http://financialexcellence.net Normal is Broke and in Debt. Choose to be WEIRD. Be DEBT FREE! Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:07:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://feeds.feedburner.com/financialexcellence/XEgm Embracing Debt Free Living and Building Wealth the old fashioned way - by working hard and saving money! Tips and Tools for L.I.F.E. - Living In Financial Excellence Matt Wegner clean Matt Wegner matt@mattwegnercoaching.com matt@mattwegnercoaching.com (Matt Wegner) Copyright © 2011 Financial Excellence, all rights reserved Where L.I.F.E. and Money Come Together money, financial freedom, career, small business, investing, budget, debt, free, credit, budgeting, business, finance http://financialexcellence.net/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/Podcast_Cover_Art-217.jpg http://financialexcellence.net TV-G Financial Excellence Studios, Sheboygan, WI Weekly http://financialexcellence.net/hidden-treasures/ http://financialexcellence.net/hidden-treasures/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:02:10 +0000 Miss Too Darn Happy http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44487 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/hidden-treasures/feed/ 7 You’ve been there. You’ve felt the excitement. You are at a yard sale, an auction, or yes-even stopped by the side of the road to peruse a “free” pile-and you spot that amazing piece of furniture hiding under several coats … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/095-financial-excellence-importance-of-your-personal-brand-in-business/ http://financialexcellence.net/095-financial-excellence-importance-of-your-personal-brand-in-business/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:51:39 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44480 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/095-financial-excellence-importance-of-your-personal-brand-in-business/feed/ 0 entrepreneurship,generating referrals,growing business,marketing,Small Business Episode 95: Importance of your Personal Brand in Business, Jan 31, 2012. I mentioned back in Episode 93 that my show is black or white. You either love my rambling or you hate it. That's because of my personality. Episode 95: Importance of your Personal Brand in Business, Jan 31, 2012. I mentioned back in Episode 93 that my show is black or white. You either love my rambling or you hate it. That's because of my personality. My audience either connects with my personality or it doesn't. Either way is ok with me because I know I can't please everyone. I have learned to embrace who I am as my personal brand and use that to connect with my audience. Today's show is about the importance of understanding your personal brand and how to build your community with that brand. Sponsor: MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup http://mozy.com/pro // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ var a=new Date();d=document;n=navigator;s=screen;var q='&tz='+a.getTimezoneOffset()/60 +'&ck='+(n.cookieEnabled?'Y':'N') +'&jv='+(n.javaEnabled()?'Y':'N') +'&scr='+s.width+'x'+s.height+'x'+s.colorDepth +'&z='+Math.random() +'&ref='+escape(d.referrer.substr(0,255)) +'&uri='+escape(d.URL.substr(0,255));document.write(''); // ]]>   Don't forget: Living In Financial Excellence airs LIVE every Tuesday at 10 a.m. CST. You can watch live and join the chat at financialexcellence.net/live-show Show notes: We have a new sponsor for the podcast. Mozy Pro for Business is a fast, simple way to back up your business so you don't have to worry when your hard drive crashes. Many small business owners make the mistake of portraying themselves as a bigger company than they really are. In today's market, consumers connect with people, not with businesses. It's important to let your company reflect your personality so you can attract the customers that connect with who you are, not just what you do. If you're a service provider, especially if you're self employed, this show is for you. Others may find the information applicable, but self employed service providers are the target audience for today's episode. To understand your personal brand, you need to know how and why people connect with you. You also need to learn how to talk about what you do in a way that compels people to want to learn more. Once you know how people connect with you and why, you can identify your target market segment and market only to them, which aligns you with customers/clients that will connect with you and energize you. This results in a happier you, happier customers, and more referrals. Once you know who your target market segment is and how they connect with your personal brand, you can establish yourself as an expert within your niche and that segment. Understanding this process will reduce wasted activity, save you time, and help you be much more successful. Not very many people connect with businesses anymore. They connect with people within those businesses. They will connect with you. You just have to help them connect. I mentioned I've been reading the book "Book Yourself Solid" by Michael Port. It's a fantastic book for self employed people. Check it out: Another great resource for the self employed or entrepreneurs (especially coaches) is my friend Justin Lukasavige's show Coach Radio. I encourage you to check it out and learn from him. You can influence what we talk about in future shows. Simply fill out this three-minute survey. Like what you hear? Visit the iTunes store and leave a review or leave a comment below. Or call our listener feedback line and leave a voice message that we can share on the air. As always, we appreciate your feedback! 