A couple of days ago, on Twitter, I read a post by a job seeker and fellow blogger I follow.  She was elated. She had just gotten the job of her dreams and she couldn’t wait to share it with everyone.  I had seen her prior posts and the despair of feeling rejected and unseen as she slogged through the painful job search.  But this time was different.  She felt victorious.  She did it. And she did it without having networked.  At all. Instead, she chose to do what countless other job seekers do, usually with no success.  She submitted hundreds of applications…

The five love languages were made popular by author Gary Chapman. If you’re not familiar with them, they include acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, and physical touch. Let’s think about how you may encounter the love languages when it comes to financial planning.This week’s getting-to-know-you segment is full of laughs as we dive into childhood beliefs, magic wishes, and what our personal warning labels would say. Plus, we’ve got some great quotes of the week to share!For this week’s listener question, Sam from Rhode Island asks whether managing investments without a broker or advisor is a…

If job searching wasn’t tough enough already, we’re now attempting it during a global pandemic and a tanking economy. Whether you’ve personally been laid off or know people who have been, it’s understandable that we’re all feeling stressed, saddened and incredibly pessimistic about the future. In fact, you might be thinking, is there any point looking for a job right now? Is anyone hiring? Isn’t the market flooded with job seekers? I’m here to tell you that despite all the terrible news, there are some rays of hope. And there are several concrete steps you can take today to increase…

Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! We are back home in Raleigh for a two month period to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families.  After a busy travel season from April to November, where we spent five months on vacation, it’s time for a break. A vacation from vacationing (ha ha ha!). I have a growing to-do list of deferred maintenance tasks around the house to keep me busy over the holidays. On top of that, I need to tackle the ordinary end of year financial and administrative chores such as tax optimizing, financial recordkeeping,…

How to get promoted isn’t difficult, but it does require a lot of pre-planning. Oftentimes, people will assume that bosses see each individual worker on their own merits, and approach that person about promotions. The reality of how to get promoted is much more complex than that. Identify your career target Know what the next step is for you career-wise. This is important so you know how to get promoted, and to which position. Be realistic as to the next logical level that you aspire to, and examine what skill sets are necessary to perform those tasks. Gain new skills…

Have you ever heard the saying: “You can make more money, but you can’t make more time”? Time is our most valuable asset — and we’ve got to protect it. Because if you’re anything like me — 50-plus, building your own thing, juggling family, work, and a to-do list longer than the guitar solo in Hear ’n Aid’s “Stars” — you don’t have hours to waste. Thankfully, AI tools have stepped in to help. They’re like personal assistants who never sleep, never complain, and never charge overtime. Here’s a quick peek over my shoulder at the exact AI tools helping…

  So you decided to change careers. You are sure it’s the right next step. You have taken the mental leap.  Now you just need to get the ball rolling. You need to re-write your resume.  Drafting resumes is never much fun, but it can be an especially daunting prospect when you are changing careers.  Where to begin? How to present yourself in a way that grabs the prospective employer’s attention? After all, while you may be starting over, someone else is out there with a long list of desired experience looking for the same job.  Yes, it may be an uphill climb, but…

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Job seekers often ask me, “How do I identify resume keywords?” Until recently, that was a tough question for me to answer with an easy explanation for someone to use. There aren’t many resume keyword tools.  A New Tool That’s Better Than Word Clouds While I could suggest they upload job postings into a word cloud, they give pretty crude results. Word clouds can count and show which words appear most frequently in a job posting. The trouble is, counts aren’t necessarily proxies for importance. Resume Keyword Search Software So, to solve this problem, I started playing with NLP tools and…

I see way too many Gen X creators, solopreneurs, and business owners leaving serious money on the table by ignoring the email list. We’re the mixtape generation—masters of DIY hustle—so let’s dust off that swagger and turn every send into spendable cash in 2025. Why newsletter monetization matters especially for Gen X Gen Xers—MTV kids with cheater glasses—expect to need the same or more monthly income in “retirement” than we earn right now. Translation: we need offensive income streams, not defensive penny‑pinching. A newsletter is perfect because it’s an owned, high‑trust, AI‑leveraged channel you control – unlike your social media profile. Below is…