• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Faithful with a Few

  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Blogging

Khaleef & Sherrian’s Goals For 2014

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

Since it’s now the beginning of January, it’s a great time to consider what our goals are for 2014. I’ve talked about my health, fitness, and some of our basic personal finance goals over on my weight loss and debt repayment website; so here I will stick to our spiritual goals.

One of our primary spiritual goals is to read through the Bible in a year. We successfully did that back in 2012, but 2013 was a different story. We both have a Bible app on our phone that includes a daily reading. Instead of the traditional portions of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs reading for the day, we will be reading straight through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We always found it very difficult to do the standard split reading program, because it was sometimes difficult (read: annoying) to have to cut off a reading in the middle of a thought or passage.

Bible Open

We also plan to do a study through the book of Romans. We will be setting aside time each week where we will do a thorough study (not just a simple reading) through the entire book. This will probably take us most, if not all, of the year.

Another big goal of ours is to do a topical study. Before all the stresses of life and the health problems came along, we were doing topical studies all the time, but now they only come up when one of us has to teach at church. The two biggest topics that we talk about are personal finance and eschatology. We both have pretty solid views when it comes to personal finance, and it is a passion that we share, but there is always more to learn and we believe that studying it together will allow us to better apply it to our own lives and the lives of our clients.

As far as eschatology is concerned my position is very firm while Sherrian’s position is somewhat firm, but a lot of it is based off of things she has heard through sermons/teaching and not from her first-hand study. I know she really wants to have a deeper understanding of this issue, so we will most likely dedicate some time to this study as well this year (and probably into the next).

Group Hug

We also plan to be more intentional when it comes to our relationships. For different reasons both of us have a hard time developing strong, meaningful relationships with people, and it is far too easy to walk away instead of fighting through the uncomfortable stages. Over the last couple of years we have been looking at the importance of fellowship and having a biblical view of all relationships, not just marriage, and we both have been convicted about how little we have invested in relationships with other people.

We have gotten better over the last two years, but we both see room for improvement. So that will be something that we will be focusing on this year as well.

We also plan to focus a lot more on sharing our thoughts and ideas with you guys through this site, and hopefully setting up a podcast and a YouTube channel as well. We really hope to develop a community where we can all share inspiration, information, motivation, and even prayers with one another as we all grow in Christ.

So we are hoping that you will join us as we try to make these goals a reality in the upcoming year.

Your Turn!

  1. What are some of the goals that you want to accomplish during the year?
  2. What plans do you have set in motion in order to see those goals become a reality?
  3. Is there anything specifically that we can pray for or even try to find resources to help you reach your goals?

Filed Under: Blogging, Christian Living Tagged With: 2014 goals, bible reading, Devotion, goals, read the bible in a year, romans, studying the bible

The Most Popular Posts From 2013

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

Since 2013 has come to a close, I thought it would be fun to take a look back and see what the most popular posts were over the course of the year. The one theme that I immediately see is that most of these posts are written as answers to common questions. What also strikes me is that several of these posts attempt to establish a biblical view of money.

In fact, our biblical finance page was the most visited page (other than the home page, of course)!

The Top Viewed Posts From 2013

Trophy

1) Damaged Money & Damaged Currency: How To Replace Or Exchange It – As the title says, this post walks you step-by-step through the process of exchanging damaged currency. Now that I look back at it, there is a lot of good information there 😉

2) Trying To Cancel A Gym Membership? How To Properly End Your Gym Contract – This was a post that was written by Sherrian. We were looking into joining a gym and she decided to do research on the ones in our area. The biggest complaint was always how difficult it was to get out of a contract; so she did a ton of research, and this post was born.

3) Frugal Valentine’s Day Ideas: Love Your Spouse & Your Budget – I don’t like paying extra for things simply because they have a name attached to them (like a wedding plate that costs 5 times as much for the same food in a regular restaurant). So I looked at some frugal ways to celebrate this “day of love” while still keeping the romance and importance.

4) Should I Cosign For A Loan? – This is one of my all-time favorite posts! We took a look at everything that the bible has to say about being a cosigner for a loan. Not only that, but we also examined alternative ways that the bible speaks of to help someone who is in a financial bind.

5) Trying To Pray For Money: Why Isn’t God Answering? – This was actually a guest post by Andrea from Nuts & Bolts Media. She examined the purpose of prayer, the idea of praying for money, and how God provides for us.

