Earn Passive Income From Home

How to open a US bank account as a Canadian

2011-10-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

by JadeDragon on July 19, 2011

Assemble your documents. You will need to prove your identity, citizenship and residency. Your passport and drivers license should do this. Bring a home utility bill for good measure.Decide WHERE you want your new bank account. It is easiest to deal with US bank branches in border towns. They are used to opening accounts for Canadians. Branches far from the border areas may give you serious hassles because the staff just do not know what to do with a non-resident customer.Decide WHAT KIND of bank account you want. A savings account will pay a little interest but you will not be able to write checks. A checking account might be more useful. Compare account features and fees before settling on a bank and account combination. You will need to open the account in person, but set an account opening appointment by phone to ensure you will get the best service. Be sure to leave plenty of time for potential border delays.Inform the bank as to what account type you want. Provide all your documentation at your appointment. Fill out all the forms completely.Consider what other services might be useful now that you have a US bank account. Safe deposit box for valuables you may not want to cross the border with? Direct deposit of US source income like dividends? Would a US based credit card save you exchange fees?Tagged as: investing, Lifestyle Design

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Travel Hacking Tips

2011-10-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

Many people interested in making money online do it so they can be free to travel more (not tied to a desk!) Here are some useful resources that help reduce travel costs or increase the enjoyment of travel.

Stay for Less: This site offers a platform for homeowners to rent out rooms, apartments, houses, boats, castles or whatever to travelers. They claim to be in over 180 countries now, with thousands and thousands of accommodation options. You can browse the offerings (referral link) and book your next vacation on the easy to use site.

Make Money With Your Real Estate: I’ve also started using AirBnB to promote some of my own properties with some success. The site is really good because you can set your own price (including different prices for different dates and lengths of stay) and you can upload lots of photos and details. The site deals with collecting the money and sending it to you just as the guest checks in. The guest pays a guest premium, the host covers the credit card fees. All very slick and easy to use. My main beef is that you have to administer each property separately which is a pain if you have a number of units.

Make Money with Your Network: Currently AirBnB is rewarding people with travel credits who invite their friends. They make it easy to invite via Facebook or email address book too. If you have a good friend network you could quickly earn enough to stay free for your next trip. This promo is good for people interested in using Facebook and Twitter to earn some free travel. Please go join via my referral link and than invite your friends with your referral link.

Internet Marketing: For the more sophisticated internet marketer AirBnB also has a more traditional commission based affiliate program. It currently offers reporting on earnings, clicks, and unique clicks over various time periods. Payments are monthly. No third party affiliate marketplace is involved in this direct program.

They offer this interesting widget to use on your site:

as well as various buttons (banners) and handy affiliate link generator.

For those interested in collecting airline miles, FlyerTalk can’t be beat. The forum includes hard core travelers discussing the intimate details of different airline, hotel, car rental and other frequent user programs.

There is extensive discussion on using credit cards to accumulate miles and which cards are best and where to find promos.

There is a whole area devoted to Mileage Runs – taking cheap flights to “who cares where” for the purpose of racking up miles, segments and program status. FlyerTalk defines Mileage Runs or MR as “A series of flights taken in a very short amount of time, solely for the purpose of accumulating frequent flyer miles, with a blatant disregard for the destinations.”

Lots of other interesting discussions as well. The only disconcerting part is that reading some of the discussion is tough for the uninitiated due to all the specialized terminology and abbreviations. Look under Help for the Glossary and the Airport Code Lookup to help make sense of it all. Membership is free and you can even join via Facebook login. Site seems to be advertiser rather than directly user supported.

I intend to update this travel hacking post (click to get to the updated post on InnovativePassiveIncome.com if you are reading on another site) from time to time. Your comments are welcome – what are some great resources you have found?

Tagged as: Lifestyle Design, Travel

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How to Invest in Cemetery Plots for Profit

2011-10-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Would you pay $4.6 million to be buried above Marilyn Monroe? It’s available and the price is all about location. (see Resources section below)

Cemetery Plots are a unique class of real estate to invest in. The price is low compared to traditional real estate investments and the profits can be huge for you can easily double or triple your money over and over.

Yet by selling at a discount to the cemetery manager price, you will also be helping out families in need save money.

You can get started with just a few hundred dollars and some research time.

(This article is copyrighted by its original author. Short excerpts with links are welcomed, but please do not repost the article itself. Thanks.)

Difficulty: Moderately ChallengingResearch time to understand your marketA little free cashAdsBasic Market Research: Look carefully at the market for cemetery plots in your local area. You need to be able to answer these questions before investing a dime:a) What local cemeteries exist?c) Who controls the plot sales in each local cemetery?d) Can a person buy plots pre-need?e) Can a person resell the plots?f) Are there any restrictions on who is buried in each cemetery or section of cemetery – military, religious, fraternity or similar?When you can answer these questions you can move on to detailed market research.Detailed Market Research: Focus on the cemeteries that your research shows sell plots pre-need and allow reselling of plots. We will call these our target cemeteries. Do the following additional research:a) Obtain a plot plan map of each target cemeteryb) Obtain a price list for each target cemeteryc) Ask the cemetery manager about buying plots on the secondary market.d) Determine what is required to transfer a plot and get copies of the transfer forms for each target cemetery.Organize the info on all the remaining target area cemeteries and even expand on it by answering step 1 questions so you can understand the competition for your investments.On the Ground Research: Walk each target cemetery with the plot plan and the price list. Your goal is to understand what the market value of each section is. Views, trees, fountains or other features and density of graves may all be factors in price. Walk through a few times (you need exercise anyway) until you really understand each target cemetery.Like all real estate, prices will depend on location, location and location. Premium locations sell for premium dollars. Since the resident is dead and can’t enjoy the view, it might be hard to understand why location is so key, but it is.Finding Inventory: Find people who have bought one or more plots, but do not want them anymore. These are classic “don’t wanters” in real estate speak. The reasons people might want to sell a cemetery plot parallel traditional real estate and include:a) Divorce – would you want to rest next to your ex for eternity?b) Remarriage – it seemed like a good idea to be buried with my former husband but after 10 years with new husband that plan fell awayc) Moved out of area – makes no sense to ship a body back to the old townd) Financial distress – some people could use the cash to live now rather then tie up cash in dirt to be buried in.e) Desire to be cremated instead.You can find prospective sellers by:a) advertising on free sites like craigslist (use the target cemetery names to get found much easier)b) networking with divorce lawyers, pastors, moving companies, and especially the cemetery managementc) watching for cemetery plot for sale ads in the paper or online classified spotsd) accessing one of the cemetery plot resale web sitesMake the Deal and help out the sellerBuying Inventory: Buy inventory once you really understand market prices, have the maps and on the ground knowledge of your targets, and have the transfer contract examples ready to go.Talk to prospective sellers about their desires. Be genuinely sympathetic especially since the plot seller might be financially distressed or emotional about the plot.Offer a fair price, considering that you are buying an asset with limited liquidity. 33% to 50% of the price similar plots sell for at the cemetery office should be about right. If required, explain it may take time to find a buyer and that you have to compete with the easy answer of buying direct from the cemetery office.Understand why the client wants the plotIdentifying and Understanding the Client: Identify and understand your clients. Cemetery plots are unlike most products. No one walks up saying “I need to go buy a cemetery plot today” The plots you buy will be ones that were bought through a visit from a salesperson offering pre-need insurance packages, or were bought as companions to a plot bought at need.Your market is people who need a plot to bury a loved one who just died. These people are like distressed over the death and have an urgent need your plots can full.Marketing Inventory: Find buyers for your inventory. They say you should buy real estate by the acre and sell it by the foot. selling in 6 foot sections is taking that advice to the extreme.This is the tricky part. Some ways to find buyers.a) Online or print classified ads. If you are really going to do this business you need to establish a presence in the same spot in the paper. People will see the ad and do nothing, but when they need a plot they may just grab the paper and call you.b) By establishing relationships with funeral directors. The funeral director could be you number one source of leads. Give cooperative directors some business cards or a little brochure to hand out. You might even be able to create a marketing partnership where a funeral director will sell plots on your behalf.c) Look at what the cemeteries are doing for marketing, and go one better. If you have multiple cemeteries in your inventory, advertise that you offer choice in location.d) Join online databases to drive traffic and buyers your way.e) Set up an attractive website promoting the cemeteries you are focused on and offering plots for sale at a savings over “going direct”.f) Consider offering related services like memorial stones, urns and plaques.Enjoy Short and Long Term Profits: Enjoy the rewards of your investments. If you buy up a lot of well located plots and you establish an effective marketing program, you will have good cash flow as you turn over plots to families in need. You should be able to double your money or better.Longer term, your unsold inventory will appreciate in value, maybe a lot, as the cemeteries raise their prices and as the desirable areas you bought in sell out and fill up.Check local and state laws carefully. In some places it is illegal for persons in the cemetery business to resell lots. This consumer protection can work in your favor because it limits the cemeteries from buying back plots and competing with you for supply.Buy carefully and be prepared to wait for your clientsPerhaps you can buy a section of a cemetery at a big discount, then improve it with plants and other features to increase the plot value?Increasing numbers of cremations are reducing the demand for cemetery plots. Be aware of this trend and see if you can diversify into urn wall spots.Careful that the perpetual care fund is large enough to care for the cemetery. You are looking for a worry free real estate asset where someone else cuts the grass.Tagged as: investing

