.: Steve Gillman Profile and Articles
Display by: Popularity | Title
1). 10 More Tips For Selling Your Own HomeSelling your own home can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. Sometimes, though, in the right market, it makes sense to save thousands of dol
2). 39 Miles In The Smoky Mountains
The Smoky Mountains can be hard on the ankles, and it rains a lot. I learned this on the first day of my hike, both through experience and from the stories of the other hikers. This was good, though, because hiking this stretch of the Appalachian Trail would be a good test for my new lightweight backpacking gear.
I was hiking in light running shoes, with a frameless fourteen-ounce backpack.
3). 7 Habits Of Unsuccessful People
For maximum effectiveness in life, love or business, it helps to have the right habits. You knew that, of course, but don't forget that it also helps
4). A Backpacking List - Ten Things To Learn
Have you ever had a backpacking trip that was a disaster - even though you brought everything you needed? Maybe you had matches, but couldn't get that
5). A Bad Credit Rating Can Be A Good Thing
Can a bad credit rating save you from bigger problems? Hasn't it done just that for many young people? I'll explain how with a couple true stories.
Good Credit Rating Story
My friend started his adult years with good credit. Soon he was able to get credit cards at will, as well as finance cars, snowmobiles and more. He made the payments, and went deeper and deeper into debt while he was at it.
6). A Beach Vacation Unlike Any Other
I never cared for the idea of a beach vacation. Most people love the idea of relaxing in the sun and maybe swimming in the surf, but I am just more into exploring a wilderness or even a city. Sitting at the beach has always just sounded boring. Salinas, Ecuador changed my mind.
When my wife Ana and I were visiting her family in Ecuador, her father took us to the coast for a beach vacation.
7). A Bicycle Trip Down The River
My river-rafting adventure started on a bicycle. The small daypack I wore carried a hatchet, a saw, some scraps of rope, food, water, a garbage bag b
8). A Dirtbagging Trip
Dirtbagging is stripping camping or backpacking down to the essentials: fun and adventure. Just throw a few things in any old pack, and get o
9). A Five-Ounce Sleeping Bag
Okay, it wasn't quite a sleeping bag. However, it was only five ounces, and it kept me warm as the temperature dropped to the low forties on the bank of the Manistee River in Michigan. The secret was the fifteen minutes we spent gathering dead, dry bracken ferns to build a two-foot thick mattress. We set the tent on that. Then, with all my clothes on, I was fine.
10). A Lightweight Backpacking Adventure
I was in the Weminuche Wilderness Area when the snow came. It was my second day out of Silverton, where the locals told me it rains or snows every da
11). A Mental Wilderness Survival Kit
A survival kit should be carried by anyone who goes deep into the wilderness. What should be in it? Matches, a blade of some sort, and first aid supplies are among the usual recommendations. When you read the true stories of survival, though, you start to see that it is what's in a persons head that often determines if they survive or not. What, then, should be in this mental survival kit?
A Survival Kit In Your Mind
1.
12). A Money Saving Exercise
There is a simple money saving exercise that everyone should do at least once in their lives. It is ultimately one of the best ways to save money, because it is not about pinching pennies, but about discovering what you really want and getting it. It is so simple you may hesitate to try it. Just try it. Here it is:
List everything that you have spent money on, are currently spending money on, or might spend money on.
13). A Motivation Theory To Try Right Now
A good motivation theory has to recognize the fact that we each get motivated differently. In the practice of neuro-linguistic programming or "NLP" this is taken into account in many ways. One of the more useful NLP theories is the concept of "away-from" and "towards" personalities.
Of course, we each have both modes of operation as a part of the way we function, but often one is dominant in each of us.
14). A Photocopied Travel Letter To Home
As we drove from Traverse City, Michigan to Tucson, Arizona, I wrote a series of letters, and photocopied them to send to family and friends. This wa
15). A Success Recipe
Are you ready for a simple recipe for success? The ingredients include motivation, knowledge, advice from those who have succeeded, and imitation of successful thoughts and actions. These are the proportions:
One part knowledge.
One part self awareness.
A pinch of success advice.
Ten parts emulation of success.
Mix your knowledge and self awareness into your emulation of the thoughts and behaviors of the successful.
16). About The Author - What To Say
That little "about the author" or author's resource box at the bottom of your article, is the most important part. Write a great article, get lots of people to read it, and you still might get nothing out of it. Those readers have to come to your website for the article to be of value to you. That resource box is where the link to your site is, and also where the "sales pitch" is that gets the reader to click on it.
