The Yakezie Network Is Open For Business

Work With The Yakezie To Effectively Get Your Message Out

The Yakezie Network was created in December 2009 as a way to help new and old bloggers alike grow their platforms, connect with others, and become the best bloggers possible. Over the years, the Yakezie has become the largest, most collaborative personal finance network on the web. It takes eight months on average to get into the Network, as each Member must build relationships and stick to a minimum posting schedule of two to four times a week.

Given the standards of the Network, the quality of our Members is second to none. We have a collective reach in the millions of pageviews a month, and have the ability to create a movement to bring awareness about your product or business in general.

Creating a product is just the first step in sales. You can have the best new product, but if nobody knows about it, you will not get very far. This is where online marketing comes in. As the creator of my own product, I know what it’s like to put everything into something special, and then put even more effort into marketing to make sure the world knows. Many other Members of the Network have extensive marketing experience as well.

Marketing is not just about placing advertisements on relevant sites to get your product known. Generating awareness is about getting some of the leading personal finance authorities to test, understand, and write about your product to create a genuine discussion. For three years, hundreds of clients have directly come to us, now we’re pleased to open up our services to all of you.

Think of the Yakezie Network as an interactive PR company with capabilities to directly influence thousands of people.

SERVICES THE YAKEZIE NETWORK CAN PROVIDE Read More

Is The Internet A True Meritocracy?

In Search For A Correlation Between Effort And Success

by in Lifestyle on Mar 27th, 2013

A lack of a meritocratic environment is the number one reason why so many people are dissatisfied with their jobs based on research conducted for my book. There’s nothing more maddening than when someone less deserving is promoted over you due to politics instead of performance.

One of the main reasons why I left finance was because there was no correlation between performance and compensation anymore. In the past, if you made the firm X, you would be compensated X times a certain percentage. Given all the new rules by various governments as well as the need for profitable divisions to subsidize less profitable divisions, we all got paid roughly the same no matter how well we delivered. Working in a Socialistic style environment is fine if you’re not very motivated or are an underperformer. However, at the age of 34, I still had plenty of fight left, so I left.

Entrepreneurship is about as close as it gets to a meritocracy as it gets. All your wins and loses are due to your own efforts. If you don’t work, you don’t eat. It’s as simple as that. However, even with entrepreneurship, not everything is as meritocratic as it seems. If you so happen to have Ron Conway, the billionaire father of Angel Investing on speed dial, and Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo as your wife, chances are higher you will succeed.

Even though I wrote about how to buy your way to online success, I’m pretty much against buying myself into anything. I only wrote the post to highlight the other side of the story. It feels empty when you don’t build something on your own. Some would liken  it to cheating.

Given entrepreneurship has some flaws in the pure meritocracy argument, I’d like to drill down even further and talk about becoming a successful online publisher. I’ll share my views as well as several other views from Yakezie Members.

THE CASE FOR THE INTERNET AS A MERITOCRACY Read More

Want To Podcast? Learn From My Mistakes!

by in Lifestyle on May 20th, 2013

Hoping to expand your reach? Try podcasting. Just don’t try it the way we did.

It seems podcasts are all the rage. According to The Pew Research Center, 25% of people in the United States age 12 and over listen to audio podcasts, and over 40% listen to audio on digital devices. You know Neilsen, the rating company? So few people listen to radio that as of Fall 2010, they quit measuring radio listeners. To grossly misquote Wayne Gretzky, podcasts and online video are where the puck is headed.

In a recent interview, internet guru Pat Flynn credited podcasting with much of his business success. He’s reaching over 10,000 people per episode, and amazingly, these aren’t the same people who visit his blog. Podcasting has expanded his audience.

Our Story: A Case Study Read More

How Much Money Do You Need To Make Online To Be Happy?