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Can You Make a Full Time Living Online?

2011-10-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

Many people ask if they can make a full time income online. The answer is that many people can actually make a decent living, maybe even get rich online just as in the offline world. If you are considering your transition to the digital economy, consider these three methods of making a living online.

Become a Freelance Writer for Hire

Many people simply don’t have the skill or the time to write what they need written to support online efforts. They may be attempting to generate advertising revenue, or marketing some product or service. If you are a skilled writer there is a of work out there.

Sites like Demand Studios, Wisegeek and others will pay approved writers to produe articles starting with preselected titles. All the WiseGeek articles titles are in the form of a question, while Demand Studio’s has a stable of websites they produce content for. Both sites have a writer selection process. Expect to be paid between $4 and $15 per short article.

Constant Content is a better choice, though the rewards may not be as immediate because you submit articles and wait for buyers to purchase them. You set your pay rate which should be much more than than Demand Studios pays. For example I recently sold a 750 word article on a specialized topic for $150 at Constant Content. It was a topic I know all about, so zero research time went into that article. It did take a few months for the right buyer to arrive though. A nice little bonus is that authors who join based on your referral get 5% of your sales, out of the site’s site of the sale. I say little because with over 150 referred authors this has netted me just $38 so far. I obviously recommend Constant Content because I believe in it and I make money selling articles there, not because the referrals are very profitable.

Become a Professional Blogger

Blogging is not a get rich quick plan, but if you start, maintain and promote a focused blog after a while you will amass enough content, backlinks, pagerank and Alexa rank to get your blog noticed. Once your blog gets noticed opportunities will start coming your way and advertising starts to pay off.

Investigate good resources to help you build a better blog and monitize that blog. Innovative Passive Income is one resource (check out the resources page here for all kinds of ways to monetize a blog). Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income blog is another great resource of ideas and tools.

Become an Internet Marketer

Becoming an internet marketer is pretty straight forward, but pretty challenging at the same time. This post on 10 steps to make a living online details some key considerations as you embark on a quest to make money online as a marketer.

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How to Get a Second Citizenship and Passport

2011-10-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

by JadeDragon on July 14, 2011

Learn how to acquire, or uncover a second citizenship

(This article is copyrighted by its original author JadeDragon. Short excerpts with links are welcomed, but please do not repost the article itself. Thanks.)

Computer for ResearchCreativityLots of TimeThere are a number of paths to gaining a second citizenship and the passport to prove it including:-Immigration to another country-Proving decent and claiming citizenship through your parents or grandparents-Economic citizenship through investment-Acquiring citizenship through your spouse, child or other close relative.-proving a preexisting second citizenshipImmigration to another country will be time consuming (3 years or more). Many countries do not allow immigration or make it extremely difficult (for example China and Japan essentially do not allow immigration).It is possible to immigrate to some very attractive first world countries such as Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Carefully research the types of immigration available to you and your family for each target country. The USA uses a lottery system and other methods to select immigrants. Canada has a point system. Canada also allows provinces to nominate investors, business people, and technical persons for immigration. Each immigration friendly country has specific programs so check each program out carefully.Proving citizenship through your parents or grandparents may work well if they immigrated from somewhere else. A number of countries recognize descendants of current or former citizens as either current citizens or potential citizens. Ireland for example, has welcomed many people with an Irish parent to take up citizenship. Italy also gives special consideration to descendants of its citizens, especially since so many left following WWII.The proliferation of new countries in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans, and changes to regimes in other countries contributes to the possibility that you might be able to claim a second citizenship in a country that may not have even existed when your parents moved.It might also be possible to have your parent or grandparent claim a second citizenship, then claim that citizenship through them. Think several levels deep if this applies to you.A number of (typically small) countries offer citizenship through investment. Sometimes this is through buying real estate, sometimes through investing in a government sponsored fund, other times it might be placing cash in a bank for a period of time. Nevis and St Kitts is one, Panama is another that offers a fast tracked economic citizenship. Many countries offer Permanent Residence status that can lead to citizenship in exchange for a large investment, including Canada, Malaysia and others.There are many brokers and web based business fronts offering access to “secret information” on these economic immigration programs. Be very careful selecting someone to help you. It will be best to do your own research and then hire a reputable law firm in the target country to help you.Consider all the citizenships in your immediate family. An American spouse can sponsor you into the USA or another country (some people even fake marriages to do this, but that is not wise). Could your child born while you lived in Canada help you become a Canadian? Have you adopted a child from abroad? Would marrying your long time partner give you access to another citizenship? Each person’s options are going to be unique, so consider what family ties you have.Maybe you already have a second citizenship and don’t realize it. Were you born in a second country different from where you live? Did you acquire a citizenship by marriage? Does a parent have a second citizenship that you inherited? You might already have a second citizenship and all you need to do is apply at the appropriate embassy or consulate for your second passport with the required supporting documentation.Each country makes their own rules for who is a citizen. These rules change from time to time. For example, Canada changed its citizenship laws in 2009 with the effect that several hundred thousand people became Canadians overnight.

Hopefully this article has given you some ideas on where to start looking for a second citizenship. Good luck as you explore your citizenship options.

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Marketing Credit Card & Financial Products: The Pros & Cons

2011-10-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

Mike, who wrote this guest post, is the creator of CreditCardForum.com.

A patriarch of a famous political family, Joseph Kennedy once said “If you want to make money, go where the money is.” Well, if you’re a blogger looking to make money I will tell you where it is… in the banking industry! If you’re good at it, banks will pay you top dollar for the marketing of mortgages, credit cards, loans, etc. As someone who started a leading forum for credit card reviews, I will let you in on the pros and cons of making money in this niche.

Pro: You have plenty of options (and they work for most sites)

Even if you don’t have a blog about personal finance, I see no reason why you can’t advantage of these opportunities. Simply put, there are such a wide array of financial products available on the affiliate channels, I’m sure you can find at least a few that will work for your site, regardless of the niche you are in.

Let me give you an example: I know someone that has a website for plastic surgery message boards. Now you’re probably asking “How on earth can plastic surgery be related to financial services?” Well those cosmetic surgeries cost money and people need a way to pay for them, right? So what that webmaster did was setup a page to promote 0% credit card offers. Then when someone posted on the message board asking “how can I pay for my nose job?” or “where can I get a loan for my tummy tuck?” she would direct them to the page that featured the 0% cards.

