Ramblings
I Suck at Networking
One of my goals this year is to network more — to get myself out there, and meet like minded people with similar interests and career paths. While I’m an on-and-off again networker, when the opportunity does come up, I tend to do quite poorly at it. Rather than being my outgoing self (well, most of the time), I find it hard to just walk up to some random person and introduce myself.
The other day, I was put in the same situation — went to an industry event, and knew no one. In situations like this, I like to whip out the “oh no, theres some urgent emails that needs dealing with, and I’ll get to networking right after that, I swear” strategy. Basically, I sit by myself and type away on my computer or phone, until the event/presentations start. It works for avoiding people, but not so much networking.
This year, I’m trying to make an active change to become better at it. This includes actually talking with people (either in registration lines, lunch lines, before, after, etc), but it takes a bit of a push.
To help counter this, I ended up buying an ebook on it, called Networking for People Who Hate Networking. While I think its only part of the solution, its a good step. I’m 1/4th the way in, and it seems to be helping a bit… but I still think I need more practice.
The good thing though is — I’m fairly committed to continue attending these networking functions. Its part of my professional growth plan/goals, so its not going away. I figure, the more events I attend, the easier it will get. Its the motion of getting the ball rolling that takes the most effort I find — once I’m past that, I’ll be better off.
How do you network — online or off. Share your tips in the comments below. Any idea helps!
May Challenge
With it being a new month, I figure its time to do some spring cleaning. I’m normally pretty good about getting rid of things I don’t need, but I seem to have stockpiled a bunch of food — time to eat!
Here’s the before picture of my storage cupboard — by the end of May, I want to have about 25% of it left, at the most. This works well, as I’ve been trying to get more in line with cooking at home, and bringing my own lunch to work.
So, from the picture to the right, the next month is going to involve a lot of Cereal, chili, mustard (or not), soup, oatmeal, pasta, and granola bars. I think I’m up for it… and it will probably be a bit healthier than the fast food fixes I’ve been used to.
And then there’s my freezer — here, theres lots of frozen food, ranging from home made soup, waffles, fruit, chicken, burritos, hamburgers, etc. Again, I’m going to try to get down to 25% of it, by the end of the month.
I’m not going to eat this exclusively (I’d be sick of it in 3 days), but will be the primary source of inspiration for meals for the month of May. And looking at most of it, its stuff I do like to eat as it is, so I just have to follow through.
And once the goal is met…. I’ll figure out how to go to Costco and not get suckered in by the cheap ass prices!
I’ll post an update every week or two, and see where I’m at. For the month of May, I have 30 days x 3 meals = 90 meals to eat, so it should be dooable.
The Next Stage
I’ve reached an interesting part in my career/life, where within the next couple of weeks, I’ll officially be done school… forever. For the past several years, I’ve been finishing a degree on top of working full time, which has left little time for an actual “life”. But all that comes to a change, as I finish up my final exams this month.
So then what?
I’m not one who sits around doing nothing very well — I need to stay busy and mentally stimulated. While I have no real definitive plan for exactly what happens the day after I’m done, I have a few idea’s running around in my head to fill my time:
- Refocus on my Career: I’ve done pretty well at the company I’m at now, and its got a lot potential. I’m going to re-invest some of my energy into pushing it to the next level.
- Establish Professional Presence Online: For my career path, having an online portfolio or blog would help establish credibility as an ‘expert’ in the field. I’m going to start writing more, and see where it takes me.
- Read 1 Business Book/month: In any field thats growing, reading/learning is imperative for professional and personal growth. Gone are the textbooks, and now is the time to read books on sales, marketing, life and business in general (which I find more interesting than fiction, any day)
- Build Business Network: I’ve avoided networking (mostly because of time constraints… and that I’m always uneasy about it) for the past couple of years, but its time to start getting ‘out’ there at industry events, meetups, and online. I’m now brushing up on actual networking skills by reading Networking for People who Hate Networking, by Devora Zack.
- Get Active: With it already being Spring, theres lots to do outside. I’m going to get outside more, and enjoy the fresh air.
But before I dive head in to all of that, I’m going to just relax for a bit… maybe plan a trip, or just take some time off to enjoy my city. But a few weeks of doing nothing, may do the trick.
My friends who have graduated before me, have all told me the same thing — its a dramatic change, and fast, where there is no more school, and a whole lot of free time to fill. Its both exciting, and scary at the same time…
Spring Time
For anyone living in the west coast, Spring time has finally arrived… This spring is going to be different than the past couple years, as I’ll finally be done school for good. Thus, I’ll have lots of free time to enjoy it and relax. 
Already, with the days being longer, I can feel the difference — having the sun around longer each day feels great in itself. I’m able to leave work, and feel like I have a few more hours of energy before needing to sleep.
With that said, I’ve got a few unofficial goals for this Spring/Summertime:
- Figure out the work-life balance: Without school in the mix, it should be a lot easier…
- Get out, be active, and enjoy the sun: I have too many trails, paths, parks, etc, around my home not to take advantage of. Its time to get active a few times a week, and enjoy my neighborhood
- Start taking the ‘long’ way home from work: its a nice walk along the seawall, thats probably 4km walk, instead of 2km.
