If you've decided you want to get rid of your debts but are having trouble doing it, that might be because you haven't prepared your brain for it.

To free yourself of oppressive debt, you should treat yourself and make yourself feel good. I'm not talking about indulging yourself once again with the credit card. Rather, you need to give yourself hope that you can really chop away at that debt mess until it's gone.

And research by two assistant professors of marketing from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management provides the way.

David Gal and Blakeley McShane tested advice often given to people loaded with debt, and found the advice lacking. They concluded you should ignore the popular suggestion that you get rid of debt by paying off your biggest loan or credit card balance first. Going after the card with the largest balance is likely to be discouraging, perhaps making you feel defeated along the multiyear process of paying off all debts and maybe causing you to give up.

Instead, Gal and McShane found it's more effective to give yourself a quick success. Pay off your smallest balance or loan, and then move to the next small one and do the same. Each might take awhile, but the sooner you can get rid of one and move to the next, the more you will feel a sense of accomplishment and control. Your success will help motivate you to stick with your plan and make it to the end of paying off debt entirely.

Gal and McShane dug into the behavior of almost 6,000 people who had gone to a debt settlement company for help in getting rid of debt. Such firms can be sketchy, and individuals must be cautious about trusting some of them. The firms typically have clients make a single monthly payment into an account devoted to the person's debts, and with time the firm tries to negotiate reductions with lenders.

Only about 43 percent of people make it to the end of the process successfully as they make payments over an average period of three to four years. About 30 percent of people give up before the debt settlement firm is able to negotiate a single reduction, and the consequence can be bankruptcy.

By observing the behavior of people dealing with the Freedom Financial Network, the researchers were able to see how individuals respond to paying off debts.

On a numbers basis, it doesn't matter if people pay off small or large debts first, although sometimes a person can reduce his or her overall debt load the most if they get rid of big debts with high interest rates. But, psychologically, people need to feel like they are making progress. That's especially true when a person faces a long process, like paying off debt over a few years.

The researchers also found that people were motivated to keep working on their debts if they consistently paid down the smallest balances. For example, Gal and McShane found that one year after enrolling in the debt settlement program, clients were 14 percent more likely to complete the program after experiencing small successes than people who paid down random balances of various sizes. People were even more motivated if they were eliminating the smallest balances instead of the largest.

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Personal Finance: Provide yourself hope while eliminating debt

NORMAL Heartland Community College leaders are excited about an initiative they think will make students more likely to stay in school and complete their degree by applying principles such as personal responsibility and belief in themselves.

Amy Munson, Heartlands vice president for student success, told the board of trustees earlier this week, We are not able to make them successful, but we can give them the tools to make themselves successful.

The program, called On Course, was developed by educator Skip Downing, who wrote On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life.

Fifty faculty, staff and administrators participated in a three-day workshop led by Downing on the Heartland campus in January.

Although the original emphasis was on students in developmental classes those not ready for college-level work in all subjects the concept will be applied more broadly, Munson said.

Heartland leaders have modified a general studies course being offered this fall to incorporate Downings principles: personal responsibility, self-motivation, self-management, interdependence, self-awareness, lifelong learning, emotional intelligence and belief in self.

President Allen Goben said Downings principles fit well with Heartlands Guided Path to Success.

This fall semester, everybody is revved up because its time to test what weve been working on, Goben said.

He described the On Course strategy as a sequential way to interact with students and identify where there are problems. It could be a non-academic issue that is affecting their academic success, he said.

The idea is to point the student to where they can get help, whether its tutoring, counseling or other assistance, he explained.

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Heartland promotes new tools to help students find success

You could call it the ultimate romantic gesture.

Last February, Andrew Shaffer, a writer who had recently moved to Lexington, picked up Fifty Shades of Grey, writer E.L. James' global publishing phenom that has introduced 20 million readers to the world of bondage, dominance and sadomasochistic sex.

Shaffer was appalled, as many have been, by the puerile plot line, wooden dialogue and shallow characters in the story of stalker-billionaire Christian Grey, who sweeps dim young college student Anastasia Steele off her feet and into his sex dungeon, more or less.

Shaffer was offended not just as a writer himself but as the boyfriend of Tiffany Reisz, who was the reason he moved to Lexington and who happened to be a very good erotic BDSM author herself.

So Shaffer, the author of the non-fiction Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love (Harper Perennial, $12.99 in paperback), sat down and quickly wrote a parody, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey (Da Capo Press, $13.99 in paperback), in which Ana Steal and Earl Grey enter a world of half-wits and another kind of BDSM: "bards, dragons, sorcery and Magick."

