The holidays will be here before you know it, here are a few simple ways to earn cash for little pleasures and goodies for yourself and your family. 

You won’t get rich with these money-generating ideas, but you can take the results to the bank (even if it’s only your piggy bank):
    • Sell photos to stock photo websites. Stock photography sites offer generic photos of landscapes, animals, and other nonspecific subjects to designers and publishers. Go through your travel photos or your pictures of Fluffy, Fido and great scenery, then check out sites like istockphoto.com and shutterstock.com.

• Sell your books. Go through your bookshelves. Are you hanging on to your old college textbooks? Be realistic when setting prices, are you really going to read A Tale of Two Cities ever again? You can sell books online or try a local second-hand bookshop. If you have enough books you can have a garage sale–get your bookaholic friends involved and set up your own book space in the yard.  

• Sign up for consumer focus groups. Corporations and nonprofits doing market research need opinions from regular people. Make yourself available for focus groups, and you could earn $50 to $100 or so for an hour or two of sharing your thoughts and reactions to ideas. And don’t forget those online survey’s,  MyPoints.com is one of the best, your points add up quickly and you are never added to odd lists.

Why fight over shadows?

There is a fable about a wealthy man who hired a peasant and his camel for a long trip across the desert. The rich man rode the camel while the peasant led it across the dry sands.

In the hot noonday sun, they stopped for a rest. Since there was no shade but the camel, they began arguing about who had more of a right to sit in the camel’s shadow: the peasant who owned the camel, or the rich man who had rented the camel to ride.

Their voices grew louder and louder as the argument and shouting went on. The camel began to get jittery and anxious because of the loud voices of the men. Finally, the camel became so frightened, he ran away –leaving both men stranded in the middle of the burning desert without any shade at all.

Moral of story: Don’t let yourself get so determined to be right that you lose what you’re fighting for.

We all think we know what success is and how to achieve it. But sometimes we don’t know what success is until it bites us in the face and nips at our nose. Usually (because nothing is 100%) success is based on our personal goals and achievements that are uniquely our own and are shaped by our individual personalities.

   Where is your success? Examine your own ideas about success, then;

Learn to recognize your success. What will your success look like or feel like? Will you be able to recognize it when you reach it? (Trying to keep up with this one or that one is not the way to success.) When you do the best to your ability isn’t that success too? The truth is you can’t do more than you can do.

Define success in your own terms. Forget about other people and their vision of success. Think about what you value, not what others value or say you must or should do.

What do you need to do?  Identify specific things that must be achieved before you reach your own goal. Select one thing that you have already done, and two or three things you can do right now, that will bring you closer to your ultimate success. Then start working on them–today.

Are you close to success now? Take a look at what you’ve already accomplished, and compare your current situation with your position when you started working toward your goals. If you are not closer, maybe you are allowing excuses to get in the way of accomplishment.

After looking at your accomplishments are you closer to your success than you thought?

Kudos.

Which direction will you take? You have big goals, but do you have the passion to bring them to life?

     Success usually requires a road map, a strategy, but it also calls for serious drive and commitment toward your goals. Rosabeth Moss Kanter a professor at Harvard Business School suggests testing yourself with these questions:

• Do you feel strongly about the importance of your goal—why it’s necessary to achieve?

• Will you be able to reject criticism and negativity?

• Does your idea match your values and beliefs?

• Is this something you’ve dreamed about for a long time?

• Is your goal vital to the future of people you care about?

• Does your goal get you excited when you think about it and share it with others?

• Is it realistic? Are you sincerely convinced that your goal can be achieved?

• Are you willing to put your credibility on the line for it?

• Can you make your goal the primary focus of your activities?

• Are you willing to devote your personal time—evenings, weekends, vacations—to bring your goal to reality?

• Are you committed to the long term as you work toward your goal?　

Follow Prof. Kanter on Twitter Twitter.com/RosabethKanter

You can damage your career by saying the wrong thing to your boss. It is not the obvious, don‘t say what you are thinking things, like “You’re an idiot,” or, “Do I look like I care?”

The wrong things are often in the context of a sentence that can get you kicked out of the door.

Career adviser Karen Burns warns employees to avoid these statements:

That is not my job: Don’t limit yourself to what’s in your job description. Be willing to take on any role the boss asks you to (assuming it’s legal and ethical, of course). You can ask your boss why he or she is assigning the task to you, but you’ll improve your career prospects by accepting whatever assignment is thrown your way.

That is not my problem: Don’t let the boss think you don’t care what happens to the company you work for. Take responsibility for fixing things so your manager can rely on you no matter what.

It is not my fault: Ducking responsibility only makes you look and sound untrustworthy. Don’t waste your time, and your boss’s on placing blame for whatever the office or company problems are.  [If you watch television's The Closer, you will know this is similar to the classic SODDI (pronounced sah-dee) defense/excuse; Some other dude did it.] Focus on finding answers and solutions.

I can’t do that–It’s impossible Telling your boss that he or she is asking for the impossible will not endear you to the powers.  You want your boss to believe you can do whatever is required or at least give is a good try. Analyze the task and identify the real problem or goal; then concentrate on overcoming the obstacles.

Visit Karen’s useful and easy to read Working Girl  site and buy a copy of her book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use You will be glad you did.

Success and happiness depend as much on your attitude as on your resources and advantages. Develop the right mindset,  and keep these thoughts in mind:

1. Control. Ultimately the only control you have in life is over yourself: your thoughts, actions, responses, and behaviors. Don’t obsess over what you can’t control; concentrate on what you can. 
2. Results. It’s easy to fall into routines and patterns that emphasize the process instead of the outcome. Learn the rules, but apply them with an eye on what you want to achieve. 
3. Gratitude. You’ll stay positive if you remind yourself of what you already possess. Spend some time every day thinking about your health, your family and friends, and the advantages you have, instead of focusing single-mindedly on what you lack.

