Curiosity meets the homebuying process

One of my adventures this year is Treasure Hunting with Curiosity Restoration Specialist Barak Rosenbloom. Every day, I get email reminders to play. And be curious. How\’s that for the good life?

Anyone who\’s been paying attention knows those types of reminders are almost overkill for the fun-focused creatrix of this blog. But not necessarily. Because I have someone reminding me that curiosity can be part of everything, I have become ever more curious in my homebuying process. Every bike ride, every trip to the grocery store, every return from a professional or social event becomes another chance to look for cool properties to see if maybe, just maybe, they have a For Sale sign in front. And better yet, a sales sheet that notes 2+ bedrooms, great light and secure storage for our enormous collection of bikes, snowboards and skis. For a killer price.

Still, I hope that our perfect home manifests in time for us to close the deal before snowboarding season starts and I have no incentive to do anything but drive up I-90, mach down Alpental, return and repeat.

Are you a money avoider?

Do you secretly hope that if you just don\’t think about bills, retirement — all those unpleasant payments — your money troubles might disappear? I do. And apparently there are many others whose relationship with money is exactly the same.

Anyone whose money personality fits this description must listen to this teleclass with Financial Alchemy coach Sarah Hoskin Clymer.

Homebuying 101

After surviving the fourth flood of my home office in two years, I decided it was (beyond) time to buy our own property and stop renting.

Two days later, I found myself in a First-Time Homebuyer seminar, sponsored by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, learning about mortgages, partners in the homebuying process, and more.

Mastering the details of financing and real estate trends…and going to non-stop home viewings…now seems like a full-time job.

Not to mention that I have discovered that my husband doesn\’t share some of my homebuying priorities. Trying to reach common ground on that part of the process makes learning about the difference between conventional, FHA, key and flex loans seem like kindergarten fare.

Stay tuned for details, hopefully including an offer on the townhome I adore (but my husband doubts).

Contribution in Seattle

Anyone who lives in Seattle — or wants to venture there on July 21 — can get a first-hand taste of the Contribution Game, set to happen at the Poco Wine Room from 6 to 8 PM.

The event is designed for Biznik members, but everyone, anywhere, who considers themselves an indie professional can reap the benefits of Biznik membership — events, networking, message boards and more — for free. Check out Biznik here.

The contribution game

Back in January, I awoke way too early on a Saturday morning to head down to the Inspired Action workshop by Matthew Ferry.

When I headed home that evening, I was aware of many valuable insights. But one of the highlights of the day was the Contribution Game.

When we left for our first break, Matthew asked us to not only interact with others — but to walk up to people that we would usually never invite into our universe — and ask them what they needed to achieve their dreams.

What did I learn? That there were many fascinating people with incredible visions for their life and the world around them — who just needed a bit of help from their friends. Some of whom were strangers until minutes before.

I always knew there were karmic reasons to help others. But beyond that, I recently realized that the value of the Contribution Game extends beyond karma. By reaching out to others, we learn how many bright, passionate, motivated people can be part of our existence. Those are the types of people that help you get yourself out of your rut and reach for the previously impossible!

Not to mention that I\’ve usually avoided asking for help, because I didn\’t want to seem less than perfect. So this type of interaction is definitely a challenge for me!

Now my goal is to incorporate the Contribution Game into everyday life.

Investing education for (almost) free

Morningstar is one of my favorite investing sites. With a premium membership, you get 24/7 access to analysis, stock screeners and more — plus great education resources like their Investing Classroom. And the best part is that you get paid to learn about topics ranging from ratios to NAV! Once you\’ve earned 790 points by completing quizzes, you get 60 days of premium membership for free.

Celebrating success

Congratulating yourself on every success — no matter how minute — is one virtually foolproof way to guarantee more success. Some of you are mocking me now. But if you don\’t believe me, commit to writing down five successes every day. It\’s gonna be harder than you think. That\’s why it works. Almost everyone finds it very easy to minimize their successes. But if you focus on them every day, you realize what a rockstar you really are! And develop the confidence to overcome any obstacles blocking the path to your dreams. Including your money myths, a.k.a. excuses.

Income without effort

Setting up a system to offer online stock photo licensing has been on my to-do list for months. But I had avoided sitting down to set up the pricing structure for my collections, thinking it would take too much time. When I finally did it, it took me about 20 minutes to price all my photo collections!

What boosted me into action? Talk about income without effort, a.k.a. passive income, was a key theme of the Millionaire Mind Intensive.

Stock photography is just one option for passive income. But it’s one of the most obvious for me, as a photographer with thousands of images showcasing extreme sports, street style, pop culture and more.

Network or multi-level marketing is another option that works for many people. But it’s important to find one that fits with your personality. Selling products and hassling with inventory — two typical components of many MLM systems — don’t work for me. But two that I’ve found fit well with my interests, personality and talents.

One is a program where you coach others online to achieve their health and fitness goals. Given that I am personally committed to improving my fitness after months where almost everything I did — snowboarding and downhill mountain biking — was gravity-assisted, and thus not especially aerobic, this was a great find for me.

Another harnesses the power of social networking to connect people who are committed to helping others on their path to financial freedom.

One of the better online resources for information about wealth building and passive income is the Rich Life Club, where I learned about the two programs above — plus many more jewels of business and investing information.

Anyone who’s interested in creating content online needs to look into affiliate programs. Given that I have actually worked in online marketing, as a SEO copywriter for MSN Search Featured Sites clients, it’s amazing to me that I never thought seriously about creating blogs as a means of moneymaking. Even when encouraged by others.

But when I decided to start this blog, I acted with no hesitation. In two days, I figured out how to set up a mySQL database and code my blog so that I could set up rotating affiliate ads — even though my prior HTML experience was relatively entry-level, and I’d never worked with PHP or XML files before.

And I already have hundreds of hits!