On why the ‘Zombies, Run!’ is $8 instead of $1, and why it works.

Kickstarter cofounder responds to Clay Johnson's inaccurate statistics and conclusions about Kickstarter out-funding the NEA this year.

1. Get organized.
2. Start an emergency fund.
3. Rebalance your 401(k).
4. Develop a debt plan.
5. Be optimistic.

Fuck this guy: ‘“I don’t see myself as a man of great wealth,” he said. “To say that I’m enjoying a millionaire’s lifestyle — well, I can tell you, I guess a millionaire’s income doesn’t go very far these days.”’

‘Financial struggles are isolating. We don’t talk about them—so we don’t realize how universal they are. And because we careful ignore them, we don’t give them a high priority. We worry about airport security. Or a celebrity scandal. Or something Newt Gingrich (who’s still there) said. We don’t communally address the problems that may be most important to us.’

“It’s a portrait of two black men thinking through the idea of success in America; what happens when your view of yourself as a suppressed, striving underdog has to give way to the admission that you’ve succeeded about as much as it’s worth bothering with; and how much your victory can really relate to (or feel like it’s on behalf of) your onetime peers who haven’t got a shred of what you’ve won. It’s not a topic that deserves to be scrubbed up, either; there are things about Kanye’s tiresome self-involvement and moody debauchery — the way he sounds like some sullen hip-hop emperor, stalking around the crumbling gilded palace of his own psyche, muttering angrily and getting aggressive with the help — that belong in any such portrait.”

Matt Haughey on successful Kickstarter projects.

“I love entrepreneurship, and I love tech startups, but sometimes I'm struck by the lack of perspective that many tech entrepreneurs have about creating a startup. One of the most common things that entrepreneurs in the tech sector lose sight of is that most companies never get venture capital funding, especially outside of the technology world. That's not to say that VC hasn't played an important rule in the growth of many of the biggest and best companies, sites and apps. It's just not the only option.”

Mike Monteiro, the head of Mule design, explains the importance of being confident, getting paid, and having contracts and a lawyer. An excellent presentation.

“Using a database of vacant real estate in a given city and a platform for collecting propositions or pitches, we allow entrepreneurs a marketplace of ideas that is able to match their own predilections and interests with ‘please in my back yard’ [rather than NIMBY] demand. Individuals vote on the future land use and spatial assets that they want to see in their own city and their own backyard. If that voting is done with the wallet, similar to Kickstarter, would it be enough to usefully bootstrap entrepreneurs?”

1. Understand the buyer.
2. Passion matters.
3. Charge money.
4. Experiment with tons of models.
5. Bootstrapping is the way to go.
6. Practice, practice, practice.

Why tipping needs to die.

How to figure out what a client's budget really is. "Don't be smarmy. Don't be curt. Be respectful, be honest, and inform your prospect during the sales process. If you do it right, right from the start, you'll build mutual respect and communication into the entire project."

A followup to the article 'Do Fees Rationalize/Incentivize Communal-Culture Ecommerce?' checks in with actual musicians using the site, and finds that they're more or less unfazed by the change, and don't think it's evil by any means.

Thoughts and collected quotations on Bandcamp's change of plans.

An International Monetary Fund veteran explains how the US financial situation is like that of a less-powerful nation's developing economy. Oligarchy, corruption, and the financial sector's control of the government — it's not good.

A very good, very important list.

"The most immediate revelation, of course, is that at some point next year revenues from gigs payable to artists will for the first time overtake revenues accrued by labels from sales of recorded music."

Figure out how much money you *need*, and get there, and while you're getting there and once you're there, act like you're rich. Seriously. Thanks, @ftrain, for the link.

On the price of software.

"Connects via WiFi to your online bank account, and donates YOUR real money to an organization you HATE when you decide to snooze!" Sleep in, donate $20 to, say, the GOP. This is an evil machine.

"Steve Jobs gives a legendary keynote at Macworld SF every January, launching products and giving a state of the union view of things at Apple. What if you invested $10,000 the day before the keynote, then sold at the end of the keynote day?"

On negotiating your way into better prices. Certainly a case-by-case hobby, but there are some lessons to be learned here. Somewhat lengthy.

It takes time and a lot of guts, but you'll save money. "It really works... but it works only if you truly are willing to walk away... and then refuse to bend when they try to put you off or change the terms. Stay civil, do not let any emotion in."

Profile of the Burt's Bees company and their success.

Neat. A lot about Craig's decision not to monetize, etc.

On the merits and shortcomings of Adsense, and how to use it successfully.

Lots of interesting money facts and images.

Paintings on one-dollar bills. Amazing.