Well, I hate to tell you, but you might be sorely disappointed if you were expecting a life of glamor with either of these two jobs. Matter of fact, you might be better off working as a flight attendant or even farm manager.

There are a whole handful of professions with salaries that might surprise you, and so in today’s post, be prepared to be shocked and awed. Check out these 14 surprising salaries, from the remarkably low to the startlingly high.

The Remarkably Low

1)   NFL Cheerleaders: If you thought those pretty pom-pom wavers on the sidelines were getting paid big bucks, think again. The average NFL cheerleader only gets paid $50 a game, which adds up to a $5,000 annual salary! In short, if you dream of cheering for the NFL, you better have a day job.

2)   Emergency Medical Technicians: The life of an EMT always looks pretty exciting—and dangerous to boot! But if you think a job full of danger equates a job full of money, well, think again. The average EMT only makes about $20,000 per year.

3)   Casino Dealers: These guys might work with a lot of money, but they certainly don’t make that much. They only earn an average of about $13,000 per year. So next time you’re in Vegas, remember to tip your dealer!

4)   Magazine Editor: If an image of Devil Wears Prada pops into your head here, with the luxurious purses, styles, limos, travel… Think again. In real life the average magazine editor only earns about $28,000 (and that’s in New York!) and about $19,000 outside of the Big Apple. It isn’t until you climb the ranks to senior editor that you start making more money.

5)   Radio DJ: It always sounds like these guys are having a blast—going on trips, interviewing local celebrities, making “appearances.” Well maybe they are having fun, but if they are, they’re doing it on a budget. The average radio DJ only earns about $18,000 a year.

6)   Legislator: This certainly sounds like a Big, Important, Official Job, right? Well, that it may be, but that doesn’t always mean it’s well paying. The average legislator only earns about $38,000 per year.

7)   Models: Don’t let the glamorous T.V. shows and runways fool you: the average model barely makes enough to eat, let alone live a life of limos and lavish. (Which probably works out okay for many of them…) Most models only make about $40,000 a year, with the bottom 10% making about $20,000.

The Startlingly High

1)   Court Reporters: These guys transcribe court proceedings, meetings, speeches, and other events where an exact transcript is needed. And who knew typing could earn you so much money? The average court reporter earns about $60,000 a year.

2)   Elementary School Principals: We always hear about how teachers, particularly elementary school teachers, aren’t earning much money. Maybe it’s because it’s all going to the principals! The average elementary school principal earns about $79,000 per year. No wonder the principal always looked so satisfied when we were kids!

3)   Fashion Designers: Of course if you’re a Roberto Cavalli or a Tommy Hilfiger, you’ll earn a lot more; but even the average fashion designer (working for a retail chain, for example) earns a good amount: about $70,000 per year!

4)   Astronomers: These physics and math whizzes study the universe and its origins, which includes galaxies, solar systems, and the planets within. They use this research to analyze and solve problems dealing with satellites and space travel. Sounds pretty cool, huh? To top it off, the average astronomer earns about $96,000 per year. But before you decide “Hey I’ll do that!” just remember, the standard level of education for an astronomer is a Doctorate and there are only 1,700 astronomers in the US.

5)   Flight Attendants: This occupation was big-time glamorized in the 60’s and now, even though it has lost some of its luster, the pay is still pretty high flying. The top 10% earn about $102,660 per year, while the average flight attendant makes about $63,000. Not too shabby.

6)   Farm, Ranch, or other Agricultural Manager: Most people think of farm or ranch managers as Old McDonald in overalls, but it turns out those overalls might be Gucci. The average agricultural manager earns about $61,000 per year, while the most successful make over $100K.

7)   Air Traffic Controllers: Remember recently when there was a big hubbub in the news about air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job? Well it is no wonder people were angry. Not only are these guys responsible for the lives of the people on the planes, but they’re also getting paid pretty well for that responsibility. The average annual salary is almost $108,000, while the top earners in the field make about $142K per year.

What do you think? Do these professions earn the amount they should? Share your thoughts below!

Sources: CafeMom.com, Forbes.com, CNN.com, FYICenter.com

Photos Courtesy of: Ed Yourdon,  Alan Cleaver,  AleBonvini, stilettobootlover_83, kevin dooley, Mr. T in DC, …love Maegan, Space Ritual, Space Ritual, josef.stuefer,  NASA Goddard Photo and Video

So if you are a business owner or even a merchant of sorts, when is it a good idea to give away products for free? And how do you turn a giveaway into a profit in the long run?