7S7MP8TCC5GX Matt Wegner clean 47:03 Join the forum discussion on this post Episode 95: Importance of your Personal Brand in Business, Jan 31, 2012. I mentioned back in Episode 93 that my show is black or white. You either love my rambling or you hate it. … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/how-to-recover-from-bad-credit/ http://financialexcellence.net/how-to-recover-from-bad-credit/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:22:21 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44472 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/how-to-recover-from-bad-credit/feed/ 2 The following is a guest post from Money Supermarket.   Since the recession, countless people have found themselves facing foreclosure and bankruptcy. Although much of this is due to job loss and the high unemployment rate, out-of-control debt prior to … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/can-you-live-debt-free-and-still-have-credit-cards/ http://financialexcellence.net/can-you-live-debt-free-and-still-have-credit-cards/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:03:24 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44384 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/can-you-live-debt-free-and-still-have-credit-cards/feed/ 19 The debate on credit cards vs. all cash lifestyle Lately it seems like I end up in a lot of conversations about the use of credit cards and whether or not you should use them. In one corner, you have … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/094-financial-excellence-my-lame-debt-free-story/ http://financialexcellence.net/094-financial-excellence-my-lame-debt-free-story/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:22:58 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44453 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/094-financial-excellence-my-lame-debt-free-story/feed/ 2 Beating Debt,debt free.,get out of debt,how to get out of debt Episode 94: How and Why I Got Out of Debt: My Lame Story, Jan 24, 2012. Last week I was interviewed by Jon White on his Debt Free Living podcast about how my wife and I got out of debt and how we live without debt today. Episode 94: How and Why I Got Out of Debt: My Lame Story, Jan 24, 2012. Last week I was interviewed by Jon White on his Debt Free Living podcast about how my wife and I got out of debt and how we live without debt today. I'm pretty modest and I don't think we have a sensational story, but it's still worth sharing since we don't talk about the specifics a whole lot on our show. Plus, it saved me a lot of prep time this week, so I'm taking the easy way out ;o). Sponsor: MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup http://mozy.com/pro // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ var a=new Date();d=document;n=navigator;s=screen;var q='&tz='+a.getTimezoneOffset()/60 +'&ck='+(n.cookieEnabled?'Y':'N') +'&jv='+(n.javaEnabled()?'Y':'N') +'&scr='+s.width+'x'+s.height+'x'+s.colorDepth +'&z='+Math.random() +'&ref='+escape(d.referrer.substr(0,255)) +'&uri='+escape(d.URL.substr(0,255));document.write(''); // ]]>   Don't forget: Living In Financial Excellence airs LIVE every Tuesday at 10 a.m. CST. You can watch live and join the chat at financialexcellence.net/live-show Show notes: We have a new sponsor for the podcast. Mozy Pro for Business is a fast, simple way to back up your business so you don't have to worry when your hard drive crashes. I don't often talk about our journey to freedom from debt on the show. Quite frankly I think it's a boring story. I mean, we didn't have tons of consumer debt when we started our journey. Having said that, we still had a moment in our lives where we decided we never wanted to owe anyone anything again. We actually had been free of consumer debt before, but we for some reason thought that car payments were just a way of life. So, even though we were debt free except the house, we jumped right back into a truck payment. Boy was that stupid! Now that we've matured financially, we realize we don't want to ever owe someone again. We've learned to communicate about money and our priorities for money. We've learned to tell our money where to go. We've learned to be proactive with money instead of reactive. Because we're debt free, we have so many more options with our careers, our relationship, our retirement, and our giving. It's a really cool place to be when you don't owe anyone anything! Jon let me do a shameless plug for my other business, Grate Outdoor Solutions, where we provide the coolest camping and outdoors gear on the market. If it isn't cool, we don't sell it. Thanks, Jon! You can influence what we talk about in future shows. Simply fill out this three-minute survey. Like what you hear? Visit the iTunes store and leave a review or leave a comment below. Or call our listener feedback line and leave a voice message that we can share on the air. As always, we appreciate your feedback!  