6) 15 YR vs 30 YR Mortgage: Which One Is Best For You? – This post looks at this age-old question from a few new angles and provides you with an answer that you may not have been expecting. In fact, if you are at all considering a 15-year mortgage, you need to read this first!

7) Honor The Lord With Your Finances – This was one of the first posts that I ever wrote on this site (you can tell by the horrible formatting 😳 ). In it, we take a look at what our attitude toward money should be if we are to honor God with our finances, as scripture commands.

8) Income Tax Filing Delay: Why You May Have To Wait To File Your Return – The vast majority of views on this post happened before the income tax filing delay ended. There were tens of millions of people affected by the delay, and there wasn’t much information to be found. I’ll be throwing in a bonus post since this one is no longer relevant. 🙂

9) Changing My Mind About Money – This was a guest post by Eva Baker of Teens Got Cents. She writes about the things that happened when she was 16 years old, which caused her to become interested in personal finance. Unfortunately, they weren’t all nice and rosy, but she was able to glean a wealth of inspiration and wisdom from her experiences.

10) What Does The Old Testament Teach About Tithing? – Tithing is one of the most controversial subjects in modern Christianity, and I definitely have a minority view on the issue. I actually plan to rewrite this article addressing some questions which people have asked, and also to soften the tone of my writing (something I am working very hard on).

11) Should You Give Your Kids An Allowance? – In this article we examine the pros and cons of giving an allowance to children. Besides all of the things which we looked at in the article, people weighed in with some very insightful comments as well.

So there you have it. Those were the top 10 posts (with one bonus) of 2013 as far as views are concerned. Let us know which ones were your favorites and also what type of articles you would like to see from us in the future. As I stated above, it would seem like the posts which attempt to answer a question or give information is what you guys love to see.

Thank you for all of the support you have shown to us over the last year, and also for making us think with your wonderful comments/questions!

photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: 2013 review, Blogging, most popular posts, top posts

Hostgator End Of The World Sale – Save On Web Hosting And Domains

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

Hostgator is offering up to 75% off of all hosting plans and domain names for its “End of the World Sale”. As the name suggests, the sale will only apply to purchases made on 12.21.12 (the supposed end of the world).

I have been with Hostgator for about 3 years now, and I have nothing but great things to say about the company and service!

I use them to host all of my sites (I have between 35 & 40 domains listed with Hostgator now  😳 ).

Hostgator Web Hosting Logo

Here is what I had to say about them during a previous sale:

With Hostgator, you can get unlimited EVERYTHING! Bandwith, disk space, email addresses, etc! They even have tools to automatically install various platforms (such as WordPress), perform regular site backups, and even give you a $100 AdWords credit.

Just to let you know, if you sign up using this link (or any of the links above), then I will get a commission. However, I would never try to get someone to use a service that I am having trouble with. Your trust and my integrity are far more important than a few bucks!

I actually think that Hostgator is a great host, and I plan to continue using them when my current contract expires!

Why The Hostgator End of the World Sale Is Too Good To Pass Up!

If you currently have a blog or site that is hosted on WordPress.com, Blogger, or any other platform, take this opportunity to move to a self-hosted domain. Hostgator even has tutorials and free website templates to help you get started!

Even if you’ve only been thinking about starting a website or blog, it makes sense to get this deal and park your domain there while you map out your plan!

You owe it to yourself to at least take a look at what they offer!

Here Are The Hostgator End of the World Sale Details:

  • Their promotion is offering 50% off for the entire day with 75% off for a couple of hours – you’re going to have to keep an eye on the site!
  • Web Hosting Starting at as little as $1.24/month (during 75% off)
  • Domain names only $1.95/first year
  • There is no coupon code needed! The customer simply has to sign up for any of our hosting services online at our site, and the 50% or 75% off coupon will be AUTOMATICALLY applied. 

This will apply to the client’s first invoice (first term length they sign up for whether that be 1 month or for 3 years for shared and reseller hosting plans, and for the first month only on VPS and dedicated servers).

This promotion is only scheduled to run Friday, December 21st from 12:00AM – 11:59PM CST (-6 GMT).

Basically, if you sign up for web hosting right now, you will be paying less than I am for amazing service! Can you imagine having your own website for less than $2.50/month?

I would suggest buying the longest term possible, so you can lock in this amazing deal for years!