"I was offended," Shaffer said of Fifty Shades, "because I thought the writing was pretty terrible and I've read other BDSM novels that were so much better, including Tiffany's. On the other hand, it's all turned out pretty well for us."

"Pretty well" is an ending that could show up in a romance novel: For Shaffer, it means a book deal with a sizeable advance, interviews with The New York Times and NPR, and another book, Literary Rogues, on the way from Harper Perennial.

"Pretty well" for Reisz means a huge bump of publicity for her recently released BDSM novel, The Siren (Harlequin Mira, $13.95 in paperback) with a first printing of 60,000 copies as millions of titillated Fifty Shades readers look for their next fix.

Shaffer and Reisz met cute on Twitter and then met in person at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York. (Their first date was when Shaffer escorted Reisz to a Manhattan dominatrix; for a full accounting, check out Reisz's column on The Huffington Post.) They now live a modern-day literary life, white Mac notebooks constantly humming in different rooms of their Harrodsburg Road condo, a running Twitter conversation open in one window, the next book chapter in another.

Reisz, an Owensboro native and Centre College graduate, has worked on her writing for a long time, and she seems bemused by success in both personal and professional fronts happening at the same time.

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Lexington couple benefit from runaway success of 'Fifty Shades'

Posted on August 26, 2012, Sunday

OLYMPIC success does not come easy.

The two medals one silver and one bronze Malaysia brought home from the London Games came at huge personal sacrifices to the athletes who won them and from government funding as well.

For those who stood on the rostrum, success was the culmination of years of sweat and toil. They deserve their prize and glory.

Malaysia spent RM20 million (around US$6.5 million) for the National Sports Councils four-year Road To London programme. Some argue the amount is too high for winning only two medals. But then, whoever says Olympic success comes cheap?

South Korea had their most successful Olympics to date in London with a total 28 medals, including 13 gold. But they also spent US$100 million (RM310 million) plus US$30 million from the private sector.

By comparison, our total bill was only five per cent of what South Korea spent to bring success from their athletes.

So what do we actually want? Real success or just wishing for success?

Talks of budget cuts and downsizing teams are common. But targetting cheap competitions to save money means we are moving in one direction DOWN. Mediocrity and third class performance will not bring Olympic success.

Of course, the money spent must be success-oriented. Our plans for sports success has to be bottom up grassroots to elite level. Unfortunately, even today, a comprehensive grassroots development programme for many of our sports is still lacking.

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Olympic success cometh not on silver platter

"People say it isn't good quality but you have to remember Fifty Shades started as fan fiction and as fan fiction you have to have action" ... publisher Amanda Hayward. Photo: Ben Rushton

There was a time, not so long ago, that Amanda Hayward was close to quitting publishing. Selling the e-book and print rights of Fifty Shades of Grey to Random House for more than $1 million had made the founder of The Writer's Coffee Shop and the book's author wealthy women, and here the big publishing houses were waving dollars at Hayward again, offering to buy her out.

Caught in the blinding arc lights of a publishing phenomenon, Hayward was spent. The publicity was intrusive and bruising, the fun of the original enterprise curdled by lawyers and confidentiality agreements.

Sitting on a panel at the Southern Highlands Writers' Festival in July, Hayward was representative of the new force of social media and niche publishing. The passion of that audience of book lovers reminded her that the real purpose of publishing was to tell stories, a dawning that rekindled her flagging enthusiasm.

Hayward's eyes flash steel and mischief when she tells me rival publishers have since been trying to poach her authors. ''You have to laugh,'' she scoffs, ''because it's not going to work. It's not the way to do it, it's not the way it works, but they will learn. It's now, 'what's the next thing?', it doesn't have to be some book, it's what else captures people's imagination.''

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Three different authors in her stable are tracking the same early popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey in the fan fiction and original fiction community of her online forums. ''Same volumes,'' nods Hayward. ''It will take another four or five months from here to know.'' If, that is, she can boast a second bestseller.

With no experience to her name, the one-time quantity surveyor outwitted New York's publishing houses to bring the fan fiction story in from the sidelines to mainstream publishing. With global English-language sales approaching 40 million, the erotic trilogy has outsold Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and the seven Harry Potter books across several continents including Australia. Hayward wants to prove lightning can strike twice. And, next time, there's no way she's going to sell to any of the big publishing houses. She wants to do it all herself. ''Just once more would be lovely,'' she says, ''not to be known as a one-hit wonder.''

Our lunch venue, Crinitis at Castle Hill, is all masculine leather and polished wood, a restaurant in which Christian Grey, Fifty Shades of Grey's tycoon dominator, might have felt comfortable. ''But it doesn't have a red playroom,'' Hayward smirks, referring to the Red Room of Pain in Grey's penthouse suite where he beds his willing sexual slaves.

