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The Birth of a BLOG

In 2008, I finally got my MBA after about 7 years! Whew, a long haul and great personal accomplishment. Then came the financial meltdown and El Carino (my hubby) said,” OK, now that you have your MBA, you should write a book.” So I said, “OK.” And I wrote about four chapters of a personal finance book (still sitting on a shelf in my office)!  It was pretty good (if I do say so myself). So I put together a snappy proposal and shopped it to publishers and agents. The responses included:

” The market is saturated.”

“It doesn’t quite fit our style.”

“Do you have a ready made audience of about 12,000 potential purchasers?”

I realized that my family, friends, and Facebook contacts from high school didn’t reach anywhere near 12,000; 120 maybe.

During lunch with a former professor, she said, “Why not start a blog, you can get some readership and maybe even self-publish your book.”  So I asked the next logical question, “Will it take much time?” My professor (who has no blog) responded, “Just in the beginning, afterwards, not much.”

So you can imagine the rest. I started the blog in February and a gazillion hours later, here I am.

BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance.com

  • Target market is GEN Y.
  • Style is simple basic personal finance topics including; values, spending, saving, money making, debt, and investing.
  • “Educate, Inspire, & Motivate for Wealth in Money and Life,” exemplifies my philosophy.
  • Money is not the end goal; but it facilitates the opportunity for a rich life and personal freedom.

I’m a wife, mom, portfolio manager, and adjunct MBA professor, with degrees in Economics (BS), Counseling (MS), as well as an MBA in finance. My previous jobs included real estate sales/investor, administrator & career counselor at a major university, and countless entrepreneurial ventures. I’ve traveled extensively and lived in Spain for a year. Personally, I’m quite bossy, chatty, friendly, and ambitious.

My passion is financial literacy and I want others to have access to simple, down to earth, finance information.

Please read MY STORY to learn a bit about my upbringing and the terrible poverty of my dad.

WHY I LOVE YAKEZIE

My personal style is entirely consistent with YAKEZIE.  I am incredibly inclusive and value service to others. I owe much of my blogging success (from 1.2 M to 140K Alexa) to Yakezie. I think SAM must have created YAKEZIE with me in mind. :) I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to one of my earliest blogging buddies: Len Penzo. Len responded to my early questions and encouraged me to join Yakezie. Does that mean I owe him a referral fee?

MY FINANCIAL PAST & FUTURE

I am a long term investor who practices what I preach.  I have managed our family’s money since before we were married. Although I haven’t been in debt, I have made plenty of poor money decisions.

My free eBook, 20 Minute Guide to Investing launched last week. Please stop by and pick up a copy.

My future plans for BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance include creating LOW COST proprietary products for financial wealth and success.

Thanks to all who have stopped by and commented. I hope to see all of you at my site and look forward to visiting yours. I welcome guest posts from all Yakezie members.

Here are some of my favorite articles:

Are the Wealthy Really Happier?

The Best of BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance

Join us for further discussion in the Yakezie Forums.