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Buying a House? Here is What to Look for When House Hunting

Interested in buying a house? Then pay attention. It’s the most important purchase you’ll ever make and not being careful will cost you time and money down the road. Here is what you should look for in a house you plan on buying: A great location The best house in a ghetto won’t bring you any good or peace. You cannot live surrounded by electric fences or high walls (at least it’s not pleasurable), so the neighborhood has the BIGGEST impact over your future life and happiness. As a personal example: we live in one of the best neighborhoods in my city. A central, yet peaceful location, with many parks and great schools. Ideal for families like us and anyone looking for a peaceful area. There are some amazing buildings to be bought or really cool house plots in the city, but the neighborhoods are not the ones I’d like to spend my nights in. So, even the least expensive house in a nice borough works better than a great one in a bad neighborhood. The view from your new home One year ago husband and I decided to get a rural home. It would be ideal for us to retreat in, once we retire, and also a great weekend spot for our family. Since we live in a pretty crowded city and the air pollution is something we are constantly aware of, such a retreat would allow us the much needed peace and fresh air. So we found a nice house to look at and decided to visit it. The house looked OK, even if it was a ruin, but the yard was a mess. We were at a crossroad, so it meant 2 sides of our property were at the street. Not that bad, if it had a […]

5 Growth Hacking Strategies That Always Work

Some of my web design clients are established businesses, but some are people who are just starting out. As you can guess, they have a minimal budget (if any) for promotion and already many costs with their product/service. As I started out with almost no bucks (you can read my story here: Freelancing Success Story: From Debt to a Successful Business), it was crucial to get the word out about my web design services and not have to pay a truckload of money to do so. This is why I looked at some strategies that would allow me to get some initial traction and not pay a lot of money for this. Of course, back then, I was oblivious of the term growth hacking, I was just trying to promote for free or with minimal costs. Here are 5 growth hacking strategies that will help you in your small business: Create a mailing list If you look at some of my posts in various webmaster forums you’ll notice that 2 years ago I had a HUGE aversion towards mailing lists, subscriptions and all the jazz. Since I wasn’t willing to join a newsletter if you put a gun to my head, I (wrongly) thought that most people are like me. Well, they are not. As long as you keep your newsletter content fresh and relevant, people will have absolutely no qualms with your email marketing strategies. I saw this in action, when I prepared my freelancing course and got paying students within minutes after opening ‘the gates’. What did I do there? I kept an email subscription form on the homepage, presenting the course and why it’s cool to join, then people started subscribing, to find out when the launch is. With a nice discount as well, I was able […]

9 Critical Mortgage Mistakes You Need to Avoid

Getting a mortgage is for most people the biggest money transaction they’ll do in their lifetime. Making mortgage mistakes can get you into some serious money trouble, this is why it’s important to take all precautions so that you don’t lose any money you shouldn’t be losing. Here are the biggest 9 mortgage mistakes to avoid You are not preparing properly for your new mortgage Don’t apply for a mortgage without shopping different lenders, having all of your paperwork together, and making sure your credit report is alright. This can be one of the most costly mortgage mistake, since lenders will offer different deals and shopping for the most cost-effective ones makes sense, especially when dealing with so much money. It’s a bit amusing to see how much shopping and couponing the regular American does, but, when it comes to huge purchases, people start getting reckless. Getting the wrong home loan There are so many different types of loans and it is very important that you get the one that fits your needs. Some lenders get used to doing the same loans and try to push everyone into the same product. Don’t let this happen to you. If you plan to be in the home for just a few years, you may want to go with an adjustable rate mortgage, taking advantage of the attractive initial rate. Perhaps you plan to relocate in a couple years or move up to a larger house. However, if you plan to live in this home for a long time, you may be better served with a fixed rate loan. You will pay a higher rate, but you won’t have to worry about large payment increases that can happen as rates increase. Whatever the type of home loan you fits your needs, make sure […]

5 Unusual Career Choices

When I was a kid, there were pretty few career choices: you would either become a doctor, a teacher or an engineer. There were also…

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Productivity: The Eisenhower Decision Matrix

Productivity. I never cared for it until I hit a wall with my business and personal life. Back in 2009 I decided to take on freelancing full time. It wasn’t all ‘my’ decision, it was because the radio station I worked with closed down and there were little chances to get the same salary anywhere else in the city. July 2009 left me jobless and with debt, this was the worst moment of my young life and the ‘click’ I needed to turn my web design hobby into something real. You can read about my story on PFtoday – Freelancing Success Story – From Debt to a Successful Business, now I’d like us to go a bit further in my personal history and see another crucial moment enfold. In 2014 I became a mother and also tried to keep on working 8-12 hours/day on my web design business. As you can imagine, with a small baby in my hands, things soon got out of whack. There I was, few months into motherhood, exhausted and angry. My business was going downhill and I was stressed out, tired and angry. I started watching some Udemy courses on running a freelancing business and things cleared out in my head: as I could not get more hours a day to work, since I really wanted to be there for my daughter, the logical solution was to do more work in a shorter amount of time, hence become productive. This is when I first heard of The Eisenhower Decision Matrix. As you can guess, the name comes from Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was the 34th President of the US, also a five star general during the WWII. The entire system is based on a quote that’s attributed to him: What is important is seldom urgent […]

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