Star Wars character Yoda quoted that saying while teaching Luke the power of the Jedi. It was a great quote in the movie, but also a life quote that has stuck with me. I often recall this quote when dealing with income goals.

As we all begin to pursue our residential income goals, we will have multiple struggles. These include projects spanning longer than expected and websites not growing as quickly as desired. It is at these times when throwing in the towel becomes easiest. However, when I come to this point, I think back to Yoda and ask myself, “Am I merely trying?”

By simply trying, we are convincing ourselves that we cannot do what we want, simply try to do it. This means we can’t do it. Our minds have incredible power over our lives. Knowing that and using it in our favor can give us an advantage over 99 percent of the world. If we truly believe in something and can see ourselves accomplishing our goal we probably will. Napoleon Hill wrote about this phenomenon in his book Think and Grow Rich. “If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will never see them in your bank balance.”

Hill studied and interviewed the most successful men of his time and found a few similarities among them. Some such men included Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Theodore Roosevelt. Theses studies showed him that “desire is the starting point of all achievement,” not hope or anything else, simply a strong desire. Hill felt that all of the above men had a burning desire, which led them to do, not just try.

Another concept Hill emphasized was the concept of failure. He suggested that most people fail because of “their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.” Those who made their dreams a reality were amongst those who had the most failures. What made them successful was overcoming those failures, even if just barely.

An uncle of R.U. Darby got bit by the “gold fever” during the gold rush days and decided to head west to dig for gold and eventually grow rich. He staked a claim and went to work with a pick and shovel. It was hard work, but his lust for gold was all consuming. After weeks of labor, his work was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. To bring the ore to the surface, the man needed heavy machinery.

The uncle could not afford machinery, so he covered the mine, returned to his home, and told relatives and close friends of his discovery. They helped him get the money to buy the necessary machinery and had it shipped to the mine. Darby and his uncle returned west to mine.

As it goes, the ore was mined and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved to be one of the richest mines in Colorado. After a few more cars of ore were mined, the debts were paid. Next for the uncle were big profits, or so they had hoped. The vein of gold ore had disappeared. Darby and his uncle had reached the end, no more gold. They continued to drill, hoping to find more. They weren’t successful in finding gold, and after awhile, finally decided to give up.

The men sold the machine to a junk man, took the train home, and didn’t think twice about it. The junk man, however, thought he might be able to do more with the machine. He called a mining engineer to look at the mine and calculate where he could find gold. The engineer advised that the project had failed, but that there was more gold to be found. Fault lines has moved the gold just three feet from where the Darby’s had stopped drilling. A little bit later, the gold was found precisely there!

The junk man made millions in ore from the previously abandoned mine. He didn’t simply give up, he found an expert before calling it quits. He did not try as the Darby’s had, he did.

Most of the money, which went into the machinery, was procured through the efforts of R.U. Darby, who was then a very young man. He obtained the money from friends and family because of their faith in the Darby’s. While he did pay all the money back, years later, he never reaped the huge profit imagined. Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his losses many times over when he made the discovery that desire can be translated into gold. The discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance.

Remembering that he lost a huge fortune because he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself, “I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.” Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his “stickability” to the lesson he learned from his “quitability” in the gold mining business.”

As you strive to achieve your residual income goals, I urge you not to give up, not to quit. Don’t become another Darby and stop three feet short of gold. Push through the late nights, the early mornings, the days when you wonder if you will ever make a dime. Persevere and make your dreams a reality. Don’t simply try, do.

-Chris

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Marianne Williamson

Some of you may recognize that quote from the Samuel L Jackson movie Coach Carter. The quote says what most people will never admit to themselves. We are not afraid of failure, we all have failed at many things in life. However, most of us have never achieved the ultimate success. We have never searched deep inside ourselves to find out what we are truly capable of.

