“Wall Street Sees Green On Black Friday” by Forbes.com

“It’s hard to read too much into Wall Street trading activity on the day after Thanksgiving, usually one of the lightest sessions of the year, but optimists likely will focus on an extension of the recent rally to five days, with stocks turning in one of their best week-long performances since the 1930s.

Advances narrowly outnumbered declines in abbreviated trading on …”

Full article at: http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/11/28/briefing-closer-retail-markets-equity-cx_ss_1128markets15.html

Entrepreneur Profile: Morgan First – President/CEO First Publications – MAP Boston

You should know that YOPI is all about women entrepreneurs!! So, we could not contain our excitement when we met young entrepreneur Morgan First. Morgan is the soul and mastermind behind First Publications and MAP Boston – Motion Affair Planner Boston, a guide and weekly agenda for Bostonians.

 

If you haven’t heard of MAP Boston, well, my friend, you are living on another planet and you need to come back to earth presto!

Take the time to read our extensive profile of Morgan and be inspired by her story and experiences.

A TIP just for you: ‘MAP Boston’ makes an amazing gift! You can buy it at: http://motionaffairplanner.com/site/buyonline.php

Barnes and Nobles, Brookline Booksmith, The Globe Corner Bookstore, Harvard Coop, MIT Coop. check out more locations at http://www.motionaffairplanner.com/site/buyyours.php

Also, join Morgan at the following locations during the month of December:

Design Hive Dec 6th and 20th

Prudential Holiday Market Dec 7th and 21st

the SOWA Holiday Show (www.sowaholidaymarket.com) December 13th and 14th.

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“Living the Dream: Morgan First”

“Education: B.A. in Marketing Communications from Emerson College in Boston; minors in entrepreneurship, photography, and publishing

Job Title: Founder and editor in chief of First Publications

What She Does: Morgan’s main publishing project is a combination planner and guide to Boston called the Motion Affair Planner (MAP). The idea came when she was traveling around Europe and got tired of carrying her planner and Let’s Go guidebook. “It’d be perfect if they were the same thing,” she realized. So Morgan created a planner whose weekly pages feature a different location around Boston with a description, subway directions, and other info, encouraging readers to get out and explore their city. It was originally targeted at local college students, but young professionals around Boston and others who are new to the area have also gotten excited about the guide.

How She Got Her Gig: A magazine lover from a young age, Morgan always knew that she wanted to work in publishing. But she had an epiphany during her junior year of college. “I’m probably the worst speller you’ve ever met,” she admits. “I really wanted to go into publishing, but the way most people break in is through the production route or through copy editing. I just don’t think my eye is design- or production-oriented, and no one would want to hire me as a copy editor.” Instead, Morgan graduated a semester early and persuaded her father to let her use the money he would have spent on tuition as seed money for her start-up company. He agreed, and the first edition of MAP Boston came out in the summer of 2006. “Everything came together and I was able to skip that middle step,” she explains. “It’s like grad school.”

Entrepreneurship 101: Morgan credits her entrepreneurship professor, Karl Baehr, with encouraging her to take the idea and run with it. “I e-mailed him saying, ‘I’m terribly sorry, but I won’t be returning.’ He e-mailed me saying, ‘We will miss you, but that is fantastic. That’s the best news I could get.’ After I graduated, Karl let me come …”

 

You can read the article at http://www.nicolewilliams.com/leap/living-the-dream-morgan-first/

  

Morgan’s work doesn’t stop with MAP Boston. She is also part of “the ONEin3 Mayor’s Advisory Council…. She first became involved with the city through her work with Onein3’s Boston Young Entrepreneurs (BYE) and helping to organize Neighborhood nights throughout the city. Morgan also works with female leadership/entrepreneurship groups such as Ladies Who Launch and Massachusetts Conference for Women and she is the Career Development Chair of the Emerson College GOLD Alumni association. In her free time Morgan loves traveling and has an affinity for outdoor markets.”  https://www.cityofboston.gov/bra/betterboston/flash/advisory.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good News? Sort of…”America’s most-wanted workers”_ CNN

It is no surprise that the health care industry made the list.

“Though the U.S. economy has softened this year — headlines warn of mortgage woes, layoffs and escalating gas prices — there are still jobs out there… you just have to know where to look.

We dug deep into Bureau of Labor Statistics data to find industries that are still adding jobs despite a rising national unemployment rate.”

Full article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/10/01/cb.most.wanted.workers/index.html

“How to find a job during a recession” by CNN

Great Article:

“During a recession it is best to move forward with force, while your competition is moving slowly. It is easy to use the economy as an excuse,” says Roberta Chinsky Matuson, president of Northampton, Massachusetts, based Human Resource Solutions. “Successful job seekers know that even in tough economic times, there are opportunities. You just have to dig a bit deeper.”

Full article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/09/29/cb.job.searching.recession/index.html

“Ten jobs that pay $80,000 a year” by CNNMoney

Most of these jobs deal with numbers and sciences.

“Who hasn’t looked at his or her paycheck and imagined how much better life would be with a lot more numbers after that dollar sign?

Inevitably, a wise soul — usually a parent — tells you that no amount of money will solve your problems.

Of course, you respond, “Let me find out for myself.”

If your annual income hovers around the national median of $40,690, you’re in the company of millions of Americans. As gas prices, housing costs and other everyday expenses continue to creep up, earning more money isn’t just some daydream you harbor in vain… “

Full article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/11/12/cb.jobs.pay.80k/index.html

Money and Economy: “Taxpayers Get Second Chance at Stimulus” By Yahoo.com

“Remember those economic-stimulus checks the government was handing out this year? Many taxpayers didn’t qualify for the full amount — or for any payment at all — because their 2007 income exceeded a certain threshold.

But many people who lost their jobs this year, or whose incomes fell for some other reason, will get a second chance next year, thanks to a little-noticed tax-law twist.

…Huge amounts of money are involved. About $10 billion will be distributed next year in rebate credits, says Treasury Department spokesman Andrew DeSouza…”

Full article at: http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/106140/Taxpayers-Get-Second-Chance-at-Stimulus

“What Obama Can Teach You About Getting Hired” by USNews.com

“We’ve just witnessed one of the longest and most arduous job hunts in the history of job hunts. Thousands of interviews. A résumé-vetting process from hell. Reference checking you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Not many people would or could work that hard to get a job. But Sen. Barack Obama did and…”

Read the article at: http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/careers/2008/11/06/what-obama-can-teach-you-about-getting-hired.html

Money For College!

The current state of the economy forces us to be more competitive when it comes to our jobs. Getting another degree or improving our skills in a specific field might help. All this, however, is not free.

“… College is not cheap, and the purpose of this article is not to discuss figures, inflation or the value of education. This article is designed to highlight some basic options for funding a college education.”

read the article at: ” How will you pay for college? Start planning now!” http://www.youngmoney.com/investing/faq/040211_01

President Obama!

With Obama’s election, no one, i repeat, NO ONE can now seat on their …. and not try to work harder and smater to make things better for themselves and people around them!! 

Here are the speeches, in case you missed the events!

Obama:

McCain:

Election 2008! Obama – McCain

Check out the following articles:

” What to expect early on election night”  – http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_pl127

“Voting problems reported, already” – http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/11/voting_problems.html

 The world IS DEFINITELY watching this presidential election!! and the atmosphere is electric!!! People around the world will be ‘glued’ to their TVs tonight.

Videos of the candidates casting their votes: