Shaine Mata Blog

How Did People Approach Writing When It Was Scarce?

I've been semi-playing Empire Avenue . I say semi-playing because it's supposed to be a social media game; but, I've only been doing the value investing . Rather than creating "wealth" by hyping up my stock, I've been value investing in stocks that provide good income. As a result, I have a rather affordable share price ; but, my portfolio value has been increasing steadily. Today, I maxed out the number of shares I can own by purchasing an upgrade that raises the limit to 400 shares per stock. This was my intent from the start. As I go down the line of income-producing stocks, I can start diversifying a bit more. The top dividend providers are consistent earners; but, they offer little in terms of growth. Once I max out 400 shares in the top earners, I can start investing in up and coming stocks that also provide decent dividends. Fun game. Related articles Top 5 Ways to Increase Share Price in Empire Avenue (chris.pirillo.com) What is Empire Avenue? ...

This is a straight calculation post without fluff on how to schedule your freelance work time. In this instance, we will assume you have a part-time job. The calculations are based on Working Money by Chris Brogan . First off, set your earnings goal for the year. What do you want your income to be? Let's say that you want to earn $80K per year. Subtract your income from your part-time job. Let's say at a rate of $1,500 per month, your deduction is $18,000. That leaves $62,000 to earn in your freelance work. That's $5167 to earn per month, $1,240 per week, $207 per day. Assuming you work 40 hours in your freelance work on top of your 20 hours at a job, that means you have: 13 hours to prospect per week, 2 hours per day 13 hours to deliver and execute on your sales, 2 hours of work per day 13 hours to provide support, or do administrative work per week, 2 hours per day. Since you are doing actual work that pays you for only 13 hours per week, your hourly r...

I finally got fed up with having papers everywhere. I bought a scanner so I can digitize all our documents at home. I'm dumping things into Evernote for now. However, I am thinking that many of these files are not ones that I would need to use frequently, or perhaps at all. There may be no value in being able to search for those documents. If I upload them onto Google Docs , I'd much more easily be able to share folders with my family. Evernote has sharing; but, there is no way of transferring ownership, as far as I know. I'll think about it more later. For now, the objective is to get rid of papers. I have binders full awaiting their fate.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image via Wikipedia"] [/caption] As a "knowledge worker", much of my day is spent producing and consuming information. Fortunately, much of that information is available from the Internet, and stays on the Internet. However, there are other types of information that come to me in paper format, like account statements, estimates, invoices, and so on. Much of this paper information piles up; my desk is swimming in papers. Why is it so difficult to go entirely paperless? Tactile Preference One of the biggest complaints about using ebook readers is that many people prefer the feel of books. The tactile experience adds to the enjoyment; however, I think it goes beyond that. I think the problem is more than a sensory preference; it is a mental separation of concepts. This book is 2001; it is science fiction; it is written by Arthur C. Clark. There are discreet attributes that ...