Austin and I have spoke before about the idea of growing residual income from things you actually care about, your passions if you will. This is one of the most important things to understand and one of the most common things that is misunderstood. First and foremost, we should all do work we actually care about. Forty hours a week equates to 2080 hours a year. That is a lot of wasted time if you are spending it doing work you really don’t care about. Statistics show that roughly 80% of the people that wake up and go to work everyday don’t like their job. Many of those people hate their job. That is a major problem on our society, the idea that you spend the best years of your life doing something you don’t care about hoping for joy in the last years you live. The retirement dream doesn’t make sense at its core, but that is for another blog post.

Now we can see the importance of doing work that excites us and that we are passionate about. The question becomes, how do I turn my love of health and fitness for example into a job that makes me residual income? The answer is both simple and complex. The simple part is that it is easier to connect with people now then anytime in history. In addition to that, over the next seven years 3-4 billion people will gain access to the Internet for the first time. If you are passionate about something you literally can reach Billions of people with a website. The complex part of this equation is reaching the targeted group of people that care about and want to learn about your passion.

This is were keyword research your  using Google Adwords or LongTail Pro will be very help in picking the niche you can ultimately reach and impact. The keyword reach will also help you pick what domain name you will buy from GoDaddy for your business. Then you can start building your online business after your website has hosting from HostGator. Take my example of Health and Fitness. You could start a membership site, charge people $10 a month for access, and you can offer them all of your Health & Fitness knowledge. It would probably make sense, to have meal plans, workout routines, and even health supplements that users can purchase using your affiliate links of course. After you setup meal plans, and have some demonstration videos of workouts, you now have a product you can sell to anyone who does not want to be a member or even to a different audience on a different website. Thus, residual income, you worked hard now so you can reap the rewards for years to come.

That is obviously a very quick and rough idea of a way you can take something you are passionate about and turn it into an online business the grows residual income. The possibilities are endless, with the right tools, and hard work anything is possible.

-Chris

Its that time of year again, yes it is tax time. For most of us doing taxes is about as fun a having teeth pulled. Fortunately for you, I enjoy doing my taxes and helping others save as much money as possible. I will try to help give you a few quick ideas of things people miss when preparing their own tax returns.  My goal is to use my knowledge to ensure you and I pay the least amount we legally can. Some might even go as far as to say that is our right.

Thus, I am going to highlight a few of the most common things people miss when doing there own tax return.

Education Deductions & Credits for Tuition:

If you are in college you are paying a lot of money for your education. You should utilize the opportunities you have to lower your tax bill because you are in college. There are two options for you, first you can deduct a certain amount of education expenses from your income. Secondly, and typically the better option is to use the education credit. The maximum education credit for 2012 is $2,500 with $1,000 of that being refundable to you. You can find out if you are eligible for the credit by using form 8863.

Also, if you are a recent college graduate you most likely are paying student loans. If so, you are allowed to deduction up to $2,500 of student loan interest from your income.

Last, but not least if you are a teacher you can deduct up to $250 of your expenses for teaching on your income tax return.

Tax Prep Fees:

Did you pay some one to prepare your tax return or pay for tax preparation software? Then you can deduct that amount on your Schedule A.

Investment Advisor Expenses & Margin Interest:

If you are paying a financial advisor to manage your investments you might be able to deduct the fees you pay that person on Schedule A. Alternatively, if you manage your own investments using a broker like ThinkorSwim you may be able to deduct your margin interest expense on Schedule A.

Health Insurance Premiums if Self-Employed:

If you are a entrepreneur and pay for your own health insurance, you may be able to deduct your health insurance premiums on page one of your 1040. Also, if your other medical expenses for the year are over 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income you may be able to deduct those expenses on Schedule A.

Giving to Charity:

If you have to a qualifying charity like a church, the United Way, or Saint Jude’s you may be able to deduct those gifts on Schedule A of your Federal tax return.

Those are just a few of the most common items people miss on their Federal income tax returns. You may want to contact a tax professional to prepare your income tax returns to ensure you use all of the deductions and credits you are eligible for.

