Thanks to JohnChow.com I will be attending the Affiliate Summit Convention in New York City on August 9, 2009 to August 11, 2009. 

To my pleasant surprise I won a Gold Pass to the conference thanks to a contest that John Chow had on his Blog.

Affiliate Summit is the largest affiliate convention in the U.S.  It was founded in 2003 to provide educational sessions and provide a productive networking environment for affiliate marketers.  Affiliate Marketing is something I also do with some moderate successes but many failures.

John Chow is a famous blogger in the blogging world who earns $40,000 per month from his Blog, which is phenomenal.  John blogs about how to make money online and he was one of the first guys to really turn Blogging into a very profitable business.  I have learned techniques from reading his blog and free e-book which has allowed me to make additional income online.

Last July 13, John had a contest to win one of ten Gold Passes, worth $399 each, to give away to 10 lucky readers of his Blog.  Winners would also be able to join John Chow and Market Leverage (an affiliate marketing company) for free pizza.  I jumped at the opportunity.

To enter, all I had to do was to explain in the post comments why I should be awarded a Gold Pass. Too bad John didn’t throw in an airplane ticket and pay for hotel accommodations.  After all, he’s pulling $40,000 per month, not to mention his other very lucrative Internet businesses.   Hey but who’s complaining!

Below is my the comment I left on John’s Blog post as to why I should win.

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One thing I’ve learned over the years is that it never hurts to ask.  I’ve had job offers in the past and have always gone back and ask for more money and vacation time.  I’ve always gotten something by asking; either more money or vacation time or both.  

Years ago after being offered a job, I told the recruiter to go back and ask for more money and an extra week vacation.  He laughed at me and told me most likely the company wouldn’t offer any more money or the additional vacation.  I told me to ask because it wouldn’t hurt anything.  The worst thing that can happen is that they say no.  He did and they gave more money and the extra week vacation to my recruiter’s surprise.

When I was a single young man on the prowl, I would get very upset at myself for not asking a woman for her phone number.  I would meet an attractive woman, think about asking for the phone number, but then decide not to because I didn’t think she would give it me for whatever reason.  The problem is I would always then wonder if I should have asked.  I then realized I would rather ask and be shot down than not ask at all which would cause me to wonder what would have happened.  I soon learned that it’s best to try and fail, than not try at all.  Taking this new approach proved my gut feel was right most of the time where I wouldn’t get the phone number, but every once in awhile I’d get a surprise where I would get the phone number. 

The reason why I thought of writing this post is because my home modem has been acting funny lately and causing a lot of noise on my phone line.  I called AT&T to get some help.  The representative told me it’s either my modem or the DSL filter on the phone lines.  I told him I swapped the modem filter with a filter that wasn’t being used and the line was still noisy.  He recommended changing the modem; however, I’d have to purchase one for $40.  I told him I’ve been a customer for a long time and I would like a free modem.  He stated he couldn’t give me a free modem.  I then asked to speak to his supervisor.  He then stated I’d have to speak to Customer Relations.   I said Ok!

He transferred me to the Customer Relations representative and I explained the problem.  She immediately said, “Mr. Birmingham, we’ll overnight a new modem to you at no cost!”  It was that simple.  It just never hurts to ask.

According to a recent study conducted in Australia, taller men make more money than shorter men.  The study suggests that people perceive taller men to be more intelligent and powerful.

The study found that men who are 6 foot tall had annual incomes almost $1,000 more than men 2 inches shorter.

According to Arianne Cohen, author of the book “The Tall Book”, tall people make about $789 more per inch per year.  There is nothing differentiating these people except their height.  

So if you are tall you are in luck, if you are short, sorry!

Source: The Economic Times

Recently I was watching a “Who Done it” on NBC’s Dateline.  The show was about 2 hikers who befriended a stranger.  After a night of socializing with the stranger, for no reason the stranger tried to kill the hikers.  Fortunately, the hikers managed to escape but with very serious life threatening injuries. The injured men ended up spending a few days in the hospital after surgery and both had bullets permanently left in their bodies.

Here’s the kicker, both hikers had no medical insurance and as a result were now liable for tens of thousands of dollars.  One hiker owed almost $80,000 in medical bills.  I thought that was so unfair.  These gentlemen were almost killed and as a result now had medical bills that may bankrupt them.  

The shooter if he had lived (he died after a police pursuit where his car crashed and he died of his injuries), wouldn’t have to pay anything and would have been provided free shelter, food, medical care, and clothing (although in prison).  The 2 hikers now were stuck with huge medical bills and also I’m certain will require medical care for their injuries for the rest of their lives.

This is another example of how screwed up our healthcare system is.  If you get injured as a result of a crime or even an accident through no fault of your own, you will be liable for the medical bills, especially if the other party that caused the injury have no insurance or money to pay you.

There are a few things in my life that I hate paying for.  The top 5 items are as follows:

1 – Ringtones

I have never purchased a ringtone and I never will.  I think it’s the biggest waste of money.  I have to pay to hear my phone ring?  Yeah right – it will never happen.  I’ll just use the ringtones the phone comes with for free.

2 – Text Messaging

I have never purchased text messaging and I never will.  I think it’s a waste of money because I have so many other tools to communicate with.  Why add another expense?  I have a home phone, a work phone, a cell phone, internet access, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and a fax machine.  My wife and I pay $60 per month for both cell phones so why add an extra expense to it?  I know of couples paying $100 each for their cell phones and I think paying $2,400 per for year for cell phone service is outrageous.  I can live with $720 for the year but not one penny more!  

