First, I wanted to give you a last thought about The Age Curve by Kenneth Gronbach.  As I said yesterday, I don’t concur with everything he says.  For example, I think he’s wrong about the oil crisis.  He predicts that OPEC will have to “dramatically reduce” the price of oil and keep it there for a while.  I sure don’t think that’ll happen, but I’d be happy if it did.

Otherwise, The Age Curve is both informative and pleasing.  You can use it in your business, no matter what age group you are marketing to.  Gronbach states, if you want to profit from “generational demographics,” you need to determine who are your ideal customers, and match your marketing with the demographic peak of the markeket.  Ideally, your best customers are 8-10 years younger than the peak demographic of your market, so  your market will age toward your products or services, not away from them.

For example (my example here, not his):  If you are selling accessories for classic cars (as we discussed last week), your demographic is baby boomer men.  This group is getting bigger, as the biggest group of boomers is coming over the next 10 years.  Perfect timing.  Think about the group you want to target, understand the demographics of that market, and plan your marketing for success.

For a chance to win a copy of this book, leave a comment to this post.  Let me know if you agree with Gronbach, or you don’t, or you just want to react to anything I’ve said in this post or the ones from yesterday and the day before.  Any comment is ok.  You can comment as many times as you want, as long as each comment is one-of-a-kind.  Read more about contest rules on my new THOUGHTS page. Be sure to include your email address (no one but me will see it), so I can email you to let you know you’ve won. (U.S. and Canada only.)

I’ll accept comments/entries until midnight, Thursday, September 4, 2008 (Central Daylight Time).

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Jason Seiden’s new book, “How to Self-Destruct: Making the least of what’s left of your career” easily gives the impression that its contents are edgy, unconventional, and utterly hilarious. The book lives up to its promise as Seiden lends his refreshing, brutally honest voice to the often dreary genre of career guides.

Since I tend to see myself as somewhat a non-conformist who questions everything, I thought “How to Self-Destruct” would be a mere affirmation of the things I believe in.

Boy, was I wrong. While many of the ideas in the book are very similar to my own thoughts about work and life, I was surprised that the book also brought to my attention some of my flawed reasoning, harsh judgements, and weaknesses. If you think you’ve got it made, this book gives you a wake up call and shows you the things you need to improve.

Jason Seiden has such a strong voice that reading his book makes you feel like he’s sitting in the room with you, talking those very words. (Or maybe I lack sleep and I’m just generally hearing voices.) It doesn’t take long for the average reader to realize that the book is intended to be sarcastic, and that if you want to avoid self-destruction, do the opposite of what he suggests. But, as you read on, you’ll realize that such a reading of the text is overly simplistic. It’s not just one large sarcas-tathon.

First of all, the book isn’t entirely tongue-in cheek. The sarcastic sections are visually separated from the straightforward sections which are entitled “Surefire Masochistic Alternatives for Rookie Success Seekers”. The latter is printed with a light red background, which Seiden refers to as “the color of pending doom”.

Secondly, this book tackles everything from your career to your relationships and even money. What I especially like is his non-institutionalist approach to education:

“True learning occurs independent of, and sometimes inspite of, the work done in pursuit of a degree. Learning happens any time you embrace your incompetence as a challenge to learn new skills.”

Source: “How to Self-Destruct” by Jason Seiden

This passage especially reminds me of my own education, where I dropped out of arguably the ideal university in the country to go to a no-name college. Why? Because I didn’t know how to draw and wanted so badly to learn, and the top art insitutions require rigorous talent tests that obviously don’t accept stick figures. (Which I don’t get - if students are already skilled at something, how much do you expect to instruct them?)

What I love most about the book is that reading it requires you to question what you know and challenge the status quo. Even if I’m really happy with my life and my work, reading this book has allowed me to reevaluate my perspective on some things, and to find room for improvement (there’s always room for improvement, no matter how happy or well-adjusted you think you are).

Overall, I highly advocate Jason Seiden’s “How to Self-Destruct”, especially for fresh college graduates. But even experienced professionals can learn so much from Seiden’s book. I know I did.

However, there are two things each reader must possess to fully take advantage of this book: the ability to think for oneself, and a sense of humor.