Want more examples? Well if you have a blog about cooking, throw up a banner ad in your sidebar for a credit card that gives extra rewards at grocery stores. Do you write about travel? Then promote hotel and airline credit cards. In fact, if you have a popular travel-oriented site, banks may actually pay you an extra monthly fee for that banner, on top of the commissions you earn. Case in point- Chase pays me an extra monthly fee for featured placement of the Continental Airlines credit card on the forum.

The bottom line is regardless of the niche you’re in, there’s a good chance you can find a way to weave in financial products/services for some extra income. Here are several great ideas for how to present your affiliate links to readers.

Con: Banks are picky about the accuracy of their products/services

Probably the biggest drawback of promoting financial products is that you have to constantly keep the offers and details up-to-date. For example if the interest rate, signup offer, or rewards program changes for a given credit card, you are expected to update it immediately. And of course those things do change all the time, so you have to constantly make updates.

However this site is about “passive income” so I would like to share with you a strategy for marketing financial products in a more passive manner. First of all, if you don’t want to have the hassle of updates all the time then don’t write mortgage, loan, or credit card reviews. Instead, just slap up some banner ads for them. Why? Because banner ads usually don’t mention the nitty-gritty details like APRs, reward program details, etc. so you won’t have to change them nearly as often.

Pro: The commissions on financial products are usually high

More often than not, the amount of money you can make on converting traffic is quite high. For example, many credit cards will pay $50 or more per approved application. Those geared towards travelers like that Continental Airlines credit card I mentioned pay even higher. For credit score monitoring services, from my experience the payouts typically range from around $10 to $30 per conversion. In today’s post-recession era, I don’t personally know anyone currently marketing mortgages or car loans so I can’t tell you the numbers on those, but you can bet they aren’t too shabby either.

So let’s say you have a banner for a credit card that pays $50 per signup. If 1 out of every 20 clicks convert, then that’s $2.50 per click… probably more than the average amount you would be earning per click with Adsense, right? Of course I’m not claiming that route will always beat the ad networks but you should experiment, because sometimes it does and ultimately that means more money in your pocket.

Con: Due to the economy, credit and loan approval doesn’t come easy

Back during the heyday of say, 2007, banks would approve anyone with a pulse! Obviously that all changed with the financial crash and now in order to get approved for most credit/loans, you need to have stellar credit. For example, back in the day I remember people with score in the mid 600’s getting approved for credit cards like the Chase Freedom and now, I hear stories of people with relatively high scores in the mid 700’s that get denied. So nowadays the conversion rate is definitely lower than it used to be.

Pro: There are products/services not dependent on creditworthiness

Okay, so it’s probably not the best time in the world for me to be operating a site for credit card reviews, but luckily, there are other products/services I can market that are not dependent on having good credit. I’m talking about all the offers out there for credit scores, credit reports, credit rebuilding, and debt management. These are great alternatives to explore during economic times such as these.

The bottom line

Don’t get angry at the banks for getting all that bailout money during the recession. Instead, why not profit a little bit from it yourself? As long as your site isn’t in a sketchy niche (where the banks don’t want their ads) I bet there’s a good chance you could incorporate offers for one or more of the financial products I’ve mentioned on your blog for some extra income.

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How to Get Rich Quick (or Not)

2011-10-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

We all dream of becoming fabulously wealthy quickly. Here are 5 popular get rich quick programs with nearly guaranteed results.

InstructionsA little cashDesire to Make Lots of Money QuicklyPlay the LottoBuy Lotto tickets. You can’t win without a ticket, and the more tickets you have the better your chances. So go and acquire a lot of lotto tickets, then check your numbers until you win big. Then you will never have to work again!Biggest Advantage: This is the easiest way to Get Rich Quick because it involves no real work of any kind by anyone.Biggest Disadvantage: The chances of winning the lotto are excessively poor. You have a 99.999999% chance to become a BIG LOSER with this strategy.Gamble at the Casino. All the benefits of the Lotto Investment Strategy PLUS lots of lights and bells when you strike it rich at the slots. It is far faster then Lotto tickets too – no waiting around for a weekly draw. You will know in seconds if you have stuck it rich, or of you have to feed the one arm bandit another offering of your hard earned money to really hit the big time.Biggest Advantage: Instant feedback and the ability to try again and again until you run out of cash. Cheap buffets are a close second on the advantage list.Biggest Disadvantage: Chances of running out of money are high. If you win, you will be tempted to reinvest until you lose it all.Sign up for the hottest MLM and wait for the big bucks to roll in! You can almost count on big weekly checks of residual or passive income. Diamond awards, pink caddies, and all expense paid vacations to paradise are just bonuses.So call all your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, acquiescences, and hangers on to insist they join your new independent business empire.Biggest Advantage: You can sit back and let all your friends and family do the work (at least the ones who will still talk to you after you launch your MLM business).Biggest Disadvantage: Mom will not take your calls and forget anymore holiday dinner invites.Start a small business with no barriers to entry. Look for something that requires little cash and no training. Watch the big bucks roll in as you do nothing but sit in your underwear at home because you are the boss!Biggest Advantage: Little cash, no training, easy to get going.Biggest Disadvantage: If you don’t know what you are doing, or no one wants your product or service things will go slow for you. Low barriers to entry will allow others to get in on your action.Get in on wholesale prices to make the big markups. You can compete with Walmart – just cut out the expensive retail store and forget the fancy websites. Your garage will make a great sales site right. Buy in volume, store and sell. What could be easier.Biggest Advantage: You will never need to buy your chosen product again.Biggest Disadvantage: No where to park your car for the next 10+ years.Tip: Don’t take these ideas to seriously – none of them really workWarning: Try these ideas at your own risk.Warning: Don’t quit your day job because you will need it more when you make it through all 5 steps.Copyright 2010 by JadeDragon. Do not copy this article – that would be stealing.

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10 Superb SEO Tips

2011-10-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

Having your website be the first result on Google’s search page is an honor so great it’s been called the Holy Grail of SEO. (If you’re wondering who called it that, it was me, just now.) Many new bloggers sit in wonder about how to even approach that coveted spot, and most never do.

As mysterious and elusive as a higher SEO ranking is, however, it is definitely possible. In just 10 easy steps, you (yes, you!) can watch your site’s ranking rocket through the charts.

Don’t be afraid to bold a few keywords here and there. Granted you don’t want to abuse the tags, but a couple times on each page will help boost your ranking.Never have all your links go to your homepage. When a search engine sees this, it thinks that your site is vapid, fraudulent, using links that are automatically generated, and basically a cheater. The more pages you can link to, the more convinced a search engine will be that every page is full of amazing content, and not just fluff.Consider acquiring a business address in a foreign country. If you can get your site in a foreign directory, you’ll get more hits from the search engines.Like, Follow, and +1 your way to the top. Social networking widgets and bookmarks are a powerful tool that you should take advantage of. Search engines consider social network links valuable; the more bookmarks you can get, the higher ranking you’ll get.Get with the ‘zines. Writing articles for ezines is a great way to generate very reliable, and almost permanent links to your page, which will boost your SEO ranking a lot.Picture links are not worth a thousand text links. An SEO algorithm follows the first link it finds, and will not follow more than one link per page—and guess which kind of link it will find first. If you guessed picture link, go to jail, and do not collect $200.Compartmentalize your life. (Or maybe just your websites.) If you find that your website, be it a blog, business page, or otherwise, covers a wide variety of topics, think about building a second, or maybe even a third, website to generate more links, traffic, and ultimately, SEO cred. Also, search engines only list one result for every page. If your page is broad in thematic scope, you might not be getting the hits you deserve because your website is too broad to be highly searchable.Do Unto Others… Post an article on someone else’s page (preferably on a website that is thematically linked to yours) and have them include a link back to your site, and then let them post an article on your page, and you include a link back to their site. Mutually beneficial, and it will make you feel like a winner.Give a title to everything, even links. There isn’t much more to say about this one, other than that some SEO algorithms use link titles as variables.Give the guys who are looking for you a map. A site map that is. Especially if your site is expansive, a site map will enable the SEO algorithms to find any page on your site in just two clicks.