-Chris

Listen here or in iTunes/Stitcher!

You want to invest like a Hedge Fund Manager? Get strategies, techniques, and best practices in our interview with Hedge Manager Anthony Davian. We want to really extend our thanks to our friend Anthony  for spending some of his valuable time with us. We explore The Hedgies, the new home of The Davian Letter.  We will give you an excellent introduction to how you can have hedge fund trading strategies in your own portfolio.

Coupon Code as Promised: podcast10 (10% off your order)

Link to The Davian Letter Hedge Fund Product

Link to The Gravity Penny Stock Product

“We wanted to make a hedge type trading product for everyone”

In this podcast you will learn:

1. What a new  strategies hedge fund managers are using to make there clients money. Anthony’s background is in accounting and finance so naturally he has done an excellent job at using that knowledge to build a great hedge fund. You also learn what Anthony’s biggest motivation was in joining The Hedgies network.

2. Anthony in a local guy from Ohio and has stayed in Ohio and out of the New York and Chicago Herd trading mentality.

3. The stock market does not have to be a dark scary place. You can get all the same information the “Big Guys” use when investing. Also, if you are not investing in the stock market you are missing out on residual income.

4. Learn how you can spend 5 minutes a week on your portfolio at ThinkorSwim.com and make 30%-40% per year.

5. Anthony speaks directly about penny stocks and  how they have been making so much money  he started a Hedge Fund that only shorts penny stocks.  I won’t give it all away here, but his advice is certainly worth listening to. The stock market can generate wealth like no other business and penny stocks are one of the greatest tools you can use.

There is so, so much more in this interview, so please have listen and let us know what you think.
And once again, thanks Anthony!

-Chris

You’re a good steward of your money and save 10-20 percent annually in your employer provided 401k. Your employer matches a percentage of your contribution, and voilà, you’ve made money. Imagine doing the right thing all along, saving all that money, but not being able to touch it. Your car breaks down and the leaky roof on your house needs to be addressed. You need that 401k money, but can’t use any without harsh penalties. Stressed?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your retirement savings could grow and you could use it when needs without penalties? Perhaps this could be a reality. We are going to discuss 401k alternatives that could grow as well as, and potentially better than, the mutual funds the 401k invests in.

Both 401k alternatives are U.S. Index ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). The ETFs use the same index to trade, the S&P 500. One is an S&P 500 ETF while the other is a double weighted S&P 500 ETF. For example, it the S&P 500 is up one percent, the double weighted fund would be up two percent. We are presenting these two ETF options so different people can have options. One is more aggressive, and one me better than the other depending on the investing time frame.

Most people who invest in a 401k do so for several reasons. Mostly, it is expected that through consistent contributions and the flow of the stock market that one will make nearly eight percent per year over the course of 30-40 years. While it is a good option for some, it does have some harsh penalties. The money is untouchable without penalties until 59.5, but contributions are pre-tax. These alternatives help deal with this issue.

If you believe in the stock market and that you’ll earn about eight percent over 30-40 years, then the best option may be a regular ETF. Long-term capital gains rates are at 15 percent, and to get this rate, you only have to hold the stock for a year. Secondly, the rate might be lower than the income rate you might pay on 401k withdrawals once retired. Because no one can know the tax rates in 30 years, we are using the current rate to explain these alternatives.

If you believe in the market and the average eight percent annual return, the SPY will give the exact same return. What’s good about this option is that since the money is in a brokerage account—not a 401k—you can sell the stock when you need it. You can also wire the money to a bank account. While we suggest saving money for retirement that you won’t need until you retire, we do realize life happens. Sometimes we just need to change the plan to get by.

The SPY is the straight S&P 500 ETF, and is a good option for an alternative 401k. The S&P 500 tracks the 500 biggest companies in the U.S., and provides the most accurate picture of the U.S. stock market. The NASDAQ tends to be more technology focused, whereas the DOW is more industrial.