7S7MP8TCC5GX Matt Wegner clean 47:37 Join the forum discussion on this post Episode 94: How and Why I Got Out of Debt: My Lame Story, Jan 24, 2012. Last week I was interviewed by Jon White on his Debt Free Living podcast about how my … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/home-buyers-do-you-feel-the-power/ http://financialexcellence.net/home-buyers-do-you-feel-the-power/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:16:25 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44438 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/home-buyers-do-you-feel-the-power/feed/ 3 Home Prices Dropping Again I happened to be talking to a realtor friend of mine this morning. She mentioned that home prices in our area declined 10% in the last year. In fact, they’ve declined 10% each year for several … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/what-do-you-do-after-you-are-debt-free/ http://financialexcellence.net/what-do-you-do-after-you-are-debt-free/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:49:27 +0000 Jon White http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44388 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/what-do-you-do-after-you-are-debt-free/feed/ 12 Congratulations! After months and months or even years of sacrificing your student loans are gone, you dumped your credit cards, and paid off the car note. You are debt free! The cycle of debt that you have lived before is … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/093-financial-excellence-handling-business-criticism-suze-ormans-approved-card/ http://financialexcellence.net/093-financial-excellence-handling-business-criticism-suze-ormans-approved-card/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:47:05 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44423 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/093-financial-excellence-handling-business-criticism-suze-ormans-approved-card/feed/ 5 Approved Card,business criticism,credit card,debit card,debt,financial coaching,Money Plan SOS,pre-paid debit card,Prepaid card,Small Business,Suze Orman Episode 93: How to Handle Criticism of your Business, Thoughts on Suze Orman's Approved Card, Jan 10, 2012. Today I talk about how I personally handle criticism and rejection in my business. I also offer my thoughts on Suze Orman's new Approved Card. Episode 93: How to Handle Criticism of your Business, Thoughts on Suze Orman's Approved Card, Jan 10, 2012. Today I talk about how I personally handle criticism and rejection in my business. I also offer my thoughts on Suze Orman's new Approved Card. Sponsor: MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup http://mozy.com/pro // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ var a=new Date();d=document;n=navigator;s=screen;var q='&tz='+a.getTimezoneOffset()/60 +'&ck='+(n.cookieEnabled?'Y':'N') +'&jv='+(n.javaEnabled()?'Y':'N') +'&scr='+s.width+'x'+s.height+'x'+s.colorDepth +'&z='+Math.random() +'&ref='+escape(d.referrer.substr(0,255)) +'&uri='+escape(d.URL.substr(0,255));document.write(''); // ]]>   Don't forget: Living In Financial Excellence airs LIVE every Tuesday at 10 a.m. CST. You can watch live and join the chat at financialexcellence.net/live-show Show notes: We have a new sponsor for the podcast. Mozy Pro for Business is a fast, simple way to back up your business so you don't have to worry when your hard drive crashes. For a long time, I've asked listeners to leave a review on iTunes so other potential listeners can decide if this is a good show to listen to. Well, we got a few not-exactly-glowing reviews. I talk about how I deal with the less-than-positive feedback. I've also received negative feedback from clients. It's easy to take that personally, but I share how I turn the negative feedback into something good. Sometimes you don't get any feedback from customers except that they don't return your calls. It's important to qualify your customers and clients in advance so you can avoid these situations. I mentioned John G. Miller's book, "QBQ: The Question Behind the Question in the show. Here's a link to purchase his book and save some $$ on Amazon: Steve Stewart at Money Plan SOS wrote a great blog post about Suze Orman's Approved Card on his blog. