brass Blog

In addition to my work at brass, I run a wedding, portrait and event photography business. I absolutely love it, and I love making people happy. I’ve made good friends and colleagues in the industry–some are new upstarts like me, others have been around for years. But one conclusion we can all agree on is the danger and fear of getting hit by a lawsuit.

Here’s some advice for all you young entrepreneurs out there from another young business owner — hope for the best, but plan for the worst. What’s the worst that can happen, you might ask? How about getting sued by an angry client?

What can young professionals do should the unthinkable happen? The answer is having professional liability insurance. This kind of insurance coverage protects you against loss from someone claiming you acted negligently, made a mistake, screwed up, or somehow didn’t perform your professional obligations.

Think of it as an airbag for your business — you hope it will never be used, but it’s in place to save you should you need it.

Let’s say I shoot a destination wedding in Costa Rica, and everything is perfect until my camera and all of my equipment is stolen at the airport. My equipment is insured, but the couple is devastated by the loss of the pictures I was hired to capture. They get angry and decide not only do they want their money back, but they want additional money for damages. What a nightmare! It makes my skin crawl just imagining it. I was a starving college student just two years ago. I don’t have that kind of money right now–I have money for the good things in life… like food and heat.

It’s in a worst-case scenario like this where professional liability insurance can save your bacon. Visit nolo.com or investopedia.com to find out more about this and other insurance you might consider getting as a small business owner.

- Peter

I recently came across a quote about billionaire Warren Buffett–one of the world’s richest individuals.

“Buffett’s still living in the same house he bought when he was 28 for $31,000.”

In today’s day and age, with all of the attention-getting extravagance of CEOs, celebrities, and politicians, a detail like that makes you stop and think. Then again, Buffett isn’t your average rich guy. As this article sums up, despite his large charitable donations (and when I say large, I mean giant), his fortune continues to grow. He advocates for higher taxes for the wealthiest of the wealthy. And he hangs out with fellow billionaire do-gooder Bill Gates, not only sharing the top-most places with him over the years on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people or donating an immense chunk of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but playing online bridge together under the usernames “T-bone” and “Commander.” Here are a few more things you might not know about Mr. Buffett.

• Two years ago when he was 75, he promised to donate 85% of his fortune to five foundations.
• He is known as “The Oracle of Omaha,” likely because of his success as an investor. The nickname may also reflect his ability to set and reach goals like he reminisced about in this Fortune magazine interview: “Well, when we got married in 1952, I told Susie I was going to be rich. That wasn’t going to be because of any special virtues of mine or even because of hard work, but simply because I was born with the right skills in the right place at the right time.”
• According to Forbes.com, he issued a challenge to members of The Forbes 400 in October: he would donate $1 million to charity if the collective group of richest Americans would admit they pay less taxes, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries.
• He is reported to love Cherry Coke.
• He knows he’s not perfect and says so (from that same Fortune interview above): “In philanthropy also, you have to make some big mistakes. I know that. But it would bother me more to make the mistakes myself, rather than having someone else make them whom I trust overall to do a good job. In general, Bill and Melinda will have a better batting average than I would.”

Consider this a good reminder that being rich isn’t about clothes or cars or bling, but as our CEO once said, it’s a way of life–one that embodies fulfillment, balance, and compassion for others. Words of wisdom for your weekend…make it a good one!

-Sarah

If you’ve kept up with the news at all, you know that basically anyone who files a 2007 tax return on time should be getting a check from the U.S. government come May. It’s all part of the $150 billion economic stimulus plan meant to kick our economy back into rhythm like a jolt from the biggest pacemaker in the universe.

So you know the gist of the stimulus package, but you still have questions about getting your check. Well, don’t stress. Turns out the IRS (in association with the American Payroll Association) posted a series of short informational videos on YouTube to help out.

In my mind, the IRS using YouTube as a vehicle for public service announcements proves how much streaming online video has made an impact on society. The web is the new “it” medium to distribute video content easily and quickly. The IRS gets it — and that’s pretty cool.

Each 30 second clip lays out basics like how to qualify for a stimulus check, what form you need to file and how to avoid the scam artists who’ve come out of the woodwork to try and sucker you out of your stimulus money.

Tons of folks will be clamoring for your stimulus money — retailers, businesses and crooks alike. But just remember, in the end it’s YOUR money and you spend it however you’d like. The IRS is trying to help by keeping you informed — check out what they have to say.

Stay classy.

– Peter

Hey everybody. It’s time for another edition of our Financial Lexicon, the post where you find out about important-sounding money terms and what they mean. Today’s term is diversification.

Ever heard someone say “don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” Diversification is a term that means pretty much the same thing when used in correlation with your investment portfolio – it’s a strategy used to help lower your investment risk.

If you diversify, you won’t have all your investments in one place and your portfolio will be more likely to survive an economic slowdown or even the failure of an investment, such as a major company. This is important when you’re planning for your financial future.

One easy way to diversify is to buy into mutual funds, which are by their nature already diversified. You can also diversify by managing your own portfolio with a hand-picked selection of stocks and other investments. You can also diversify by investing money not only in the stock market, but in real estate or even your own company.

- Jens

As you may already know, students who have to borrow more than the maximum amount for the federally subsidized loans, turn to private loans to pay for school. These almost always have higher interest rates. As a student I had to do this just a few years ago when I paid a heftier price to attend an out-of-state school. While I don’t regret attending my alma mater, I do wish I had tried harder to establish residency in the state of my chosen school. That’s because my private loan rates now make me cringe each month. With our country in what is currently called a “credit crunch” by the media, private education loans are becoming more costly and difficult to access, according to this report on NPR. It’s getting harder for companies and nonprofit organizations to find investors who are willing to “buy debt” which in turn means these institutions have less money to lend.