3 – Parking

I hate paying for parking.  Whenever I go to an area where I have to pay for parking I’ll first try to find free parking on the street.  About 8 times out of 10 I do find free or cheaper parking.  Most of the time if people would take a few minutes to drive around and are willing to walk a little they’ll find free or less expensive parking, but most people will pull up to the paid parking area and quickly fork over $10 to $20 when they could have easily kept that money in their pocket.

4 – Rent

Since graduating college about 18 years ago I’ve only rented for a total of about 2 years.  I’ve always felt renting was a waste of money because it’s money I’ll never see again.  I’d rather pay mortgage where some of the money I’ll get back (hopefully) when I sell the home.  Not to mention the tax write-off I’ll miss while renting and the potential appreciation of the home. 

5 – Hair cuts

In the past, I’d go the barber and become frustrated because they never cut my hair the way I wanted it.  I also thought it was a waste of my time to travel to the barber shop and wait for them to cut my hair.  About 20 years ago I was sitting in a barber shop and became so frustrated because the barbers were in no rush to serve their customers.   I walked out and swore I’d never go to another barber shop. I went directly to the store to purchase a set of clippers and have been cutting my own hair ever since.  Over the years I’d also cut other people hair, especially in college.  This wasn’t a money issue, but rather a time and convenience issue.  However, over the years I’ve saved some decent money cutting my hair.  Not to mention the convenience and the reduced frustration.

My wife and I just had a beautiful baby boy!  We recently had him vaccinated which we thought was covered by our insurance company, United Health Care (UHC).  To our surprise the claim was denied because UHC doesn’t cover immunization.  For 6 shots the doctor’s office billed us $565, which averages $94.17 per shot.  There is no way I was paying $565 for 6 common immunization shots.

After doing some research I found out that the state of Georgia offers the shots for free if you can prove your insurance company doesn’t cover immunization or you don’t have insurance.  This is why I think UHC doesn’t cover immunization; they know the state will.  However, they should do a better job of notifying their customers of this.

I then called the doctor’s office to complain about the bill and I was told if I had notified them that my insurance company didn’t cover immunization, the shots would have been pulled from the Medicaid stock which would have only cost $10 per shot.  (What the bleep!)  The clerk stated it was too late to reverse the charges and use the Medicaid charges.  She however discounted the bill by $130 which wasn’t enough.  

I told the clerk that was unreasonable and that I’d write a letter to the doctor (see letter below).  Well the letter worked.  I received a call from the doctor’s office yesterday saying the bill would be adjusted to costing only $10 per shot.  

One thing I’ve learned is to never let people take advantage of you.  This is also why we need Healthcare Reform in this country!  

See letter below of letter to the doctor’s office:

P. Birmingham
XXXX XXXXX XXX
XXXXXXXX, XX XXXX
XXX-XXX-XXX
XXX-XXX-XXX
June 22, 2009

Dr. XXXXX  XXXXXX
XXX
XXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXX
XXXXXXX, XX XXXXXX

Dear Dr. XXXXX  XXXXXX:

I am writing in regards to the bill (Statement #9149) received from your company for immunization shots given to our son (XXXXXX Birmingham) born on XXXXX XX, 2009.

To our surprise the immunization shots aren’t covered by our insurance company; United Health Care (UHC).  However, charging us $565 for 6 immunizations is outrageous!  If we had known UHC wouldn’t cover the shots, we could have gotten the shots for free from the state.  I realize as a courtesy most medical offices check with a patient’s insurance company first for coverage before giving medical services and I wished your medical office would have done this for us.

I spoke to Vicky in billing about this issue and she stated had we notified her that our insurance company didn’t cover the immunization shots; the shots could have been pulled from the Medicaid stock which would have only cost $10 per shot costing $60 instead of $565.   She stated it was too late to reverse the charges and use the Medicaid charges which I find unreasonable.  She however discounted the bill by $130 which isn’t enough.  

I am requesting that our account be adjusted with the $10 per shot.  If you have any questions please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Sincerely,

P. Birmingham

The interesting thing about life is that we don’t know what’s around the corner.  The recent death of Michael Jackson is a good example. Many people live as if tomorrow is guaranteed; as if their job, health, possessions, friends, family, etc., will be around tomorrow.  

When I was 16 years old I got hit by a car while crossing the road.  I recall one second being healthy and living and within less than a couple of seconds I was laying on the hot road in shock, feeling the bones in my left leg rub against each other, not being able to move because my collar bone was broken and with blood everywhere.  I thought I was dead, dying or would be crippled for the rest of my life.  That experience thought me that at the drop of a time things can quickly turn for the worst.

I’ve also learned that the word “permanent” doesn’t really exist for humans.  Nothing is permanent.  How can anything be permanent for a human, when his/her life is temporary?  In the past, whenever I got a job offer letter stating it was a “permanent” job I’d chuckle to myself.  How can they offer me a permanent job when no one knows what the future will hold?  Sure enough with today’s economy many people are experiencing this reality.

Because of this I’ve learned to plan for the rainy days which include having more than one source of income, saving money when you have it, and ensuring you have good insurance (health, auto, life, home, etc).   When things are going well, plan for when things will not go well, because they will one day!

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