If you want a sneak peek of the book, click here to go to the website and read some excerpts.

(Or, you know, in the spirit of the book’s style, don’t read it. Doing so causes introspection, and why would you want to do that? Your time is superior spent Twittering about your day anyway.)

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Best Buy(R) News Media Policy Eases Store Access For West Virginia - MSN MoneyCentral
  Ideal Purchase is pleased to participate in West Virginia’s upcoming sales tax holiday September 1 -7. During the holiday, all ENERGY STAR-qualified products including appliances and electronics that are priced less than $2,500 can be bought tax-free

Mozilla’s Google subsidy to last three more years - CNET News
Mozilla and Google have extended a search deal through 2011, providing some financial security to the backer of the open-source Firefox Web browser. “We’ve just renewed our agreement with Google for an additional three years. This agreement now ends

Answers to 401(k) plan questions - MSN MoneyCentral
(AP) - Making decision about retirement savings can be complicated. Many workers may see recent drops in the value of their employer-sponsored 401(k) programs and question whether they should be making changes. Following are some answers to common

Hoffman Estates police seek 2 men who robbed Mobil gas station at - Chicago Tribune
Two men robbed a Hoffman Estates gas station at gunpoint and escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said Thursday. The men walked into a Mobil station at 2595 W. Golf Rd. about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday and demanded money, stated Police Lt. Rich

RBC has “aggressive but disciplined” M&A approach - Reuters
TORONTO, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ) is looking at potential acquisitions in U.S. personal and commercial banking “with a tremendous amount of caution,” President and Chief Executive Gord

Seniors want retirement at 75 - News.com.au
Seniors group wants retirement age raised to 75 They also want the way pensions are set to be re-evaluated More superannuation news in our Money section THE nation’s peak seniors group has called on the Rudd Government to raise the retirement age to

Fannie Video Gallery - CNBC
News from Fannie and MBIA after the bell, with the Fast Money traders. SEC Chairman on Fannie, Fre SEC Chairman Christopher Cox discusses the future of troubled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with CNBC’s Er Should Fannie & Freddie

Newport News police searching for two men in connection with attempted - The Virginian-Pilot
An 18-year-old was shot Tuesday night as he ran away from an attempted robbery and police are asking the public’s help finding two suspects. The two suspects went into the Texaco at 4900 Jefferson Ave. shortly before midnight and asked the 18-year

Some Clinton fundraisers squeezing money for Obama - The Washington Times
DENVER (AP) - Alexander Heckler is working hard to dispel The Rift. Here at the Democratic National Convention, the youthful and energetic former Florida finance chairman for Hillary Rodham Clinton is handing out party tickets and hard-to-get floor

Transcript: Color of Money Book Club - Washington Post
Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary hosted an online discussion with Carolyn Warren , author of “Mortgage Rip-Offs and Money Savers” (John Wiley & Sons), on Thursday, Aug. 28 at Noon ET. Carolyn Warren: I list 7 disadvantages of an

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Filed under: Estates

Today’s estate would be a lot to live up to, the cool factor is pretty high. Out of the sleek modern homes perched on Camelback Mountain with views of Phoenix, Arizona, this is one of the best. The three-bedroom home features glass walls which open out onto terraces and a cantilevered pool and submerged Jacuzzi which seem to float above the city lights. The property also includes a 100 foot mountainside waterfall. The mountain comes inside the home in the 16-person home theater which has a rock wall. The home also features a separate catering kitchen, wet bar, full gym with a rockclimbing wall and a two-bedroom guest home. The garage has clear doors to showcase your exotic cars and the property also includes a putting green. A virtual tour with more pictures is here. This home is listed at $9.4 million.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

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Continue reading Camelback Contemporary, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Next big thing, Small business

This week, I had a opportunity to talk to Elizabeth Blair. She joined Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) in 1998 and then became the company’s vice president of business operations for the global operating group. Yes, she got a great education in the on the web marketing space. Interestingly enough, she also has a law degree from Harvard and even practiced M&A and securities law.

Well, Blair has leveraged her experience into an upstart venture: Brand.net. The company recently raised a $10 million Series B round. The investors include: Norwest Venture Partners and InterWest Partners.

