Is This Recovering Our Economy?

I see lots of "once in a lifetime" "best deal of the year" deals everywhere. If it's not on television or flooding my inbox, I'm getting a flyer in the mail about it. However, these "awesome deals" are usually reappearing (or getting even better) as soon as the last, limited time only, deal ended. This whole yo-yo market makes me insane, and, overall, paranoid, to purchase.

Why Are People So Entitled?

I often wonder why kids (even mine), young adults, and everyone in between have this unearned sense of entitlement to everything. They "deserve" the best, the newest, the most expensive - and they truly believe it. I see this issue a lot with military wives especially, where there are people buying houses, cars, new electronics, premium things for their kids, etc. None of this is a problem if you can afford it, or saved up to buy it, but then these same wives end up crying online that they can't pay their bills.

The whole idea of entitlement has gotten even worse with children, and I am dreading to see how this next generation will act in the future...

Anti-College Sentiment

I think these days I have become anti-college. Too many people are going, and there aren't enough college educated jobs to accommodate to all the English, Art, Language, and other degrees being mass produced. Even lawyers and biologists are having hard times getting a job.

And I ask you, why in the last decade or so do we need degrees to be police officers? These need hands on, real world training, not four years of classroom experience (with several years of extra electives that hold no value to the position).




I'm also lumping this in with my review of the Academy of Art University, in which I'm on the fence about ever returning again.

YouTube Monetization

Anyone else notice how YouTube has spread out a partnership program to most users through Google AdSense? Confused on how to check your earnings balance? See video:


And, not using Royalty Free music (or not giving the proper credits)? Watch my frustration here:

Any Renters?

My friend said that I should upload a video like this to my blog/vlog because I've had a really long run of getting 100% of my security deposits back over the years from video recording/uploading my houses. The only time I didn't get a full return was on the first apartment I rented, where the landlord nickel and dimed me for everything (even light bulb replacement for WORKING light bulbs!). Damages already in the house became my fault because I didn't know to document them and the landlord didn't tell me to, suddenly my professional carpet cleaning wasn't good enough so I had to pay for someone else to do it again, and a lot of other things. I didn't have enough proof to take it to court, because I trusted the landlord.

What I learned from that was that you never trust someone trying to make money off of you. So, ever since then, I have taken a video of all of the house before I unloaded the moving truck, posted the video on YouTube within a few days of moving in, and then did the same thing after I had all the boxes on a moving truck a year or so later. Ever since doing that, I have not lost one penny to landlords!

So, this is an extremely boring video, but if you are renting, it is a good example to have. I believe I even cut this video short and didn't include the outside or a few of the areas in the house because it was already running long. Another tip too - this video was done in a hurry as a sample, so it's not in HD. If you can upload an HD video, that is even better for you!

This is really important for college students to do as well, because the worst landlords I ever experienced were ones who primarily rented to college kids! There are many who will try to bully, intimidate, and push you around because they expect you not to know the laws (or even tell you that their "lawyer" says this or that, when they are making it all up as they go along). In their defense though, these landlords also get so many irresponsible kids renting that they treat you all like morons that will wreck their property or stop paying the rent. My last landlord like that went so far as to tell us that we couldn't break our lease with a military PCS, and that we were trying to con him. He even tried to call the recruiter's office to say that we trashed his house when this landlord had never once even showed up to mow the lawn as our lease said he would!

Also please note that the house in this video is NOT military housing. This is the house we left military housing for (foolishly left in hindsight, as we couldn't see the house we're in now before we moved in, and it is a cracker box, filthy, broken down nightmare!). I don't want to mislead anyone, and if you are military, I would strongly recommend to try renting off base if it's a realistic option for you. They charge us a lot of money here to live in a slum-like neighborhood.

Network Marketing Stress!

My goodness, I am having a frustrating time with my direct sells business right now!

First, I get into it with my upline because I feel like she's ignoring problems and over saturating this area for her own personal benefit (which is mostly what my video is about).

Then today, I found out that my commission is going to be short $100 from last month when I sold roughly the same amount! It is maddening right now. I think moving hurt my business in May, but I'm not seeing how getting almost identical sales despite of the move somehow ended up with me being shorted by so much.

I tell you I am just so frustrated and struggling right now I could just scream! I don't want to say that I'm going to throw in the towel, but gesh, this is actually one of the few things where it's alright to say that I'm in it for the money. :-/

Direct Selling

Ever look at the direct sells businesses and think "this is a pyramid scheme?" Well, just about any business layout, religious organizations, and even clubs have a pyramid structure, but that doesn't mean that direct marketing is always a scam!

Take it from me, I have done a lot of different ones, and they are not all created equally, but they can be an amazing source of income for anyone wanting to put some effort in. Just like everything else in life, you get out what you put in! :)

I have more vlogs to edit, including an adoption update. So sorry not to post in so long, but we're getting ready to move.