I don’t read every personal finance book out there. In fact, I have only read a handful.

I don’t read every theology book ever written. But I have read several.

I don’t try every method I’ve ever seen. Sometimes, I purpose­fully ignore certain methods.

Why?

Because success doesn’t come from knowing every­thing, it comes from knowing what works.

It’s good to try and fail – failure breeds success; but after one or two failures it’s time to move on and try something else. This is how you succeed. This is how you win.

So don’t read every­thing that’s put in front of you – most if it is rubbish. Only read what works.

March has come and gone. Tomorrow, April will be upon us and tricks will appear. “April fools!” they’ll say.

10 Things to Do When You Win The Power Ball — these articles show up all the time, this one has some surpris­ingly good advice.

Spike Lee Acci­den­tally Tweeted The Address of an Elderly Couple — Even though the facts of the Trayvon case are unknown and there are a slew of conflicting stories, Spike Lee still thought it was a good idea to give out the shooters address. Too bad it was the wrong address…

The NSA is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center — Turns out, the NSA is trying to know every­thing about you. Once this thing is done, big brother really will be watching. So glad our govern­ment doesn’t have a Consti­tu­tion or anything to stop this nonsense…

I was planning on having a guest post for today, but that fell through a little bit (not on the fault of the poster, it was all me). So instead, he’s a bit of an update on what’s going on.

Grandma’s House is in that quiet stage where nothing is happening. At this point, we’re just waiting for the closing which will happen near the end of April. Until then, there are a few things the buyer has asked for, but nothing substan­tial. This seems to be going more smoothly than our previous sell and I can’t imagine anything coming up. If it does, I’ll let you know.

The blog hasn’t gotten a lot of attention from me lately. It’s because I’ve taken a step back from writing recently while I try to figure out what’s next. I thought two posts a week would be easy (honestly, they are), but with my attention other places it’s been more difficult than normal to come up with topics.

Besides that, not a lot has been going on. I’ve scrapped a few things that were “in devel­op­ment” because I don’t think the long-term payout is going to be worth it. In addition, I’ve started seeing a career coach who is helping me figure out what I should do next with my life. He’s been asking some hard questions and giving me homework to do. It’s a lot harder than I imagined. I sorta thought I’d sit down with him, tell him my story, and in an hour he’d give me advice on three or four jobs I should apply at. Boy was I wrong!

God Bless,
–Alex

I’ve been reading the book Predictably Irra­tional by Dan Ariely, and it’s got me thinking.

Ariely is a college professor at Duke Univer­sity who studies behavior – specif­i­cally, irra­tional behavior. He asks questions like, “why don’t we trust politi­cians?” and “Do nurses prefer to use proce­dures that are easier for them or less painful for the patient?” He studies how zero effects our buying habits and why we overvalue what we have.

But the thing I’ve been thinking about the most is his chapter, “The Power of Price”. Continue Reading…

This hasn’t been a partic­u­larly happy week in the news world. Innocent people died (both state side and inter­na­tion­ally), corrup­tion was mentioned in two of the biggest, most influ­en­tial, companies in the world, and to top it all off I saw a really sad video.

Here are the highlights:

Article 1, Section 4 — My friend Matt is contin­uing his series on the Consti­tu­tion. This is required reading for Americans. Ask lots of questions, this guy is an expert.

The Tragedy of Trayvon Martin — This could be the best thing I’ve read on the Trayvon Martin tragedy. It asks great questions and points out some harsh realities.

If I Had A Son, He’d Look Like Trayvon — Speaking of Trayvon Martin, President Obama offers some poignant and important thoughts on the situation. A fantastic response from the President.

Teen Killed At Project X Party — A teenager was killed at a party meant to replicate a crazy “project x” party from the movie of the same name. It’s one of many parties that have started popping up throughout the country in response to the movie. Does anyone really think movies don’t effect our decisions? It’s not just teens doing dumb things.

Why I Left Goldman Sachs — “To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important invest­ment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.”

Why I Left Google — People are quitting jobs all over the place! This one explains how Google + and the company’s shifting culture caused a prominent Google employee to leave.

This 3-Minute Anime Will Make You Cry — Even though I didn’t cry, it’s still a beautiful video that tells a compelling story in three short minutes.

Selling a house isn’t anything like this.

(This is part of the Selling Grandma’s House series. For the rest of the series, click here)

I was going to wait until next Tuesday to break the news, but it came so quickly I had to post today: we’ve got another full offer on the house.

Seriously.

The offer was in my email box Tuesday night and we’ve been working out the details since then. This new buyer isn’t asking for an inspec­tion clause and appears to be a fairly reputable home-buying company. Not sure what they want to do with the place, maybe flip it or rent it out to college students or something. Whatever the reason, they’ve put down a full offer on our home and we’re prepared to accept!

In the 24-hours since I’ve gotten that offer two more offers have come in. Neither of them have been full offers, but they were still very nice. With a little nego­ti­ating, I’m sure I could get them pretty close to what we asked for. If nothing else, they remind me that this house will sell, even if the first buyer backed out suddenly.