In today’s post we’ll answer those questions and more. After all, everyone knows the best things in life are free; but hey, you’ve got to make a living.

Why you should Give Away your Products

1)   It brings in new customers. When customers, no matter how unfamiliar with your business, read the word “free” it’s hard to resist; they’ll come swarming in to check it out. Here watch this: “FREE COOKIES!” Sounds good, right?

Giving away products gets new and returning customers through your doors

2)   It says “thank you” to your existing customers. Giving away a free product every now and again is also a great way to thank those customers who are loyal to you—and keep them coming back!

3)   It builds your network. When you give away a product for free initially, it opens the door for relationships to develop, both with customers, and others in the biz. The only catch is, you better make sure that your product is worthwhile! With so many other products being given away to “draw people in,” yours better make enough of an impression to bring people back for more.

4)   It builds up your reputation. When a business gives away a product for free, it says to the customer “Hey, if these guys can afford to give away a product this good for free, they must really know what they’re doing.” It also suggests that your products for pay are even better than the free product. So in this way, it builds you up as successful and experienced.

When you give away free products, people and businesses will want to give back to you

5)   The law of reciprocity. You can think of this like karma in business; or if that doesn’t do it for you, just think of it as getting back what you put out. When you give people something, it’s human nature for them to want to give you something in return. So if you give away a service or product for free, you might just develop a symbiotic relationship of sorts with another business.

6)   It gets people talking. Case in point: Just hours ago at work, word was spreading like wildfire through the halls: “It’s free coffee day at Whole Foods!” Needless to say, about 2 minutes later the place was swarming with sleepy businesspeople looking for their free morning cup. Most people left with, not only free coffee, but also a muffin, biscotti, or some kind of breakfast treat. So you see, Whole Foods didn’t lose out: they drew in a crowd and ultimately made a profit by selling more of their other products.

A free coffee or food sample can go a long way in getting people talking

So if you are planning on giving away items, products, or even (as seen above) food or beverages to leverage your business, here are some things you should consider:

Whatever your business name is, be sure to stick it on the product you're giving away!

1)   Be sure to brand your product with your name or logo. Debbie Mahler, the marketing specialist for BigMachines, recommends giving away Sobe Pens with your business name inscribed, because they are not only practical, but elegant as well.

2)   Be mindful of your customer. If you want to give away promotional products for your business, you need to keep in mind the situation and the type of customer. For example, those Sobe Pens might be a great idea for a company wanting to give away a small “remember me” at a National Conference. On the other hand, if your business were a small coffee shop or restaurant, you’d probably do better to lure customers in to your store with free treats. (William Sonoma, for example, offers free cookies in their store to draw you in!)

3)   Be sure the giveaway product is valuable… but not too valuable. You’ll need to find a balance here: you want to give your customers something really good, something worthwhile, something that will get them coming back for more. But at the same time, you don’t want to give away your most valuable product. I mean this monetarily, as well as the actual usefulness of the thing. If you give away all of your most expensive products, you will likely lose a lot of profit. If you give away your most useful or impressive products, there will be no reason for the customer to come back; after all, you’ve already given them the best of the best for free. So find a balance: something that will peak a customer’s interest, and leave them wanting more.

For a wonderful example of how product giveaways can work in action, check out this interview with the founder of Free Comic Book Day (which is coming up in May so look out!)

Have you ever tried giving away products for free to draw customers in? How’d it go?

Sources: EzineArticles.com, HandmadeMarketing.org, QualityLogoProducts.com, FreeComicBookDay.com

We’ll start out with some general, steadfast rules for anyone interested in self-publishing, in print or online. In the end, which route you choose will be up to you, and either way know that you’re signing up for some major work.

But when you’re feeling overwhelmed or a little disheartened, just remember what author Philip Unwin said: “The long-lived books of tomorrow are concealed somewhere amongst the so-far unpublished manuscripts of today.”

So get cracking on that manuscript!

Getting Started

1) Determine your goal. Decide who you want to read your book and how many copies you’ll need. Do you want just enough to hand out to co-workers, family, and friends, or are you going for a larger audience? Of course you’ll have to decide whether you even want printed copies, but that’s coming up…

2) Make sure you’re not repeating something. Take a look around at different books in your genre to make sure A) you haven’t just come up with something that is already on the market, and B) how books similar to yours are selling. If you’ve written the latest and greatest Fiction about a family of cats, for example, but the market is not responding to Fictions about families of cats, well, you might want to re-think your story, or at least how you present it to people.

