This blog is not financially inspired. Neither, however, is it repellant to the concept of wealth accumulation.
If this site were created primarily to harvest glorious buckets of plump samolians, clams, greenbacks, cash money, then I would have lots of those attractive banner ads, flashy whiz bang sponsor boxes, an army of affiliate links, and a parade of offers trying to sell stuff, instead of the small handful I do have.
That said, beginning December 1, 2009, the FTC required bloggers to provide disclosures whenever there could be hidden interests or unspoken biases related to recommendations, whether stated, implied, or obfuscated.
First, the obvious: I am a writer. Most writers, authors, artists, etc, like to sell their work. I'm no exception.
Second, I'm a partner in several ventures, including LaunchBox Pro, a platform for building professional business websites, including this very site. (See what I did there . . . some of that sneaky selling stuff that the FTC is worried about.)
Third, I invest in and advise various companies, some of which may get mentioned in this blog.
Fourth, if I interview someone and they grab the bill for lunch, I would need to specify this, as I would if I use an Amazon link that gets me 8 cents instead of an Amazon link that gets me 0 cents. If someone gives me a comfy t-shirt with a logo and I wear it in a photo, ditto. Disclaimers all over.
This would be tedious for me and you. But the rules is the rules, and the government is not the sleeping dog this kid is gonna poke with a stick, because there's nothing simple or beautiful about that.
To cover my ass and preserve your reading experience, please assume that for every recommendation, link, and product I use, the following all hold true:
So there you have it: nothing hidden up this blogger's skirt.
Consider yourself dully warned: my kids might eat better because of you. If that happens, despite my best efforts to discourage it, then I thank you in advance, and I sincerely hope that whatever goods-for-money exchange you entered into due to influences in full or in part occurring from this blog was a swell deal for you.
This page was inspired by Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week, who created essentially the same darn thing over at his blog. I liked it. Tim wrote that other bloggers should borrow it it they wished since, as he wrote, "There is no reason why each blogger should have to reinvent the wheel." Now that's simple and beautiful. I encourage the same. Thanks, Tim.
Illustrations courtesy of Louis Gray and Jeannine Schafer