Again, click here, or any of the other 50 links  ;-) in this post to check out this deal! Here is the plain link in case the embedded links don’t appear in your email or reader: http://knsfinancial.com/go/hostgator/

Filed Under: Blogging, Deals Tagged With: adwords, customer service, dedicated hosting service, host service, hostgator, hosting, hosting plan, internet hosting service, reseller hosting, reseller hosting plans, reseller web hosting, shared hosting, shared web hosting service, siteground, virtual private server, web host deal, web hosting, web hosting deals, web hosting service, world wide web

Financial Blogger Conference (#FinCon12) Swag Giveaway

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

So, it’s been a month since we came back from the Financial Blogger Conference. If you remember, I shared with you what I learned from FinCon12 about a month ago, and now, it’s time to give away some of the conference swag!

Here is what will be included:

  • 4GB USB Flash Drive
  • Wireless Mouse (With Batteries!!!)
  • The Sound Mind Investing Handbook (a guide on investing using biblical principles)
  • Universal remote
  • Hard plastic drinking cup with plastic straw
  • Tote bag
  • Stylus pen
  • Smartphone screen wipe (sticks to the back of your device)
  • Small note book and pen set (leather-ish)
  • Sports bottle
  • FinCon12 notebook
  • Small flip notebook
  • 2 Bags of jellybeans
  • 2 wire organizers
  • 3 Pliable Canteens
  • 2 bottles of hand sanitizer
  • Calculator with clip
  • CreditCards.com Book of Cartoons

Here is a picture so you can drool (click to make it larger)…lol!

KNS Financial Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the official rules (yes, I stole most of them from Crystal;-))…

  1. The contest is only open to contestants living in the Continental USA and Canada
  2. Contest ends October 22, 2012 at 11:59pm EST.
  3. The winner will be selected randomly and notified by email by October 24, 2012.
  4. The prize will be held for 2 calendar days. If it isn’t claimed, a new winner will be randomly picked and contacted.
  5. I reserve the right to reject comments that I consider spam or invalid entries.
  6. An invalid or incorrect email address automatically disqualifies you from the drawing…it’s hard to contact a fake email…
  7. Local laws, rules, and regulations apply.

Filed Under: Blogging, free Tagged With: fincon12, free, giveaway, giveaways

How To Start A Blog: My Advice To Beginning Bloggers

By //  by Khaleef Crumbley

This post is a part of the Beginner Blogger Challenge hosted by Passive Income To Retire. The point of it is for “experienced” bloggers to give a few tips to those who are just starting out or who are looking to start out.

Because I know a number of people who are looking to start their own blogs/websites, I will try to make this a “how to start a blog” post as well as tips. If you have any questions, just leave a comment below.

How To Start A Blog

Many of these points are things that I wish I knew about when I first started. Doing these things from the beginning will save you a lot of time, frustration, and even money!

Own Your Blog

When you start blogging, you have a choice on what type of platform you will use. There are websites which will allow you to have a page (or pages) within their preexisting site. The big three are Blogger, Tumblr, and WordPress.com. If you are on one of these sites, whatever happens to them (hacked, bugs, shut down by government, etc) happens to you!

Also, they can shut down your space on their site whenever they feel like it (especially with Blogger). This is why I recommend that to anyone who wants to have a blog to establish their own website first! Here is how you do it:

Buy the Domain – I recommend using GoDaddy (I’ve purchased over 30 domains through them and have never had a problem). Once you decide on a domain name (this is a very important step), head on over to Godaddy (this is an affiliate link – meaning that I will earn a few pennies, at no cost to you, if you use it) and make it yours. They also have a great search feature that will let you know if a name is taken, and if so, what the closest available alternatives are.

Buy Hosting – Once you buy a domain, you have to have a place to store (or host) all of the files for your website. I have used Hostgator for nearly 3 years now and I love them! They have great prices – I pay about $6 or $7 a month, and I have about 30 websites hosted with them! They are also known for their reliable systems (my website has only been down twice since I’ve been using them), and great customer service – they have forums, an instant chat service, and a toll-free number.

If you use the coupon code “KNSFINANCIAL25” (with no quotes), you will receive 25% off of your order! So be sure that you sign up for a couple of years in order to take full advantage of this sale (it only applies to new accounts).

Install WordPress – WordPress.org is where you can find the version of WordPress that you can install on your private site. This is the most popular blogging platform (and is also used to create full websites), and it is completely free. They also have tons of plugins, themes, and basic support in order to make your site run as smoothly as possible!

Permalink Structure

This is the term that describes what the URL (or link) will look like with each blog post. When you first set up your blog using WordPress, it will make the links to your blog posts look like this instead of http://knsfinancial.com/taxes.