17). Add, Subtract, Change : A Problem Solving Technique
How do you like to solve your problems? Do you prefer to use the more creative problem solving techniques, or the systematic ones? You'll get the best of both with the add-subtract-change method.
Add, Subtract, Change
I am sitting here looking at my bicycle as I write this. To come up with new ideas in bicycle design, all we have to do is look at the elements that are there and ask three things.
18). Adventure Travel - Close And Cheap
Adventure travel is becoming more popular all the time. It can be very expensive, though, and even a bit too dangerous for some of us. It doesn't have to either, though. Here are a few ideas for small adventures you can afford. They are followed by a definition of adventure that will help you add your own to the list.
Try treasure hunting. Rent or buy a metal detector and spend a relaxing but interesting weekend finding coins, jewelry and who-knows-what in the sand at the beach.
19). Alternative Medicines - Why The Silence?
If there are alternative medicines and natural treatments that really work, why don't we hear more about them? I don't think there are many true conspiracies around, but this is one of those areas that makes me wonder. The movement between government posts and positions in the pharmaceutical corporations is well documented. This easy movement between the boardrooms and the FDA and other agencies certainly leaves room for abuse and "back door agreements.
20). Arguments Steal Mind Power
Have you ever noticed that arguments are rarely "won?" Even if you think you won an argument, what did you win? If there really is a loser, he at least learned something, right? What did you get? Ego satisfaction, debating practice, and diminished mind power.
Arguing Diminishes Mind Power?
There are times when things need to be debated, but most of the time, it really isn't productive.
21). Arrowheads and Rock Hunting In Arizona
We weren't planning to go rock and arrowhead hunting in Arizona. My wife and I just liked that hotspring in the desert. It was agood place to escape t
22). Article Submission - How Fast Are You?
Is it really important how fast you do the article submission process? It may not be if you are just going to submit an article or two and leave it at that. However, if you plan to use articles as a regular part of your marketing plan for your website, it becomes very important.
When I wrote an article to promote one of my web sites for the first time, it took me hours.
23). Ask "What If?" To Solve Problems
To creatively solve problems you need to get your mind looking in new directions. You can systematically do this by using a list of words, primarily
24). Backpacking Clothes - Make Your Own
Okay, do you really want to make all your own backpacking clothes? More power to you, and good luck. After the first hundred tedious hours of sewing I
25). Backpacking Food - What To Bring
Weight is always a concern with backpacking food you'll be carrying everything on your back. Some will tell you to find your weight savings in other areas, and argue for the necessity of healthy, meaning heavy, food. My experience, however, tells me that we can enjoy lighter loads and worry less about healthy food on short trips.
In the Sierra Nevada I ate more than 60 granola bars in five days with no ill effects.
26). Backpacking Food - What To Pack
Weight is always a concern with backpacking food you'll be carrying everything on your back. Some will tell you to find your weight savings in other a
27). Backpacking In The Sleeping Bear Dunes
I was backpacking in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. It was March, so when I made it through the woods and over the dunes, I'd have miles of beach to myself.
28). Bad Ways To Save Money
Finding new ways to save money on almost anything you buy is almost like getting a raise. Maybe it's even better. When you save twenty dollars on a coat you get to keep the whole twenty dollars. When you make twenty dollars more on your paycheck, you lose five dollars or more of it to taxes.
Finding ways to save money can go too far, though. In a recent newsletter on how to save money, one contributor suggested getting free flowers for weddings by picking up the leftover flowers at a cemetery.
29). Bargain Finder Secrets
Want to be a bargain finder? Want to be the one that always finds the deals and has money left over? Start by learning the secrets of opportunism.
Do you know that you can eat a wider variety of fruit than your neighbor, and spend only half as much to do so? How? By buying fruit in season, when it is at the lowest price. As a bonus, it is also of the highest quality at these times.
30). Be The One With Something Interesting To Say
How Do You Learn Something New? If you could learn fast and effectively, you might become the person with something interesting to
31). Before and After: It's Your Turn
You've seen them a hundred times: "Before" and "After" pictures. Are you ready to be the one in the photos? Don't wait until you lose more wei
32). Best Way To Clean Carpet?
