1. Play with all the things

Play with the sample code in your tutorial, don’t just read it. Install the development tools you need, type in your code and run it to see what happens. Actually take the time to type and understand each line, don’t copy and paste. Run the code examples even if it seems obvious so you’ll understand and retain the knowledge better. Make changes to the sample code and predict the result, then and run the modified code and see if you got it right.

2. Break code down to make it easier to understand

When you’re looking at sample code and it seems lengthy or complex, just break it down and understand one piece at a time. Focus on a few statements at a time and try to run a small section to see what happens. It’s good to test and experiment, even if you get error messages you’re learning something.

3. To test your skills, pick a simple project and give it a deadline

When thinking of a project to put your shiny new programming skills to use, you may be tempted to come up with a grand vision. Maybe you like games and want to make something like World of Warcraft, Borderlands, or Assassins Creed. I love your ambition but even an experienced developer would be overwhelmed. Start with something simple like Breakout or Snake. Make a task list for the requirements, rules, and logic you want to have your first version and give yourself a deadline to complete the work. Test your program as you complete each task and celebrate the victories.

Bonus Tip: When code gets frustrating, sleep on it

Programming can get frustrating when you expect the code to work a certain way but you get incorrect results or an error. Sometimes you may feel like you can’t get the code to work right no matter what you do. When all else fails, give it time or sleep on it.

I’ve been programming for many years and occasionally get stuck like this. If I’m not moving forward for more than 15 minutes and start to feel frustrated, I take a break and come back after a few hours or the next day. Whatever approach I was trying before will be out of mind so when I start to working on the code again my assumptions are gone and I’ll easily figure out what was wrong.

James Altucher recently mentioned that “the average multi-millionaire, according to tax data, has at least 7 different sources of income.”

I’m currently earning income from 4 sources, give or take. For the first part of 2014 I had 5 sources – a full time IT job in addition to the list below. My goal for 2015 and beyond is to build new income streams from on software & information products. Here’s my list:

• Salary from my software consultancy which makes money on
  • Software development
  • Web design projects
  • Retainer services
  • Software licensing fees
• Rental property
• Savings, Investments, and Dividends

Here’s what my net worth trends looks like in Mint over the past few years. Can you tell when I started working on additional income streams?

I don’t like how flat the curve is for the first half. That’s the sad reality of having only one income stream. You’ll have to do more to truly grow your wealth.

Even after negotiating raises that doubled my salary, I made little progress towards financial freedom. It’s better to invest in creating new value and income streams for yourself instead of someone who is already rich! James agrees with an insightful comment “With industry being outsourced and knowledge being outsourced, the best investment is in yourself.”

What income streams do you want to build for yourself in 2015?

But then I wondered, “How did it get so high, I’m no millionaire!”

First I want to clear up some misconceptions about credit. I hear people say over and over again that they don’t pay their credit card balances in full because they need to “build” their credit. This is 100% wrong.

For my entire credit history, I have paid my card balances off in full every month, so I never pay any interest or late fees. The only time to carry a balance is when your card offers 0% interest for some amount of time. You must pay it off in full before the promotional rate expires.

So without “building” credit by carrying a balance how did my score get so high?

1. Get a low limit card as soon as you are legally able to
I started with a $500 credit limit. I took the first “pre-approved” offer that I got in the mail as soon as I turned 18. Perks and interest rates weren’t important, I just wanted a card with no annual fee so I could start establishing some payment history.

2. Establish a Payment History
Use that low-limit card for your gas or meals. Pretend it’s a debit card so you aren’t spending more than you’ll be able to pay at the end of the month. I typically spent $100 to $200 a month and paid it off in full each time.

This should lead to a credit limit increase

3. Get a couple more cards with useful perks, but continue to use them in a limited fashion.
You want to keep your ratio of used credit to available credit low. So if you have $10,000 worth of credit available to you try not to charge more than $500 to $1000 per month, even if you could pay more.

This will help you maintain financial discipline and avoid impluse buys that add no real value to your life.

Assuming you started with a blank credit history your score will be in the low 700s within 12 to 18 months of getting your first card. With a score like this you’ll be offered the best interest rates on loans and mortgages.

To get to 800+ you need a larger credit portfolio and lots more time. Most of this will happen naturally as you progress through your career and life.

How I got my Dream Job, Twice!
Dream Job 1 started as an IT Help Desk position that I molded into the stuff of dreams. Within 4 years, I more than doubled my base salary from 32k to 68k per year. On top of that, I negotiated a yearly bonus to be awarded upon completion of a special IT projects of my choosing. With the bonus my cash compensation totaled 75k per year, a 134% increase over my starting salary. Icing on the cake: I earned the trust to work from home 2 days each week.

Dream Job 2 is the one I carved out for myself by starting a business. Many thanks to Ramit Sethi and his Earn 1k course for helping motivate me and give me the right guidance. I did so well that Ramit flew me to New York for an interview and case study.

