Bill Gates to Devote Life To Charity; Make Money And You Can, Too

Bill Gates announced that he will transition out of his day-to-day role at Microsoft by July 2008 in order to spend more time working on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on global health and education.

His announcement reminded us of the plethora of graduation speeches that eager students imbibed across the land this spring. As we listened to the meritorious goals heaped on the recent graduates, so they might achieve goals the speaker's generation has found impossible, we could not help but think, why doesn't somebody come out and tell the youthful aspirants what the real challenge is?

Like it or not, today's world, as well as many another age, is conducted by two primary forces: wealth and power, and, other than resort to firearms, power springs from wealth.

So if you want to influence the ways of this outrageously necessitous world, consider the stark truth that all power springs from the opening in a fat wallet. It's called the economic basis of society but, in its current incarnation, in debilitating excess.

When we were recent graduates, we were not aware of such an uncompromising reality and passed up at least two opportunities to make megabucks because we wanted to preserve our mental energy to expend it toward the achievement of our ideals.

Had we been wiser, we would have set aside a few years to stuff our pockets with power and then, like Mr. Gates, have spent the rest of our days placidly pursuing those still-inspiriting ideals.

So we find ourselves, from our own experience, in the unlikely role of advising the most idealistic to enable their altruism by involving themselves, initially, in the activity they undoubtedly are convinced is not the most inviting.

Then, should you be fortunate enough to enable your financial independence, you may, like Mr. Gates, head off into full-time devotion to your undoubtedly meritorious idealisms.

Well, the speech probably would not have been one that would have inspired the administration to invite us back or that the students would have received with endorsement, but the sharp glass on the road through economic necessity is a fact not lightly to be dismissed. Ignore it and you may step on it with painful frequency.

Tom Attea, humorist and creator of NewsLaugh.com, has had six shows produced Off-Broadway and has written comedy for TV. Critics have called his writing ""delightfully funny" and "witty" with "good, genuine laughs."

Make Money Singing

You've been thinking about it for a while, but you're just not sure how much time, money and emotional expense you want to invest in your singing career. You're sure you've got the talent or you wouldn't even be deliberating the opportunity, but still the question remains. With so many so called "experts" all willing to take your money for some service of some kind, where do you begin to embark upon your singing dream? Certainly if "so and so" can make it in the music business, I certainly should have a chance as well - Or do you?

As a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and jingle singer singing many commercials such as FOX TV, UPN and O'Charley's, I've had the unusual opportunity to visit with many individuals, just like yourself, looking to enter the music industry from one angle or another. Let's take a few minutes to explore some ideas and concepts that might help to further your career.

The first concept to explore is that you should definitely follow your dream of singing if you feel this strongly about it. We'll highlight a few strategies you can embrace to eliminate unneeded spending and to avoid the opportunist that line the internet halls and gateways. For now, just follow your passion of singing and look at authentic methods to get you there - And hopefully by the time you're done reading this you'll have a foundation to start building from.

What do you want to do? Are you looking to get signed as an artist or are you looking to get into the lucrative session singing market singing commercials and backup vocals on a myriad of projects? Because of the broad nature of this article, I will write from a viewpoint of looking to get into commercial singing and session work because both singers can make money and break into their perspective areas of the business, launched from here. For those of you looking at the dream of becoming a solo artist securing the record deal, I will write more future articles for your benefit.
Tip! Don't join a business opportunity that promises you will make money but doesn't have products. If the only things you do for a business opportunity is recruit others to the business opportunity, this isn't a great way to make money.

Let's get a basic game plan in place and expand on it. You need to start setting goals for today, this week, this month, year and five year goals. You need to have an affordable website that will become your business card and you will have a number of pages including home, bio, sample music that will include your reel, pictures, bio and misc/links. A website can be created for next to nothing and doesn't have to cost more then $5 - $10 a month. You will need a demo reel of your singing styles and abilities. You will also have your reel in mp3 format to be able to email to producers, etc. You will need a good record keeping system in place. Figure out what works for you and be consistent. You will need a pager or cell phone which virtually everyone has nowadays.
Tip! You can also make money off your website from affiliate programs. An affiliate program is where a company will pay you a commission for a sale or a lead generated from your website.

Make sure that your goals are realistic - not over aggressive, but challenging enough to keep your career path moving. You might consider sitting down at a coffee shop once a week and looking at and evaluating goals as well as setting up future goals. This doesn't have to be fancy; you may jot these down with a pen, but keep these handy and up to date.

Your website should include a logo and picture of yourself. Don't make the mistake of including cheap looking artwork. Instead, spend a few dollars on a program to help you design artwork layout. We use a $30 program that is fabulous and can't be beat for the price. Spend a few minutes investigating websites, companies that offer hosting with complimentary website building programs and start visualizing a website layout. It must look pro.
Tip! Find Good Products and Test Them. When you are ready to take the step into making money online, affiliate marketing is one of the simplest ways beginners can make money.

Your demo reel must stand out from the rest. To do this you must create a reel that is without question a knock your socks off, make your socks roll up and down, reel. Your reel must sound like you've already arrived on the scene. Don't be mistaken for the, "My friend has a computer, keyboard and mics," mentality. Your demo reel needs to sound like you've been singing national commercials.
Tip! You make money as a seller on eBay 24 hours a day. Even while you sleep.

You will want to include jingles as well as song demos on your reel although if time and money are an issue, then it would be better to stick with a straight jingle demo reel including as many jingles as possible on the reel - This gives you multiple styles to showcase, etc. You will want to stretch your singing styles while maintaining musical integrity. Don't showcase the same musical style over and over - You want as much versatility seen in your demo as possible.

In closing, always remember that content wins. Pro looking and sounding demos reels score more work that multiple half baked reels. Your image on print, media and in person must exude a professional outlook. It is better to be simpler to be more professional, than it is to be sophisticated and not as professional. Understanding these key factors will help drive your career and hopefully land you more session work than you can handle.
Tip! Google AdSense - Make money selling advertising space. While banner ads are not worth your time for the most part, Google AdSense is.

Mr Gauger is a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency booking many household name artists and is a jingle singer singing on many commercials from FOX TV, UPN Station ID's, O'Charley's and many others. Mr Gauger can be contacted at http://www.reelmusician.com or tgauger@reelmusician.com or 615-300-5030.