Pennsylvania has highest beer prices in US

If you like beer, you couldn’t have chosen a worst state to live.Pennsylvania has the dubious distinction of charging the highest beer prices in the country, a national survey revealed. In fact, you could get three cases of beer in Michigan for the price of two in the Keystone state.The study, undertaken by Simple. Thrifty. Living. magazine compared the prices of a case of Bud Light and Miller Lite, two of the most popular domestic beers. They also chose a 24-can case of [...]

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Stroudsburg restaurant owner continues to donate

It all started with a plea from Daryl.The homeless man knew Ken Lynch owned a barbecue restaurant in Stroudsburg and asked whether he could donate his leftover food to the Monroe County Homeless Initiative.So for the four years Lynch has owned a Dickey's Barbecue Pit franchise in that area, he's donated about 2,000 pounds of food a year.When he opened a franchise in Palmer Township earlier this year, it made sense to keep up the practice in the Easton area."I just [...]

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Inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut, Sarah Rozik, Lao Tzu, and More

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life.

1. Kurt Vonnegut on building and maintaining

“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.” — Kurt Vonnegut

This is one flaw (among many) that I see in myself.

I find writing the first draft of an article far more inspiring and enjoyable than editing the article, for example.

At my previous job, I found writing the first version of a software application much more enjoyable and interesting than maintaining and updating that software application.

I find the early stages of any big, long-term goal to be much more invigorating than the long process to actually make it to that goal.

Why is that? Why do I enjoy the creation more than the maintenance? Why is it true for so many others, too?

A big part of the journey I’ve been on over the last several years, as I’ve moved from a financial turnaround to a long journey toward financial independence / early retirement has been figuring out how to enjoy the maintenance in addition to the creation. It’s not easy, but there are tricks. Part of it is figuring out how to build things that fall within the maintenance of a bigger goal… but that in itself could be another article someday.

2. TasteMade

My kids have joked before that I treat Youtube like it’s a cooking channel, and I have to agree. There’s something about the focused food videos on Youtube that I really like. I find them to be (usually) far more focused on practical recipes and kitchen techniques than most modern food shows.

I tend to go through “phases” with new cooking channels on Youtube. I’ll subscribe to them, then gorge on their archives. Then, they’ll stay on my subscription list, popping up new things to watch regularly.

I often watch food videos – well, honestly, I listen to them mostly – while actually in the kitchen doing something. I’ll just set up my laptop off to the side when I’m in the kitchen making a batch of sauerkraut or washing a pan or making supper and listen to the audio and bookmark any videos that I like by using a keyboard shortcut with one hand.

Tastemade my most recent cooking channel “phase.” This is definitely a channel with a lot of different hosts – it doesn’t seem particularly driven by personalities, which I like. I like how it mixes together technique with fairly simple recipes and also show off how you can synergize well by cooking multiple things at once and combining them.

Here’s a great example

This is a video of one of the hosts, Erwan, cooking Filipino fried rice. To me, it sums up what I like – it’s not about Erwan’s personality, though he comes off as friendly, but instead the focus is on technique and why you use particular ingredients. That’s what I want from cooking videos. This actually convinced me to make a very similar fried rice a few days later, and I loved it.

My only minor quibble is that I wish the music on some of the videos was just a touch lower. I don’t mind quiet background music, but this is just a touch louder than I want. Not nearly enough to keep me from watching, though; this is definitely on my food video list.

3. Louis C.K. on erasing mistakes

“If you went back and fixed all the mistakes you’ve made, you erase yourself.” – Louis C.K.

I can look back over the years and see tons of mistakes. I was an absolute financial disaster during most of my twenties. I was really bad at building lasting friendships for most of my life and I’ve set fire to many friendships inadvertently. I see mistake after mistake after mistake when I look backwards.

Yet, now that I think about it, I wouldn’t change any of them, because if I did, I wouldn’t be where I am right now, and I’m pretty happy with where I am right now.

The only use for looking backward is to teach yourself things that you can use going forward. Lamenting the past doesn’t help. Wishing you could change things doesn’t help. Moving forward with a better mindset? That’s what matters.

