: LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Front Ports: 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, audio
Sound Card: Integrated 5.1 channel sound with front audio ports
Software: Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
Security software:No additional security software
Speakers: No speakers
Keyboard & Mouse: HP keyboard & HP optical mouse

I'm highly anticipating the HP's arrival in a week or so, since the new machine will have Windows Vista as its Operating System. I've heard good and bad, but have personally never used Vista, since XP works just fine for me and upgrading was a bit costly. Now I'll get to learn the new OS, and add that to my resume. I'm also slightly interested in seeing how fast it is compared to the Dell I have currently which has just 1 gigabyte memory and a slower processor.

As for the extras, I chose the 15 in 1 card reader which will be built into the front of the computer. It's got 2 USB ports on front, and I'm assuming a few on back. Software's another story. Since there was no included Virus protection, I purchased Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 from Amazon.com. I did thorough research on Internet security suites (anti-virus + anti-spyware + firewall) and discovered Kaspersky ranked 2nd to Norton on Amazon. It's also a top choice among online PC review sites. After reading reviews, the package seems to provide a great deal of security and doesn't tie up alot of your computer's resources (memory). Kaspersky was only $34.99 while others run as much as $50-60. It even includes a very cool "Virtual Keyobard" feature which allows you to enter personal data into that to encrypt it and prevent those cyber thiefs from getting it.

Another consideration is finding some software for photo editing and word processing. I recommend to anyone who wants to save some money and not get sucked into buying a $300 version of MS Office, to download OpenOffice.org. It includes spreadsheet (Excel compatible), word processing (Word compatible) and several other nifty office-style programs, for Free. Another bonus is that it allows you to create PDF's which can be helpful to those who design e-books. As for digital photos, I will install Google Picasa which is a very nice free photo editing, printing and online uploading tool full of cool features. Why spend big bucks for these sorts of programs when they are available for free and work very well? As for printing I'll use the all-in-one Canon Pixma MX310 printer which is very nice for under $100.

Overall, I'm looking forward to the new HP's arrival. It has a build date of January 7, 2009, and should be here shortly after that. With 2009 just underway, I look forward to this new "toy" because I believe it can make 2009 an even better, more enjoyable, moneymaking experience! I'll provide an update on my experiences once the machine is officially up and running.

(If you're interested in the deal, I found the HP a6600z at dealspl.us via the link below. You'll need to enter a coupon code at the final stage of the order to slash about $30 off the total).

HP Pavilion a6600z CTO Desktop PC

One Bad Customer Service Story

If you're running a business one of the most important mantras is "the customer is always right" or "customer service should be first and foremost". For some reason Blockbuster.com does not seem to adhere to this ideology and it can wind up hurting them. Case in point, a recent deal I spotted on a deal website for a hard-to-find Nintendo Wii video game. The game retails for over $50 in stores, but was sold out anywhere you'd look in the "real world". Blockbuster.com offers a nice Holiday special on the game, just $38 plus shipping. Great deal right?

Well the problem with this deal and the Blockbuster site is that from the moment I placed the order online there was no indication given of the item status. My order status was "In Progress" and remained that way for several days. Confused by this I sent a simple email to customer service. It was the holiday season after all so I was expecting a bit of a backup or delay in shipping. Add to this the fact that the particular game was sold out in stores.

My email was responded to and a customer service rep claims that my credit card was being validated to make sure of no fraudulent activity. The customer service rep also added I should "kindly wait up to 2 weeks for the item to ship". Very interesting, and very fishy. I send another email saying "No thank you, I won't wait two weeks, please cancel the order at once".

A day or so later I receive an email response by a different customer service rep apologizing for the delay and saying he will cancel the order. Unfortunately, this was not done and the order continued to read "In progress" on my Blockbuster.com account. Let me add that my card was charged for the $44 since the start of this story. So to sum it up, card charged, no product shipped, no status given, and lousy customer service.

A call was finally placed to Blockbuster.com's customer service. After a long wait (the main reason I try to resolve issues online rather than by phone), I spoke to a rep who explained that the video game was on order from a third party vendor. If I wanted to wait just 5-7 business days they might be getting the game in at that time and could fulfill my order. But here's the kicker: I was also informed that Blockbuster was going to allow 30 days to see if the item arrived in stock. If it didn't arrive they would refund anyone's money who placed an order for the game. If you ask me that's terrible service for several reasons:

1) Blockbuster is keeping customers in the dark about the online order status. At least indicate on the product page that the item is on backorder and may take up to a month to ship. This is one thing I love about Amazon.com, as they let you know the time frame any item may take to arrive.

Deceptive customer service? Each email response I received was from a different rep who seemed unfamiliar with the issue. The original rep claimed my order was delayed due to credit card validation, not the fact they didn't have the product, which is akin to lying.

2) Blockbuster is taking money before shipping anything. As mentioned, my card was charged, yet there's nothing to show for that charge. To add fuel to the fire, I placed the order from my Paypal credit/debit card. So the funds were basically taken away from my account and wouldn't be returned to me for 30 days. These days money is money, but with online transactions the average customer wants to know what's going on with theirs.

As you can see my friends, this is one messed-up online business model! We live in a real-time online business world as sad as it may be for some, but that convenience should include improved customer service at the click of a mouse. The online retail experience allows us to find the product we need quickly and order it securely, with confidence we will have it in a reasonable time frame. Amazon.com has the online sales model right, Blockbuster.com seems to be slightly shady with their practice. If they plan to survive and thrive online, Blockbuster needs to provide better order status info, better customer service resolution including real-time online help. Otherwise they may find themselves confronted by a slew of never helpful BBB complaints.

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