3) Determine your format. Okay, now you decide: hardcover, softcover, or eBook. Hardcover and softcover are your typical printed books. EBooks are online only and can be downloaded on peoples’ computers, tablets, phones, or eReaders.  So here’s the lowdown on your options:

• Printed books are slower to reach the market. It can take weeks or months until they become available to major book resellers
• EBooks books have a huge variety of formats
• Either way, if you’re a self-published author, you’ll need to be ONLINE to promote, promote, promote, and then promote some more, because with self-publishing, you are essentially a one-man team.

If you go with eBook option…

We’ll go over the two options that seem to be the most widely used, the easiest, and generally most beneficial to authors (they both offer their authors up to 70% in royalties.) Those options are Amazon’s Kindle and the iBookStore.

How to Publish with Amazon’s Kindle

1)   Sign up at KDP.amazon.com. Here you can use the same username and password you ordinarily use with Amazon, or you can create a new one.

2)   Add your title.

3)   Add your book’s information (author name, subtitle, genre, etc.)

4)   Add your book files. Here you’ll upload your book file and your cover art. Kindle accepts PRC formatted files, and if you’ve never heard of it, don’t worry. Just check out the Kindle formatting guide and they’ll walk you through it.

5)   Establish your price, distribution rights, and royalty level.

*A Tip on Price from CNET’s David Carnoy, an eBooker himself: “You should sell your e-book for less than $4.99. Most successful e-book authors are finding the greatest success in the $0.99-to-$2.99 range.”

Royalty Options: 35% royalty or 70% royalty. The 35% applies to titles under $2.99 and the 70% applies to books between $2.99 and $9.99

6)   Wait for publication. That’s it: you’ve published a book in 5 steps. Now you just have to wait, usually a couple of days, and then there it will be available to the public in the Kindle bookstore.

How to Publish to the iBookStore

According to eBooker and CNET reporter, David Carnoy, getting your book into the iBookStore is becoming increasingly important, with the rise in the iPad’s popularity.

1)   Create an Account. Click here to create an account with the iBookStore in order to upload your books. Read over the initial requirements, make sure you can meet them, and proceed.

2)   Enter your basic information. In this next step you’ll need to enter your first and last name and your Apple ID and password (the same one you use for app downloads, iTunes, etc.) If you don’t have an iTunes account, click here to create one.

3)   Enter more basic information. Here you’ll enter information like your name, address, and tax ID number (which is your social security number.) They’ll need this because the revenue you get from selling books is a bit different than the revenue you get selling apps or other things online.

4)   Upload your Book. The tool they use to help you in uploading your book is called iTunes Producer, an app produced by Apple. According to eBook-writer Dragos Roua, the process is very simple and easy to follow

5)   Enter your book’s information. This will include title, subtitle, genre, etc. Easy peezy.

6)   Wait for review. Once you’ve submitted your book to the iBookStore, Apple will review it. According to Dragos Roua, this process can take some time (for him about 2 weeks), but once it is done, barring any complications or big red flags, your book will be published and ready for purchase in the iBookStore.

*With the iBookStore, you will make 70% of the royalties and Apple will make 30%.

And that’s it! For more on self-publishing, in print or online, check out this great article with 25 things you need to know. Happy writing, everyone!

Have you written a book, or are you interested in doing so? What are your thoughts on self-publishing?

Sources: SelfPublishingResources.com, SelfPublishingAdvisor.com, WritersServices.com, Dragosroua.com, Reviews.cnet.com

In this series, we step outside of our doors and bring you some inspiration, straight from two business owners. Meet Drew Dunavan and Ali Ramzanali the owners of the Werd Recoding Enterprises. They’re young, they’re motivated, and they’ve started their own business through sheer hard work and determination.

Enjoy this awesome interview, think of how you can apply this information to your own life, and let us know if you’re thinking about opening your own business. Check below for some pictures of the Werd recording studio!

[Edited version @ 12min]

[Full Version @ 38min]

Comment below and share your personal business story!

Sources: VideoKnowHow.com

So what are the benefits of self-publishing in general? It’s affordable, you make more of the profit, and you have more control. Now that all sounds great, but there is one drawback and it’s a big one: you have to do all of the work in getting it out there.

