UPDATE: The Inner View of Your Interview is now ready for purchase!

Click HERE to purchase your copy and use coupon code “save10″ to save $10 immediately! Be sure to APPLY the coupon before you checkout!

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Within the next few weeks (maybe even days?) my eBook on job interviewing will be finished and available for purchase here on The Wisdom Journal. I’ve been working on this project for almost a year now and I believe I’m finally ready to stop editing! Now if I could just get my editor to give her final stamp of approval! Hint-hint.

The Inner View of Your Interview is written for job seekers from the perspective of a Human Resources professional. It examines the top 100 questions asked by interviewers but applies a unique twist – not only does it give you a framework for crafting the best answer, it also warns you of the worst answers and the traps that interviewers set for job candidates. But it goes much deeper than even the best and worst answers – The Inner View of Your Interview clues you in on why the question was asked in the first place.

One of the keys to understanding human nature is knowing why people think a certain way and The Inner View of Your Interview uncovers the motivations behind the top interview questions asked by interviewers. It’s like seeing your interview from inside the mind of the person asking the questions.

I’ve written quite a lot on job interviewing, mostly because I majored in Human Resources Management before getting my MBA. Knowing some of the ins and outs of HRM as well as the business principles I learned in graduate school helped me write this book.

Here are a few of the stats:

• 80+ pages of actual content (that’s huge for an eBook)
• 35,000+ words
• 100 actual interview questions dissected and examined
• Dozens of examples on what to say and how to say it
• FREE bonus chapters on handling illegal questions
• FREE bonus chapter on the new rage: behavioral interviewing
• Worksheet to help you uncover your motivational Success Factors
• Worksheet to help you find open positions through networking
• Yet another FREE bonus chapter on background checks

Yes, I wrote this book for the job seeker, but interviewers can also benefit. If you interview people for almost any type of position, you can use these questions as a template to help you better prepare to be on the question side of the desk. And yes, all of the questions are legal – except the ones listed in the “illegal question” section!

If you know anyone who is:

• Unemployed
• Laid off
• Recently graduated
• Searching for a job
• Wanting to make a job change but fearful of interviewing
• Confused with how to “prepare” for an interview
• Searching for qualified help to fill a position

This is the perfect gift for them.

I’ve used a career and interviewing coach before.

I paid over $7,000 for less than half the information you’ll discover in The Inner View of Your Interview. Not only that, but the information is presented in an easy to read format and in language anyone can understand.

The Inner View of Your Interview will retail for $29.99 but I’m offering an instant $10 off during the launch phase to those who are interested. If that describes YOU, just drop me a line on my contact form and I’ll send you the coupon code when The Inner View of Your Interview is released.

Many more eBooks to come. Future books will include:

• Home Organization
• Building a deck (a Spring 2011 project)
• Saving for college
• Retirement planning beyond the finances
• Grant writing for fun and profit

The eBook cover design was by the master – Peter Anderson from Logos for Websites. He is awesome!

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

I’m not talking about the birthday money your grandfather gave you, or the allowance you got for taking out the trash or washing the dishes. I’m talking about money you earned from your own work and effort.

The first thing I remember buying with my own money was a metal detector when I was about 11 years old. It was a cheap little model that excelled at finding nails and other little metal objects in our yard, though it didn’t find the treasures I hoped. I can remember seeing an “incredible opportunity” in the back of one of my Superman comic books for people who were willing to sell Christmas cards and other greeting cards door to door. I was the little entrepreneur who sent off for the BIG catalogue and followed all the sales instructions. And yes, I got paid. Sometimes in cash, other times in prizes, but the company allowed you to determine which. MY first paycheck was that metal detector and it motivated me!

I can still remember the intense excitement when the UPS man drove up to our house. I knew what was in that log box and the only thing I needed at that point was 4 D-cell batteries.

The amount of commissions paid per sale wasn’t significant (as I recall it was about one dollar per box) but what it taught me was that labor meant profit and it put me in control of getting the things I wanted. I learned to ask questions of the little old ladies in the neighborhood such as, “Have you ever wished you didn’t have to go to the drugstore for a greeting card?” or “How much did you spend on Christmas cards last year? I can save you some money!”

I was a regular little salesman and I insisted on getting referrals. Looking back on it, my own social ignorance of how much of a pest I was had to have partially contributed to my success. Of course, those little old ladies were just happy that someone was visiting …

What’s the first thing you remember buying with YOUR own money? How did you earn it?

Leave your replies in the comments and yes, a jaded recollection of ancient history is allowed!

Photo by Hippycritical – thanks for the memories!

