“Yes, of course. I want to have a smart blog.”
…or maybe…
“I do have a smart blog.”

Really?

Well, I won’t tell you today how to do that. I don’t have a smart blog yet (maybe it is a little smart, but still not enough for me). But all the time, I’m getting better. At blogging, at investing, at kung-fu, at being productive and at many, many others.

I won’t tell you today how to have a smart blog, but Merlin Mann of 43Folders will do. Today he had a great keynote presentation at IZEA Fest 2008. What does he advise?

Find your obsession.
Every day, explain it to one person you respect.
Edit everything, skip shortcuts and try not to be a dick.
Get better.

Watch the below video with presentation. It is really amazing. I have watched it already twice and it was probably not the last time.
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As a blogger I see that it is very important to organize my blogging ideas in a proper way. What does proper mean to me?

• I don’t lose any idea.
• All ideas are easily accessible.
• I can easily add, extend, edit or remove anything concerning my ideas.
• Gathered ideas should help in writing a post.

Sometimes bloggers stuck for ideas what to write about. Another time, they get strong impulse and tons of ideas appear instantly. It is important to capture them all. Therefore, I like to be able to capture ideas in almost every possible situation (as it is always possible to get a new, great idea just from nowhere). But don’t worry if you would find yourself in situation unable to capture your idea. In case of really good idea, you will remember it or it will come to your head once again in near future.

If this is an idea for a new post and I’m on-line, I add it on my list of posts ideas on my Netvibes page. When I’m away from computer, I can put it temporary in my cell phone or write it down on a piece of paper. Later I always move everything to my on-line list of post ideas. I want to have them all in one place and read them often.

Why? This way I keep in mind all my current ideas for incoming posts. Having that in head it helps me to catch many interesting information I can encounter while reading newspaper, talking with friends, surfing internet, reading my RSS or even watching TV. I’m just more sensitive for useful pieces of information that can enrich my further posts.

That usually brings more ideas for other posts and another bunch of more specific ideas concerning posts I want to write.

For ideas I want to cover within a single post I also use a list, which is separate for that one post or, instead of list, I create a document in Google Docs. I put there things that I want to include in my post, arguments, conclusions, etc. I also add there links to other sources that touch topic of that certain post and can be inspiring.

When my notes and ideas concerning one single post cover the topic in the way that satisfies me, it is time to prepare a short draft. Now, it is a very easy task. Introduction, correct order of main ideas, arguments and points, finally come conclusion and ending. I don’t know how about you, but it works, at least for me.

To summarize and make it simple:

• I always capture my ideas (on-line, cell phone, paper).
• I keep all my general ideas for posts on one on-line list (Netvibes).
• I put all more specific ideas I want to cover within a single post into separate list or document representing that post. (Netvibes, Google Docs).
• Based on gathered ideas, now it is easy to prepare a draft and then write a post.

I must admin that gathering ideas is very enjoyable activity. As a bonus, it is always easier to write a post, when the first step is already done. Having everything prepared, now I can simply sit down and write.

What works for you? How do you organize your ideas?

At the beginning of September I decided to run a 30-days trial and track my expenses. Currently, after nine days, I pretty enjoy this new habit. I see some benefits and I know I’m learning something new about money. It also looks that simple table in spreadsheet works well enough for me.

To encourage you to start tracking your expenses I prepared a list of five more reasons why you should, at least try this great habit:

Identify money suckers

Very quickly you will see where your money goes. You can tag all your expenses with categories like house, food, car etc. It is also useful to determine for each position you write down, whether you spend your money on something that was necessary or not. After some period of time you can prepare an overview which will help to identify your worst money suckers. Knowing your enemy is the first step toward victory.

Fix the problem early

Tracking your expenses gives you enough data to predict incoming problems. Look for different patterns and trends in your expenses. For example, if you see that you spend more and more on food, it is better to react on it early and handle this problem looking for some frugal food habits, before it takes more of your money. Maybe you will notice that you spend a lot of money on weekends or in other situations. Without tracking expenses you may not find this out early enough.

Experience new feelings and emotions

If you write down your expenses, especially those, when you stupidly spent your money, you can expect new feelings and emotions. Not so pleasurable, that is for sure. It is definitely not nice to see and write it down, how your money goes away. Don’t let them leave you so easily. Find there a source motivation to avoid unnecessary spendings.

Better budget

Tracking your expenses will help you better control and manage your money. Therefore it is easier to plan your budget. You know exactly where and when you have to spend money and how much, you are more aware of your less expected expenditures and you can predict them better.

Save more money

Last but not least, tracking your expenses motivates you to save more money. It is very likely you will start looking for frugal habits and hacks to save some pennies. It may also push you to learn more about your finances. That is great.

Not enough to convince you to start tracking your expenses?

Trailing stop loss is a type of stop loss order which you set near the market price. When the price is moving away from your stop loss, you move it proportionately following the price.

You can use this technique both for buying and selling stocks.

When you have already bought stocks and you want to use trailing stop loss for further sell, you start with setting a stop loss a little below nearest support. Then you wait. Let’s assume stocks are going up. Then you should constantly raise the level of your stop loss, moving it behind the stocks price. Of course it is best to set it near new supports. This way your risk is on limited level, while you don’t limit gains.

You can apply analogous strategy, when you want to use trailing stop loss to buy. You follow falling stock price with your limit order (you buy automatically, when price raise across your limit). When the price will change direction to upward and cross your order level, it will trigger buy. Therefore it is good to place this order slightly above the nearest resistance. Breaking this resistance can be a good signal for further gains. However, I don’t recommend this method for opening positions especially if you are beginning investor. It is very difficult to catch falling knives.

The advantage of trailing stop loss is pretty obvious. You reduce risk by protecting your capital, while there are open possibilities for theoretically unlimited gains.

The disadvantage of this method is difficulty to use it on volatile stocks. Dynamic price movement can accidentally trigger your stop loss order, which was set too close.

Now I advise you to open some stock charts and start following price movements with trial stop loss orders. Do this on different stocks. See how it could work; look for traps, like setting it too close or using it on volatile stocks. With a little time you will get a lot of sense how to use trailing stop losses in the way that your capital would be safe and there would be good chances that you gain.