So if you’re a writer at heart and you’re wondering if self-publishing is the road for you, check out the steps below.

Getting Started

1) Determine your goal. Decide who you want to read your book and how many copies you’ll need. Do you want just enough to hand out to co-workers, family, and friends, or are you going for a larger audience? Of course you’ll have to decide whether you even want printed copies, but that’s coming up…

2) Make sure you’re not repeating something. Take a look around at different books in your genre to make sure A) you haven’t just come up with something that is already on the market, and B) how books similar to yours are selling. If you’ve written the latest and greatest Fiction about a family of cats, for example, but the market is not responding to Fictions about families of cats, well, you might want to re-think your story, or at least how you present it to people.

3) Determine your format. Okay, now you decide: hardcover, softcover, or eBook. Hardcover and softcover are your typical printed books. EBooks are online only and can be downloaded on peoples’ computers, tablets, phones, or eReaders.  So here’s the lowdown on your options:

• Printed books are slower to reach the market. It can take weeks or months until they become available to major book resellers
• EBooks books have a huge variety of formats
• Either way, if you’re a self-published author, you’ll need to be ONLINE to promote, promote, promote, and then promote some more, because with self-publishing, you are essentially a one-man team.

If you go with the printed option…

1) Check out print-on-demand publishers. If your only concern is getting the book published, vanity presses like Trafford, iUniverse, and Lulu will do the job for a price. According to David Carnoy, a self-published success himself, LuLu is ideal for those wishing to do it themselves with its step-by-step instructions and no upfront fees.

2) Check out the competition. This will help you to determine what size, format, style, etc. you want your book to take. Also, sometimes format sizes can affect which print-on-demand publisher you’ll be able to work with. (Ex: Lulu does not offer a 5.25×8 inch option, the standard for trade paperback novels.)

3) Design your book cover. If you’re not artistically inclined, you might actually consider hiring a graphic designer (even if it is just a friend, family member, or co-worker) to do the job. The expression “you can’t judge a book by its cover” does not apply here, because most people do. If you don’t want your book to look like it was self-published, spend the time and money on the cover. If this is where you are, check out Business Insider’s tips on how to hire a graphic designer. [please give an alternative.. what about proposing your project to an art college or graphic design students?

4) Request an ISBN number. This is just the standard code for identifying your book—it makes it official! You can request one at ISBN.org, but be prepared to pay for going official: $150 plus a processing fee.

5) Distribute your book. Some print-on-demand companies will handle this for you by shipping your books to the stores, people, places that you request or that request them themselves. This will cost a bit more, but your other option is having the books shipped to you and getting them out there yourself.

If you are the one distributing your books, try local bookstores first. Some bookstores will accept a limited number of your books on consignment, where you leave them and if they get sold, you’ll get a majority of the profit. If they don’t sell, you’ll just pick them up at a later date.

Be sure to spread the word through friends, family, co-workers, and take full advantage of social media. Tweet about your book, talk about it on Facebook, and promote, promote, promote! Try WordPress or Weebly to create a website just for your book—these sites are free.

For more on self-publishing, in print or online, check out this great article with 25 things you need to know, and don’t forget to come back next week when we’ll go over your options for publishing your book online.

Have you written a book, or are you interested in doing so? What are your thoughts on self-publishing?

Sources: SelfPublishingResources.com, SelfPublishingAdvisor.com, WritersServices.com, Trafford.com, iUniverse.com, Lulu.com, BusinessInsider.com, Dragosroua.com, Review.cnet.com, eHow.com

Even Stephen King and J.K. Rowling talk about their years of rejection until that one publisher decided to take a chance. But what about those writers out there who won’t settle for years of hearing “no?” What about those who just get fed up? Well, for some, self-publishing has been the answer. So check out this list of the self-published superstars of the past and present.

Past

Edgar Allan Poe: Tamerlane and Other Poems

In the early 1800’s Poe turned this first public work over to a local label and flyer printer after being rejected by several publishers. Only about 50 copies were printed of the 40-page book and today, at only about 12 copies still in existence, these are considered one of the rarest first editions in American Literature.

Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Several publishers rejected this classic children’s book initially, but in 1901 Potter decided to print the book and distribute it herself. After some success, Frederick Warne and Co. began printing it as a trade edition and in the years that followed multiple reprints were issued. Today with over 45 million copies sold, this self-published book is one of the bestselling of all time.