- Be more social: with school eating up most of the time in my life, it time to expand my horizons
- Eat better: I need to focus on eating better (real) food, than the fast food crap as of late
- Read more: I’ve got a lot of books I’ve wanted to read for a while, but haven’t…
All in all, I’m excited for what Spring has to bring.
Do you have any goals for the Spring/Summer? Share them in the comments below!
I love Tax Time
Its that time of year, where everyone’s submitting their tax returns (hopefully) on time. I did mine the other day, and am quite pleased with the outcome.
First, I realized I made a bit more money in 2010 than I expected (yay), that I maxed out my RSP contributions (as expected), and had even more education deductions than planned (what I thought was ‘part time’ hours, was actually seen as ‘full time’ meaning higher deductions)
All in all, after all the info was entered, I came away with a $4,400 tax return. Its slightly less than last year, as I made more RSP contributions then (because of unused room), but its $4,400 to add to my financial plans. The money should be in my hands in the coming weeks.
(On a side note, I use ufile.ca to do my taxes online — no software, and its pretty straight forward. I highly recommend it. And, if you’re a student, you can find a student discount code somewhere)
Part of it, is already spent — one of the big purchases this year I was planning on doing, was replacing my laptop with a new MacBook — well, a couple weeks ago the new line came out, so I bought one. Now, I just need to sell the old one, for about ~$700.
The rest of the money, will be going into my RSP account. However, I’m still (really) tempted to dump it on my student loan.
How did you do this tax season? Better or worse than last year?
Career Path: Stay or Go?
I’ve been a bad blogger the past few weeks, as I’ve been slammed at work and school, thus making it hard to find the time to update. But I’m going to force myself (or at least try to force myself) to update at least once a week with something substantive… once I’m over this onslaught of work, I’ll be back in full force!
So speaking of work, I’ve come to realize that I need to start making a change. I’ve been with my company for just under 5 years, and its been pretty good up until now. As a whole, its a great company to work for, but ever since coming back in January, its been hard to motivate myself to come to work, and to push forward — I’ve reached that point, where I’m just kind of done.
Some people, like being at this point — where you show up, do your job, get paid well, and go home — for me, I like to be challenged, and I like to push forward, so I feel like I’m stalling out, and that it may be time to look at other options.
One of the avenues I want to explore, is doing contracting work. I’ve got a fair bit of experience in business management, that I think I could contract out to some small to medium sized companies — its largely what I do full time, but contract offers more flexibility, and a much wider variety of career paths.
While I need to wait for school to be done (to have the extra time to invest), I’m going to start building a business network of contacts, and potential clients in the mean time. My plan is to do the following:
- Start making it known to friends that I’m looking to branch out
- Attend at least one networking function/month
- Read a book or two on networking, business development, and selling yourself
- Start networking online too
So now, I’m debating between sticking it out at my current company, but working in the evenings to start a side business (something that will help me reach one of my goals, of making an additional $5k/year), and hopefully point me in the right direction for the future.
My long term goal, is to work for myself — I don’t think I’ll ever truly be happy, until I can run my own business, select my own clients, and earn each and every pay cheque.
The other alternative, which I’m going to keep on the table, is just keep my eyes open for a new opportunity that offers the challenge I’m looking for. I’m not hell bent on working for myself (just yet), and think I still have a lot of room to grow professionally at another company.
But, with all that said — I’m in a good enough spot right now, where I have the safe job, that I don’t hate, so it may just be a good holding point, until I can ramp up the contracting side.
Has anyone ever done this, started your own business? How did it go, pros/cons?
Another Day, Another Guest Post!
I forgot to mention, I also got the opportunity to guest post on Studenomics — its a great blog geared towards college students who are looking to find financnial freedom in life. If you haven’t been there before, it offers a really broad range of articles and advice thats based in reality — and its written by a recent grad too.
I wrote about my internship experience back in my college days, and how it really helped solidify my career path. Three months of working for free kinda sucks, but the outcome paid off many times over!
Thanks MD for letting me guest post!
My First Guest Blogging Experience
Since launching TSM, I’ve been seeing a great response in terms of visitors and commenters to the blog, and gaining new readers each day. One of those readers reached out to me a couple weeks ago, and asked if I’d like to be a guest blogger on his website, brokeprofessionals.com — While I’ve never guest blogged before, I took him up on his offer anyways.
The post is appearing today on his site, and is all about how I personally see post-secondary education as an investment, and how since graduating, I’m already enjoying a positive return on it. In fact, a 222% return, each and every month. You can read the full post at BrokeProfessionals.com.
If you’ve never been to Broke Professionals, its a blog by a twenty-something married professional, working towards financial freedom by paying off his six figure student loan. Its a great read, and its updated daily! The guy behind Broke Professional will also be guest blogging on TSM in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes out.