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

Joey Chestnut

Do you ever wish that you had some kind of special talent or skill that you could use to make a lot of money and get out of debt, buy a first home, etc? Maybe you see people like Mark Zuckerberg who co-founded Facebook and is already a billionaire at the age of 25 thanks to his smarts and special skill set and become slightly jealous. Shoot, maybe you would even settle for being like Joey Chestnut the competitive eater who set a world record for eating 69 hot dogs with buns in 12 minutes. What do both Mark Zuckerberg and Joey Chestnut have in common? Each of them has a special skill set that they used to its fullest to become very successful. While not all of us can become as famous or as wealthy necessarily I do strongly believe that each of us could be considered an expert at something, anything – and with the proper direction we can turn that expertise into dollars in our pocket. Let me explain.

We are All Experts (in Something)

I would submit to you that you are an expert at something. I strongly believe that you know a particular subject area better than probably 90% of Americans. I also strongly believe that you can use this expert status and depth of knowledge about this niche to make yourself some money. Granted, these bold statements that I am making are true in different degrees with different people but I believe that these statement are true for everyone.

How to Find Out Your Area of Expertise

Many of you probably thought of your area of expertise the moment you first glanced at this page. For those who are still not so sure then here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. What do I enjoy doing? - Do you crochet for 3 hrs every day and know how to weave intricate “crochets”? (OK, you can probably gather that I for one am not an expert on crochet). Do you have a huge collection of Transformers that you still pose on your shelf as a 33 year old man? (Just for the record, I have not owned a Transformers action figure since I was about 9).
2. What am I good at? – Do guests rave about your cooking whenever you have company over? Are you the first person that your friends call when their car is “making a weird noise”? Do your friends hate inviting you over for poker night because you always win?
3. What did I study? – Did you graduate from college or trade school with a specialized degree?
4. What do I enjoy talking about? – Can you rattle on for hours about the Dallas Cowboys or geological formations or bond trading or equestrian sports or stamp collecting or (well, you get the picture)?
5. Do I have a specialized skill set learned from my job or business? – Do you have very specialized knowledge about a certain industry or product? Do you know things about a certain industry that only an “industry insider” would know?

I am willing to wager that every one of us could look through the above questions and come up with something (no matter how obscure) that we are somewhat of an expert in.

How to Make Some $$$ from Your Expertise

The next step to putting your newly discovered area of expertise to use making some money is to bring that knowledge to the world on the world wide web. The wonderful thing about the Internet is that even if your area of expertise happens to be “North Dakota Sheep Herding” then chances are that there is an audience that would love to learn about the knowledge that you have. Granted, you might not make as much money from advertisers or paying customers as someone who has a lot of knowledge about the stock market but you absolutely can develop a loyal following and make money in the process.

The wonderful thing about starting a website or blog and writing about something that you happen to already know a lot about is that A) You will already know what you should write about and B) Chances are that you enjoy the subject matter and can add some unique insight and helpful tips that someone who is not familiar with the subject or who does not enjoy the subject would be unable to.

To use two personal examples of putting some of these steps into practice: Ron started this site to talk about his passion for making wise financial choices and he is committed to not only providing top notch financial education but also providing insight into the different underlying character traits that influence our financial decisions. I am a CFP® and the owner of an independent insurance agency that sells Florida health insurance and so I had a lot of knowledge about various financial topics so I started a site to help people easily compare credit cards and a site to help people easily leave reviews and compare health insurance providers. My most recent venture is putting up a site that will allow people to easily do a car insurance comparison and find ways to save money on their auto insurance.

I would challenge you to ask yourself the questions above and see if you might be an expert in hiding that is primed to turn your specialized knowledge into a source of income. What do you think?

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

This image is part of the public domain.

Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco in 1853, just 5 years after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California and opened the western branch of his family’s dry goods store. In the years after gold was discovered, hundreds of thousands of people arrived in the Golden State to pursue the American Dream and Levi Strauss was there to “mine the miners” rather than mine the gold.

I recently heard a very successful farmer speak at my Rotary Club meeting and was struck by one statement: “I farm about 4,500 acres and more than half of that is dedicated to producing seed to sell to other farmers.” He is farming the farmers.

There are websites galore dedicated to making money online by teaching people how to make money online. There are writers who write about writing, business people who’s business is teaching business people how to conduct business, passionate people who’s passion is helping others find their passion, and coaches who coach coaches on how to coach.

What do these ventures have in common?

They all take advantage of a rush of sorts. Many of these see that miners, farmers, online entrepreneurs, and coaches all need something and rather than jump into the fray of competition against them, instead make their fortune in supplying people who are looking to make a fortune.