Irma Rombauer: The Joy of Cooking

Today this cookbook is in just about every kitchen, and so it might surprise you to find out that it started as a privately published book. In 1931 the label maker AC Clayton printed just 3,000 copies of the cookbook. In 1936, the publisher Bobb-Merrill picked up The Joy of Cooking and since, it has sold more than 18 million copies.

Present

John Locke: The Lethal Series

Locke became the first author to sell more than a million e-books without a publishing deal—in just five months. He used Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform. The Lethal Series includes nine books and Locke has published several others as well, including one book aptly called How I sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! (Check it out for tips on your own book!) Today the publishing company Simon & Schuster sell print editions of the books.

Michael Prescott: Riptide

Three year ago, Michael Prescott’s debut novel, Riptide, was rejected by about 25 publishers. Disheartened, he turned to self-publishing as a last resort. And boy did it pay off. Today he is one of a handful of self-published authors whose e-books made the lists of 2011’s bestsellers. E-books are generally sold at about 99 cents per download, and with all of those downloads going on, Prescott says he earned about $300,000 in just a year.

Amanda Hocking: The Trylle Trilogy

This latest and greatest in the world of self-publishing, wrote 17 books, all of which were rejected by agents and publishers. As a last resort, Hocking decided to publish one of those books, the first in The Trylle Trilogy, on Amazon. Today, these paranormal books are being printed online and in print by St. Martin’s Press and have even been optioned for adaptation as a series of movies.

And writers around the world, take heart: if they can do it, so can you. Tune in next week when we’ll go over just how to publish your own writing. Who knows, you could be the next Edgar Allen Poe!

Have you or somebody you know ever self-published something? Spread the word on your book and share your experience below!

Photos Courtesy of: kandinski, mansionwb,  snigl3t ,sakamencho, TheCreativePenn

Sources: KDP.Amazon.com, Guardian.co.UK, OnlineCollegeCourses.com, USAToday.com, Amazon.com, ExpertMessageGroup.com, Reviews.Cnet.com,

So we got to thinking, what if our favorite characters really were real? What would it look like if the Homers and the Carries from our T.V. families joined us out here in the real world, in today’s economy?

Well just keep reading to find out. We’ll cover seven icons of television and tell you just much they’d earn and how much they’d spend, in today’s real world economy. (Looks like some of them are better off sticking to T.V. land – $40,000 on shoes, Ms. Bradshaw?!)

Enjoy!

1) Homer: The Simpsons

• Profession: Safety Inspector at the Nuclear Power Plant
• Income: $65,360 per year

*Did you know that Illinois has more nuclear power plants than any other state in the USA?

• City of Residence: Springfield, USA (The Simpsons live in “Springfield,” though it’s never mentioned which Springfield.
• Home: roughly 50 feet wide, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, attached garage, basement and loft.
• Value of Home: $189,900 (price based off of a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, attached garage, basement home located in a suburban area in Springfield, Illinois)
• Car/Cost of transportation: pink 1973 Plymouth Valliant: Approximately $2,000 (car has seen better days: EX: in the beginning of every episode Bart lands his skateboard on top of the car)
• Extras: Duff beer: roughly 12 pack/day: $8.99 each = $250/month = about $3,000/year

            Doughnuts: about 3/day at $8.00/ 1 dozen = $2.00/day = $56/month = $670/year

2) Cosmo Kramer: Seinfeld

• Profession: None – various harebrained schemes (EX: gambling, working on various theater projects, acting out illnesses at a medical school, etc.…)
• Income: anywhere from $0-$10,000 depending on the flip or flop of his current scheme (EX: the Coffee Table Book panned out well; however the illegal rooster fighting did not…)
• City of Residence: New York City (Upper West side of Manhattan)
• Home: 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment that he sublets from a filmmaker
• Value of Home: Though Kramer doesn’t exactly pay rent, as he is subletting it from somebody who doesn’t keep regular tabs on such things, rent for a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side is an average of about $2,500 per month
• Car/Cost of transportation: No car/ walks most places or bums rides from Jerry/ occasional cab fare: approximately $100/month
• Extras: Partagas Padre Cuban Cigars: $154 for a box of 20, roughly 5 cigars/week = $38.50/week = $154/month = $1,848/year