Find your own “right” attitude (and perhaps a favorite quote) and live by it. I believe that my cat Peggy (or Ms. Peg when I way trying to cajole her) had her own quote, I am guessing but suspect it was, “She’s not the boss of me, I am my own cat!” and she had attitude to back it up. I had to respect that. Way down deep, we’re all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them. –Jim Davis (Garfield creator)

First impressions never count more than during a job interview.

CareerBuilder.com recently surveyed more than of 2,700 hiring managers about mistakes job applicants make. While some of the responses were to be expected, some were a bit strange and downright odd.

The mistakes are listed by ranking order:

1. Inappropriate attire
2. Boredom or lack of interest
3. Criticizing a current or previous employer
4. Arrogant attitude
5. Answering a cell phone or texting during the interview
6. Vague answers
7. Not asking good questions

The hiring managers were also asked for their observations and opinions on interviewee attitude and attire that belonged in the “Hall of Shame.”

1. One candidate wore a business suit and flip-flops.
2. A job-seeker asked if the interviewer wanted to meet later for a drink.
3. The candidate who applied for an accounting job said he was “bad at managing money.”
4. One hungry candidate asked for directions to the employee break room to eat after the interview.
5. A candidate recited poetry.
6. A candidate for a customer service job told the interviewer, “I don’t really like working with people.”
7. One person had to leave because his dog had gotten loose in the parking lot.
8. A job-seeker spent the entire interview staring at the ceiling.
9. Asked to provide an example of teamwork, one candidate cited his Dungeons and Dragons experience.

Regarding inappropriate attire, it is better to err on the side of caution, or do a drive by a couple of days before your interview and see what employees are wearing. If you decided to take a chance and apply on the spot, be sure you are properly dressed.  A friend told me that she recently saw and spoke with a young woman she had not seen in a while, the young woman told her she was going into the building to apply for a job. My friend, a long-time gatekeeper of a high ranking executive explained to the young woman that she needed to return to apply when she wore something more appropriate and business-like. I do not know the outcome, but I am sure it was better than it would have been.

Read Career Builder’s article Feel Like Giving Up On Your Job Search? 5 Way to Shake things up, here  http://bit.ly/apmws3

 A couple of things to remember about meetings: (1) don’t waste someone’s else’s time, (2) take care not to be the reason for a canceled meeting. In many cases, know that time equals money.

If you are asked to RSVP a meeting or event, do so even if you have told to the person in charge of the event that you will attend. I have found that it is the little things that can make or break good will. 

• Don’t arrive too early. More than 10 minutes early is wasting your time and perhaps someone else’s, if they must entertain you while you wait. Also, you can become fidgety and annoyed that other’s may be late, if it appears they may not arrive on the dot. 

.  Send in that RSVP. Then mark your calendar, if something comes up, make contact and let the proper person that you will not be able to attend the function. No one likes to be left hanging, and it is just plain rude. 

• Confirm your appointments the day before. Let people know you’re conscientious; they’ll likely follow suit in the future. This is also an extra nudge or reminder to you as well.

• Bring some easy to do work with you. If you must wait, it cuts down the wasted time if you bring something else you can work on in the meantime. Anticipate that you may be waiting at least 10 minutes.

If you belong to any group at some point you may be asked to become involved in the groups’ fundraising activities. Cookies, candy, calendars, gift wrap, spices, you name it. 

  If you have children it is almost a given that you will be expected to help your kid sell goodies. You may end up doing a lot of the selling yourself, at work. Be sure you know and obey the rules of selling at work; if there if a no soliciting policy in place take care to follow those rules. If you are allowed to sell in the workplace, do so quietly, do not turn off co-workers by being intrusive and annoying.  And remember that your job comes first.

Here are some tactful ways of selling in the workplace:

1. Don’t announce your fundraising efforts via office e-mail. Office equipment should be used only for business.

2. Pick and choose to whom you’ll make a personal appeal. Enlist the support of interested parties and people who’ve been helpful before.

3. Use central locations to post sign-up sheets and flyers. Try the office kitchen during non-lunch hours or public bulletin boards.

4. Thank supporters. After the fundraising drive, buy them a box of doughnuts or bagels. Show them you really appreciate their contribution to your child’s efforts.

5. Get your child to write thank-you notes. A short note of appreciation to all your co-workers who contributed goes a long way toward building support in the future.

We know they know who we are, but they also know what we buy, and when and how regular we buy it. And of course they know where we shop, so will you get a slap if you shop bargain basement?

I have known, for many years why you are often asked for your zip code when using your credit card, but until a couple of years ago had no idea that where you used your credit card was important. Since becoming aware of this, I have changed my credit card shopping tactics. I am not sure when I learned that credit card companies not only watch how much you spend, but where you spend. I now use my American Express in [what I assume are] AMEX worthy stores.

When I go to the mall, I love browsing in the dollar store and often make purchases there. I almost always spend $15 to $20, I mean how can I resist those pretty colored glass jars or that cute wicker basket, I can use it for… If I am low on cash I pop these items on my credit card. But now I use a card that does not have the same value to me as another one does. I don’t want my credit card $$ ceiling lowered because I have a good time in the dollar store. Something to think about the next time you go shopping.

Oh, and if you are offended, embarrassed or just surprised that you receive certain catalogs in the mail, the reason may be a in piece of plastic, your credit card. Shopper lists are often sold or traded.