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I would share Steve's thoughts and add a few of my own. He did a wonderful job of breaking it down, and I appreciate him unknowingly saving me some work ;o). A summary of my thoughts about Suze's card? There aren't any real benefits, and it costs you a monthly fee to have no added benefit. But there's a lot of discussion on the show, so you'll have to listen in for the specifics. You can influence what we talk about in future shows. Simply fill out this three-minute survey. Like what you hear? Visit the iTunes store and leave a review or leave a comment below. Or call our listener feedback line and leave a voice message that we can share on the air. As always, we appreciate your feedback!   Matt Wegner clean 50:14 Join the forum discussion on this post Episode 93: How to Handle Criticism of your Business, Thoughts on Suze Orman’s Approved Card, Jan 10, 2012. Today I talk about how I personally handle criticism and rejection in my business. I … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/why-i-wont-diy-again-behind-the-scenes/ http://financialexcellence.net/why-i-wont-diy-again-behind-the-scenes/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:53:03 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44411 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/why-i-wont-diy-again-behind-the-scenes/feed/ 5 So last week in Episode 092 of the Living in Financial Excellence podcast, I shared the story of my DIY project gone bad. The lesson learned is that when you factor in opportunity cost, it’s often less expensive to pay … Continue reading → http://financialexcellence.net/092-financial-excellence-diy-project-gone-wrong/ http://financialexcellence.net/092-financial-excellence-diy-project-gone-wrong/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:04:18 +0000 Matt Wegner http://financialexcellence.net/?p=44392 Continue reading →]]> http://financialexcellence.net/092-financial-excellence-diy-project-gone-wrong/feed/ 0 auto repair,charitable donations,diy,DIY repairs,saving money on DIY projects,tax deduction Episode 92: DIY Project Gone Wrong & Tax Deductions for Charitable Donations, Jan 10, 2012. A few months ago I wrote a post about whether the benefits of hiring a professional outweigh the frustrations of trying to do a project yourself. In that post, Episode 92: DIY Project Gone Wrong & Tax Deductions for Charitable Donations, Jan 10, 2012. A few months ago I wrote a post about whether the benefits of hiring a professional outweigh the frustrations of trying to do a project yourself. In that post, I mentioned we had skilled friends who knew what they were doing and had the right tools. In today's show I share a personal DIY project that went wrong. Big time. And it cost me a bunch more than it would have to hire a professional. Oh, and I answer a mailbag question from a listener about tax deductions for charitable donations. Sponsor: MozyPro Online Backup: Simple, Automatic & Secure Backup http://mozy.com/pro // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ var a=new Date();d=document;n=navigator;s=screen;var q='&tz='+a.getTimezoneOffset()/60 +'&ck='+(n.cookieEnabled?'Y':'N') +'&jv='+(n.javaEnabled()?'Y':'N') +'&scr='+s.width+'x'+s.height+'x'+s.colorDepth +'&z='+Math.random() +'&ref='+escape(d.referrer.substr(0,255)) +'&uri='+escape(d.URL.substr(0,255));document.write(''); // ]]>   Don't forget: Living In Financial Excellence airs LIVE every Tuesday at 10 a.m. CST. You can watch live and join the chat at financialexcellence.net/live-show Show notes: We have a new sponsor for the podcast. Mozy Pro for Business is a fast, simple way to back up your business so you don't have to worry when your hard drive crashes. Megen wrote in with a question about whether you can deduct charitable donations if you don't qualify to itemize deductions. I'm pretty handy around the house and with our cars. But my latest project got out of hand. Today I share what happened. I probably would have been better off paying a mechanic to do the work for me. I got a quote of $529.90 and at this point I'm probably already $260 in with three days lost. I've done similar projects before but they were at my dad's house where he had all the necessary tools. I somehow forgot that I didn't have all the tools for the job and I had to go buy some more. Talk about sticker shock! I had no idea that even cheap tools could cost that much. Have you ever attempted a DIY project that cost you way more than you anticipated? Share your story by leaving a comment. You can influence what we talk about in future shows. Simply fill out this three-minute survey. Like what you hear? Visit the iTunes store and leave a review or leave a comment below. Or call our listener feedback line and leave a voice message that we can share on the air. As always, we appreciate your feedback!   Matt Wegner clean 46:47 Join the forum discussion on this post Episode 92: DIY Project Gone Wrong & Tax Deductions for Charitable Donations, Jan 10, 2012. A few months ago I wrote a post about whether the benefits of hiring a professional outweigh the … Continue reading →