What is the absolute best way to clean carpet? Carpet manufacturers are almost unanimous. The best way is to use hot-water extraction, also called ste
33). Better Brainpower Through Exercise
Can you boost brain power with exercise? Several relevant studies were reported on at the annual Meeting Of The Society Of Psychophysiological Researc
34). Beyond Keyword Demand
I get half of the world traffic for the term "dirtbagging," on one page of my backpacking site, but that only means ten visitors a month. Without dece
35). Bivy Sacks - Make Them For A Dollar
If you have ever looked at bivy sacks in catalogs or online, you know they can be claustrophobic and expensive. I can't help you much with the first, except to say that you'll get used to it. The expensive part, though, I have a solution for.
I didn't want to spend $200 for a nice bivy, so I bought an "emergency bivy" for $20. It was basically a large plastic bag.
36). Bivy Sacks - Making Them Yourself
If you have ever looked at bivy sacks in catalogs or online, you know they can be claustrophobic and expensive. I can't help you much with the first,
37). Boost Brain Power By Learning A Language
Hablas Espaņol? Do you speak any other languages? Maybe you've considered how good it would feel to be able to speak to people in
38). Brainstorming Techniques
Have you been in a "brainstorming" session where each person just defended their own ideas? Worse is when people don't suggest ideas at all, for fear they'll be attacked. That's no way to brainstorm. Brainstorming is using the power of many minds, and ideas should flow freely and trigger other ideas. How do you make that happen?
The Key To Good Brainstorming
You have to have a good leader to have good brainstorming.
39). Buried Treasure - Where To Look
An example of buried treasure? As a young man I buried 100 ounces of silver under my parents house. There was a crawl space that could be accessed from the basement. I pulled the plastic back that covered the dirt, and roughly five feet out from the west and south walls dug a hole. I put my plastic container with it's ten ten-ounce bars of silver into it, covered it up and left it there for years.
40). Busy Beavers Build Piles Of Sticks
Well, you're just a busy beaver, aren't you?" You've either heard or used this cliche, but what do you know about beavers? Let me tell you abo
41). Buy Or Rent?
Should you buy or rent? It depends on your circumstances, and the real estate market where you are going to live. Years ago, I sold a home for a young couple who owed almost as much as the sales price on their house. They needed to take money from savings to pay the closing costs and sales commission. You can bet that they wished they had rented for the couple years they lived there.
42). Buying And Selling Cars For Profit
Our neighbor Jose doesn't speak much English, which makes it tough to live here in northern Michigan. Despite that, he made a profit of over $30,000 last year selling cars out of his front yard. It's true that he's a mechanic, and that helps, but it isn't the key to his success.
The Key To Buying And Selling Cars
To make money selling cars you have to know the value of cars.
43). Buying Real Estate That's Not For Sale
Buying real estate can start with a look in the newspaper, a visit to a broker, or a search online. These are all good ways to find your next investment property. You're looking at the same properties as every other investor, of course, so it's not always easy to beat the competition to a great buy.
A better way to find good real estate investments is to look for properties that aren't yet for sale, and make an offer.
44). Buying Real Estate When It's Not For Sale
Buying real estate can start with a look in the newspaper, a visit to a broker, or a search online. These are all good ways to find your next investm
45). Buying Rental Property - Avoid Seller's Tricks
Be careful when buying rental property. We stayed at a motel for a week one winter. The bill showed twice what it should have, but since I already paid the correct amount in cash, I thought nothing of it. When we noticed that the lobby and swimming pool were unheated, we thought it was frugality. Only a year later, when I read a news story about a new owner struggling to make the motel work, did I realize what was going on.
46). Camping In Montana With Aliens
Ten minutes out of town, we found the dirt road that goes up to Storm Lake. We had been there before, shortly after moving to Anaconda, Montana. The r
47). Camping With Coyotes
Van camping became one of our favorite activities when my wife Ana and I bought our conversion van. We had no tent to set up, and no problem with rain or wind. We could explore all day without worries, then find any beautiful spot to park for the night. Our bed was ready in the back.
It is sometime surprising what you find when you explore without any itinerary.
48). Can An Atheist Believe In God?
What makes an atheist? Is he or she one who says "God absolutely does not exist"? Certainly most atheists I know wouldn't say that. Unfortunately, like most religious people, most dictionaries misrepresent atheism, with definitions like "Denial of the existence of God."
What Atheists Believe
1. Evidence and experience are the proper basis for any beliefs.
49). Can You Buy Happiness?
Can money buy happiness? It's easy to say no, and probably correct, but that's just a way to stop thinking about the tougher issues. What is y
50). Can You Increase Your Brain Power?
What Do You Think? Can you solve problems easily? Can you learn new things efficiently? Can you increase your brain powe