3) Carrie: Sex and the City

• Profession: Columnist for The New York Star with 10 years experience
• Income: about $57,000
• City of Residence: New York City
• Home: Brownstone, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom on the Upper East Side
• Value of Home: $750 (Her apartment was rent-controlled. Today a typical 1×1, non-rent-controlled apartment on the Upper East Side, however, would cost about $3,000/month)
• Car/Cost of transportation: No car—takes cabs and walks. At about $25/cab ride, at least once a day, that’s $175/week = $700/month = $8,400/year
• Extras: Designer shoes: Miranda once calculated that at about $400/pair, Carrie’s designer shoe collection has cost her about $40,000 over the years, as she has at least 100 pairs

            Marlboro Lights: 3-4 packs/week (in earlier    seasons): roughly $7.50/pack in New York = $22.50/week = $90/month = $1,080

           Cosmos: In Manhattan, about $14/drink = roughly 4 drinks/week = $56/week = $224/month = $2,688/year

4) Don Draper: Mad Men

* Since this series takes place in the 60’s, we’ve included the price then (1962) and today’s equivalent price!

• Profession: Junior Partner at an ad agency
• Income: in 1962: $45,000/year; in 2012: $322,000/year
• City of Residence: Westchester County, New York
• Home: 4 bedroom, 2-3 bathrooms
• Value of Home: Then: $15,300; Now: $363,000
• Car/Cost of transportation: 1962 Cadillac Coup De Ville: Cost then: $5,385, Cost now: about $40,000

• Extras: 1 Pack of Lucky Strikes/day: Then: $.35/pack = $2.45/week = $9.80/month = $117.60/year, Now: about $7/pack (in Manhattan) = $49/week = $196/month = $2,352/year

            Personalized Ballpoint pen set: Then: $4.98, Now: $11.00

5) Dr. Miranda Bailey: Grey’s Anatomy 

• Profession: Attending General Surgeon at Seattle Grace – Mercy West Hospital
• Income: $148,000/year
• City of Residence: Seattle, Washington
• Home: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms
• Value of Home: approximately $700,000
• Car/Cost of transportation: BMW 5 Series 2005: about $17,000 according to Kelly Blue Book
• Extras: Cost of her divorce: non-contested divorce in Seattle with child: About $2,000

* Did you know that Dr. Bailey started playing the oboe in 5^th grade? She was later accepted into the prestigious New England Conservatory, but never went—maybe because the real life price tag is a whopping $35,000 per year!

6) Liz Lemon: 30 Rock

• Profession: Head writer for the hit (fictional) show TGS
• Income: roughly $1.5 million/year
• City of Residence: New York City
• Home: 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment on the Upper West Side (60 Riverside Drive)
• Value of Home: about $2,500/month
• Car/Cost of transportation: no car/ takes the Subway, 30-day Unlimited Ride MetroCard: $104 = $1,248/year
• Extras: Liz does not have many vices, but she is known to enjoy a glass of Pinot Grigio to unwind: 1 bottle = about $10, 3 glasses/bottle, about $3/glass = $21/week = $84/month = $1,008/year

*Did you know that the character, Liz, is pretty closely based off of Tina Fey, the actress who plays her? Big difference though: their salaries. Where “Liz” makes about $1.5 per year, Tina Fey makes $350,000… per episode. Last year Fey earned over $13 million from book sales and her salary as executive producer of 30 Rock.

7) Ross Gellar: Friends

• Profession: Paleontologist
• Income: About $80-$90,000
• City of Residence: New York City

• Home: 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment in Greenwich Village (in “Ugly Naked Guy’s” old apartment across from Monica’s in later seasons)

• Value of Home: $4,500/month
• Car/Cost of transportation: Ross walks/cabs/subways for the early seasons, but in season 7 he buys a red MGB sports car: About $50,000
• Extras: Cups of coffee: Roughly 2/day at “Central Perk,” the group’s favorite hangout = roughly $2.50/cup = $5.00/day = about $150/month= $1,825/year

             Bagpipes: A “decent set” costs between $950-$1,600, Ross tries to learn to play the bagpipes for his sister’s wedding

Who is your favorite character on T.V.? How come?

