Aridni will introduce you to a different staff writer every Monday. The full staff lineup can be found here.

Michelle, age 20

You may be surprised to see my unfamiliar face on the “Meet the Cast” series on Aridni. I’ll admit I am rather stunned myself. However, when asked to join the team I readily accepted the offer to be a weekly writer.

Currently I am a sophomore at the University of Montana. My life goals seem to change periodically as I am unsure of my major. However at this point I am interested in double majoring in Accounting and Business Education. I would like follow my Mom’s footsteps as a high school business teacher and educate students on the importance of the business world. But if for some reason I am unable to find a job or I simply do not enjoy the career of education, I will pursue a career in accounting.

All of my life I have been inspired to own a business. But no doubt like you, I have a dilemma: I have no idea what I would like this business to be and I haven’t the slightest idea where to start.

To educate both myself and Aridni readers, my first series of articles will be posted on Thursdays with an emphasis on developing a business.

I truly hope that you continue to read Aridni and that my unfamiliar face on Aridni will become in fact recognizable.

Hello there readers of Aridni. Today is the six month mark that Aridni has been running. It’s also time that we freshened things up a little bit. So with that we’re rolling out a new look.

Later today Todd and Katie will be on with a post about what they have learned in the past six months working on Aridni.

Next Saturday we will continue with the guest articles. If you would like to participate and have your article featured or otherwise would like to know more. Check out the Aridni Contact Page.

There are a couple small little tweaks and changes that we will have to fiddle with in regards to the new look, but nothing major should change with it.

A quick reminder that the carnival of business is being held here at Aridni on the 3rd. If you have an article that you would like to recommend an article it would be appreciated.

We all want to know the same thing on Aridni… how can we go beyond fulfilling the American Dream without getting broke in the end? The most effective business leaders anticipate change in the stock market and variations in consumer trends before they happen. Sucessful businesspeople hold the ability to think unconventionally.

Take the infamous Joseph P. Kennedy for example. Why is it that despite his crude business dealings, Kennedy was so successful in the liquor business and remained a billionaire during the Great Depression while the rest of America starved? As a third generation Irish American, Kennedy’s mother raised him to believe that he was destined to be a success and that anything less than fame and fortune would bring shame to his family name.

With that mentality, Kennedy grew up to be ambassador to Great Britain and the father of the thirty fifth president of the United States. In fact, it was mostly his father’s money that brought John F. Kennedy to the Oval Office. The elder Kennedy made his money through bootlegging, not a means most of us would consider particularly moral. Yet, somehow he managed to get away with it when many people worked hard for much less. By the time his son’s name was on the ballet in 1960, Joseph P. Kennedy was the fourth richest man in America. What was his secret? Part of it lay in the fact that Kennedy was foresighted enough to pull out of the stock market before Black Tuesday in 1929.

Freedom of wealth was not an option in Kennedy’s mind. It was a destiny. He was willing to do whatever it took to achieve wealth. Kennedy arranged the family trust so that each generation was guaranteed to be wealthier than the one preceding it. His paradigm was “success with absolution regardless of the means.”

I’m not saying to go out there and make money any way you can. Yet Kennedy presents an impressive challenge to his family that we could adapt:

Know you ARE destined for success.

Todd is on the road, letting his mind craft up some ingenious $$ strategies, and Katie works hours on end, it seems, to land herself a real estate license.

The question is: what are you doing toward the growth of wealth?

For the next month, we’ll be featuring YOUR ideas. Every Saturday, we’ll be featuring a guest writer’s article in our new section, “SATURDAY STRATEGIES”. Yeah– you could be published on Aridni. We’re interested in the things you do/dream of doing, things you’ve seen your mother’s uncle’s best friend do toward success (and the things he wish he did), and other cashing-in thoughts. We’re all over the board at Aridni. Why not join us? We won’t add to your wealth, yet you may discover something new. Seems to us we learn more writing and researching for you than we ever did as readers.

To do:
Click the contact button on the left and express your interest in writing. Let us know if you have a particular topic or we can help you out. Sometimes picking up the pencil can be the hardest part. Todd will send you an okay and pencil in a publishing date as soon as he gets his computer plugged in at his destination of Buffalo, NY. Then Katie will help you as much as you need with the actually writing of your future post.

So what do you say? Ready to show everyone some ideas on MAD MONEY? We can’t wait to hear from you (especially Katie, who is dying to take a break from real estate studies!).