4. Ryze

One of my big personal initiatives in 2017 has been to build up my friendships. I want to resuscitate a few old fading friendships, work on turning a few acquaintances into stronger friendships, and maintaining and strengthening some of my key friendships. I’m just not very good at doing this, and I often let friendships and relationships fade simply because I’m not good at it. At all.

In terms of my mind, I don’t want to take relationships for granted at all. In terms of my behavior, I sometimes do.

My initial strategy was to try doing this by adding items to my to-do list. I came up with this way-too-complicated system where I made lists of my friends and tried to make sure I was keeping in touch with them regularly and managing it via to-dos, but the whole thing fell apart out of needless complexity.

Ryze is basically an app that does exactly what I was trying to kludge together on my own. Exactly.

It’s basically a contact management tool, except that it encourages you to contact people regularly. Each day, it’ll say “contact these people – you’re letting these relationships erode” and it will immediately provide you with some things you want to touch base with them on.

I started using it a few months ago and it’s been an absolute godsend. I feel like most of my interpersonal relationships are in better shape than ever before.

Honestly, you can do everything that Ryze does on your own with other tools and using Ryze made me realize that some elements of my home-brew system could have been far better, but the tool just works. It’s really effective at keeping relationships straight.

5. Lao Tzu on acceptance and approval

“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.” – Lao Tzu

Whenever I try to mold myself to others, they’re never happy with the changes. They always want more and more changes. They’re never satisfied.

Whenever I ignore them and simply try to mold myself to what I want, other people can choose to accept that or not. Most of the time, they do. If they storm off because I won’t change to suit them, that relationship wasn’t valuable, anyway.

This doesn’t mean I should ignore others. I value people’s input and thoughts and ideas. I love helping my friends.

I’ve just come to realize over time that the real standard that matters is inside of me, and I need to strive to meet that standard. Other standards don’t really matter (unless, of course, I’m being paid to match their standards).

Have high standards for yourself. Do your best to live up to them. When you do, people in your life will respect that, and if they don’t, how much do they really value you, anyway?

6. The Other Pair

The credits for this film are in Urdu, but the film is effectively silent except for the music. Words are not needed – the excellent actors evoke everything that’s necessary.

Just watch it. You’ll be glad you did.

7. Larry Smith on why you will fail to have a great career

From the description:

Throughout his three-decade career here at the University of Waterloo, Larry Smith has inspired legions of students to take up the mantle of economics with his passionate and homespun tales of economic wizardry. A renowned story-teller, teacher and youth leadership champion, Larry has also coached and mentored countless numbers of students on start-up business management and career development strategies.

His message is simple: people fail because they consistently choose the easier and more straightforward path that they’re not particularly excited about rather than the harder path that they’re excited about and passionate about. People that get into “good” career paths rarely make it to “great” because they’re not passionate about it, and the people who are merely “good” usually wind up getting grunt work dumped on them because they’re capable but not exceptional.

His argument is that you’re better off being exceptional in a lesser field than being capable in a higher-value field, and passion is the key difference between capable and exceptional. He presents it in a wonderful way, too.

8. Mark Twain on reading

“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” – Mark Twain

When I see this quote, I often mentally substitute the phrase “thoughtfully acquire knowledge” for the word “read.” In other words, “The man who thoughtlessly acquires shallow knowledge from just one source has no advantage over the man who doesn’t acquire information at all.”

Read things and listen to things and even watch things that make you think, but intentionally seek out quality sources. Then, if you find yourself slipping into truly believing some ideas, read a complete counterargument with an open mind.

I truly believe that every major problem facing the world today could be solved with an informed population that understood and respected different sides of the key issues. Instead, what happens when we don’t spend the time and effort to really inform ourselves is that we allow others to make up our minds for us. The people we allow to do that are the ones that use comforting language, maybe those who call us “real Americans” or those who simply label all other viewpoints as being “lies” without any real effort at counterargument.

Don’t give into that. If you truly think your beliefs are the right ones, challenge them. Don’t just make low-effort attempts at knocking down other viewpoints or knocking down people who present those other viewpoints.

9. David Gilmour – Wish You Were Here (unplugged)

This is the best song about lost friendship that I’ve ever heard, bar none. It captures the feeling of a lost friend, one whose absence that you grieve.

You may be able to tell from some of the other entries here that lost friends have been on my mind lately. There are people who were once such a core part of my life that somehow drifted away. I can’t recall ever really diverging from them in terms of who we were, but that familiar rhythm of seeing each other nearly every day just slowly fell away.