Essentially, Brand.net is an online advertising network focusing on major customers. The platform is more than just some technology, though, as Brand.net has assembled a top-notch team of brand experts.

Of course, as seen with companies like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), the search-based ad business has become a huge profit machine. But this is only one part of the advertising game. Of course, branding is a massive market in the ad market, so why can’t it be the same for the online world?

Certain issues still need to be worked out, such as dealing with user-generated content or finding ways to measure performance. No doubt, these are tough problems. But , if companies like Brandnet.com can find some creative solutions, it should open up another large growth opportunity in the online world.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar On the internet Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

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What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.
Sun Tzu

Image by Ryan Heaney from sxc.hu

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This year my husband and I joined other family members in a membership to a local community garden.  This was probably a bad year to begin, because the weather in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has been awful, first with the floods and then no rain for about a month.  But it has been fun to get fresh vegetables each week, all through the season, and to plan our meals around whatever is fresh at the time.  With these home-grown vegetables, my insistence on free range chickens, and my weekly trips to the farmer’s market, I’ve become a Locavore (def: Someone who purchases mostly local foods.)

The “locally grown” movement seems to be gaining strength, both from renewed focus on environmentally friendly initiatives and food costs.  And, of course, “local” usually means “organic.”  The lady who runs the community garden doesn’t put anything on the plants and she worries about the drift from pesticides from neighboring farms.  The Organic Consumers Association (a Canadian group) states the organic food market is over $40 billion in the U.S. alone. 

Now that “organic” foods have gone corporate (you can find so-called organic foods in Wal-Mart), many of us are looking to local markets because:

• Locally grown food is fresher and tastier
• Local growers are more honestly “organic” (yes, that means I don’t trust Wal-Mart)
• Many of us want to support local businesses whenever we can.

So, have you considered starting a community garden business?  This would be a large garden that you work, selling the produce to members or to the community at the local farmer’s market.  You could have people come to you to pick up the food or you could come into town to deliver the food. Some additional thoughts:

• Our community garden lady (Laura)  is a instructor, and she hires college students to work for her.  Great summer job for all of them.
• If you want to travel south in the winter, your summer gardening business might be just the ticket to get you some extra money.
• You would need to advertise on the internet or in local businesses and the local newspaper, but this isn’t terribly pricey.
• Laura puts out a weekly newsletter with information on what’s fresh that week, recipes and other tidbits.

I don’t know all the details on costs for this kind of venture, but I’ll do some more research and let you know.  In the meantime, let me know if you have questions for me to ask Laura.

Tags: baby boomers, community garden business, farmer’s market, locavore, organic foods

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Here are some more great responses for the “50 things to do at 50″ contest.

• Play Nintendo DS to keep your mind  sharp
• Purchase a Wii and get fit in the comfort of your home. I do not do gyms, so this would be a great substitute. You can do what you want, when you want and the choices of activities are only limited by your pocketbook.
• Get involved in an on the internet community to save your tv program. I’m currently involved in Save Moonlight and have found friends and kindred spirits throughout the world. Laughed with them, cried with them, offered support and was given support when needed
• Take time to do all the things you have dreamed of this day because you never know what tomorrow will bring.
• Read a good book - start your own bookstore - teach someone to read — start a book club — Read all the books you never had time to read.  Make a list of all the classic literature you wish you’d read. Then begin reading it, one book at a time.
• Race a go-cart — fly (never have) — learn to cross-stitch — learn to quilt
• Execute or update your will
• Start a garden - start a container garden
• Volunteer somewhere
• ride a roller coaster with your kids or grandchildren
• Begin a scrapbook for you or your family. Include photos, memorabilia, stories and anything that’ll help future generations comprehend how you lived.
• Learn to play a muscial instrument.
  Subscribe to season tickets for your local orchestra, ballet or theatre.
• Join a gym - take painting classes
• Take the vacation you’ve always dreamed of…like the trip I’m taking to Italy next year!
• Go visit your long lost cousins…you would be surprised at how much you’ve in common
• get an iPod……load it up…and REALLY LISTEN to and ENJOY the music!
• Take a dance class, be it ball room, swing, line dancing, salsa…anything. Have fun!
• Take a trip to the zoo!
• Keep your mind active by solving a daily puzzle, a crossword, a logic puzzle, a sudoko puzzle, anything!
• Begin a “bucket list” - Ha!
• Join a barbershop chorus
• Make a list of what you’ve done your first 50 years then make a new list for the next 50 years and start with #1 and just get out there and do it!
• Plant flowers at the community center or help a less well off family plant a garden so they will have fresh vegetables.
• Reconnect with old friends. I mean really old friends…start tracking down the people you went to elementary school with and compile of list of “where are they now.” The trip down memory lane can help you remember who you used to be…and who you wanted to grow up to be.
• start a small side business to bring in that “rainy day” money that’ll be needed for all of the traveling we want to do as we retire.
• Let the child within you play. Be spontaneous take advantage of the freedom to do what you want to do, and no longer have to do what you ‘need’ to do.
• Begin sweepstaking or ebaying. I turned 50 the last of Might and just started both and am having a ball with it. Also, instead of sitting around crying over turning 50 (which is what I expected), life is actually better. Its just me and my husband at home..no stress..its great! So I guess what I would add to 50 things to do at 50 something is——–Do ANYTHING you want because you deserve it!