Hayward discovered the restaurant three months ago and has wined and dined some of ''the girls'' responsible for moderating the publishing house's 100,000-member fan fiction community, from which the publishing arm nurtures emerging authors. Until Fifty Shades came along, they were middle-aged housewives, with kids and husbands and tedious jobs they hated who led online lives as writers or reviewers of risque stories set in their favourite fictional universes.

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Fifty shades of success

By Matt Fish as told to Plain Dealer Reporter Marcia Pledger

The Company: Melt Bar & Grilled, a restaurant that features grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh soups, salads and a beer list, offers an eclectic atmosphere filled with nostalgic Cleveland-related mementos. Founded in 2006 by owner Matt Fish, the company has about 200 employees who work in three Northeast Ohio locations. A fourth location is scheduled to open in Mentor in October.

The Mistake: When I opened my first restaurant in a small storefront in Lakewood, expansion was the furthest thing from my mind, considering my first idea was to open a bar that served really good food. I was just trying to get through each day. But the concept of serving comfort foods like grilled cheese took off like gangbusters.

We're open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and I didn't take one day off for the first 21/2 years. My biggest mistake was being so focused on growing my business that I allowed business success to come at a cost of personal relationships.

At first I was afraid to hire many people because I didn't want to have to lay anybody off if the restaurant didn't work out. I would open the restaurant around 8 a.m., receive orders, set up the kitchen and then work on the line in the kitchen for hours. Later, after I started hiring more cooks and other people, I was always either thinking about management, or working alongside employees or making plans to expand. In the meantime, I was doing everything from writing schedules and cleaning up to handling financial issues. I'd be getting out by 2 a.m. Then I'd eat and sleep and do it all again.

As fast as we were growing, I thought it was important that employees saw me in stores. I didn't ever want them to feel like I had abandoned them. The business kept growing, but it came at a price. I lost track of myself because I put everything else on the back burner -- including personal relationships, friends and family. I've been divorced since I started the business, and later I lost my girlfriend. The business isn't the only reason, but building a business is a huge part of your life. I made it every part of my life, so it was the majority of the reason for the break-ups. My attitude with people in my life not involved with the business was, "Give me some time. It's all going to work out."

All I did was focus on my business. That was good for the business but unhealthy for me -- and the people around me. I had to make some changes.

The Fix: I finally realized that when you run a business, not working is just as important as working. You need to find some downtime to balance other elements of your life, including your own personal self, your family and relationships.

This is the first year I started making myself take off one day of the week, and I've been doing it 90 percent of the time. I also started running again, which helps me to clear my head.

Running three miles, three days a week, helped me to realize that having a significant personal relationship in my life is hugely important. Now that I don't have one, I realize how important relationships are and how important it is to work on them.

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Matt Fish, founder of Melt Bar & Grilled, allowed success to affect personal relationships: My Biggest Mistake (video)

At the helm of successful companies are the entrepreneurs who have achieved the American dream and built wealth from their leadership efforts. The Tri-Counties, being an idyllic place to live, are filled with many people in this esteemed position.

Does achievement in business translate to success in personal wealth management? Unfortunately, the answer is often no. The tragedy is that the apparent "wealth" that was generated over decades can be squandered in a matter of a few years because of poor personal planning decisions.

What are the two most common mistakes business owners make? First, they neglect their personal finances, with all the attention going toward the business. Second, they tend to be overly optimistic about the business prospects. They are "all in" with making the business grow and fail to create a backup plan should success not follow.

A helpful approach for business owners is to think about personal wealth as a separate business. Develop a clear vision of desires, or personal goals, as the starter. Then create an operating strategy, a financial plan, that outlines realistic paths to fund lifestyle goals. Implement a risk management plan that includes insurance and estate planning to protect against "what-ifs." And last but not least, have an effective team in place to implement the strategy efficiently. That team might include a financial adviser, accountant, attorney, banker, investment manager and insurance professional.

Paying down debts, investing in retirement plans, funding college accounts and creating liquid wealth outside of the business is paramount for future financial security. Ensuring a succession strategy is in place for the business to thrive once the owner is no longer at the helm is critical to ensure maximum value when the business is sold.

This is not always easy. Although converted wealth from a business sale can make personal financial dreams a reality, proposed buyers rarely value the business the same way as an owner/founder does. Having concentrated wealth in the business is not as simple and fast to unlock as one may believe. Careful planning must begin years in advance.