This song captures that feeling so perfectly.

10. Buddha on today

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” – Buddha

If you’re progressing toward a big long-term goal, today is the only day that matters. The actions you take today are the only ones you actually have control over. You can’t change the past – it’s already happened. You can’t control what you’ll do in the future, either. You can only control what you do right now.

So, right now, are you going to do something that helps your goal? Or are you going to do something that works against it? Are you going to go above and beyond today to make this happen? Or are you uncommitted, more interested in doing other things today?

One path leads straight to your goals. The other does not. It’s your choice, and today is what actually matters.

11. Pharrell Williams’ Happy (trombone loop), performed by Christopher Bill

A few days ago, I was trying to explain how recorded music was made by recording different bits and pieces at a time. Often, those different bits are looped to create a very standardized feel throughout the song and they can be mixed up, too.

I was stretching for a way to really show it to them. I attempted to do a simple version myself using a clapping rhythm and GarageBand software, but it wasn’t really clicking due to my lack of musical talent.

So I went searching, and I found this.

My children quite like the original song, Happy by Pharrell Williams. This is a talented trombone player who basically recreates the loops from the song on the fly using a computer. He plays pieces, then hits a button on his computer to add them to loops. He starts off with a bit of body percussion to get it started, then adds trombone pieces as he goes.

This is the video that made the idea click for them. It’s not about telling, it’s about showing the process at work, and this one does it with no explanation, just demonstration. The guy’s exceptionally talented and this not only shows off both his musical skills and engineering skills, but it also makes it clear how modern music is constructed. Everything beyond this is specialized tricks, really.

Our family has made some atrociously bad looping music since watching this. It’s awful, but the creation process has been fun.

12. Marcus Aurelius on pain

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” – Marcus Aurelius

If someone is causing you emotional pain – making you worry or making you angry or making you upset – you have the power to control that emotion. You have the power to decide whether to feel worry or anger or upset or sadness.

They may have questionable character for having done something to trigger those feelings within you, but you have the power to control those feelings. You get to decide whether that anger or worry or sadness or upset controls your life, or whether you control those emotions.

Do not let the actions of others steer you into sadness. Step back. Recognize that other people often take actions that are not in your best interest. They usually take actions that are in their own best interest alone and that can often leave you in a worse place. Accept it. Reform your opinion of their character, and move on from there to things that bring joy and contentment rather than sadness or anger.

Good luck.

The post Inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut, Sarah Rozik, Lao Tzu, and More appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Rental ordinance on horizon in Pocono Twp.

Pocono Township introduced its first draft of an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals, and it has certainly learned from others in this emerging movement.The township built in rules that cover areas other townships allowed to slip through the cracks, including accurate advertising of properties, and steep fines for violations of rental rules.The township cited complaints of excessive noise, parking problems, litter, security concerns, public safety and trespass among its [...]

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5 Habits of Bad Freelance Clients — And When to Drop Them

Feast or famine.

It’s the everlasting battle freelancers face. You’re either riding high and living the good life or struggling to find two pennies to rub together.

The famine cycle is justifiably terrifying. But the threat it poses shouldn’t influence how you run your business.

One of the most common mistakes freelancers make is holding on to bad clients. They do it for fear of losing vital income.

Dropping bad clients is a crucial part of growing a successful freelance business. Sure, your income might take a hit, but you’ll be a happier, more productive and more profitable freelancer for it.

I’m not saying you should drop every client who makes you mad. Constructive criticism is necessary for your growth, but sometimes there’s nothing constructive about a client. If any of the below seem too familiar, it’s time to remove the thorn in your side.

The Client is Just Plain Rude

Even good clients have bad days. They can say something they don’t mean, be rude on the phone or react emotionally to a business decision.

It happens to the best of us, and it’s not necessarily a bad client red flag.

If the client acts up once, chalk it up to them having a bad day. If, however, they’re consistently rude or a problem, then they’re a negative influence you need to remove.

I once worked with a client who loved to exercise his “I’m the boss” muscles. He’d belittle the writers in a group slack and insinuate that he could do it better if he only had the time.

