Courtesy Bobbi brown

Bobbi Brown is the founder and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.

Bobbi Brown turned her passion for natural makeup into a successful business, launching her now-famous line in 1991. Here, she writes about her key tips for how anyone can do the same with a smart idea. 

I’m often asked what advice I would give to someone looking to start their own business. I started my company with ten brown-based lipstick shades created to fill a void in the market for simple, flattering and wearable makeup. To start your own business, you need an idea, followed by tons of passion and enormous amounts of hard work. You need to trust your gut – you have to be hard-headed and have selective hearing in regards to the negativity that come from other people. This is not something you'll learn in school.

Make a decision by feeling, not by thinking. I do almost everything by feeling – from hiring a baby-sitter to developing products.  For me, it’s never about what market research shows. If you have something that you believe in, it doesn’t matter what other people think. Get it to market – it’s really important to be first to market – and figure out a way to tell people about it. I was lucky because I was first in my niche. I wasn’t the first cosmetics company, but I was definitely the first with natural colors designed by a makeup artist.

Be true to your vision and do things with integrity. My philosophy has been and still is the same as the day I first went into business – not to change what a woman looks like, but to make her look like herself, only better. I believe in telling a woman what’s right with her, rather than what’s wrong with her.  And I also believe 100 percent in the products that I create.  From start to finish, every product has to reflect my ethics and aesthetic.

Along the way, I’ve learned a few things that have really made a difference in the path that I’ve taken: 

• Follow your dreams and passions. Have a vision of where you want to see yourself and figure out a course to take you there. 
• Don’t take no for an answer. If one door closes, look for a back door or a side door. 
• Have long term goals – and mini goals.  Don’t get overwhelmed – it won’t happen overnight.  Always have a plan and re-evaluate it regularly. 
• Work on your craft, network, and always be nice. Hard work and niceness come back to you.
• Do things with integrity and always look people in the eye when you talk to them.
• Hire people who are great at what they do and let them do it.  Don’t micromanage.  It’s important to learn how to delegate.
• Listen to your heart – not always to your head. Instinct always leads us in the right direction.
• Prioritize and balance between the details and the big picture.  Take moments to step back to clear and refocus your perspective. 
• Take care of your personal well being – exercise, don’t smoke and drink lots of water.
• And finally, remember this: life is not a dress rehearsal, so do it 100 percent.

For the Everything Cheaper special hour, TODAY asked viewers to tweet @TODAYshow your top tips to save money via the hashtag #MySavingsTip.

Seventeen of the best ones are highlighted below, and find all of your responses here. 

Everything Cheaper on TODAY.com:
Video: Save with apps that make everything cheaper
Chicken challenge! Feed a family of 4 for less than $12 
Video: Upcycle! Save worn-out furniture from the trash
Video: Willie’s biggest spending regret: Big-screen TV

By Sharon Epperson, CNBC personal finance correspondent

Giving a gift to charity may be your greatest gift of the season — and it doesn't even have to lighten your wallet. When it comes to charitable giving, I follow my father's wisdom. He always said charity should follow the "three T's" — giving of your time, your talent and your treasure. Here are some ways to do just that:

Share your bounty by volunteering your time
Of all the festivities associated with the winter holidays, many people look forward most to a big holiday meal. There's probably a food bank in your community that could greatly use your time to help prepare and serve food over the coming weeks. FeedingAmerica.org can help you find a food bank in your neighborhood.

Offer your professional expertise "pro bono"
Calling all doctors, lawyers, accountants, nutritionists, teachers! No matter your profession, if you have an expertise, volunteer your talent for a good cause. The website, idealist.org, is a great place to find volunteer opportunities to share your experience.

A treasure worth giving doesn't have to be a cash gift
You can donate appreciated stock and mutual funds. You can even donate airline miles or credit card reward points you've already earned.