Photos Courtesy of: PopCultureGeek.com, Australia Boy,  mawphoto.com, ABC.com,  freakgirl

Sources: BLS.gov, IMDB.com, Realtor.com, cars-on-line.com, WineAccess.com, NEIS.org, TheCigarStore.com, Netseekers.com, SavvySugar.com, TheJaneDough.com, Experience.com, QuoteCigarettes.com, ThoughtCatalog.com, Apartments.com, Padmapper.com, MTA.info, TheWineBuyer.com, Indeed.com, Trulia.com, WAUncontested.com, SalaryBlog.org, MNS.com, IMCDB.com, LivesInABox.com, SportsCarShop.com, ThemaCleods.net, TheGreysAnatomyWiki.com, CelebrityNetworth.com,

Remember the days when a resume was all about presentation? When we’d spend painstaking hours finding the exact right font, the perfect layout and design, and then spend a bundle to print it out on that perfect cardstock paper? Finally we’d hand it over to our potential employer like some kind of gift, smile, and hope that our careful presentation would pay off. Well it seems as though those days are coming to an end. When was the last time you actually printed out your resume on nice paper? When was the last time you actually mailed it or handed the physical copy to a person?

These days, resumes are sent in via E-mail more often than not, and I hate to break it to you, but computers also usually look them over before human eyes ever take them in.

Yes, we’re in the era of machines, and those machines are critiquing your resumes.

So how do you write a resume to wow… a computer? Check out these seven tips.

1)   Include a target job title and include it high up on your resume. This portion of your resume is favored by computers’ algorithms, much like it would catch the eye of a person (if one was actually reading it.) It sounds simple, but many times people forget to include a target job title at the very top of the page.

2)   Include a performance profile just below your job title. This will describe your ability to do the job.

3)   Include a description of your professional skills next. According to CareerCast.com, placing these skills near the top improves your performance with those search engine algorithms…”

4)   Include these skills over, and over, and over… This is sometimes hard to wrap your head around when your whole life you’ve been taught that being too repetitive is bad, but when a computer is doing the reading, it is looking for repeated keywords. So further down when you talk about past employment experience, repeat these key skills as often as you can.

5)   Include nouns rather than verbs. When hiring managers search through the database of resumes, they search by keyword, and usually they search by nouns. EX: it is easier for them to search “Database programmer” than “designed and implemented databases.” Make sure that you use these noun keywords to describe your industry.

So what are these magical keywords that you should be using? Well it is different for everyone depending on what kind of job you are applying for, but there is a pretty simple method to finding the ones that are right for you. Check it out.

6)   Include text only in your resume. Bullets, tabs, italics, etc. will do nothing to impress the computer scanning your information; in fact, it might just confuse the poor thing.

7)   Include a font that is easy to read. Stick with something simple like Times or Ariel, size 12. Even if you hand in a physical copy of your resume, businesses these days usually scan them in, then have the computer search for keywords, and then hand them over to a person. Fancy fonts and symbols will blend together in these scans and might turn up as misspelled words.

For a great resume example, click here and simply open the PDF.

And remember, these 7 steps will help you get past the computers, but that is just the first part; after that it’s all about acing the interview. Check out our posts on how to dress and show up for an interview. Happy hunting, everyone!

What do you usually focus on most when applying for a job? (Resume appearance, resume content, cover letter, etc.)

Sources: PSU.edu, Squawkfox.com, CareerCast.com, Hunklersearch.com, CNBC.com

That’s a lot of education walking around.

Here’s another fun fact: right now in the United States, about 8.3% of working-age adults are unemployed— compared to an incredibly low 2.5% in 1950 and 6% in 1980.

Now I know I’m throwing a lot of numbers at you, but I am trying to illustrate a point: Despite the increased number of college graduates these days, in a tough economy, even many of the most educated people remain unemployed.

As of late, this topic of higher education has been on many peoples’ minds. There are articles claiming less people should go to college; others that state just the opposite. People argue employers should be more exclusive; others counter that they should be less so. Even President Obama has given his two cents stating, “ In this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job.”

But these days, a college diploma doesn’t even seem to guarantee a good job, or a job at all. So what can we do? Well, for one thing, we can toss that old idea of “it doesn’t matter what type of degree you get, as long as you get a degree” right out the window. Because these days, more than ever, the type of degree you get does matter. And it may well mean your employment—or not.

So check out this infographic. We’ve listed not only the most profitable majors (which can be very profitable!), but also the ones that are most likely to get you a job straight out of school.

Now these aren’t necessarily the most popular majors (FYI: Business Administration is the most popular major), but they are the ones that will make the most, and/or actually earn you a job.

And isn’t that what we’re after?

[Click on image to enlarge]

Comment below and let us know what you think: Does choosing one major over another better ensure your chance for a job or money?

