Steve Shockley's Blog, page 14

12 Lessons on Following Your Dreams

Although The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho is a work of fiction, it is beloved by entrepreneurs because it is about following your dreams. Here are my twelve favorite passages from the book.

“If I became a monster today, and decided to kill them, one by one, they would become aware only after most of the flock had been slaughtered, thought the boy. They trust me, and they’ve forgotten how to rely on their own instincts, because I lead them to nourishment.”“they don’t even realize that they’re walking a new road every day. They...nourishment.”“they

How to Get Bitcoins

To get your own bitcoins, you can mine for them, accept them as payment, or buy them on bitcoin exchanges. Bitcoin is a virtual currency which is both created and held digitally. It is not printed like our conventional dollars and euros, nor is it controlled by the financial institutions. As we discussed in the previous chapter, bitcoin is primarily produced by individuals who mine them by using their computing abilities for verifying the transactions of other users. They receive bitcoins in...

Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones with Atomic Habits

Every little thing you do has a massive effect on your life if you keep doing it for a long time. In Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, habit expert James Clear breaks down and explores what makes our habits “stick.” He gives a framework for how habits are formed, then offers concrete strategies for building our good habits and breaking our bad ones.

Here are the dozen biggest lessons I learned from the book:

Each day, make tiny improvements, such as making your chair more comfor...

A 10-day Trip to Iceland With Kids in June

“What’s in Iceland?”

That’s what people would always ask whenever I told them I was going to Iceland. Most people have never left their home country. Even the travelers amongst us may have been to the airport in Iceland on their way to other places, but most have never stayed to explore.

But why Iceland?

I live with my family on the east coast of the United States. My kids are ages 9, 7, and 4. My wife and I have always wanted to travel the world. Iceland just happens to be fairly close, and it also happens to be on...

My Single Best Advice for New Parents

The biggest stress on new parents (besides giving birth itself) is the lack of sleep.  When babies are born, they are on a very short eat/sleep/poop cycle.  They will wake up to feed, poop, and sleep every couple of hours—through night and day.

I’ve been through this three times, and let me tell you the single best piece of advice I could say to you:  sleep train your babies as soon as they’re ready.

Every child is different, but in general, they may be ready as early as four months old. We used the Ferber...

 sleep

How to Do Retail Arbitrage Dropshipping (Or, How I Lost $500)

In business, you win some and you lose some. This article is about how I lost some, and how you might succeed where I failed.

A few months ago, I decided to create a new stream of income and try “retail arbitrage dropshipping.” It sounds complicated, but it’s really quite simple in theory. “Retail” means selling things in stores. “Arbitrage” is buying something cheap somewhere and selling it for more money somewhere else. “Dropshipping” is when you buy a product and tell the seller to mail it to so...

Let’s Talk Sleep: Introduction

An excerpt from Let’s Talk Sleep: Tips, Tricks, and Hacks for a Good Night’s Sleep—

Sleep plays a significant role in our health and well-being. But with our hectic and tedious schedules, we often end up taking it for granted. We tell ourselves that 3-4 hours of sleep is enough and we can make up for less sleep by drinking more coffee. But we are fooling ourselves. Lack of adequate sleep affects both our cognitive abilities and physical health. Impaired thinking can cause accidents during your waking hours....

Coronary Artery Disease, and How Not to Die from It

More than 50 million people die each year. That’s more people than the entire population of Spain. It’s more people than everyone living in New York City and the state of California combined.

Like with many things in nature, the Pareto Principle also applies to death. The Pareto Principle is also known as the 80/20 Rule. It states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. In the context of this series of articles, approximately 80% of deaths come from 20% of the causes of death.

People die in al...

Blog Ideas for Monetizing

One of the most exciting moments in running a business is making the first dollar. My first check from Google Adsense came around Christmas time. It was a check for $103.10. It was just enough to pay for my hosting costs, but it gave me such a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

The vast majority of blogs do not earn a significant income. To become a successful blogger takes hard work, time, and dedication. Most people are unwilling to devote much time and effort to their blogs.

A 2012 survey of 1,000 bloggers b...

How to Get Baseball Autographs Through the Mail

I enjoy collecting autographs of my favorite baseball players.  There are several ways to get player autographs.  I have some acquired the traditional way, where you go to a game with things you want to be signed and try to corner your favorite players.  For baseball card collectors, autographed cards are often randomly inserted into packs of cards as a gimmick.  A third way is TTM.

“TTM” stands for “through the mail.”  This may be foreign to anyone born in the Internet Age.  You send your favor...