By creating a personal financial plan and treating it like a separate business, by involving professionals and family members in the process well in advance, and by setting realistic assumptions about the wealth to be generated from the disposition of the business, the business leader can enjoy an immensely satisfying lifestyle and create an impactful legacy for heirs and charity. It all stems from entrepreneurs giving their own wealth the same level of care and priority they dedicate to managing their business.

Brad Stark and Seth Streeter are co-founders of Mission Wealth Management in Westlake Village and Santa Barbara.

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Separating business from personal finance decisions

It has been said that there are no true friends in politics ... but there are plenty of them.

Few issues have made politicians so popular as the oil and gas potential in Western Canada and the big plans for its future, including the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline through Alberta and British Columbia.

A search of the federal registry of lobbyists shows company officials and consultants for Calgary-based Enbridge have had dozens of meetings with ministers, deputy ministers, policy directors and MPs as plans for the Northern Gateway pipeline moved from the proposal stage to public hearings.

They've had communication with the chiefs of staff for the prime minister and the Opposition NDP and met with the clerk of the Privy Council on the day the Conservative government tabled the omnibus legislation that changed the environmental laws and review process that govern the project.

"Enbridge is the perfect example of a success story from lobbying," said Roger Harris, a former Liberal member of the B.C. legislature and former vice-president of aboriginal and community partnerships for Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines.

The federal registry shows 12 different lobbyists at work for the pipeline proponent in 2011 and 2012. A search of the five years prior to that, from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2010, produces a list of 27 different lobbyists and 10 different consultant companies, including one representing the Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition, comprised of Enbridge, Shell, ConocoPhillips Canada and a dozen other energy companies.

Enbridge's proposal for a 1,700-kilometre pipeline that would deliver bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to a tanker port on the B.C. coast is incredibly complex, involving three government jurisdictions, 50 First Nations, an oft-maligned industry and a vocal public campaign against tanker traffic off the West Coast.

"I can't imagine a project that's more complex, yet it (Enbridge) was able to convince the federal government, the Conservatives, of its value to the point that the federal government, who puts in place the regulatory process by which projects are independently evaluated ... (Enbridge) had them shamelessly out there supporting the project before their own process was even completed," Harris said.

The Conservatives even changed the environmental regulations that affect the project, he said.

"If they don't like the outcome of that science, they can change it themselves, anyway," he said of the Conservative government.

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Enbridge lobbying of Harper government a 'success story'

By Rita Chattaraj - August 24, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT, NOK | 0 Comments

Rita is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

Microsoft(NASDAQ: MSFT), which has been ruling the personal computer operating system space for long now, is looking at changing the way the company functions - a shift in paradigm. Being restricted to the age old offerings will not help the company to cope up with the changing dynamics of the highly competitive consumer electronics space.For several years Microsoft had the software segment as its main focus point and it left the hardware part to a diverse ecosystem of OEMs likeDell,HP,Lenovoand many others. But now, with Surface tablet computers, Microsoft aims to capture a good chunk of the hardware side of the model too. The company is attempting to build an ecosystem of Windows-driven devices where both hardware and software will come from the tech giant.

Microsofts Master Blaster StrategyWith Surface, Microsoft is clearly following the path of anintegrated hardware and software offering ecosystem as displayed byApple (NASDAQ: AAPL). The iPhone maker is a living example of how successful this business model can be.In fact, this is not the first attempt of Microsoft to develop its ecosystem. The company has been attempting this for a long time, however it never tasted success. The Live Social Network didnt work out, nor did Bing, the competitor of the worlds largest online search providerGoogle(NASDAQ: GOOG). The general perception of Microsoft in the consumers mind was that it was old, slow at everything and not up to the art of the age. These thoughts were further fueled by the range of cheap plastic hardware as against Apples simple yet catchy and beautifully designed gadgets.

However, this time the companys plans may pay off big time and this might be just the beginning. The Windows maker has worked very hard on the form factor and the feel of the Surface tablets. The consumers as well as industry experts are pretty impressed with the trade dress of the device. So, finally we have something that actually can give Apple stiff competition. Slowly the giant can move to smartphone hardware too. For all we know, like Google acquiredMotorolaand is planning to use the phone maker to manufacture its own smartphones and tablets, Microsoft too can acquire a firm and go about its dream of enjoying hardware-software dominance in the electronics space.

Competitive strategies The Redmond-based tech giant aims to change the consumer perception about it - from being a super successful operating system maker to an equally successful hardware provider - and for this the company has chosen the tablets space as the first point of attack. So, how does Microsoft want to make it big in this market?Winning through losses!

