More lists...
Writer's Digest - two competitions, several categories. Win a trip to New York City! Wait...
deadlines 5/1/09 and 5/15/09.
FreelanceWriting.com's list of contests.
Manuscript Editing's list.
Warning to writers about contests from Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Free to Enter!
Wergle Flomp Humour Writing Contest from Winning Writers.
I sit here looking at the lists of contests that come up when you simply enter "writing contest" into Google, and other than being supremely discouraged by the often astronomical entry fees (a quick glance yields anything from $10 to $65 - no, I'm not kidding), all I keep thinking is that doing all this research, compiling all these lists, means that I'm not actually writing. Enough of that.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
starting a business
In the interest of research and compiling lists (which I love), I have decided to follow my curiosity concerning what it would take to start a business, for instance a bar. This is completely outside of my realm, of course, as I've never taken a single business or business-oriented class. However, not *completely* since I've been in the restaurant business for ten years and, let's face it, I can do anything.
http://www.ychange.com/ - Straight-forward in tone, the Business Articles section looks fairly useful, especially at the early stages of research, and contains several pdfs with lists (which I love). They also do startup consulting if their extensive website isn't enough. Interestingly, one of their points of advice is to have a site map on your business's website in order to facilitate customers finding what they're looking for, as well as getting your site to pop up on web searches, and I don't see a site map on the main ychange page. In fact, there seems to be no way of searching the site. Except, of course, Googling ychange and what you're looking for, but that might be more work than a potential customer wants to do. Just saying.
SCORE is "a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide." Not the best-written sentence I've ever seen, but what an incredible resource. There's a whole section on Starting Your Business with articles like a Six-Month Plan to Transitioning from Employee to Entrepreneur and a 60-Second Guide to Financing Your Startup Business. They also have a Template Gallery, which is especially useful to someone who isn't sure how to begin. And check out their women-specific site.
The U.S. Small Business Association is a good place to get started as well, with everything from Getting Ready, where you will find a useful FAQ section, to Getting Out, should the need or desire arise.
There is also an abundance of software designed to help you build a business plan, such as Bplans.com, where you can find 500+ sample business plans for businesses in places like Southern, Your State. Or Plan Magic. And don't forget about Wikipedia (as if that were possible).
Of course, anyone thinking of opening a bar had better be pretty familiar with their local liquor laws. So in New York I would check out the New York Liquor Authority, naturally, and there I would find, among other things, the instructions for applying for a liquor license. And say we're opening a bar that will serve food, we'll need an On-Premises Liquor license, which costs $4,352 for 2 years in New York County. Good to know.
Essential information from the NYC Health Dept (Food Service Establishment fee is $280 + $105 for the food protection certificate for whoever is in charge of food [possibly multiple people]). And from the New York State Taxation and Finance office regarding Starting or buying a business. And information on insurance. And the Business Certificate for Partners for New York. Check with the NYC Dept of Buildings.
Further reading:
--Entrepreneur.com has an article and ebook on opening a bar/club, and chapter 1 is available for download. Their books are available at the NYPL's SIBL branch on Madison and 34th.
--New York Mag's three-year-old article is pretty specific - just what we're looking for.
--According to this 2007 article in Forbes, a Micros system that does everything I would want it to ("three touch-screen workstations, printers, cash drawers and credit-card processing, as well as nifty software that can track inventory turnover rates, schedule employee shifts and process customer loyalty cards") would cost about $12k.
My mother always said I should have something to fall back on. To be continued...
http://www.ychange.com/ - Straight-forward in tone, the Business Articles section looks fairly useful, especially at the early stages of research, and contains several pdfs with lists (which I love). They also do startup consulting if their extensive website isn't enough. Interestingly, one of their points of advice is to have a site map on your business's website in order to facilitate customers finding what they're looking for, as well as getting your site to pop up on web searches, and I don't see a site map on the main ychange page. In fact, there seems to be no way of searching the site. Except, of course, Googling ychange and what you're looking for, but that might be more work than a potential customer wants to do. Just saying.
SCORE is "a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide." Not the best-written sentence I've ever seen, but what an incredible resource. There's a whole section on Starting Your Business with articles like a Six-Month Plan to Transitioning from Employee to Entrepreneur and a 60-Second Guide to Financing Your Startup Business. They also have a Template Gallery, which is especially useful to someone who isn't sure how to begin. And check out their women-specific site.
The U.S. Small Business Association is a good place to get started as well, with everything from Getting Ready, where you will find a useful FAQ section, to Getting Out, should the need or desire arise.
There is also an abundance of software designed to help you build a business plan, such as Bplans.com, where you can find 500+ sample business plans for businesses in places like Southern, Your State. Or Plan Magic. And don't forget about Wikipedia (as if that were possible).
Of course, anyone thinking of opening a bar had better be pretty familiar with their local liquor laws. So in New York I would check out the New York Liquor Authority, naturally, and there I would find, among other things, the instructions for applying for a liquor license. And say we're opening a bar that will serve food, we'll need an On-Premises Liquor license, which costs $4,352 for 2 years in New York County. Good to know.
Essential information from the NYC Health Dept (Food Service Establishment fee is $280 + $105 for the food protection certificate for whoever is in charge of food [possibly multiple people]). And from the New York State Taxation and Finance office regarding Starting or buying a business. And information on insurance. And the Business Certificate for Partners for New York. Check with the NYC Dept of Buildings.