So now, with these 10 tips, you can begin your quest for the Holy Grail again—only this time, you’ll be better armed than King Arthur himself.

Author Bio:

Stella Walker is a freelance writer of credit score where she writes about topics including credit, debt, investment, bankruptcy.

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Can You Make a Living Online? 10 Steps

2011-10-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Many people ask “Can I make a living online?” The answer is… it depends. I know, not what you want to hear, but read on. Making a living online requires a few keys:

1. Making a living online is some combination of running your own business and freelancing. You need to understand some basic business concepts or you will never succeed (or if you find success through dumb luck, you will not be able to sustain it).

2. There is no boss online so you must be self motivated. If you need a time clock or someone to tell you what to do forget it – stick to a work for hire job.

3. Find something you love to do, a topic you care about. If you don’t believe in and love what you do life is drudgery. If you don’t love it, you will not stick with it. Also, lack of passion will show in your work and the monetary results.

Sure there are topics you could tackle that are not glamorous (marketing financial services anyone?) but every topic can be spun to be interesting somehow.

4. Be helpful. People don’t want to be sold, they want to be helped in the journey to buy. Provide great information and link to useful info, rather than pushing what you are selling. The benefits are many:

-others might link to or “like” your content helping out. There are SEO benefits to links and likes.
-visitors will feel more at ease.
-you deliver value to people and they than feel more comfortable buying from you. Blogger Pat Flynn exemplifies this principal as he delivers top quality informative content and only works in affiliate links to useful products he recommends, never hard selling them. Readers feel like rewarding Pat and he makes a very good living online.
-More quality informative content brings search engine traffic.

5. Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to jump into online business out of necessity. This blogger in Malaysia found that blogging pays more than engineering when he had trouble getting a job in a recession so he started a freebee site and than grow other web properties.

6. Learn about the tools to succeed online. Here are some places to start:

-There are many websites that share revenue and are great for building backlinks from.

-Autoresponders and mail programs are great for managing mailing lists

-Unique online content marketplaces like Constant Content are great for sourcing high quality content for your projects. Odesk is another great source for inexpensive help on your projects – no need to learn to build a website when you can have a nice website whipped up in India for $50 overnight.

7. If cash is needed faster, consider working for others freelancing as you develop your own passive income (from online properties) sources. Some places to start:

-(Constant Content is also a good place to earn money writing)
-Odesk is a fantastic freelance marketplace
-Demand Studios – I don’t recommend them, but many writers have some success here.

8. Find a good horse and ride it. This is what one of my early online inspirations WriterGig did, building up a very nice residual ehow income. When you find a good plan that works for you, wash, rinse and repeat – in her case hundreds of short ehow articles.

9. Never stop exploring new opportunities as you continue on a quest to earn a living online,. The online work is constantly changing and what works today might not work tomorrow. It might also work better tomorrow – you just never know. eHow died as an residual income opportunity, but WriterGig had already developed skills in niche sites and other areas she could make even more money from.

10. Have fun and always keep learning! Earning online is like a big puzzle, the scope of which keeps changing. Keep exploring and learning and you too will become an expert on earning online.

Tagged as: blog income, blogging, Smart Passive Income

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Tips To Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt As Quickly As Possible

2011-10-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

We welcome a guest post on personal finance today from Jeff Weber.

If you are like millions of Americans, more than likely you have a stack of credit card bills reaching into the thousands of dollars. No matter what your reason for the unpaid bills, these debts can play havoc on your life causing you to lose sleep, deal with stress and even fight with your partner. If you are ready to be rid of your debt once and for all and reach financial freedom, you will need to make tough decisions and numerous sacrifices. If you do, you just may be surprised at how quickly you can see results. Here are some tips to follow if you are looking to tackle your credit card debt and get it paid down quickly:

Stop Spending Money And Stop Using Your Credit Cards

The first step to paying debt down quickly is to stop spending money except for absolute necessities, and to stop using your credit cards to pay for additional purchases. This may not be easy but it is totally necessary if you are serious about tackling your debt at a fast pace. This means no more meals out, no more stopping for coffee on the way to work, and instead brown bag your lunch and invest in a refillable mug for the coffee you make at home. Making small sacrifices like these now will pay off big over the long term – once you are debt free, you will have more disposable income and can resume allowing yourself these little luxuries.

If you can, you might consider moving high interest credit card balances to a 0% APR balance transfer credit card. Look for cards that offer 0% interest for six months or more, and with low balance transfer fees to save the most money.

Cut Everything Out Of Your Budget Except For Essentials

This is a tough one, but one that can also free up a lot of money to pay down your debt. This means canceling your cable, getting rid of your cell phone or home phone and keeping just one line open, canceling magazine subscriptions, gym memberships and basically removing absolutely everything from your life that is not required. These are not essentials and the amount you save by taking them out of your budget can easily add up to hundreds of dollars each month. These funds can give you a great start at paying down your credit card debt. When making these sacrifices, keep in mind they are only temporary! Once you have your debt paid off, you can slowly decide which of these non-essentials you want to add back into your life. Just make sure that as you add the cable television or other expenses back in, that you can easily afford to pay for them with cash rather than charging them to credit cards – or you’ll just start the cycle all over again.

Get A Second Job

While it may mean long hours and even more sacrifices like time away from your family or friends, the sooner you get your debt paid off the sooner you can achieve financial freedom and remove all the negatives in your life that are related to your credit card debt. A second income can make a huge difference in how fast it takes you to pay off your debt. Get a night or weekend job waiting tables, delivering pizzas or freelance something you are talented at doing. Make sure the money you earn from this second job is applied directly to your debt to help pay it off quickly – it can be tempting to reward yourself with a big night out on the town when you get your check from a second job, but this is just defeating the purpose.

Sell Big Ticket Items That You Could Do Without

Many of us have big ticket items sitting around that we really do not use often. If you have big ticket items in your possession, maybe it is time to consider selling them. Boats, jet skis, snowmobiles – these items can all bring in some fast money to help pay down your debt. Additionally, just cleaning out your house and having a yard sale or listing items on eBay or Craigslist can bring in additional money that can also be helpful in your financial goals.

Jeff Weber writes about saving money and reducing credit card debt with 0% APR balance transfer offers at SmartBalanceTransfers.com, a website designed to educate consumers about balance transfers and credit cards.

View the original article here

What I’m Reading Right Now – Stand and Deliver

2011-10-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have a couple of speaking gigs coming up in the near future:

A presentation at the Financial Blogger’s Conference in Chicago in early October, andA presentation at Blog World Expo in Los Angeles in early November.

I’m very honored to be speaking at both of these wonderful events, and although I’ve spoken in front of large crowds before, never have I made a live presentation about what I do online.

Over the past 3 years, my experience online has taught me the best way to deliver a message to my audience via a blog, in a podcast and on video. I know there is always room for improvement but I think I have a good grasp on how to effectively teach and communicate to groups of people on these platforms.

A live presentation is a whole new ball game and I’ve always been extremely admirable of those who present themselves well in a live setting. Actors, politicians (some of them), stand up comedians, teachers, and several of my peers in this industry who have been doing the live speaking thing for a while.

They are all incredibly inspirational, and I want to master the craft just like they have.

Truly, this can only come with experience, but as with anything we want to learn how to do, we can give ourselves a head start by properly educating ourselves about what we want to achieve.

DJ Duty, a friend on the SPI Facebook Page, sent me this message the other day (thanks DJ!):

Stand and Deliver looked like a good read, so I purchased it on Amazon and within 16 hours the book was delivered to my front door.

I’m about half way through, and I must agree – it’s a fantastic read!