Recently, there have been rumors that the Surface tablets will be available for a starting of $199. Initially everyone felt this was just a rumor to test the reaction of the OEMs, but as time passes and Microsoft is still not denying the claim, there are chances it will turn out to be true. If this is really the case, then the Surface RT will not only be battling with the iPad, but alsomay turn out to be fatal for the Nexus 7 from Google andAmazonsKindle Fire.

So, does this mean the Surface RT will have lower tech specs than the iPad? No. Under the hood the Surface RT will be as strong as the iPad, but still available at just $199. What Microsoft is trying to do is pretty clear the Windows maker is going after market share and not profits. Microsoft wants to penetrate the tablet market by providing superior tablets at extremely competitive prices even if it needs to face losses. This way, no one will buy the iPad since the two devices will have the same specs while the Surface will be cheaper and again no one will buy Android-based tablets since the prices will be the same whilethe Surface will be superior. Microsoft is thinking of leveraging the success from its other business parallels to its newly formed hardware business so that it can snatch from Apple and Google their share of the consumer electronics sector.

Now, focusing just on the tablet market will be an incomplete effort on Microsoft's part. The company also needs to put stress on the smartphone hardware market. However, the Windows maker has no plans as of now to manufacture handsets. Rather, it plans on carrying on with the OEM model here byleaving the handset manufacturing toNokia(NYSE: NOK), but with good chances of moving into the handset manufacturing in the near future. Through Nokia, Microsoft aspires to knock down theApple andSamsung-Google dominance and give users something new and exciting. While Surface will ensure Microsofts success in the tablet market, Nokias Lumia will ensure the success in the smartphone space.

Departing thoughtsMicrosofts plans are definitely not ordinary and these involve huge challenges and a lot is at stake. Shifting its focus from software to hardware and repositioning itself in the minds of the users is no kids play. The Windows maker knows this very well that if, for whatsoever reason, Windows 8, Surface or Lumia fails, it is going to be doomed and this is why every step it takes needs to be well planned. But, like I say, no risk, no gain and know risk, know gain. Microsoft is taking a risk for which it can get rewarded greatly. It has the right combination of expertise, experience and goodwill to drive this strategy to success. And, in due course of time, if it decided to acquire Nokia also, it will not be a surprise for anyone. Rather, the move will actually fit in with Microsofts aspirations like a glove. I am very much bullish on the Windows maker and have a feeling it will surely stir up things in the tech space.

Excerpt from:
The Shifting Paradigm of Microsoft

WASHINGTON Mitt Romney's success in raising hundreds of millions of dollars in the costliest presidential race ever can be traced in part to a secretive data-mining project that sifts through Americans' personal information including their purchasing history and church attendance to identify new and likely, wealthy donors, The Associated Press has learned.

For the data-mining project, the Republican candidate has quietly employed since at least June a little-known but successful analytics firm that previously performed marketing work for a colleague tied to Bain & Co., the management-consulting firm that Romney once led.

The head of Buxton Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, chief executive Tom Buxton, confirmed to the AP his company's efforts to help Romney identify rich and previously untapped Republican donors across the country. The Romney campaign declined to discuss on the record its work with Buxton or the project's overall success.

The project shows that the same strategies corporations use to influence the way we shop and think are now being used to influence presidential elections. The same personal information that we give away, often unwittingly when we swipe our credit cards or log into Facebook, is now being collected by the people who might one day occupy the White House.

There are no records of payments to Buxton from Romney's campaign, the Republican National Committee or a joint fundraising committee. Under federal law, companies cannot use corporate money or resources, such as proprietary data analysis, for in-kind contributions to campaigns.

The effort by Romney appears to be the first example of a political campaign using such extensive data analysis. President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has long been known as data-savvy, but Romney's project appears to take a page from the Fortune 500 business world and dig deeper into available consumer data.

Buxton said he's working for the Romney campaign because he wants "to be on the winning team."

He once worked with a former Romney business partner to provide insights, for example, about where Petco should open a new pet-supply store to maximize profits. In addition to Buxton, the data-mining project was described to the AP by a Romney fundraiser who spoke on condition of anonymity because the fundraiser did not want to face repercussions for describing internal campaign processes.

Businesses use those kinds of analytics firms to answer key questions for clients, such as where to build a retail store or where to mail pamphlets touting a new product. The analysis doesn't directly bring in campaign contributions, but it generates the equivalent of sales leads for Romney's campaign.

The project relies upon a sophisticated analysis by powerful computers of thousands of commercially available, expensive databases that are lawfully bought and sold behind the scenes by corporations, including details about credit accounts, families and children, voter registrations, charitable contributions, property tax records and survey responses. It combines marketing data with what is known in this specialized industry as psychographic information about Americans.

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Mitt Romney's fundraising success traced to project that sifts through personal information