Further reading:
--Entrepreneur.com has an article and ebook on opening a bar/club, and chapter 1 is available for download. Their books are available at the NYPL's SIBL branch on Madison and 34th.
--New York Mag's three-year-old article is pretty specific - just what we're looking for.
--According to this 2007 article in Forbes, a Micros system that does everything I would want it to ("three touch-screen workstations, printers, cash drawers and credit-card processing, as well as nifty software that can track inventory turnover rates, schedule employee shifts and process customer loyalty cards") would cost about $12k.
My mother always said I should have something to fall back on. To be continued...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Mega Millions
With the jackpot currently estimated at $212 million and the next drawing tonight - and the economy being what it is - talk at work this afternoon once again touched on the lottery, and most importantly what would you do if you won? Would you go to work tomorrow?
One of my colleagues said he would run for president. I'll leave that alone.
He asked me what I would do, and it took me a second to think of anything because I haven't thought about it in a while. I haven't even played a scratch-off in almost three years, and other than a summer of manic Powerball playing, I had only bought a ticket a handful or two of times. Receiving a large sum of money changes everything, but hundreds of millions of dollars? It doesn't even make sense. I can barely imagine. Except the thing is that I can of course imagine. It is not unthinkable for a person to have that much money. In fact, according to a quick Wikipedia search, there are about 95,000 people with more than $30 million, and more than 1,000 with over a billion.
On the flip side, roughly a billion people live on less than $1/day...
So for a $212 million jackpot, the annual payout is somewhere around $7 million each year for 26 years or $137 million all at once. In other words, if I were to win the lottery (the odds of which are 1:175,711, 536), several million dollars would almost immediately be at my disposal. My first answer to my colleague's question was, "oh, I'd do a million things..." How vague is that? I would though. Then I started listing things, and the first thing I thought of was paying off my student loans and credit cards. How practical am I? How preoccupied with my current financial state am I?, is the more accurate question.
I would buy a really nice but not over the top apartment, maybe in Manhattan but more likely in Brooklyn, somewhere near the train and convenient to the city, Park Slope probably. I would most certainly quit my job, not because I don't like it but because I know my shifts would easily be covered. I would buy the perfect venue and open the perfect bar. But I would go somewhere sunny first - Oaxaca maybe, where it is currently 82 and clear. I would go shopping but not too much (the Gap has really cute spring sweaters and I discovered yesterday in the snow that my boots are no longer entirely waterproof). I would set up college funds for my nephew and every other child I know or who may come into existence in the near future. I would take dance lessons and pilates, I would finally learn to play my beautiful candy apple red Fender Squier Strat. I would relax a little, which means I would write more. I would travel. I would buy my parents a boat. I would donate to charities.
The point is that I would still work my ass of, I would still do the things I am planning on doing now, but it would make those things a lot easier. Okay, I'm not really planning on buying my parents a boat. So maybe I would do things a little more extravagantly, but I live well. It would be nice, but I don't need it. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the people that spend their hard-earned cash on lotto tickets really do need the money. And maybe one of them will get it tonight.
One of my colleagues said he would run for president. I'll leave that alone.
He asked me what I would do, and it took me a second to think of anything because I haven't thought about it in a while. I haven't even played a scratch-off in almost three years, and other than a summer of manic Powerball playing, I had only bought a ticket a handful or two of times. Receiving a large sum of money changes everything, but hundreds of millions of dollars? It doesn't even make sense. I can barely imagine. Except the thing is that I can of course imagine. It is not unthinkable for a person to have that much money. In fact, according to a quick Wikipedia search, there are about 95,000 people with more than $30 million, and more than 1,000 with over a billion.
On the flip side, roughly a billion people live on less than $1/day...
So for a $212 million jackpot, the annual payout is somewhere around $7 million each year for 26 years or $137 million all at once. In other words, if I were to win the lottery (the odds of which are 1:175,711, 536), several million dollars would almost immediately be at my disposal. My first answer to my colleague's question was, "oh, I'd do a million things..." How vague is that? I would though. Then I started listing things, and the first thing I thought of was paying off my student loans and credit cards. How practical am I? How preoccupied with my current financial state am I?, is the more accurate question.
I would buy a really nice but not over the top apartment, maybe in Manhattan but more likely in Brooklyn, somewhere near the train and convenient to the city, Park Slope probably. I would most certainly quit my job, not because I don't like it but because I know my shifts would easily be covered. I would buy the perfect venue and open the perfect bar. But I would go somewhere sunny first - Oaxaca maybe, where it is currently 82 and clear. I would go shopping but not too much (the Gap has really cute spring sweaters and I discovered yesterday in the snow that my boots are no longer entirely waterproof). I would set up college funds for my nephew and every other child I know or who may come into existence in the near future. I would take dance lessons and pilates, I would finally learn to play my beautiful candy apple red Fender Squier Strat. I would relax a little, which means I would write more. I would travel. I would buy my parents a boat. I would donate to charities.
The point is that I would still work my ass of, I would still do the things I am planning on doing now, but it would make those things a lot easier. Okay, I'm not really planning on buying my parents a boat. So maybe I would do things a little more extravagantly, but I live well. It would be nice, but I don't need it. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the people that spend their hard-earned cash on lotto tickets really do need the money. And maybe one of them will get it tonight.
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