And Patty and Diana kind of summed it all up with their comments:

• At 50 start putting yourself first for a change and have some fun doing things you always wanted to do. (from Patty)
• Don’t forget to live every moment, this life isn’t a practice. (from Diana)

Thanks to all for the fantastic comments.  I hope they inspired you as much as they’ve inspired me.

Tags: baby boomers, grandchildren, Mindset

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CEOs Get Fewer Perks - BusinessWeek
It may still be good to be king, but increasingly the job is coming with fewer perks. In its third annual study of fringe benefits for chief executives, compensation research firm Equilar found that the median values of seven of the nine major CEO

City calls on Brown not to hit energy profits - Financial Times
The City urged Gordon Brown yesterday to resist pressure from his own backbenchers to impose a windfall tax on energy companies. The prime minister is facing a growing rank-and-file rebellion after almost 80 Labour MPs signed a petition calling for

PetroChina 1H profit down 35 pct, CNOOC up 89 pct - Washington Post
SHANGHAI, China — Earnings results announced Wednesday by major Chinese oil companies were in line with expectations, with industry leader PetroChina ’s first-half net profit falling 34.5 percent amid rising losses in its refining business

Most Japan Stocks Fall on Bankruptcy Concern; Acom Surges - Bloomberg
Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — Most Japan stocks fell on concern more real estate companies will go bankrupt, and shipping lines declined on a sixth-straight drop in cargo fees for commodities. Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan’s largest developer, lost 2.2 percent

China, Iraq reach $3 bln oil service deal - Washington Post
SHANGHAI, China — China and Iraq have signed a $3 billion deal revising an earlier agreement for China’s biggest oil company to help develop the Ahdab oil field, according to a statement from the Iraqi Embassy in Beijing. The deal, restoring a

Germany’s Jobless Rate Declines to Lowest in 16 Years (Update1) - Bloomberg
Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — German unemployment fell more than economists expected in August, pushing the jobless rate to the lowest level in 16 years. The number of people out of work, adjusted for seasonal swings, dropped 40,000 to 3.2 million after

Big Shift in Accounting Rules Nears - BusinessWeek
Searching for what he called a “lingua franca” of financial statements, Securities & Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced on Aug. 27 a road map by which U.S. companies may report their numbers using international accounting rules

European Shares Set to Tick Up; Earnings, Oil Eyed - CNBC
European shares were set to open slightly higher on Thursday amid a flurry of corporate results, with gains tempered by an oil price that threatened to rise past $120 a barrel. Bookmakers expected Britain’s FTSE 100 to open up 6-11 points, DAX down 3

Deals of the day — mergers and acquisitions - Reuters
Aug 28 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals involving European, U.S. and Asian companies were reported by 0530 GMT on Thursday. (For Reuters columns on deals, click on [DEALTALK] ** Nokia Siemens Networks [NSN.UL] said

Mortgage finance firm Fannie Mae shakes up executive ranks as shares - Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae shook up its executive ranks Wednesday, after shares in it and sibling company Freddie Mac rose for a third straight day as investors appeared less certain a government bailout of the two troubled

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