Unfor­tu­nately, the saga from the first buyer is far from over. Our case still has to be reviewed by the realtors asso­ci­a­tion in Florida and if it doesn’t pick a clear winner, we’ll have to start nego­ti­ating directly with the ex-buyer. It’s still a ways off, but it’s in the back of my mind as I’m working this other deal.

God has really blessed my family in this whole thing. We’ve gotten an amazing realtor who’s taken care of every­thing without complaint, we’ve found two buyers willing to pay full price for the house, and it’s likely we’ll get all our expenses returned to us by the end of this escrow dispute.

It’s an encour­aging reminder of who is in control.

And since I’ve been so bad at updating, let me assure you: there will be high­lights on Saturday and Tuesday will resume normal updates. Things got a bit rocky there for a few weeks but things are back to normal (or as normal as they can be, haha).

[Image credit]

No, the dog didn’t eat your contract…

(This is part of the Selling Grandma’s House series. For the rest of the series, click here)

We were set to close on Grandma’s house last Friday, but it didn’t happen.

At some point, the buyer decided she didn’t want my grandmother’s house anymore. There are a million possible reasons (she’s certainly not telling us the truth), but whatever her reason, last Monday she stopped talking to her realtor and a few days later sent us a certified letter saying her attorney looked over the contract and that we were in violation of it (we weren’t, and if an attorney did look at the contract, then he/she is inept because it’s obvious we weren’t).

After telling her that, she responded a few days later with another bogus attempt to make us look like the bad guys when we did every­thing she asked us to do and kept all our promises.

When closing day rolled around, the only thing she gave us was paperwork asking her for escrow back.

We are fighting for the escrow (since she is in breach of contract and we spent a good chunk of money responding to her requests even though we didn’t have to). So I’ll be learning more about realty than I ever imagined. It’s been frus­trating, but I’m not worried. We’ve already had a few people look at the house and I imagine offers will start coming in rela­tively soon.

Sadly, the whole thing is stressing my grand­mother out.

For now, we’re back at square one. The house is listed and we’re hoping for the best.

Fingers crossed!

You may have noticed I didn’t update yesterday; that wasn’t an accident. Starting this week I’m cutting my updates down to twice a week.

This has every­thing to do with all the stuff going on in my life that have nothing to do with the blog. I love writing, but between this site and the others I write for, three times a week was getting a bit rough. Cutting it down to twice a week should make things easier.

With that said, today’s post has nothing to do with money, but is still interesting.

While running some errands a few weeks ago, a local DJ announced the new Sim’s game featuring Katy Perry. When asked about it, Perry said,

“I always like to think of myself as a cartoon, and now I’m a Sim.”

I groaned inwardly at the thought of another ridicu­lous way to use fame to make money and tried to push the whole thing out of my mind.

But her words, “I always like to think of myself as a cartoon…” stuck with me. They rattled around inside my head and wouldn’t let me go.

I started to think about what they mean.

Maybe I’m taking her words too far, but the thought of Katy Perry thinking of herself as a cartoon made me deeply sad. I wondered what she saw when looking in the mirror. Does she see anything but the lie? Has “Katy Perry” taken over her life?

Is there a real Katy Perry left?

I think about her divorce, her lyrics, the way she dresses. It’s all a game — a lie.

Does she have anyone who knows her and not just the persona she’s created? Is there anyone in her life that wants something besides a cartoon?

I have no idea, and since I’ve never spoken to the girl I’m sure I’ll never find answers. But they still rattle around in my head; they still weigh on my heart.

How many young girls look up to Katy Perry? How many men dream of her? Do their dreams squash away what’s left of the person underneath?

Am I Any Different?

With all the sadness, also comes a bit of fear — and maybe some clarity.

Am I the same as her? I may not be exploited the way she is, but there is a persona I create to hide my inse­cu­ri­ties. There is a cartoon version of myself that I show to the world as the weight of the truth presses my heart.

Am I really so different from her? Are any of us?

I’m sure she’s dealing with issues I’ll never begin to consider and making choices I’ll never be offered. But still, in my sadness I find introspection.

Which parts of my life are cartoons? Which parts aren’t real? Those are the parts of life that need to be put to death. Those are the things I need to let go.

It’s never healthy to live as a lie.

The Forget­ting Pill — What if you could forget painful memories through a simple pill — would you do it?

How Google & 104 Other Companies Are Tracking Me On The Web — This is one of the best articles I have ever read on cookie tracking. It breaks down what they look at, what infor­ma­tion they use, and what’s being done about it. A must read.

How I Lost 150 Pounds in One Year — Is it crazy dieting? Is it getting your meals mailed to you? Is it p90x? What’s the secret?!

Dollar Shave Club — This commer­cial is hilarious and (surpris­ingly) for a real product! Check out the legit website.

I’m thinking about making some changes to my life and to the blog.

In life, we have to change. If something new isn’t pouring in, water grows stagnant.

I’m not sure what changes need to be made, but as I look around I am coming to grips with the reality that I am on the cusp of some big changes and I need to prepare for them.

What does this mean for the blog? At the moment, almost nothing. Updates will continue as normal, but I may widen the scope of Entre­pre­Life — or I may leave it exactly as it is.

Whatever happens, I just wanted to give you a quick update on what’s going on in my mind. There is a lot buzzing around up there.