Sources: SSDan.net, QuickAnded.com, BLS.gov, DailyMarkets.com, Time.com, WSJ.com

I’m not suggesting that you pick up the phone and tell your boss you’re quitting right now; I’m merely suggesting that by changing your attitude and your relationship with what you do, you can change your satisfaction at work. You might even learn to enjoy your job. And if you’re sitting there saying “I don’t need to enjoy my work—I enjoy my life outside of my work.” Well, maybe this will motivate you: According to Jessica Pryce-Jones, author of Happiness at Work: Maximizing Your Psychological Capital for Success, people who are happier at work tend to…

• Get promoted more.
• Earn more.
• Get more support.
• Generate better and more creative ideas
• Achieve goals faster
• Interact better with colleagues and bosses
• Receive superior reviews
• Learn more
• Achieve greater success
• Are healthier

So check out these 7 ways to become happier at work—earn more, learn more, and spend your entire day with happiness, joy, and fulfillment; not just some of it.

1)   Choose to be happy at work. Now some of you may be sitting there saying, “well it’s not that easy,” or “I can’t just choose to feel a certain way…” STOP! What you’re doing right now is justifying your negativity. Do you want to be unhappy at work? Maybe some part of you does, which is the only reason you would hold onto those excuses in the first place. Once you really and truly decide to be happy at work, simply make the decision and fake it till you make it. Eventually you’re acting happy at work—being positive, being helpful, making others at work happy—will become your reality. So, if you want happiness, first you have to choose it.
2)   Identify the “Debbie Downers” at work. Sometimes certain colleagues are like a dark raincloud in a cartoon. You probably know who they are—to put it simply, they just give you a “bad vibe.” So limit your interaction with these people if you can, and if you can’t, don’t let their negativity drag you down. Counter their “bad vibes” with your positive ones, move on, and don’t dwell on it.

3)   Don’t Be a Debbie Downer. If you find yourself constantly talking about negative things with your colleagues—the economy, the stock market, cut in pay, or anything that makes you feel anything but good—stop! You might need to know about these things for your job, but you certainly don’t need to dwell on it. Be mindful when you speak. Rather than contributing something negative to the conversation, spin things around to something positive. “I hear your son just graduated from college—congratulations!” “How is your new baby?” “So a guy walks into a bar…” Just push those buttons that will make people smile, and you will be smiling too.

4)   Only make the commitments that you can keep. Much of the stress we experience at work (and in life in general) is from simply taking on too much. Don’t feel pressured to please everyone around you in the office and be realistic with yourself about how much you can take on without feeling overwhelmed. If you have to tell someone “no,”

don’t beat yourself up about it. People will appreciate your honesty, and probably also appreciate that you didn’t attempt to do a job halfheartedly when you were overbooked.

5)   Make Friends. People are social creatures by nature, and so if you pride yourself on being “independent,” “solitary” or “doing everything on your own,” well, you’re only hurting yourself. Believe me. I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking this way and refusing to let people in, especially at work. It isn’t worth it! Make friends at work and your days will be so much lighter, no matter what your job is.

6)   Get outside during your lunch break. It’s easy to feel a little like a caged animal at work if you’re inside all day, somake it a point to get outside for at least a little while every day. Even better? Take a walk and get your blood flowing. We all know how important exercise is and even just a quick walk during lunch is better than nothing. You’ll come back feeling invigorated. Check out some more ideas to illuminate that midday work stress here.

7)   Eat sensibly and regularly. It is easy to fall into poor eating habits at work—especially if you have coffee or sweets available to you all day. But do your best to stick to a routine: eat at regular intervals, eat healthy snacks during the day to keep up your energy (ex: nuts, fruits, seeds, dried fruit, veggies, etc.), steer clear of sugary treats that will make you crash later (coffee, candy, cookies), and stay away from a high fat, super-filling lunch, which will just make you sleepy. You know your body better than anyone else—eat the things that energize you and make you feel good. Don’t let yourself get “hangry” at work. (Something I’m told happens to me—I get angry when I’m too hungry = hangry. Feel free to use it.) Check out these inexpensive and healthy ideas for your work meals and snacks.

And hey, if you try all of that and you still don’t enjoy your work, well, maybe it’s time to think about switching jobs or even starting your own business.

What are you willing to no longer do to achieve happiness in your workday?

Photos Courtesy of: gcoldironjr2003, Pink Sherbet Photography, Editor B, oddsock,

Sources: BusinessNewsDaily.com, Forbes.com, HumanResources.about.com, PicktheBrain.com