Dale Carnegie is one of the greatest public speakers and lecturers of all time, and after reading what I’ve read so far, not only do I understand what makes a presentation great, but I’ll be able to use a lot of the same principles to communicate better online and in life too.

I won’t go into much detail here, but what I really love about Stand and Deliver is that it sort of breaks down a good presentation into a science. As they say, becoming a good communicator isn’t a gift – it’s a skill that anyone can learn, and this book reveals the methods, strategies, tips and tricks to learn that skill.

I’ve had a lot of “oh yeah!” moments while reading this book – things that I’ve noticed in presentations before that have really made an impact on me.

I can’t wait to see what I pick up from the book and how it translates into my presentations.

One of the exercises in the book involves learning, emulating and getting inspiration from great speakers that seem to just connect with us, for whatever reasons that may be.

In an attempt to learn as much as possible and continue my research, I would love to hear who your favorite speakers are, and why. If you have links to any YouTube videos or TED videos or whatever – I would very much welcome them in the comment section below.

Please note that comments with 2 more more links must be approved manually, so please insert a link to just one of your favorites.

Thanks for your support, and look out for my August monthly income report going live on Monday!

Cheers, and don’t ever stop learning.

Tagged as: communication, public speaking

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What We Don’t Know Can Drive Us: My Experience with Uncertainty

2011-10-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

“Uncertainty must be present in the quest to create anything deeply meaningful to you as the creator and, should you choose to seek value from others in exchange for your creation, to the world.” – Jonathan Fields

A lot of people ask me the following question:

“Pat, when you were laid off and decided to do business for yourself online, how did you know it was going to work?”

The answer is, I didn’t.

But that’s why I think it worked.

The fear of not being able to provide for my family and the fear of not knowing what was going to happen next gave me the drive to take action and go above and beyond my normal self to make something special happen.

Without the catalyst of fear and pressure, I would not be where I’m at today.

Think about that.

Fear – something that we as humans typically try to avoid – was an important ingredient in my success, and it’s an ingredient that we see in a lot of other people’s success stories too.

One story that truly spoke to me was a story from Jonathan Fields, a brilliant author and entrepreneur who I met briefly last year at Blog World Expo 2010 in Las Vegas. I really got to know him when I watched his 20 minute TED presentation, Turning Fear into Fuel, which I’ve embedded for you below.

After watching this I became very inspired, but it’s also when I realized just how important a role fear played in my own success story too.

Jonathan recently contacted me to see if I’d like to take a look at his upcoming book, appropriately titled: Uncertainty – Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance.

To be honest, I get asked to read other people’s new books all of the time and review them here on the blog. 99% of the time I say no and often I just don’t have the time, but since I already knew and respected Jonathan and his work and this particular topic of taking leaps of faith and going into the unknown is very personal to me, I was happy to accept and read a free copy to review.

I have seldom recommended books here are on the blog and there are only a select few that I would actually count as required reading – The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk and Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath – and I would absolutely add Uncertainty to that list.

We all know that the unknown can paralyze us and just stop us from doing the work that we need to be doing in order to reach our goals. In this book, Jonathan shows us how to harness that fear and actually welcome it and use it to our advantage.

A lot of it has to do with our mindset, obviously, but the book also reveals exercises and actions that we can take that will bring us to a level of certainty and confidence to move forward create.

There’s a chapter that I especially like called “See the Forest” that really struck a chord with me because it talks about balance, and what happens when things get in our way and the questions that enter our brains like whether to keep going, change course or just give up and start something new take up most of our energy.

Jonathan, if you’re reading this thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and allowing me to get an early read of your book. It’s very different from the other books I’ve talked about on the blog before, which is why I speak highly of it.

The book comes out on Thursday, the 29th of September – but you can pre-order it at the discounted price off of Amazon if you wish.

That’s not an affiliate link and I don’t receive any kind of compensation if you purchase this book. The only thing I did receive was a free copy to review and I would not write this post if I didn’t feel it was a book worth reading.

It’s always good to read a good book, and I’m always happy to pass along the good ones that I’ve read to you.

Have a great weekend everyone!

One more week until the Financial Blogger’s Conference, and if you’ll be in attendance I can’t wait to meet you there!

Cheers!

Tagged as: books, uncertainty

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Reader Challenge Roundup: Mini-Product Creation and The Next Challenge

2011-10-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” – Bernice Johnson Reagon

Every few months, I challenge you, the readers of SPI, to do something specific that will take your blog, business or brand to the next level.

In November of 2010, I asked you to write a Pillar Article, which yielded 51 posts, over 200 hours of writing, tens of thousands of additional visitors to your blogs and one person even landing a book deal.

In January of 2011, I then asked you to write a List Post, which resulted in 1,003 “things” in a total of 63 posts that were shared (and are still being shared) all around the web.

In March of 2011, I then asked you to step out of your comfort zone and publish a YouTube Video. There were 44 participants, most who have never before recorded or published a video in their life. The most viewed video now has over 15,000 views since then and is ranking #1 in YouTube for its particular keyword. I love it!

In May, I asked you to do something a little different that would take a lot more time to produce, which is why I waited so long to publish this roundup post.

I asked you to create a report, document, white paper, manifesto or mini-eBook about anything related to your industry, niche, website or business, and it should be given away for free.

My goal was to get you to do a few things:

Show you that you can (and should) do a lot more than just write blog posts.Help you get into a product creation mindset.Help you gain more authority in the niche you’re in.Help you get more subscribers if you are building a list.Give you the push you need to do it.

To those who participated, I’m very proud of you and your accomplishments.

It takes a lot more than just content to produce something like this. There’s also all of the graphical elements, the delivery mechanisms, and of course, putting it all together.

We had about 20 submissions that I’m happy to feature below:

Healthy Ways for Stronger Days: 5 Quick and Nutritious Recipes by Nathan from Non-Stop Awesomeness

The Affiliate Research Formula by Steve from Noble Affiliate Lifestyle

What’s Stopping You? from Cara of 17,000 Days

The Daily Focus Pad from Ken at Destroy Distraction

Business That Can Change the World – The What and Why of Social Entrepreneurship by Justin from Impact Your Business

How to Be Happy by Mike of How To Be Amazing

Time Blocking 101 by Kevin at You’re Making Me

For Oily Skin by Ramy of For Oily Skin

Website Creation for Absolute Beginners by Robert of Website Tool Tester

Understanding the Risks of Spread Betting UK Shares by David of Trading Simply

Wedding Slideshow Planner by Harlan of Wedding Slideshow Ideas

Niche Sites for Beginners by Mike of Penny On the Floor

5 Easy Money Experiments by Jimmy & Pete of Niche Experiments

The Newlywed’s Guide to Budgeting by Tim of Faith and Finance

Get a Life That Doesn’t Suck by Benny from the Get Busy Living Blog

Don’t Envy the Successful Entrepreneur – Become One! by Sam at Grad Money Matters

101 Tips for Becoming a Productivity Superstar by Timo at Timokiander.com

How to Network and Sell More Effectively by Sandra at Into3d.co.uk

Get Out the Vote to Win by Ben at Get Out the Vote to Win

Earn Your First 1000 Dollars With Affiliate Marketing by Momekh at LifeETC

I didn’t have time to read through all of them – there’s a TON of content here – but I did read the descriptions of each and was very pleased with what I saw. I encourage you to download anything that might be of interest to you.

Investing time to write eBooks the Smart Way has definitely paid off for me, and I know it will do the same for the action-takers and go-getters that were featured here today.

As promised, I’m awarding two prizes to the pool of participants – one $50 Amazon.com gift card to a random entry, and then one $100 Amazon.com gift card to someone that I choose.

Congratulations to Kevin from YoureMakingMe.com who was randomly selected to win the $50 gift card, and congrats to Tim from FaithandFinance.org for being selected to win the $100 gift card.

I want you to write a post that incorporates a story – any type of true story that teaches something to your audience.