This translates to more stringent restrictions on credit scores for interested borrowers and in some cases, less available private loan options altogether. As the NPR story points out, this has been affecting private schools that provide specific professional training like culinary or technical schools first.

So what does this mean? No college (or no more college) for you? Not necessarily. It will definitely force you to more closely examine which colleges or universities you can afford to attend as well as which might get you off on the best foot (read: finding options that won’t leave you with loans that have outrageous interest rates). For example, you might not discard community colleges so quickly knowing they have the potential to save you big bucks down the road. The situation could encourage you to ask yourself if you really looked at all the programs offered by public universities in your state? Coming from someone who wishes she had thought a little bit more about this herself, I think having to reexamine your options when it comes to college could be a significant bright side to an otherwise discouraging piece of news.

- Sarah

Here’s a stat that just might get you thinking about taking a few of those ideas you’ve got and turning them into a business.

There are more than 10.5 million self-employed Americans. That’s a lot of people making it on their own.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration

Hello all, Peter here. I’ve been tracking a pretty interesting story lately. With so many people using social networks now for everything from sharing pictures to selling books, this is one story you’ll want to know about.

A first-year engineering student in Toronto, Canada joined a study group on Facebook for help with chemistry homework, a move which ultimately resulted in him being charged with 146 counts of academic misconduct and facing possible expulsion from his university for cheating.

Chris Avenir, 18, is the Ryerson University student at the center of a maelstrom. His story has sparked fierce debate on the use of Facebook as either a means for constructive learning or a proverbial rat’s nest of academic dishonesty. Here’s a quick rundown on the story so far:

According to multiple media reports, Avenir joined in the Fall and became an administrator of the Facebook group “Dungeons/Mastering Chemistry Solutions” (Dungeons refers to the nickname of a popular study hall on Ryerson campus). Over time, 146 students joined the group, looking for help with chemistry concepts and homework, which counted for 10 percent of their final grade.

The problem is the chemistry professor had stipulated that homework be worked on individually; when he discovered the Facebook group over winter break and saw Avenir listed as its administrator, he took swift punitive action. The professor changed Avenir’s grade from a “B” to an “F” and reported him to school administrators, accusing him of cheating. The administration in turn hit him with 146 counts of academic misconduct, one charge for every student in the study group.

The story quickly spread online, across blogs and forums as well as coverage by mainstream media like CNN, CBC-TV and The Canadian Press.

On Tuesday March 11th, Avenir (still attending class this term) attended an expulsion hearing. There is no final decision yet as to his academic fate, but he told reporters he was optimistic. The university will make its decision by next week.

“I feel pretty confident and optimistic about the appeal meeting we just had,” he told the Canadian Press after the 90-minute closed-door meeting. “I don’t have any regrets about what happened inside.”

At present, the debate rages on. Scores of students, bloggers and Facebook users have expressed shock and outrage at the charges, arguing that a group on Facebook is no different than traditional study groups held in person. Ryerson officials have responded by saying they understand what Facebook and other social networking sites are, and that the issue is not the venue, but whether or not what happened can be called cheating.

In either case, this story has garnered such attention because it illustrates a new technological and social development scraping against a time-honored and solid establishment. It’s a testament to the speed in which we as young adults react and mobilize, for better or for worse.

Do I have questions about the story? You betcha. I know it’s impossible to find out the complete story just by reading media reports, and for that reason I’m trying hard not to fall either way opinion-wise, but something is definitely up. I’m anxious to see how this story resolves itself.

So now I turn to you, brass Blog readers. What do you think?

- Peter

You deal with feedback all day long from teachers, bosses, and parents. Now it’s your turn to speak up. Everyone’s got something to say and we want you to say it in the brass|MAGAZINE READER SURVEY. It’s cool for you in two ways: First, filling out the survey gives you a chance to win $1,000. And second, it gives you a chance to tell us what you really think about brass|MAGAZINE. Straight from your mouth to our ears… figuratively speaking, of course. All it takes is five to ten minutes to participate in the brass|MAGAZINE READER SURVEY. It’s quick and easy. Just head here or click the image below, complete the survey, and don’t forget to register for your chance to win $1,000 in cash.

We want to hear everything! Topics you want us to cover or want us to shut up about? Do you like the design or find it lacking in little porcelain gnomes? We want to know!

So check it out already. The deadline for survey submissions is March 31, 2007.

Seeing as it’s Monday, I thought I’d post a little pick-me-up for the start of your week. You deserve it–especially if your week, like mine, is shaping up to be veeerrrry long. (At least there was the always entertaining staff meeting and free brownies–thanks Jennie!)

Take a peek at the video below. We think it’s worth the 3 minutes and 44 seconds to watch what brass staffer Randy did when we set him loose with the video equipment…

Remember when you used to write down your thoughts and activities in a journal to have something to look back on later in life? And how you would paste ticket stubs and magazine cutouts the old-fashion way? These days having a blog is a hyperactive version of an old school journal. The blog craze has hit everywhere, including news sources, magazines (like here at brass!) and more, but 37% of bloggers cite “my life and experiences” as a primary topic of their blog . (source: pewinternet.org)

Interestingly, about 54% of bloggers use a pseudonym. If you’re writing about sensitive information or worried about certain people seeing your blog it may be a good idea to use a pseudonym. A friend of mine with a blog has had to adapt and start to use nicknames for friends and has shut down the entire blog several times to deal with outside repercussions. However, that same friend also was recently recruited and hired as the editor of the college blog network collegeOTR.com, after being discovered through her blog.

It’s a crazy media-filled world out there, but it looks like blogging could be for just about everyone – whether you choose to make it a personal interactive diary or a launching pad into the media world.