Claim a tax break for charitable gift
If you do give something from your bank account, it can also give a little back to you in the form of a tax deduction. Check the IRS website to find out if the charity you are thinking of donating to is a tax-exempt organization, to make sure your gift will qualify for a tax deduction. Generally, to deduct a donation, you must itemize your deductions. Once you make the donation, keep a record. For contributions of $250 or more, you'll need written acknowledgment from the charity. Make your pledge before the end of the year for the donation to count for 2012.

Research the charity before giving
Non-profit organizations may use their moneyin a variety of ways. Guidestar.org and Charity Navigator.org rate charities based on several factors, including the organization's financial health and efficiency. You can find out how much of the money goes to the organization's stated cause versus overhead, fundraising, and other costs. Maximize your gift's impact by taking the time to find how the charity gets and spends its money. You want to ensure that your gift is used in the way that you intended.

More from CNBC:
Taxing Charitable Donations?  Then Tax Volunteers
Don’t Get Rid of the Charitable Deduction
Are the Brits Less Charitable Than Americans?
Charity is Charity, Tax-Wise

Carolyn Kaster / AP file

A seller works on her hat display at a yard sale. Such sales are one of many ways you can put extra money in your wallet.

So, you're looking to make a little extra cash?

As a parent, any additional income you bring in for your family will definitely be put to good use for, say, a college fund or rainy day savings. You may also need extra bucks for shoes for your toddler, who outgrows hers like she's getting paid to do so.

Because we're probably a little bit too old for lemonade stands, we had to look elsewhere. And guess what? Nowadays, with ubiquitous smartphones and laptops, the easiest ways to earn extra cash are accessible to everyone at the click of a button.

Learnvest.com: The 10 worst interview questions (and the 5 best)

To help, we hunted down apps, opportunities and projects and chose nine "extracurriculars" that are particularly flexible in nature, so you can earn some cash while the kids are at school ... or maybe even bring them with you.

Download apps

Apps aren't only fun — they're income!

Easyshift is an app that lets you moonlight as a "mystery shopper." When you go on your regular errands, you complete tasks for retailers' research departments like taking pictures or answering a few questions, and you get paid ($2–$4 per task) for the privilege.

Learnvest.com: 10 money secrets of happy moms

Other apps for extra cash include WeReward and Field Agent.

Multitask your errands

Have you heard of TaskRabbit? It's a website (and app) that lets you outsource chores to willing parties. If you're one of those willing parties, you can earn some extra cash doing anything from picking up groceries to assembling IKEA cabinets.

Use your car

If you have a reliable car (and some great driving tunes), consider bringing in some extra money from a car-sharing service. Services like ZimRide let you sell seats on trips you're already taking for as much as $25, and services like Relay Rides let you rent out your car at your chosen price for the hour, day or week (and provides free insurance).

And what about parking? If you have it, you can rent that out, too, with Parking Panda.

Baby-sit

Almost everyone has dabbled in baby-sitting at some point, but the job only becomes more lucrative as you grow older and are able to offer more skills, like driving, cooking or CPR certification.

Websites like SitterCity or Care.com are great resources for matching sitters with families.

Learnvest.com: Why you aren't actually poor

Charging $12–$15 per hour is pretty standard, but to figure out how much is appropriate for your age and experience, use SitterCity's Babysitter's Rate Calculator.

Spread your availability by speaking with your child's teachers, any friends who work in your community and with real estate brokers, who may work with families with small children who are new to town. If possible, you may even consider an arrangement where you can watch children at your house; it's a built-in play date for your own kid!

(Prefer watching four-legged cuties rather than two? Petsitting.com has you covered.)

Sell your clothes

Another way to finance your habit might be cleaning out your closet — and your child's. It's doubly beneficial: You can clear clutter and make some cash at the same time.

Learnvest.com: The science of spending: What really makes us happy?

Start by choosing high quality pieces from the current season without any visible wear and tear. Make sure they're clean and folded, then bring them into your local consignment store.

If it's easier, take well-lit pictures of the pieces and list them on a site like eBay or Dresm, a site specifically meant to facilitate sales of used clothing.