Stories are one of the most powerful marketing tools because when we read or listen to one we can actually relate to the situation and feel exactly what the storyteller is feeling. Even my favorite teachers were the ones who told the most stories.

Stories are powerful, engaging and memorable, and when combined with online business the results can be out of this world.

Check out the story I share on How to REALLY Profit From Your Blog and you’ll see exactly how a story can enhance the information you want to share with your audience.

So that’s it – write a new blog post (on or after September 16th) that incorporates a true story that teaches something valuable to your readers. Send me an email through my Contact Page and make sure you write READER CHALLENGE at the top so I can catch it.

You have until the end of October to send me a link to your published post, and since I expect a lot more entries this time around I’ll be giving away three (3) $50 Amazon.com gift cards to 3 random participants.

Write a story, write an even better headline, teach a lesson to your audience and send me the link by the end of October. I’ll feature it here on SPI in the next reader challenge roundup post.

Cheers, and have a great weekend!

Tagged as: mini-product, reader challenge, stories

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Blackout, Unplugged, Passive Income

2011-09-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday around 3:45pm, the power went out in our house. I thought it was just us, but after checking Facebook on my iPhone I saw that all of my local friends had lost their power too. I soon learned that the blackout spanned from Baja California all the way up to southern Orange County.

Then, apparently, the cell phone towers went out and I couldn’t get online at all anymore.

I was totally unplugged from the online world, and to be honest – it was really nice!

As a result, I wasn’t able to get to my regularly scheduled blog post (that’ll go live on Monday), but I wanted to write this short post to tell you about what did happen.

First, I realized just how much we all take things for granted. The ability to just turn a light on, open the garage with a push of a button, check an app that tells us the score of the football game – we don’t realize how awesome things are until they aren’t there anymore. It made me appreciate the time we do live in and all that we have the ability to do (when the power is on, lol).

Side Note: If you haven’t seen Everything’s Awesome and Nobody’s Happy, I recommend that you watch it. It’s 4-minutes long and it’s hilarious. Louis C.K. is awesome.

Secondly, when the hours kept passing by and the power still hadn’t turned back on, it made me wonder what would happen if the power was out for days, or even weeks. What if there was an emergency and we had no water (we still had water during the blackout, fortunately) and what if food ran out. Based on what we have in the house we could probably survive for a few days, but that’s definitely not enough to feel safe about. It’s always better to be safe than sorry and with a family to take care of I have to really make sure we have the ability to survive in case of an emergency.

I should catch up on my Man vs. Wild survival skill training.

Side Note #2: During the blackout we were listening to the radio and heard somebody talk about a store that was up-charging for bags of ice, obviously taking advantage of the situation to earn a quick buck. I couldn’t believe it, and whoever made that decision should totally be ashamed of themselves.

What if they gave away the bags of ice for free instead? Do you think that would leave a better impression on the people who received the bags of ice (and everyone else who heard about it)? I’m sure people would be extremely thankful and find ways to pay them back many times over later on – but some people don’t see that and always want the quick buck, unfortunately.

Anyways, after our son went to sleep my wife and I had the rest of the evening to ourselves. We popped open a bottle of wine (Ecco Domani, Chianti) and just sat on the couch with some candles nearby and chatted. No television and no internet to distract us – it was the best. The nice thing is that you don’t need to be in a blackout in order to do that, and we enjoyed it so much that we’ll probably do the same thing again in the near future.

Lastly, when I woke up this morning the power was finally back on. I wasn’t as anxious as I thought I would be to turn on the computer and check my email, so I just had some breakfast with my son and then we played for a bit until I finally checked my email on my phone.

It was nice to see that while the power was out I had earned over $600 in passive income from several of the various income streams I have working for me. It’s a great reminder that once things are set in place, one doesn’t have to be totally active (traditionally directly trading time for money) in order to earn an income.

And if you haven’t done so already, I recommend listening to SPI Session #25, which is currently the #1 podcast episode in the entire Marketing and Management section of iTunes!

Thanks again, and I hope all of my fellow San Diegans survived the blackout.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cheers!

Tagged as: passive income, unplugged

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My Monthly Report – August 2011

2011-09-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my August 2011 monthly report!

Each month I write a detailed report about what’s been happening with my online businesses. I do this not only to help me keep track of my progress, but also to show you what’s working for me, and what isn’t.

I also include a detailed breakdown of the income I’ve earned online and I conclude with some of the more important things I’ve learned during the previous month.

I do all of this because I want to be transparent. I don’t consider myself a “guru” and I use my own experiences, experiments and case studies as my teaching tools.

I hope you enjoy this month’s report

August was an incredibly inspirational month for me.

Not only because I achieved record breaking numbers in both traffic and income for several of my online properties, but also because I heard and shared a number of other success stories from people who are making an honest living online in industries outside of the make money online industry.

Here are links to these amazing stories in case you missed any of it.

In addition to that, my proposal to speak at Blog World Expo 2011 in Los Angeles was accepted! I’ll be speaking on the monetization track and as most of you know, I have a pretty non-traditional take on monetizing a blog so it should definitely be an interesting presentation.

I’ve been preparing and practicing my presentation skills already – keeping in line with the advice I learned in Stand and Deliver – which I highly recommend even if you don’t plan on ever doing any public speaking. The skills and tactics it teaches, which are almost scientific and mathematical, can be applied to several aspects of business and life.

Security Guard Training Headquarters

For those of you new to SPI, I recommend you check out The Niche Site Duel to see exactly how I built SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com from scratch.

Security Guard Training Headquarters is doing extremely well since the theme was updated a month ago. Adsense earnings hit a record high, the traffic has consistently been growing and I’m starting to get more emails about advertising on the site, which I have yet to take advantage of, unfortunately.

I am taking baby steps, and for administrative reasons I filed for a DBA (doing business as), primarily to setup a separate Paypal account that will make and accept payments under the name of the website. Currently, if I were to use my primarily Paypal account, it would be tied to GreenExamAcademy, which wouldn’t make a lot of sense. This isn’t required, but for me I like to keep it all separated, especially if I’ll be accepting recurring payments from companies for advertising.

I’m currently exploring a service from Adpeeps.com which would allow me to create my own ad management system on the site. I’ll save the details, once it’s up and running, for a future post.

As far as keywords are concerned, I’m still ranking #1 for security guard training and am ranking high for several other relevant keywords too, including armed security guard training, security officer training, security guard classes, security guard gear, and security guard.

I’ve noticed, however, several other copycat websites spring up as of late that don’t rip off my content 100%, but they’re pretty darn close. I knew this would happen – it was only a matter of time – but for those of you who keep asking me to disclose some of my other niche websites, this is why I don’t do that.

I would be okay with this if these sites actually added more value to the content that I had already published – that’s how we all should be approaching niche site marketing and our competitors, but sadly, they don’t. Google has consistently mentioned that creating high value content that other websites will naturally link to is the best way to show authority for a particular keyword, so if these sites want to outrank me that’s exactly what they’re going to have to do.

There’s no easy way in, and of course how fast you climb Google depends on a number of factors including strength of competition, the quality of content on your own site, the quality of backlinks pointing back to your website, on-page SEO, etc. – but the truth is you have to earn your rankings, especially if you want to stay there for a while.

iPhone App Stuff

My business partner is in a middle of a move, our developers are a little slow, and as a result we have no new applications to launch like we had hoped. As Benny’s app success story showed you, this is definitely not an overnight success kind of thing.

I’ll keep you posted if anything new comes up, but I just wanted to be honest and upfront with you – nothing new here.

Our current apps are still live and still earning for us.

Smart Passive Income

A few things to announce.

First, the SPI iPhone Application is doing really well. I launched it mid-July to make it more convenient for iPhone users to consume my content (blog, podcast, etc) and it’s proving itself to be very useful.

AppFlurry showed that the app has been used over 20,000 times, primarily to listen to my podcast, which is awesome.

