Writer Audition Results – The Readers Chose …

Before I make the big announcement I wanted to share with you why we went through an audition process and why I’m glad we did.

Good Jobs & Good People are Hard to Find
If you’ve ever taken a new job that you’ve ended up later regretting you probably know where I’m coming from.  There’s only so much you can tell about a future boss and the company during an interview.  As you learn the job and get to know your co-workers weird habits you might realize you made a mistake.  Even if you suspect early on it’s not the job for you, chances are you’ll be there for a while as you first decide to “give it a little more time” and then later finally start looking for another job.

Taking a Test Run
The nice thing about the audition process was that I got to know the writers and see how they operated.  Conversely, they got to know me a little and we had a chance to see how we worked together. I’m happy to report they all seem to be nice people and I worked well with all of them.

Reader Feedback
The other benefit of the audition process is that you, the readers, get a chance to see which style, personality, and content you get the most out of.  It only seems fair that since you’re the ones reading the site, you should get to help pick who writes on it.  I really appreciate all the feedback that came in during the audition process, it was a great help.  Of course, everyone that let me know their thoughts is entered to win the prize; I’ll announce the winner tomorrow.

Choosing a Writer
As I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed getting to know all three of the writers. They were great to work with and each brought different strengths and insights to their articles.  I was really struggling with choosing someone when a friend of mine made an interesting suggestion, “why don’t you just hire them all”?

I laughed at first but the more I thought about it the more I realized it was a pretty good idea.  Each person gives a different perspective on personal finance, with different genders, age ranges, financial experiences, and life roles represented.  I sat down to do the numbers and it was immediately obvious it wouldn’t be possible to bring on three writers. I was excited, however, to see that two would be feasible; I just had to figure out how to make the final decision.

In the end, the deciding factor was reader feedback and I’m pleased to announce that you, the readers, have chosen both Erik and Connie to share their personal finance wisdom with us!  Thanks to all the writers for their contributions, I’ll give a review below, and thanks to the readers for your feedback.

Erik shared his experience of getting out of debt and provided an online banking review looking at both ING Direct Orange Savings and Electric Checking.  I asked each writer to write a small investing series from a list of topics and Erik chose investing with ETF’s:

• Exchange Traded Funds – An Investor’s Introductory Guide
• The Top 10 Exchange-Traded Funds
• Exchange Traded Funds Investing Strategies

Henry gave us his confession about credit card debt and how he beat it.  He also took a look at one of the most popular online payment systems in his PayPal review.  Henry’s investing series covered putting your money into the Biotech sector:

• Biotech Investing – A Beginner’s Guide to Biotechnology Investments
• Biotech Investing: Top Performing Biotech Companies
• Biotech Investing – The Risks of Putting Your Money in Biotechnology

Connie shared how her daughter’s first movie, Kung Fu Panda, offered some lessons on how to become a millionaire.  She then talked about which credit score & monitoring service has helped her out in True Credit review.  Connie took a look at investing in commodities for her investing series:

• Investing In Natural Resources Can Save Your Assets – Commodities Investing Series
• Investing in Commodity ETFs: An Ounce of Research is Worth a Pound of Gold
• Why the Heck Does Gas Cost So Much – Commodities Investing Series
• Commodity Scam Warnings: How to Protect Yourself and Your Money

Thanks again to the readers for the feedback and congrats to Connie and Erik, I look forward to working with you both!

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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