For those of us who truly believe in the market and a willing to be a bit more of a risk taker, the UPRO is probably the best option to consider. This is double weighted and tracks the S&P 500. Over 30 years, the SPY and the 401k will average about eight percent growth per year. The UPRO will average about 16 percent. That being said, someone who invests $100 a month at eight percent annual interest for 30 years will end up with about $149,036. On the other hand, someone who takes the UPRO track at 16 percent annual interest will earn about $875,367 in thirty years. This, of course, is all assuming the market will average eight percent over 30-40 years.

We are not suggesting you just throw away the 401k and jump on board with these alternatives. We are simply presenting some alternatives that may or may not be better for you. Everyone has a unique financial situation, and therefore should consider carefully before investing.

Feel free to send me an email or comment below with any questions.

-Chris

Recently I realized I have about 12 different projects/jobs that I am currently doing. I know what you are thinking. Does this guy ever sleep? Not much, to be honest. Then, I started thinking about how well or poor each of those projects was going. What I found was very interesting to me, a few of my projects were going well, and a few were not going well. With the last few barely getting touched. Thus, I wondered if I am spreading myself to thin. The answer is maybe, there are two schools of thought about this issue. One says be great at one or two things and make money from those things. Specialize in something and make it your life. The other idea is that you can be good at numerous things and make money from all of them. I have been following the philosophy of the latter. However, I am growing more frustrated with the results I am producing.

The next logical question is, if I only worked on 2 maybe 3 things max would I be able to get better results from the endeavors? Or would I get the same results and then get nothing out of the projects that are currently producing very little. I investigated both and found success stories with both. Apple’s motto is to do one thing better then anyone else. “Well, we are the most focused company that I know of, or have read of, or have knowledge of. We say no to good ideas every day; we say no to great ideas in order to keep the amount of things we focus on very small in number” Tim Cook Apple CEO. Apple is one of the most successful companies in history, thus they know what they are doing. However, I would argue Apple is a “Jack of all Trades.”  They are not only the best computer company, they make cells phones, tablets, and mp3 players. In my opinion, they have the best product in all of those areas. While I agree with Mr. Cook they are focused, I don’t think they would be where they are today if they did not have “Jack of all Trades” approach to some degree.

Now we turn to a few success stories from men who most definitely were “Jacks of all Trades.” Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo De Vinci are two of the most famous men known for being very good at many things. They were both renaissance men that were able to be successful in many different areas. Tim Ferris says, “The jack of all trades maximizes his number of peak experiences in life and learns to enjoy the pursuit of excellence unrelated to material gain, all while finding the few things he is truly uniquely suited to dominate.

The specialist who imprisons himself in self-inflicted one-dimensionality — pursuing and impossible perfection — spends decades stagnant or making imperceptible incremental improvements while the curious generalist consistently measures improvement in quantum leaps. It is only the latter who enjoys the process of pursuing excellence.”

I agree with Mr. Ferris that being a generalist or “Jack of all Trades” is the best choice. The key is to pursue the things you care about and have a passion for. I made a mistake in starting projects I was only half hearted about, thus when push came to shove they did not get done. We can all accomplish many things with our lives we just need to pick the things that inspire us. My advice to you is to think carefully before taking on new projects and to be great everyday in everything you do.

Feel free to share your personal experiences with being a specialist or a “Jack of all Trades.”

-Chris

Search engine optimization (SEO) should be considered as a critical element of any Internet marketing strategy. This is important because there is so much which can be gained from SEO in terms of Internet marketing and advertising. Failure to optimize your website for search engines can result in a considerable loss in terms of free advertising and traffic which is essentially gained from ranking well with search engines. This article will provide insight into what SEO is and will explain why Internet marketing requires at least some degree of SEO.

