Credit card companies take more from your wallet with the changes in their minimum payment policies.  We have all seen the low interest rate sales tactics used by credit card companies to get your business from another credit card company; however, most do not read the fine print in those offers.

Many Americans today are finding it more and more difficult to maintain a balance in their own personal budget.  Every week food prices rise, utilities increase rates, fees are added to pay a bill online and now the credit card companies have decided to take their share too.  This baby boomer is guessing these credit card companies do not have the same budget constraints that normal people are having today.  That can be the only explanation for taking this enormous swipe at consumers who are already in a weakened state.

Read more here:  Credit Card Companies Begin To Raid Your Wallet Too!

Dear reader this is just the beginning and there seems to be no end.  Do the credit card companies have a right to do this?  We cannot say… but did you read the fine print on your credit card application?  Didn’t think so.

Maybe now is the time to begin… the change from credit to debit card… getting back to basics and the things that really matter to us in life versus the things we think we MUST have NOW.  This could probably be one of the hardest changes you make in your everyday life.

The change in credit policy of the major credit card companies will probably do some good in the end by making people mad enough to cut that card up and end the life on credit that we have all been living.  You know how easy it was just to plunk down that credit card and think you would pay it off next month.

Think about it… can you change?  Maybe the change that is coming could be the change in your pocket.  A world without worry of being on the verge of financial collapse is not a bad thing.

Think about it and let us know what you think…

Technorati Tags: baby boomer, budget, credit, creditcard, food prices, wallet

WAIT! I’m not here to evangelise Twitter or to pick news items out of it merely because it seems to be a slow news day. There’s enough of that out there already. The merits of Twitter still need to be demonstrated to me. To me, it seems like the digital equivalent of entering a sports arena full of people all shouting random things at the top of their voice in the hope that someone is listening. This goes against the very basics of marketing - segment then target.

What I’d like to share with you is an experience I had last week that made me think there may be something more in this after all.

Last week it came to my attention that St Vincent de Paul held an annual fundraiser to give CEOs an experience of what it’s like to live on the street. A quick web search revealed that the annual CEO Sleep out was happening that night.

Later, in the lift, I joked with our CEO that he should attend. He said nothing but instead just gave me ‘that look’. You know, the one that says, ‘Stop talking. Now.’

An hour later he was back at my desk with a challenge. If I can raise at least $300 in sponsorship, he would attend. Within minutes, his profile was registered and an email went out to staff, friends and family asking for donations to put a CEO on the street for the night. I copied this email to my blog and used that as a gateway page. I created a tiny url to my blog and announced my evil plan to the twittersphere.

My profile has over 1,500 followers, so it made sense to twitter from that account rather than his. Using one of the fundamentals of offline networking, I asked for the referral and asked followers to spread the word with a retweet. Within minutes I was getting replies passing on the requirement to donate and make a CEO sleep rough.

In the next hour, I saw the fundraising total move past my $300 baseline target, and it didn’t stop there. The total continued to grow, $400 … $500, and I started to wonder how far we could push this.

I kept the updates flowing as the totals climbed and climbed. Before I knew it we were looking like we could be on track for $1,000. By the end of the afternoon we had raised $1,250 for charity from nowhere. It seems this Twitter thing could have legs after all.

Lessons learned

So what lessons can we take away from this experience? Lessons that we may be able to apply to using Twitter for business?

• First and foremost, understand that my tweets were not about selling anything or self-promotion. Instead, we used our twitter networks to spread the word about a greater good or worthy cause. To put it another way, get to know your network and deliver value to them. Send them links to news articles that you find which you think will be genuinely valuable to them. By default we raised our profile, but that was really a secondary outcome.

• Count downs. Twitter seems to be great for counting down to events or deadlines. “Only $125 to go before we break the $1k mark!” or “2 days left to register for the Business Solutions showcase.”

• Hash tags and keywords. Advanced users don’t really follow other users, they follow trends by using keyword digest tools or hash tags. Tweets relating to this event used the hashtag #CEOsleepout. In this way we knew that people who followed us from this activity were likely to be Sydney-based and networked at CEO level.

• Ask for a retweet. The benefits are obvious.

• It’s not about you. Nobody likes a show off, so start getting to know people and discover what you can do for them. Karma will pay you back, I promise.

• Use opposing concepts. A little trick I learned for writing an attention grabbing headline is to use two seemingly contradictory concepts in the same sentence. In this case, the CEO and the concept of sleeping rough were at odds with each other and invited people to click through to find out more.

• Use a landing page. There’s only so much you can do in 140 characters, so explain what you mean in more detail before you invite people to take action.

• Surprisingly, this didn’t take all afternoon. I still met my deadlines and had a full, productive afternoon. I simply took time out for a few tweets here and there.

Originally posted at http://anthillonline.com/how-i-used-twitter-to-put-a-ceo-on-the-street/

Tonight CEO’s and business leaders will sleep rough in order to raise money for charity. Every year St Vincent de Paul invites CEO’s to experience the hardship that is endured daily by Australia’s homeless for just one night. At the eleventh hour, I have registered our support!

Kareem, our CEO has pledged to take part on the proviso that at least $300 is raised for the cause. I have started the ball rolling by donating $30 to his fund. If you wish to support St Vinney’s and help counter the problem of homelessness or simply to see Kareem Tawansi sleep rough for your own personal enjoyment, please donate by following this link:

https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/donate/donate2/ceoId/4404

Please also feel free to forward this email in order that we can raise as much as we can.

p.s. Its tax time and deductions are available for donations above $2