For android users, I was about to get one built until I saw someone had created an unofficial SPI fan android app.I don’t have an android phone so I can’t tell if it works, but the screenshots look great and thank you to the developer for building it for me. It should serve as a good temporary fix until the official one gets released – maybe at the same time the iPhone app gets updated since there may be some new features installed.

Secondly, the SPI podcast climbed back into the top 20 business podcasts in iTunes (at the time this post was published)!

Thank you all so much for your kind words about the podcast. I really love recoding it and I can’t wait to come out with the next one in a week or so.

I also have some updates about the email subscription rates since I made changes per Derek Halpern’s conversion advice. Look out for that detailed information in an upcoming post.

Finally, I want to tell you about the WordPress Plugins I’ve been working on, which I haven’t mentioned in a while.

As you know, I tell you about my failures as much as I do my wins – and my idea to build premium WordPress plugins completely flopped.

Actually, the ideas are still good in my opinion, but the execution was terrible. I am usually pretty good to sticking with projects I’m excited about, but several things got in the way – both internal and external to the specific plugin projects – and I just had to put this particular adventure on hold for now.

Sometimes, that’s exactly what you have to do.

One of the plugins was actually built, but it did not turn out like I had hoped. This is partly the developer’s fault, but probably moreso my fault for not communicating EXACTLY what I wanted to see, which is something you have to do when outsourcing work like this.

The second plugin was half built, and like I said I just had to put it aside for other things.

Was I in over my head?

Maybe – but not because it wasn’t something I can’t do – it was just something I couldn’t complete and focus on at that moment.

All that said, I am more prepared if I do get back to it and know exactly what to expect.

Okay, let’s get to the numbers…

Disclosure: many of the links below are affiliate links that will earn me a commission if you purchase through them. If you do, I absolutely appreciate it and if you have any questions about any of the products or services please let me know!

Also, please note that these are figures from reports from each individual company for the previous month. It does not necessarily reflect the actual payment which, for some of the companies listed below, come 30 to 60 days later because of potential refunds.

GreenExamAcademy.com Product Sales: Total: $3,423.40 (includes affiliate products) Last Month: $2,979.90
Difference:+$443.50
SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com: Adsense: $1,487.32Job Board: $11.07Total: $1,498.39 Last Month: $1171.29Difference: +$327.10 (design change for the win!)
Other Google Adsense (includes other niche sites, YouTube and infobarrel) Total: $393.63 Last Month: $410.43Difference: -$16.80iPhone Applications: Paid Apps: $2,198.00
Free Apps: $756.75
Total: $2,954.75 Last Month: $3,461.67Difference: -$506.92Gross Total in August: $34,034.40 Last Month: $32,851.84Difference: +$1,182.56Expenses: $4,779.58 Major expenses this month include booking hotel for Blog World Expo, virtual assistants, hosting account for SPI (dedicated server), new accounting software and expenses while in Boston for a client meeting. Net Total in August: $29,254.82

(Click here to read a typical monthly expense report which breaks down where time and money is spent)

Another awesome month, and it’s fantastic to see consistent growth all around the board.

As I mentioned in my last report, I’ll be the first to admit that a good chunk of my income comes directly from this blog, mostly from the products that I offer as an affiliate (about 20% of the income listed under “affiliate income” does not come from this blog). To be honest, it was never my primary intention to make money from this site. My primary intention was and will always be to help other people understand how businesses and blogs work on the internet, and for them to be better at it after reading, watching or listening to my material, which all comes from the wins and fails of my own real-life case studies and experiences without pushing or promising anything.

I know that I’ve created a wonderful resource here on SPI with a ton of free information about all kinds of things related to online business and blogging, and the fact that people are kind enough to offer me something in return – whether it’s by going through an affiliate link, encouraging me to create a product of my own to sell, asking me for mentorship or advice, or even just thanking me for helping them earn more money online or get more traffic to their website, I am extremely grateful for and I will continue to give back with valuable content and my experience in return.

In August, I was reminded about the power of the spoken word.

While preparing for my upcoming presentations at the Financial Blogger’s Conference and Blog World Expo, I’ve been watching and listening to a number of speakers recommended by several of you in my last post.

I’ve watched and listened to over 20 presentations and have learned quite a bit about what kinds of things work and what kinds of things don’t, but what resonated with me most while watching each of them is just how engaged I was, as a listener, as if I was hanging on to almost every single word and the way every single word was said.

There’s really nothing like hearing someone’s actual voice. There’s a connection – something almost tangible to attach to and be reminded of later on.

This is why I believe all bloggers who want to grow should utilize their own voice for their brand.

I recommend reading Are YouTube Videos and Podcasting Worth the Effort?

Another thing I learned is that inspiration is everywhere, you just have to look for it.

The online business success stories I shared this past month totally blew me away, and based on many of your comments you were inspired by them too.

There were some common themes throughout each of the stories we heard:

Their success did not happen overnight, even Benny’s iPhone app success story. Yes, his app blew up like crazy a week after it was introduced to the app store, but it took him a long time and a lot of frustration to get the thing designed and just right. Time well spent indeed.They each got into their businesses wanting to fulfill a need that other people had, or a gap that needed to be filled.They were all very passionate about what they were doing, primarily because it related to something that was related to their own lives and experiences.

When I think about these three things, it reminds me of my own story too.

Of course, inspiration is awesome, but what you do when you are inspired means even more.

And the last thing, which is the most important thing of all – is:

Don’t forget to enjoy life!

I have to remind myself of this every once and a while and I know many of you could benefit from that as well.

I was in Boston for a few days to help out a client, and when I got back it seemed like my son was so much bigger. It was only a few days, but it’s crazy how fast they grow up. He’s counting, talking, starting to say the alphabet - before I even know it he’ll be wearing a backpack and going to school.

That short little trip (I don’t leave the house often) made me realize how short and precious life is, and how we shouldn’t waste any second of it. Always try to enjoy what you’re doing, no matter what.

Thank you all for your support, and I wish you all the best!

Tagged as: monthly reports

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SPI 025 : More Online Business Success Stories from People Who Don’t Teach People How to Make Money Online – Part 2

2011-09-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

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In this session of the Smart Passive Income Podcast, we continue what we started in SPI Session #24 and bring in 4 more fantastic and inspiring success stories from people who are making a living online and generating a passive income without having to teach others how to make money online.

As I mentioned before, many people think that the only way to really make a living online is to talk about making money online, but these interviews prove that you don’t need to do that.

Jordan Cooper of FM Britain - Some of you might already know Jordan Cooper. He has a blog at NotAProBlog.com and you may have read his guest posts on Problogger or Copyblogger. What you probably didn’t know about Jordan (I didn’t!) is that he generates significant passive income from a website in a niche totally outside of the blogging world that involves a video game that I’m sure most of us in the United States have never heard of before. He’s a stand-up guy (and comedian!) who offers some golden advice in this interview.

Cara Faus of Health Home Happy - Cara’s success story is definitely one to admire. She’s not making millions, but she’s changing several lives and is able to support her family while doing so. In this interview Cara shares how GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) and her daughter inspired her to create a membership site that is helping hundreds of people – primarily through her own grain free meal plans.

David Risley from PCMech.com – I’m sure many of you know who David Risley is. His website at DavidRisley.com consistently provides some of the most useful blogging and make money online advice on the web.

“But Pat! I thought this session was about people who make money outside of that industry! What’s the deal?!”

The reason I included David in this series is because like myself, like Darren Rowse from Problogger.net, and like most of the other people I know who run successful websites that teach people how to blog and make money online – he first had success (and built proof) outside of this niche, and I recommend that anyone who wants to teach people how to make money online to do the same first.

David shares his journey from the beginning which eventually led him to his very profitable blog at PCMech.com, a technology-based website for normal people.

David being David, he shares some awesome advice for those of us who are just starting to get our feet wet online.