Why I Don’t Need an Emergency Fund
At the turn of the new year, a lot of bloggers shared their 2011 financial goals. One of the big ones on everyone’s list, was building an emergency fund. If you look at my goals, an emergency fund is missing — because I don’t need one.
Now, its not to say I’m invincible to anything bad, but rather, I have a different plan in case a disaster happens, or I get laid off (or fired!), or something completely unexpected pops up. And this plan also gives me the ability to earn money on it too (more than those 2% high interest rate accounts).
Emergency Scenario
So lets say (nock on wood), that my upstairs neighbor’s water pipe bursts, and turns my apartment into an aquarium. That would be bad — really bad. In fact, I would declare it an “emergency.” Even with my tenant insurance, I’m going to need to figure out a lot of things quick, including where to live in the short term, what to eat, what to wear, and how to deal with the loss of all my personal items, and so fourth. Tenant insurance will cover a fair bit of it, but they can be slow to move — so in the short run, I’ll need to come up with cash, and fast.
My answer? My credit card — well, at least at first. My credit card has a $10,000 limit on it, and I never carry a balance, so I have an instant $10k in my pocket.
But with the exorbitant interest rates, that credit card could get dangerous pretty quick. But thats fine, as I’m really only using it to buy me some time as I have money in the stock market I can cash out. My TSFA (tax free savings account), is one of my trading accounts for the stock market, so it has thousands of dollars in it. If I needed the money fast, I could sell my stocks (at whatever the market price is at the time), and then transfer the money back to my personal bank account. Doing this, would probably take a few days at most.
Then, once the money is in my bank account, I can pay off any of the credit card debt, and work from that fund going forward.
Fixing the Financial Damage
After that ‘emergency’ is over, I just need to sit back and wait for the tenant insurance to pay out for the losses that are covered (they pay up to $10,000, with a $1000 deductible). Even though I have to eat the $1000 loss, I’ll take the other amount, and then transfer it back into my TSFA stock trading account and re-buy the stocks I sold.
Doing all of this, essentially puts me back to my original position, less my deductible.
(In the case I lost my job, and had to live off of this money, I’d be able to ride it out for a good 6 months — by then, I’d expect to have a new job, and would be back to rebuilding my TSFA one pay cheque at a time.)
So instead of having an “emergency fund”, I prefer to call it an “emergency plan.” As long as there’s no emergency, the money in my TSFA will be earning a good return (several times better, on average, than being stuck in one of those ‘high interest savings rate’ accounts the bank keep promoting). While it will take a few days to turn completely liquid, my credit card more than bridges the gap.
That, is why I don’t need an emergency fund.
Reader Questions: (answer in the comments)
Do you have an emergency fund and/or plan? If so, what is it, and are you earning money on it, or is it just sitting in a savings account? Why?
The Hidden Upselling in Restaurants
The other day, my friend and I stopped by a restaurant to grab lunch before heading out to the movies. Aside from having a pretty good lunch, we also got a bit of a show as the waitress (who was quite good) used every trick in the book to try to upsell us, and make our bill (and ultimately her tip) bigger.
She did it so well, that had we gone for them all, our bill would have been twice as large. Not only that, she did it in such a way, that it didn’t seem like she was selling.
- Her ‘Recommended’ Dishes
When welcoming us, she went through the lineup of what’s on special and what she recommends. I like when waitresses do this, as it usually means something off the menu is available, or there’s a daily deal. Where she tried to upsell us, was her ‘favorite’ thing just happened to be the most expensive item by far. (coincidence? I doubt it). Had I got for it, that would be $10 more than I planned to spend right there. - Pesto-Mayo-Whatever Dipping Sauce
When she asked if I wanted fries with my burger, I said yes. The next words were “would you like our pesto-mayo-whatever dipping sauce with that?” Well, no (I’m a ketchup fan), but thanks for asking. Had I said yes, that would have been an instant $2.50 extra. - Desert
As she comes to clear our plates, she puts down the desert menu and again points out her favorites… again, her favorites are the most expensive items on the menu. (who eats desert at 1pm on a weekday anyways?) Desert alone would have been another $5… $10 if we went for her favorite item. - Coffee
Since it was waaaay to early in the day for desert, we declined. She went into asking if we’d like coffee or another drink. Another $3-5 if we went for it. At that point, we were done with the meal and had a movie to catch, so we just went for the bill. - Credit Card
I have a credit card with a chip in it, so I have to put in my pin number to purchase anything, along with enter a tip. The terminal she gave me had the quick key set up, to give a 20% tip, or enter different tip amount. Typically, I tip around 15%, so 20% didn’t seem like a far stretch — plus it saved me fumbling with a few more screens to enter a different amount. Having this quick key, instantly earned her another $1.50.
All in all, had we gone for all of her upsells, we would have spent double what we originally intended. Unfortunately for her, we were content with just burgers for lunch with no real extras. But she did end up with her 20% tip — which she earned — and we’ll probably go back next time we’re in the area.
When upsells like these are so flawlessly executed, you have to respect it. I wish the folks who try to sell an Extended Warrantee plan on a a $15 item, would take lessons from our waitress.