Tutor

Do you have a masters degree in engineering? Are you a whiz in the kitchen? Do you know the ins and outs of Photoshop?

Any skill someone else wants to learn is an opportunity for you to teach it. Depending on experience and whether or not they join a larger organization, tutors can bring in up to $50 an hour (in cash) teaching out of their own homes, or visiting their students (who could be both children and adults).

Learnvest.com: 8 things that aren't worth the money

In addition to advertising in your community through standard newspaper ads, Facebook posts and fliers in the library, consider applying to be a tutor on sites like Tutor.com, the Princeton Review and Kaplan.

Take online surveys

If you spend hours surfing the Internet, what's a few extra minutes spent taking a paid online survey?

Websites like Free Paid Surveys or Opinion Place allow you to make money from the comfort of your home. If you're looking for something more interactive, list yourself as available for focus groups by joining FindFocusGroups.com.

Become a style entrepreneur

Style blogs don't have to be a guilty pleasure. Instead, they can be the inspiration for a side job as a "style entrepreneur."

StyleOwner is a free site that lets you create your own store by choosing items from a “Master Closet” of more than 2,000 brands. When your friends — sent that way through your tireless efforts on Facebook, Twitter and emails, no doubt — buy from your store, you earn 10 percent on everything you sell.

Host a yard sale

With the right curatorial skills, yard sales can be a lucrative way to make extra cash. To get the most traffic at your yard sale, advertise on Craigslist and in your town newspaper, and consider coordinating with your neighbors to hold a group sale.

If you're lacking a yard (or half-decent weather), there's also the option of hosting a virtual yard sale: The app Yardsale lets you connect with neighbors and friends without setting up a single folding table.

Looking to unload your home? Trying to buy a new one? Everybody knows that "cozy" means shoebox-sized and "lively" means that the neighbors will probably keep you up with their jug band, but what about things like "American style" and "kid-friendly"?

Real estate expert Barbara Corcoran came by to be your realtor-to-English translator.

Unique = Bad news. Decorated or built by oddballs.
Needs a little TLC =  It's falling apart.
Kid friendly = It's a mess.
American style = ANYTHING. Basically, that the house is "in America" and potentially decorated in poor taste.
Country living = It's in the middle of nowhere.
Home office = The toilet is in the middle of the living room.
Move-in condition = Please move in, let's go, we need money and the house has been ransacked.

Ever end up checking out something scary because you didn't see through the advertising lingo? What's your craziest open-house story? Tell us in the comments.

Julieanne Smolinski is a TODAY.com contributor. She has lived in a lot of "unique" places.

More: Want to look better in pictures? Just look to the left
21 of the most annoying pet peeves, ever

Reuters

“You *@$$%^ make me want to ride a bicycle!”

OK, so it wasn’t my finest moment. My husband and I had been shopping for a new car for months, and it seemed as if we were being waylaid at every turn by a combination of car shortages and dealer annoyances.

The first part was understandable: We began car shopping in earnest last February, and our indecision really hurt us when the tsunami struck Japan in March. After that, it was not only difficult to find the cars that we wanted, but nearly impossible to get a reasonable price for what few cars there were around.

The second part was not so understandable. It seemed as if we were constantly being misled.

A dealer would tell us he could get us the vehicle, only to call back or e-mail back a day or two later to say that, sorry, it would take longer or cost more or would just be a completely different vehicle than we’d discussed. We’d negotiate a price only to find that the price had risen, or the car had been sold out from under our noses.

I began to feel the same way I felt one time when I moved across country and my things were delayed because the truck driver’s grandmother died. Twice.

By the end of summer, months after our car saga had begun, my mother showed up for a visit. Her instructions were simple: If I didn’t buy a car this weekend, she’d never talk to me again.

OK, that wasn’t quite what she said. But her meaning was clear; she’d had enough of this particularly annoying version of car talk, and also had had her fill of being scrunched between two car seats and an endless supply of cracker crumbs in the back seat of my current vehicle.