Every time I saw a notification come through with his name on it, I’d put off dealing with it. Inevitably, when I did get to the projects, they were rushed and of low quality. When I decided to cut him loose, I realised I couldn’t use those articles in my portfolio because they were so bad.  

Your profitability is linked to your productivity and productivity to happiness. If the client always makes you feel bad, you’re going to work — and earn — less.

They Pay Late

“Let me chase our finance department,” is not an answer.

If a payment is late, the only acceptable answer is, “I’ll make sure you get it by [DATE]”.

That may seem harsh. But you don’t send invoices and contracts so the client can give vague answers. You do it because this is a professional agreement with hard deadlines for payment.

The client wouldn’t accept a wishy-washy response on your deliverable deadlines. You shouldn’t accept one for your compensation.

You’re not doing this out of the kindness of your heart. You’ve got bills to pay. You provide the work, the client pays you for it. If not, then you’re not a pro freelancer. You are, at best, a hobbyist.

Late payments, like a rude client, should be limited to one offs and accidents. If they’re the norm, you are not being valued. Take your business to someone who will value you.  

I very recently dropped a client who consistently paid over a month late. We had a three-month contract and I had to waste valuable hours chasing every single payment.

That was time I could’ve spent completing billable work.

At the end of the three-month contract I refused to extend, instead focusing on finding new clients. I not only negotiated a higher fee, but my profitability jumped because I was no longer wasting time chasing payments..

Not to menti I’m far happier as things are running as they should.

They’re Not the Most Profitable Use of Your Time

When I started freelancing, I wanted every hour to be as profitable as possible. To achieve this, I created a spreadsheet outlining which clients pay the most per word and per hour.

I created this document because, even though I price per project, I needed to know which clients were the most profitable.

For example, I had one client who paid $2,000 per project and another who paid $500. Straight away client A looks like the winner, right? Not so fast — the work took me two weeks to complete.

Client B took around one day. My per hour rate with the lower paying client was far higher. If I could secure more work from them, I’d end up earning more.

Your time as a freelancer is limited. If you want to grow your income, you’ve got to focus on earning more in less time.

You Hate the Work

In point one I highlighted the link between your happiness and productivity. Happiness is linked to both the client and the work you’re doing for them.

If you don’t enjoy the work you’re not going to do a great job. That’s going to negatively affect the quality of your portfolio and the number of referrals you get.

If you’re not excited about the work, turn it down or end the agreement. It seems counter productive, especially if you’re desperately fighting the famine cycle, but trust me. Taking on work you hate never works out.

They Engage in Scope Creep

You should always be using a contract.

A contract isn’t just there for when things go wrong — it prevents clients from taking advantage, unwittingly or purposefully.

A good freelance contract clearly outlines the project. It includes, in no uncertain terms, what is expected of both you and the client.

Why is that important? Because it negates the possibility of the dreaded scope creep.

Clients sometimes forget you’re not an employee and that you’re there to help with a specific project.

They slip, and say things like “It’s great, but if we could just add X it would be perfect” which is the start of a slippery slope. After adding X, they also need Y and Z. Before you know it, that small job balloons into something huge.

For the late payment client I mentioned earlier, I completed a full draft of a case study and submitted it. Then I heard nothing for four weeks.

When they finally got back in touch, they wanted some amendments — that was not a problem as we’d agreed on two revisions to any extent. But two revisions later I was asked to jump on a call with a consultant within the business to iron out the details, thento call the client featured in the case study.

These were all things I’d be happy to do when they’re outlined and agreed upon up front. But when the client adds them with no warning later, I’m starting to perform extra work with zero extra compensation.

Without a contract the client could argue it’s all part of the project. But with a contract outlining project details, you have some leverage. You can rightfully argue that it’s beyond the agreed scope of work and either charge more or refuse the extra work.

The clients you’ll work with are varied. You’ll have huge clients who are nightmares, small clients who are a dream, vice versa and everything in between.

What you have to do is ask yourself if the problem you’re facing really is a relationship-ending bombshell, a learning experience for you, or something that’s simply the result of a bad day for them.

Pete Boyle is a freelance copywriter who helps other freelancers break into the business and set up profitable freelance writing businesses. To sign up to his business building newsletter, get your hands on a free email course and freelance contract templates, head over to http://have-a-word.com.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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