SEO optimization is a strategy in which a website is designed to obtain favorable search engine rankings from popular search engines. This may be achieved in a variety of different ways and optimal SEO strategies combine a variety of different strategies to complete one well orchestrated SEO campaign. There are several elements to consider when attempting to optimize your website for search engines. This may include keyword density, prominence, META tags, titles and inbound links.

Keyword density is one of the most common SEO strategies and essentially involves using relevant keywords often in the content of a website to demonstrate the relevance of these keywords to the website.

This is important because search engines are likely to reward websites with optimal keyword densities with favorable search engine rankings in an effort to provide Internet users with the most relevant websites for particular search terms.

The prominence of keywords should also be considered. This includes how close the keywords are placed to the beginning of the website. The common mistake with this strategy is to believe the first opportunity to incorporate keywords is in the first line of visible text on the webpage. This is not true because search engines crawl the code of a website as opposed to the visible content on the website. This means there are multiple opportunities to incorporate relevant keywords long before the actual visible content on the website. This might include the code for the title as well as the META tags. Business owners who realize the potential for incorporating keyword into the code gain an advantage over competitors who only incorporate keywords into the content on their website.

Another area of concern which is very important for those who are interested in SEO is inbound links. Inbound links are essentially links which reside on other websites and direct traffic to your website. These links are considered important because many search engines place a value on inbound links because they are essentially an example of one website recommending another website. However, when obtaining inbound links it is important to do so from other websites which rank well with search engines because many search engines consider the rank of the original website when determining the value of the inbound link.

Now that we have briefly explained some of the main concept of SEO, we will illustrate why it is important to optimize your website in the first place. SEO is so important because most Internet users highly value the results of search engines and are likely to only visit to ranking websites when they search for a particular keyword. Internet users trust search engines to serve the most relevant content first and are therefore not likely to visit websites which do not fall on the first or second page of search results. This means websites which rank well essentially are receiving a great deal of free advertising from search engines that place their website in a key position. Website owners who do not invest time into optimizing their websites miss out on a great deal of potential web traffic.

We all know Facebook is the biggest social media website in the world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should advertise on Facebook. On the other hand, if a billion people use Facebook every day maybe Facebook ads are a good idea. Here are a few things to consider.

Facebook is a social website, meaning users go there for social interaction not to shop. Users want to see what their friends are up to, ie what is the new hot song I need to download, or what is the best new iPhone app etc. Thus, you need to understand this when planning a Facebook ad campaign. Your ads have to be excellent to get someone’s attention, and to get them to click on it. Also, conversion rates from Facebook ads might be lower then from other mediums.

However, Facebook ads allow you to target your niche better then any other medium. For example, you can target 20-25 year old males that live in the US, like Ohio State football, and went to Notre Dame University. The ability to target very specific people helps you save money on advertising and makes sure your ads gets to its intending target.

Knowing all of the pros and cons, at Residual Income Life we fully support using Facebook ads for your blog, product, service, or whatever you want to advertise. Now here are a few tips to help make your Facebook ads the best and most affective they can be.

1. Your Image is the most important part of your ad. It is what will or wont be eye catching.

• By far a picture of a Pretty Woman will get you the most clicks, but if that girl has nothing to do with your product or service then those might        end up being wasted clicks.
• Using a Colorful image can also be very helpful in catching people’s attention.
• You need the picture to be Interesting, which totally depends on your niche. If you are a sports blog maybe a picture of a pro athlete would be a good choice.
• Moving objects are another good option for your photo. With all of the “stuff” going on with a Facebook page a moving image of the side bar will still stick out.