Now, which one would you rather deal with? It’s pretty easy to tell what the second one is about, and it is also easy to type, and say.

There are also other benefits, which are beyond the scope of this article.

Decide If It Will Be A Business Or Hobby

When you are thinking about how to start a blog, you need to know this right away. If it is a hobby, then make sure that you keep it fun, light, and don’t allow it to take over your life or your bank account. However, if it is a business, then you can evaluate each purchase on the basis of its value as an investment.

You should organize and present yourself as a business – this may mean spending time and/or money investing in a professional design, using emails from your own domain (instead of Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail), and spending time creating and refining a system of organizing files, contacts, wishlists, etc.

I would also recommend that if you see something that you want to use for your site, but it costs money, you buy it and start using it right away – if it’s worth the investment. Trying to change platforms, especially from a free, under-supported product to a more robust professional one can be a big headache. This is especially try when it comes to building an email list!

Learn/Understand The Basics Of SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the art/science of writing and marketing a website, page, article, or even photo, in such a way that it comes up as one of the first choices when someone uses a search engine and types in the word or words that your item is about.

There is no point in doing all of these other things if no one knows that you are out there. Also, for many websites, the readers that come from search engines tend to be the ones that bring in the largest revenue.

Be Organized & Have Structure

Even if you start out with the idea that this is just a hobby, you need to be organized. Create subfolders in your email inbox, use a task list, share documents over the web so you can keep track of your ideas and other things.

Also, the way that you structure your website – categories, tags, posting schedule, pages – should be organized as well. Your readers will find it much easier to follow your story if you are organized.

Network With Others In Your Niche

The best way to learn about organizing your blog, trends, plugins and other software, affiliate programs, SEO (including targeting the right keywords), tricks, free tools, and everything else related to blogging, is to talk to people who are already doing it. Actually, that is the point of this “Beginner Blogger Challenge” – people who have been doing it, writing tips and lessons learned for the benefit of those who have less experience!

I have “met” – actually I did meet a lot of bloggers in person at the 2011 Financial Blogger Conference – a lot of great people by trying to network. I was amazed to find out that there are more than a dozen Christian personal finance bloggers…I thought I would be alone! I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t started to comment on the one or two blogs that I found, and then started to develop relationships with the writers and other commenters as well.

By networking, you can also find people who can help you with things that are outside of your expertise. I know nothing about coding, but there are quite a number of people who do in the Yakezie network, and so I know where to go when I have coding questions. Whenever there is a subject that I know pretty well, I try to lend my expertise as well – the definition of effective networking!

Support Others

Part of networking is supporting other bloggers and organizations. The point of doing this isn’t just to see what you can get out of people, but it’s a way for you to extend yourself and help people. Even if it is just giving feedback on a site redesign, the help of other people who are going through (or have already been through) what you are doing is so important.

Be willing to share what you know with others and don’t expect anything in return.

Here are 4 questions that everyone who participated in this “challenge” had to answer…

Q&A Time:

1) How long have you been blogging?

I have been blogging for about 2 years. I’ve had this site for longer than that, but I didn’t use it for blogging (actually, I’m still not sure if I do now).

I initially started off by posting bulletins and announcements from the IRS, and also adding other information to my tax guide. It took about 4 or 5 months for me to start writing consistently, and also to broaden out my topics to more than just taxes.

2) Why did you start blogging?

I was bothered by all of the people that I came across who knew nothing about personal finance. I started the website as a way to provide organized information that would help people gain control of their finances.

I want people to be able to find answers to their financial questions without having to wade through all of the garbage and attempts to sell something, which flood the internet!

3) How long did it take you to earn $100?

It took about 6 months to earn my first $100. After about a year the income became a little more steady.

I honestly didn’t know that it was possible to make money with a blog or small website, so I was shocked when I found so many people making more online than I do at my day job!

4) What is (at least) one thing you wish someone had told you before you started?

I wish I would have treated this as a business from the very beginning. I would have viewed spending money as making investments, and I would have saved a lot of time and energy, while making a lot more money!

I wasted time by trying to go the cheap route and then upgrade to the better option once I started making enough money. That’s not the way most businesses operate! There needs to be an initial investment in capital and manpower in order to get a business off the ground – the same is true with a blogging business.

photo by digitalart

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: advice, blog, blog marketing, bloggers, Blogging, communication, computing, domain names, getting started, how to start, human interest, own website, owning, start, start blogging, website host, wordpress, world wide web

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Copyright © 2022 · Mai Lifestyle Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in