For example, young kids think setting up a classic lemonade stand is how to make extra money, but what if they started building lemonade stand KITS and selling them to other kids? My daughters make a fortune babysitting, but what if they were motivated to organize a sitter’s club and sold memberships to parents who needed a sitter on short notice? Sometimes just a potential sitter’s phone number is golden!

Making money isn’t about jumping on a bandwagon with the “next big thing.” It isn’t about retailing lemonade or retailing anything for that matter. That’s too obvious. Where real money can be made is in supplying those who are looking to jump on a bandwagon.

Where can you make your money?

What “gold rush” can you take advantage of? Instead of jumping in on the “next big thing,” what can you supply to those looking to jump in on the next big thing? This is what out of the box thinking is all about.

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.

With the media endlessly trumpeting the decline in American manufacturing, you’d think there was absolutely nothing made in the United States anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth. Though the number has shrunk due to technology advancements and cheap labor overseas, there are still plenty of things manufactured in the US from appliances to yard tools.

What IS “American Made?”

One reason we don’t buy American more often is that we don’t know what is and isn’t manufactured in the USA. When 70 percent of a GM, or Ford vehicle is made from parts manufactured overseas, is it any wonder that we question what is and isn’t American? Honda (Japan), Mercedes (Germany), and Hyundai (Korea) all have manufacturing plants in Alabama, Michelin (France) has one in South Carolina. Are their products American made? Their US employees certainly think so. If 80 percent of your car is manufactured in other countries, is it really American? It’s hard to say with certainty. Sure, legislators assign a certain percentage of parts that must be American made to claim the Made In The USA label, but what is so miraculous about going from 59 percent to 60 percent?

Some would say that a product is “American” if it’s headquarters is in the US and the money stays in the USA. What about Chrysler? Formerly owned by Daimler Benz (Germany), but now owned by Fiat (Italy), do you really know which country receives their money? Regardless of any country’s public partnerships, do we really know whether those dollars are converted to Euros, or Yen, or Yuan as a hedge against the declining Dollar?

We’re disconnected from manufacturing

Not too many decades ago, you knew who manufactured your tires. You knew who wove your carpet yarn. You knew who operated the sewing machines, the presses, the giant machines of manufacturing. They were your friends, your cousins, your neighbors. Today, we’ve lost touch with people who make things.

We’re too interested in accounting

I call it the “accountification” of American business. We’re more interested in the buying process than in the manufacturing process, in how we can tweak the system to eek out another penny per share than in providing the highest quality product at the best price.

We’re too influenced by marketing

Whether we’re willing to admit it or not, marketing plays a crucial role in what we purchase. We’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that a Lexus (Japan) is better than any other car out there and that having one in the driveway with a big red bow on top is the ultimate gift.

American business has been too slow

Not all the blame can be laid at the feet of the American consumer. American business has been very slow to react to changing conditions. When the gasoline shortages of the 1970’s hit the US, smaller foreign cars were snapped up like they were going out of style because they met the needs of the public. American manufacturing was incredibly slow to adapt and change. Not only that, but American manufacturers were perceived by the public as peddling shoddy materials as other countries (mostly Japanese) were steadily increasing the quality of their products.

Innovation comes from the field but accountants and “experts” are usually too slow to react to it.

Still made in the USA — Sign up for PerkStreet’s REWARDS checking account here!

The biggest reason is we’re a much more global economy

The interconnectedness of commerce today is astounding. Two hundred years ago, a chair manufacturer would buy lumber from a local forester, shape it with hammers and chisels made one town over, then sell it locally by delivering it on his own handmade wagon. Today, a chair manufacturer (even an American manufacturer) might buy veneers from a company in Canada, use adhesives made in India to attach it to a substrate made in Brazil, stain it with stains made in China after using power tools made with parts manufactured in 12 different countries, then ship it on a truck made in Sweden and a trailer made in Texas to a distributor based in France who will sell it to retailers all over the world using a marketing company that’s a partnership between and English and Japanese conglomerates. Assembled in the USA? Yes. Made in the USA? I’m not so sure.

What’s the solution?

We won’t be getting rid of the global economy anytime soon, not unless we’re hit by an asteroid or comet and life takes a radical change for the worse. What needs to happen is for manufacturers to focus on what they do best and for governments to get out of the way.

Does it really help a country to adopt protectionist measures when the problem is a lack of innovation, too much regulation, and politicians with ZERO business experience dictating how a company should be run?

History says no.

Check out:

Toys Made In America

Made in USA.org

Still Made In The USA

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy on the site or on my About page.