2. Now we come to the second most important part of your ad, the Headline.

• An Eye Catching Headline: Use of Questions have been very popular recently, and have converted well. Questions get the reader thinking and engaged instantly.
• The Goal of your headline is to get the reader to next line of copy ie. read your ad & click on it.
• Have a good landing page: It will all be for not if you have great ads that get lots of clicks and an awful landing page. If someone clicks on your ad you have won the first battle, but part two is having a great landing page that sells them on whatever your product or service is. To help make this transition easier you can use the same colors in your ads as on landing page
• Amazing Ad Copy: Clearly define an action, “Click here”, “Click here  & do this”, or “Visit this page & enter this” are a few examples. You can also list benefits of your product.
• Test, Test, Test: Test numerous different ads try running 20-30 different ads at a time for a campaign, pause the ones that don’t work, and move on.

For more free resources on using Facebook ads check out Rick at I Rock Paid Traffic. We are not affiliated with Rick, but he has great resources on how to best use Facebook ads.

Thanks for all of your support.

-Chris

You know information is valuable.
You know the Internet is a profitable venue for marketing information.
You think you may have a great idea or maybe even a product… Now what?

If you’ve done your research, you already have the right tools to start your online business. Namely, you know how to make a website (or if you don’t know how, you know that you can learn how to do it easily or that you can hire someone else to do it for you) and you understand the mechanics of selling your product online (like signing up with a payment processor and getting visitors to go to your site).

But maybe you’re afraid to start.

There’s nothing wrong with being wary; in fact it’s good business sense to know what you’re getting into. A common statistic thrown around is that 9 out of 10 new businesses will fail within the first year. But knowing that doesn’t mean it’s time to quit before you even start. You have a product and therefore you have a target market; it’s useful, even necessary, and most certainly comforting to your beginner’s brain to do your own research and due diligence.

One method of practicing your business before actually going it alone is to become an affiliate. Using an affiliate program to enter a new market allows you test out your ideas and hone them with the ultimate goal of creating and promoting your own product. (In summary, for you beginners out there, affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission off of purchases made by visitors who arrived at that particular product’s site by clicking on a link on your webpage).

An advantage of affiliate marketing is that your only concern is driving visitors to their site; the affiliate program will worry about having the perfect product, providing customer service, and delivering the product. Affiliate programs may even provide you with banners or free e-books and techniques showing you how to promote them. This will provide a good learning ground for you so that you can garner ideas for eventually promoting your own product.

Find some affiliate programs related to your particular idea or product. The research you’ll derive from joining an affiliate program will be the real benefit. By setting up a website or a few websites testing out your various ideas and promoting these ideas, you can then sit back and see what happens. Hopefully you’ll start making money. Then you can see which products are really selling and what marketing techniques are working. As you work on improving your website for the products that are selling, you’re laying the groundwork for selling your own product. You can then feel more comfortable about your own venture using the successful techniques you learned through this “practice” attempt.

And maybe starting your own business won’t look as scary.

Before you even consider putting together an email marketing newsletter, you need to take three things to heart.

1. Respect your customers, their time, and their inbox.

2. Always deliver exactly what was promised.

3. Overcome skepticism with quality.

4. Encourage interaction with you.

5. Exhibit exclusivity, unique content and humility throughout the process.

The construction of a successful newsletter has 6 phases. They are:

1. Content
The newsletter you send stands or falls on the relevance and quality of the content you incorporate. If your website is meant to entertain you content needs to be entertaining. If it is meant to educate, your content better be educational. Tudog does not believe in using the newsletter for self-promotional purposes, as we think that readers rapidly grow tired of reading commercials and self-serving material. There are other forums to engage in self-promotion. Your newsletter is a service to your customers and needs to be written from the perspective of what they need, and not from the view of how it can serve you. By having your newsletter serve your customers, it will ultimately serve you too.

2. Frequency
You need to decide how often you are going to issue your newsletter. There are two primary considerations that need to make up the decision. The first is how often your customer base would engage you newsletter. If your sector is flooded with newsletters, you may conclude that there is an excess of reading material and that a quarterly newsletter is appropriate. Conversely, you may notice that there is both an absence of other newsletters and a hunger for information, leading you to conclude that a bi-weekly newsletter would provide you with an excellent opportunity. The second consideration is your internal capacity. You do not want to create an expectation for a newsletter that exceeds your production capacity. How many newsletters you are able to release each month needs to be the underlying driver to the decision how often your newsletter is released.