Cornelius Fichtner from Cornelius-Fichner.com (among other things!) – I met Cornelius right when I was first starting to do business online. We are both members of the Internet Business Mastery Academy and I’ve been hooked on his story ever since. It’s been long overdue, but I’m really happy to have Cornelius on the SPI Podcast because he’s doing extremely well online. In the interview, he also shares a HUGE mistake that he made when he first started out that he cannot undo. Those of us doing business online, even if we have a business already, should definitely not miss what he says.

In each of these interviews, we talk about:

What they were all doing before they started their online businesses, and when and why they decided to go online.Monetization techniques.The stuggles they experienced while building their online businesses.What they each love most about doing business online and earning a passive income.And more…

A big thank you to all of the guests on today’s session for their stories and inspiration!

Oh, and just for fun, there’s a surprise guest appearance during this session – a 5th guest – someone who is a very very very special to me.

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Thank you so much for your support, and if you have yet to leave a rating or review, please leave me an honest one on iTunes by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it!

Enjoy the show!

Cheers!

Transcript:

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Tagged as: podcast

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I Will Be Speaking at Blog World Expo LA 2011!

2011-09-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

A month ago, I submitted a proposal to speak at the 2011 Blog World & New Media Expo in Los Angeles later this year.

Last week, I learned that my proposal was accepted!!!

Sometime between the 3rd and 5th of November at the LA Convention Center, I’ll be conducting a presentation and I can’t even describe how excited I am!

It’s weird to think that exactly 3 years ago I was still employed as a Job Captain in the architecture industry, and now here I am, about to speak at an event along side many of the bloggers and online entrepreneurs who I’ve always looked up to, who have been a major source of inspiration for me since I started my journey online.

I’m deeply, deeply honored.

I’m speaking in the monetization track, so I definitely have a lot of exciting examples from my personal experience to reference.

In the blogging and online business world, my only experience as a speaker, so far, has been through my podcast. I’m not even sure if that counts, but I know the skills I’ve learned while podcasting this past year will definitely be put to good use during my presentation.

I will also be speaking in Chicago at the first ever Financial Blogger’s Conference in early October (which I’m super stoked about too! I highly recommend you check out the homepage so you can see what it’s all about). So technically, Blog World will not be my first speaking gig – but either way I’m fairly new to the live presentation world, and I can’t wait to dive in.

That said, I do have prior experience being in front of large crowds outside of this industry.

In college, I was the Student Director of the University of California Marching Band and had the privilege to speak and teach 250+ students music almost every day of the week, and also perform in front of crowds of nearly 100,000 people at times, so I’m not worried about being in front of a crowd.

My only worry is that there will be about 300 other speakers at this event, and I really want my presentation to stand out and be memorable.

Doing something different and standing out from the crowd is exactly how I got to where I’m at , and I hope my presentation will reflect that. Of course, my story and content will be unique on its own, but how am I going to stand out from 300 experienced speakers?

We shall see

Below is my referral link for Blog World Expo 2011 in case you are attending and wanted to buy a ticket through me. Please note that I do earn a small commission if you do, and if you have any questions about the event before purchasing please let me know!

If you purchase before September 21st, you will save 30% – so don’t waste money like I did last year and buy a ticket a week before.

Pat’s Blog World Expo 2011 Referral Link

To finish off, I just wanted to say thanks. This is truly a dream come true and it would not have been possible without you – the SPI fans – who have always been so supportive of me and my methodologies right from the start.

If you’re attending, I can’t wait to meet you in person!

I’ll keep updating this post and sending notifications on Twitter and Facebook once I learn more about exactly when and where I’ll be speaking at the event.

Thanks again, and look out for the next session of the SPI podcast going live this Wednesday, which includes 4 more success stories from those who are making a living online outside of the make money online niche!

Cheers!

Tagged as: blog world expo 2011

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SPI 026 : The Two Types of Relationships You Must Develop Online in Order to Succeed

2011-09-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

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In this session of the Smart Passive Income Podcast, I talk about the importance of two different types of relationships that we need to develop and why they both play a major role in the success of an online business.

In the online world, if you try to go at it alone you’re going to be left behind. Here, I provide you with some helpful strategies, tips and examples that you can use to develop strong relationships with both your audience and your peers, which will help take your business to the next level.

In this session, I cover:

How relationships can increase your bottom line.Why offline relationships matter online too.How to love your readers and make them love you back.What the acronym R.A.O.K. stands for, and why it’s important.What I really think about “Networking”.How to find a mastermind group.Sock Knitting (lol!)And more…

Right click here to download the MP3

Please subscribe below to the podcast to get automatic updates:

Thank you so much for your support, and if you have yet to leave a rating or review, please leave me an honest one on iTunes (we’re up to 194 5-star reviews!) by clicking here. It will help the show and its ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it!

Enjoy the show!

Cheers!

Transcript:

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Tagged as: podcast

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Quick Update: Chicago, Blog World Expo and the Podcast Awards

2011-09-24T09:22:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a bachelor party in Las Vegas and no, we didn’t lose the groom and yes, I still have all of my teeth (that’s a reference from the movie, The Hangover, in case you didn’t know). I did win $800 and I also met Siegfried and Roy who tapped a keg at Hofbrauhaus to welcome in Oktoberfest.

Good times!

As I rest and catch up on sleep today, I wanted to at least fill you in on some important updates on events that are coming up.

At the end of the month I’ll have the privilege of speaking at the Financial Blogger’s Conference in Chicago. On Friday, September 30th, my good friend Cliff Ravenscraft (from PodcastAnswerMan.com) and I will be hosting a casual meetup around the area to network and just meet and chit-chat with everyone who is interested.

If you’ll be in the Chicago area that afternoon, you’re welcome to come hang out with us! We only ask that you make sure you sign up on our Facebook Event Page, which has all of the details about when and where.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a one-hour presentation at Blog World Expo this coming November, and I just found out exactly when I’ll be speaking.

My presentation is currently scheduled for Friday, November 4th from 1:45pm to 2:45pm PST, but please note that there is always the possibility of being moved to another time slot.

As you can see, the title of my presentation is How to Be Everywhere: Building a Profitable Brand by Thinking Outside the Blog. I will be going over how I use all of the external platforms outside of the SPI blog that have shaped the SPI as an overall brand to increase its reach, its authority and of course my overall income. I’ll also be touching on the aspect of transparency and honesty online in the blogging world, which I feel is extremely important, as you know.

I’m super stoked to present at the expo, and if you are coming by to watch I can’t wait to meet you there! If you’re interest in buying a ticket, I would be very appreciative if you used my affiliate link below.

Pat’s Blog World Expo 2011 Referral Link

Last but definitely not least, a number of you messaged me saying that you nominated the SPI podcast for the annual Podcast Awards.

Mark from Masonworld.com even wrote an entire post asking his readership to vote for me too!

To be honest, I never even heard of the awards, but I’ve recently learned that they are a HUGE deal in the podcasting world and last year attracted over 1,000,000 listeners to the voting page.

I’m absolutely flattered for all of the support and just wanted to thank you because the podcast is something I definitely put a lot of hard work into and am very proud of.

If you remember, it took me over 2 years to finally get the guts to do it, and now to be nominated for an award just blows my mind. Even if I don’t get an award, just to be nominated would be totally awesome.

If you’d like to help me out and vote for me too, I would be forever grateful! The award ceremony is actually at Blog World Expo so it would be perfect since I’ll be speaking there.

To vote, simply go to The Podcast Awards Homepage and fill in a nomination for the People’s Choice and Business categories only.

Podcast Name: The Smart Passive Income PodcastPodcast URL: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/

Please only vote for me if you’ve listened to the podcast and truly feel like it’s one that deserves your nomination.

If you have already voted, please let me know in the comment section below so I can personally thank you.

Cheers, and have a great week!

Tagged as: blog world expo, podcast awards

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