A website in the making

I have decided to make a website for this blog. I have no idea how long it will take, nor what it will exactly entail. Of course the blog will be part of it. Unfortunately, ThinAirMillionaire.com is taken so I may have to look for a different name. ThinAirMillionaire.net and all other variations are still available, however. Who knows, its just a thought process in the works.

I want to have book reviews, the blog, ideas section, product reviews, site reviews, forums, and more. It is more a repository of information for myself than anything else, but if I can parlay it into some cash for my stake, then so be it.

The light! go to the light!

I may be premature in posting this, but I believe I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for my financial dip. The new job, while not great pay, is steady and doing well. School is still going strong, and my graduation date is still in the first quarter of next year. It is then I hope to get a job making at least twice what I am now so I can return to my former payrate.

More recently, I have been able to pay some of these weird, sudden bills and they are now getting smaller. I have myself to pay back from the doubling fund as well, THAT is what I am excited about. Once I pay back my loans to myself I will have successfully liquidated and consolidated my funds. It is then I will be able to make larger strides once again towards the next step. Currently, I sit at $1600 in a vehicle, and roughly $200 in cash, meaning I owe myself almost $2000 in loans. It was indeed a rough year but I must say that without the doubling project, it would have been much much worse.

Onward and upward! I will celebrate the day by looking for a deal. Small or large, it matters not, the idea is to stay in the hunt!

The Doubling Bank Account

As your doubling account grows from tiny to small to slightly-larger-than-small, you may take a look at the money lying on the nightstand or in the shoebox and be tempted to spend it. What should you do with this guarded treasure? Should you open a bank account to put your money in? The answer is 'it depends.'

While stashing it away in a bank account may seem like a good idea to keep you from diving into it during a moment of weakness, you may be spending more than you are making by placing it into a bank account too early.

Banks pay interest, that is true. But at the current rate of interest at less than 1% here in the States, that is not too tantalizing. In fact, my personal bank pays a whopping .2%!!! So for every $100 I place in the bank, I will make 20 CENTS a year! WTF?!?! And they expect me to keep my money in there?

Not to mention I have to keep $5 minimum in the bank to have the account open. That is 25 YEARS worth of interest for $100 at that rate. Or the equivalent of one years interest if I place $2500 in the account for a year. Um... ok...

THEN! Lets not forget FEES! The bread and butter of the banking industry. If your account is less than $500 in my bank, they charge you a $6 monthly 'low balance' fee.
Theres another 25 years of interest per MONTH I'll be spending. Of course, once I go over $500 I do not get the fee.

As you can see, finding a place to keep your stake while it lays dormant looking for a new trade is not so simple. My advice, give it to someone to hold or just bite the bullet and discipline yourself. If you break down and spend $5 on a Subway sandwich at least you got something for yout $25 years of interest you just spent instead of buying the privilege of your money staying in a bank so they can make 25 TIMES that in interest on a new car loan.

I can't wait until I have enough to start my own bank...

My first attempt at a tutorial

Last night, I burned the midnight oil as I began creating a tutorial for how to get to at least step 20. It was actually quite fun. Once I got started, I just kept going. I posted the majority of it on my favorite doubling forum, The Doublers Den. Even though it is the only steady forum I have come across for doubling, it would still be my favorite as the group there is awesome.

So far the tutorial only gets you to $4000. That is where I am at the moment, technically speaking. As I think and create the next step, it will be a guide for me to follow. I find it very easy to see how to traverse each step looking backwards, but remember that each step felt as daunting as this one as I reached it. Maybe that is the point. Maybe not. I just know that it is fun and I enjoy doing it.

Once I tweak the tutorial enough I may attempt to make it a product. Or give it away. I am torn about that. I am abhorred by the lack of REAL, LEGITIMATE information out there on how to make money, but also understand that selling information is a great way to make money and would like to get a share of that.

I hope in the future, all information is free and true. Fat chance I know, but it is nice to hope for.

The 10% Rule

During my time playing the doubling game, I have run my ups and downs. Most of my success was due to a few big hitters, while I spent most of my time down, looking for ways to find my next $1 or more. While I truly enjoy my big hitters, I would love to see a nice steady stream of consistency in my trades that work towards my goals.

After much thought, I discovered that the big hitters are not rare, but common! My readiness, or motivation unfortunately is neither consistent, nor common. I found my big hitters came when I was ready and ripe for it. Usually after I had a long bout of kicking myself for being lazy. One day, I would just get sick of the feeling of stagnation and make a move, I would actually put forth the effort and LOOK for a deal.
That is when I would find one. Odd how that works, huh?

There is a quote made from Samuel Goldwyn that states 'The harder I work, the luckier I get.' My goal is to decide to get lucky a little more often. That is why the 10% rule was invented for my game. My goal is to focus on 10% at a time, until I have that licked. How is that different from my current goal of turning $2500 into $5000?
It is yet another division of the goal put forth by the originator of the doubling plan, Stuart Goldsmith.

Each step is to take the beginning amount and double it, that is, increase it 100%. By taking the 100% and subdividing it into 10 steps of 10%, that gives a nice clear goal. Plus, making a 10% goal within a specific timeline will also make things more reasonable.

Action: The rare ingredient.

No matter what you are interested in, do a Google search on your favorite subject and see how many unfinished sites there are. Now, do one on making money, or some type of money making blog. Heck, take any type of goal reaching blog. People just do not keep on moving towards their goals very often.

Its not that 98 percent of people are not smart enough to become millionaires, but that 98 percent of the people do not have the discipline to take action. It is the 2 percent that take action that make it.

Look at how many blogs there are on this subject alone. There are more than a handful. Now see how many people are past step 10, 15, or even 20. Not many. In fact, there are only two other bloggers that I know of that have made it to step 20.

So as you think about starting your doubling or moving forward with your doubling just remember that staying in action, moving forward, even slowly, is how the race is won.