In fact, I was able to quit Dream Job 1 after juggling both for a year. Now I work from home 5 days a week and finally have time for side project, or so I’d like to think

Why Your GPA Doesn’t Matter as Much as You Think
After spending some time in the real world I’ve learned that no one really cares about my college years. When I applied for my first job, I was still a college student. Funny story, I applied for a library job but ended up talking about my computer skills during the interview. It went so well that I was asked to apply for an IT support job that had just closed the day before.

I was told that a bachelor’s degree and a high GPA would be critical to my future success but I was already starting to see that social skills were just as important, if not more so. Interviewing well didn’t just get me a job – it got me a better job than I was looking for. They opened the job again specifically for me and sure, they asked for a transcript but at at this point it was basically just a formality.

This was my first glimpse of the informal job market. It turns out that the most sought-after jobs are filled this way. Tim Ferris talks about it more here: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2011/09/29/8-steps-to-getting-what-you-want-without-formal-credentials/

College is About Making Connections and Finding Inspiration.
These things often go hand in hand. Furthering your education is great, but you don’t need college for that anymore. I was so passionate about all the possibilities of computer programming and the internet that I was always a few steps ahead of my courses.

The course that had the biggest impact on my life certainly sharpened my coding skills but that didn’t change things for me. What changed things a professor that stood out to me as a mentor.

The book teaches you how habits form and describes ways to build new habits and replace old ones by reprogramming our habit loops. This sounds like a ton of fun to me. The first part of the process involves examining your current habits to look for cues and triggers that start a routine. The hack is to figure out what your keystone habits are and to modify their routines into those that help you win at life. Throughout life I’ve learned dozens of power habits without even realizing it. How much potential I can unleash with a deliberate and systematic approach?

The Challenge

To kick off 2015, I’m challenging myself to build up a new power habit – writing great material and sharing it with others regularly. To build the habit, it’s important to have a cue that triggers a routine, followed by a reward. Blogging seems to take a ton of willpower for me so I’m starting with baby steps. The small wins will build up into bigger ones.

Hacking a Habit Loop

After working a typical 9 to 5 job, I already daily built a habit of checking my email and rewarding myself with some leisure reading or web surfing. Most days, checking email leads to writing something, so I’ll replace the email check with a trip to my blog. And then I’ll write at least 250 words and push the publish button (the hardest part for me) before I indulge my knowledge sponge with the latest headlines on Hacker News.

So, what habits would you like to develop in 2015? I read every reply.

Update:
Get out of a slump by building a keystone habit.

I worked with terrible software for years before I developed the confidence to prove I could do better. I started a web development company in September 2012, but struggled to find opportunities. At the end of the year, I had one small, but happy client and was pitching a 5-figure deal to my next potential client. The new new client seemed ready to move forward, so I started building a prototype. They  said they loved it so what happened next was almost unbelievable: they bought a low-quality competing product! I tried to salvage the deal by demonstrating that the competing product was vulnerable to an SQL injection attack and likely had other problems. They didn’t care. I was floored.

In 2013, I became determined to crack the code on sales. I was never a fan of sales or marketing tactics because I hate when people push products on me. But I just learned a time-consuming lession that many clients don’t care about the all the technical things that I’m so passionate about. Your quality of work doesn’t always speak for itself, so you have to learn to play the sales game too.

I researched online and found a several great blogs and book recommendations. At first I felt like I was just learning the basics but I kept an open mind and started developing a new framework to help me think about sales.

I started to understand that the best clients value the results of my work because they’re going to make more money. The whole sales process is just a way to build confidence and trust that you understand the desired outcomes.

As a techie, it’s easy to get in your own way because you’re afraid of being a sleazy sales guy. You want your technical skills and high quality work to stand on their own. Makes sense right? You’re doing a technical job so you tell potential clients about your technical expertise. They should put 2 and 2 together and hire you.

The trouble is, clients don’t want to hear about you or the technology involved. That stuff just goes over their head. So instead, break out your problem solving skills and ask the client about the challenges they are having. Then explain how you can solve those problems and bring them to the tomorrow they want. Omit technical details unless you can tie them directly to a benefit the client desires.

In April 2013, a chance to put this “sales 101” knowledge to work appeared on my radar. A contact in my personal network referred a local business to me. They wanted to update their website and build a project management database. We scheduled a meeting and I researched their business. I drafted an outline with a few ideas to improve their business. During the meeting, I was ready to share these ideas but as I listened to their goals I realized there was an even bigger opportunity than I thought.

I followed up with questions about what’s stopping them from reaching their goals. I asked how solving these problems will grow their business. This turned out to be a much better approach than asking about the tech details. As we discussed more ideas, I used my technical knowledge to help them think bigger. Then I explained what it will be like to work with me. I showed them how my agile development process would provide tools that solve each problem. A few minutes later: “Great, where do I sign?”

As we began working together, I let my talents loose and amazed the client. With every meeting, I kept them thinking of ways software can bring their business to the next level. After 3 months, the client signed a 1-year contract to continue the software development project. Thanks to insights from Patrick McKenzie, I worked a 4-figure per month hosting and backup plan into the deal.

In fact, I reached out to Patrick for pricing advice on the monthly plan. As I wrote the email, I could already tell he would just say “Charge more.” So I did. I doubled the first price I had in mind, which added over $10,000 to my bottom line.

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