Santa Blog delivers, finally

By Brian Ochsner baochsner@aol.com Christmas 2005 was a very good one. Santa Claus made an appearance at my parents’ house, and treated me pretty well. The best gifts of all were spending time with family and friends, and eating plenty of home-c0oked food that I’ll have to work off in the New Year. Learned a lot of neat things from other family members that I’ll report in my next post. And now, here are a few belated gifts I wanted to give Backbone readers:

1) The gift of finding your life’s calling. Dan Miller has authored a book, and has other materials that will help you find this at www.48days.com. Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial counselor with a nationally syndicated radio show, recommends him. Check out his info at www.DaveRamsey.com. He has excellent advice on financial management that will help you find financial peace.

2) The gift of being financially and economically literate. Robert Kiyosaki’s www.RichDad.com is a great place to start. Any of the “Rich Dad” series of books are excellent reads. To learn about Austrian economics and an alternative view of what’s happening in the American economy, Kurt Richebacher is an excellent economist to listen to. The Daily Reckoning is one of the best websites around for daily economic and financial news that’s much different than you’ll hear on Bloomberg or CNBC. Congressman Ron Paul – called “Dr. No” by fellow House members – is a libertarian Republican from Texas who is spot on in his analysis of our country’s economic/financial situation.

3) The gift of knowing how to sell and market products, services, and yourself. Dan Kennedy is one of (if not the) best people to learn sales and marketing from. It’s real world, meat-and-potatoes, no BS advice. Internet Marketing Center is another excellent resource to learn online marketing from. The word ‘sales’ may conjure up images of pushy car salesmen in lime green leisure suits. These are skills that every person needs in life – whether you’re an accountant or a zebra trainer.

4) The gift of good health. Drs. Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman have an excellent book, the 2nd edition of The New Anti-Aging Revolution . Goldman and Klatz were pioneers of the anti-aging industry in the early 90s. This book has over 500 pages of scientifically proven advice on what to eat and supplement your diet with to achieve peak health. 30 pages of footnotes show where this research comes from. Body For Life by Bill Phillips is another excellent resource on health and nutrition.

5) The gift of using your talents – and getting paid for it. American Writers and Artists Institute is a great resource. You can learn how to get paid from taking pictures, writing sales letters… even writing romance novels. They’re a solid resource, and associated with Agora Publishing – one of the best information publishing companies in the country – and publishers of the Daily Reckoning.

That’s all for now. I’ll have another post reviewing 2005, reporting on my Christmas holiday in Kansas, and what I see in my crystal ball for 2006. Until next time…