The Various Stages Of Online Income Happiness

by in Lifestyle on May 13th, 2013

There are several research studies that point to $75,000 a year where happiness increases no further. The $75,000 is largely derived through day job income given most folks do not have any other income sources. I make an argument that $200,000 is the income level where happiness increases no further due to various tax credit and deduction phaseouts, AMT penalties, income tax targeting and general attitudes towards people making more than $200,000 a year. Here’s an income definition for what is considered rich as well.

So what about online income, especially if working online is just a hobby? Let’s discuss!

THE VARIOUS STAGES OF ONLINE INCOME HAPPINESS Read More

The Worst Job In America: News Reporter / Journalist!

A look at the best and worst jobs today

Out of all the craptastic jobs out there, you wouldn’t think being a journalist was the worst job ever would you? I didn’t, so it came as a shock when a company called Career Cast put news reporter on the top of their list based on pay, outlook, work environment, and stress. Career Cast analyzed over 200 professions and gathered data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census, Bureau, trade association studies and other sources to come to their conclusion.

I wrote about my three bad jobs that made me who I am today, and I would easily choose being a journalist over working at McDonald’s, being an office removals man, or a admin assistant in charge of stuffing envelopes for nine hours a day, any day! But as I got to thinking more about the journalism profession I’m beginning to see the light.

WHY BEING A NEWS REPORTER / JOURNALIST IS THE WORST Read More

Should I Sell My Website? Probably Not And Here’s Why

Figuring Out A Site's Valuation

by in Lifestyle on May 1st, 2013

The temptation of selling one’s site frequently comes up and I’d like to make an argument for why you probably should not sell your site in this environment.

It’s safe to say from a financial perspective, anybody who sold any type of asset from 2008-2011 probably wishes they had held on. Stocks have rebounded by over 130% since the S&P 500 hit 666. Real estate is roaring back in the major cities and is now spreading its fever back into speculative cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix Even gold, which produces nothing is up over 50% since 2008.

The one thing that hasn’t increased is interest rates. The 10-year bond yield (risk free rate) has fallen to under 1.7%, the best 7-year CDs are at 2%, and money market funds are around 0.2%. With interest rates so low, people have been saying 10+ years that interest rates must go up. Yet, one look at the historical 10-year bond yield chart shows that interest rates have been going down for 30 consecutive years!

Savers and retirees on fixed incomes have really been the victims of such a low interest rate environment. At the end of the day, the value of an asset is a function of its earnings. If your asset’s earnings are on the decline, then the present value of your asset is also in decline.

IN SEARCH FOR YIELD AND INCOME Read More

  • Your Daily Finance: I actually just started back blogging and was thinking of podcasts. Not sure if i should just get...
  • Untemplater: Very cool stuff! Podcasts are great for commuting and listening when on the go and such. That is one...
  • The College Investor: I’m excited for your re-branding, and will be listening this week! While podcasting...
  • AverageJoe: I’m sure with your background, Maria, you could easily podcast. We should do one together on...
  • maria@moneyprinciple: I would like to learn about and experiment with new media; for now I am a ‘one trick...
  • AverageJoe: The biggest thing for me was to learn to be okay with not knowing a ton and learning on the job. Cliff...
  • AverageJoe: Jake, you’re WAY smarter than me, so you’ll nail it quickly. Plus, with your sense of humor?...
  • AverageJoe: Today’s launch has been great. I’m flattered by all the listeners. We should have you on the...
  • FrugalRules: Like Grayson, this is something I am interested in learning more about and see more and more going the...
  • Jake@iHeartBudgets.net: Bookmarking! Awesome tips here Joe! Though I am an audio professional, so the sound thing...

Help Support The Yakezie Network

Yakezie Membership Support
Yakezie.com

© 2013 Yakezie.com | All Rights Reserved

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Contact Yakezie

Personal Finance Lifestyle Writing Contest

The Yakezie is one of world's largest and most sophisticated network of personal finance and lifestyle bloggers. Through collaboration and the selfless support of others, we strive to improve the lives of every one of our visitors.

About Yakezie