Three days and hours of negotiations with about a dozen car dealers later, it seemed we had struck a deal. We came home Sunday evening triumphant, only to have the dealer call me Monday morning to say that, sorry, the price had gone up by $500.

I at least had the sense to walk into a sound-proof room, and close the door, before I let loose with my loud, expletive-filled tirade, which ended with me telling the car dealer I’d rather bike to work.

At that moment, I honestly could care less whether I bought that vehicle. But I knew one thing: I wasn’t going to spend $500 more for it. In fact, I wasn’t going to spend $1 more for it.

About an hour later, the car dealer called back. I let it go to voice mail. An hour after that, the manager called back. I let that go to voice mail, too.

By the time we walked out of the car dealership that evening, we had the car we wanted at the price we’d originally set.

I don’t recommend my version of shopping for a car. All that rage can’t be good for you, and I can think of many things I’d rather have spent those many hours doing than negotiating with car dealers. Like scrubbing my bathroom floor, or doing my taxes.

But the experience did teach me one thing: If you’re going to go to battle for a new car, it’s best to come with weapons.

Here are 10 tips for buying a new car. Thanks to Consumer Reports, Edmunds.com and others for providing me with these helpful hints.

1. Be prepared: Before you go to the dealer, read up on the car you are interested in and any competitors. Web sites like Edmunds.com and Consumerreports.org offer a bevy of information and reviews, as well as tips on pricing. Consumer Reports also recommends that you don’t wait until you are planning to buy to test drive the vehicles. The more you know about the vehicles you’re interested in, the less sway your dealer will have.

2. Take it one step at a time: There are lots of elements that go into buying a vehicle: Choosing the car, deciding on extras, working out the financing, selling your old vehicle. As Consumer Reports notes, many dealers will try to mix all these things together in the negotiation process. Their advice is to get the best price first, then work on other aspects of your purchase.

3. Arrange financing separately: You may be able to get a better deal on financing through your bank, credit union or other service. Make sure you at least explore those options before working with your dealer on financing.

4. It may not be worth it to trade in your old vehicle: Our dealer offered us a laughably low price for our old vehicle. When my husband said that he expected about double that, the dealer replied, “But that’s the retail price!” Well, yes. Use websites like Kelley Blue Book to figure out what your car is really worth, and then find a buyer who will pay you that.

5. Don’t be rushed: A friend sent me this great video of a Seattle man named Rob Gruhl offering tips for buying a car and not getting screwed. His advice is you should never, ever, ever buy a car right after the first test drive. You may want that car more than anything in the world, but make yourself walk away and think it over. Take a few days or even weeks. Chances are, you’ll end up with a lower price.

6. Get the best price:Insurance companies, consumer groups and auto clubs all offer services that help you negotiate the best price. Edmunds.com has a feature that tells you not only what the difference is between the invoice price and retail price, but also what the fair market value is in your area. Use all these tools and then talk to a number of dealers before you settle on price.

7. Pit car dealers against each other: Gruhl recommends calling a number of car dealers and asking each one to get you the best price. Tell them that whoever gives you the best deal will get your money that day.

8. Get your deal in writing: If you’re negotiating by phone or e-mail, ask the dealer to e-mail you all the vehicle details, including VIN, specifications and – most important – price. That will help you compare prices accurately and make sure that, when you show up at the dealership, you actually have a car to buy.

9. Beware of sneak attack fees: Dealers may throw in all sorts of last-minute fees. Make sure that your dealer includes the “walk off the lot” price in the bid, with all fees, taxes and licensing included.

10. Be skeptical: Remember, this isn’t a popularity contest, it’s a competition for the best price. As I told one dealer, “I don’t have to like you to buy a car from you.” Make sure you double-check everything they say, ask any hard questions that come to mind and be prepared to walk away, or hang up, if you aren’t getting what you think is a fair deal.

What are your tips for getting a good deal on a new car? Share them below.