3. Design
How your newsletter looks is crucial not only because it represents your company, but also because it could determine how people receive the newsletter and whether or not they are drawn to read it. A well designed newsletter includes a clear delineation of all areas of content, integrated, relevant images, and an identity that is consistent with your company’s identity. It is important that you view your newsletter as an extension of your company and that its personality is representative of the image you transmit to your sector.

4. Database
Your database is the list of people to whom you send your newsletter. Your list should be extracted from your client/customer base, prospective clients/customers, and your sector influencers. You should make sure that everyone receiving your e-mail newsletter either requested it or has a way to be removed from your list (clearly and easily marked in your e-mail). Your newsletter can be sent via snail mail, but the costs of printing and postage make e-mail a much more realistic and cost effective often. Using e-mail, you are able to send your newsletter as HTML, text, or in PDF format. You should select your format based on customer preferences. Tudog uses PDF after our inquiries indicated that our clients were most interested in receiving our newsletter in that format. You clients/customers may prefer a different format, but it should be noted that the content, design, and frequency are not influenced by format.

5. Marketing
Your newsletter needs marketing support so that it can reach out to a wider audience and better serve your company as a marketing tool. The support it receives can be as simple as being listed on your website (with a sign-up option) to advertising and special attention. Tudog markets its website by permitted reprints of our articles in magazines and other newsletters, drawing attention to the company, our expertise, and that our newsletter offers continuing exposure to the ideas and hints we publish.

6. Testing
We recommend that you test your newsletter before you send it out to your widest audience so that you can benefit from the feedback of your test group and ultimately send out the best newsletter possible. You should select a random group of people (between 50-200) to send your newsletter to, alongside a brief questionnaire asking for reviews on your look and content. Once you have their responses and incorporate some of their comments, you will know your newer version is close to the needs and wants of your target market.

Your e-mail newsletter is an excellent way to reach out to and become meaningful to your clients/customers. Embark on an e-mail newsletter only if you have the resources and commitment to sustain it. Done properly, it is a powerful and continuing tool for exposure and reinforcement of your expertise.

Most people have at least one common desire: to live a comfortable life. While it seems like a justifiable desire, it can also be a person’s worst enemy. For many Americans, this goal sums up to a house in the suburbs with two kids, a couple cars, a family pet, and a decently average job. How perfectly average and comfortable. Tim Ferriss can perhaps sum up the American desire of comfort best: “I’m going to assume you are suffering from time famine, creeping dread, or–worst case–a tolerable and comfortable existence doing something unfulfilling. The last is most common and most insidious.” Like most, you’re probably thinking what’s wrong with wanting a comfortable life, and in theory, there really is nothing wrong with it. However, in practice, a comfortable life comes with sacrifices, big ones at that.

Most people living comfortable lives are forced to put their goals and aspirations on an indefinite hold. For this reason, becoming comfortable and content is one of my biggest fears. Once this happens, pursuits stop, there’s no growth, and we all become stagnate. Thirty years later, we wake up wondering why and constantly asking, “what if?” My personal goal is to achieve success and build as much as possible while pursuing my dreams. I never want to settle for what is safe and easy. As they always say, “nothing worth having ever came easy.”

Residual income is one of my biggest dreams, and using this website to help as many people as possible grow residual income is my tool. I love the stock market and the way it lends itself to creating great wealth. My frustration comes when people scoff at my faith in the stock market, and how well it has worked for me. I am simply trying to shed light on something that has been demonized as scary and something to be avoided. The media and Wall Street have allowed us to be brainwashed and, therefore, fearful of the stock market. In actuality, the stock market is nowhere near as scary as it is made to be. So why the hype? Big banks and investment firms make more money when people think they need to pay for stock advice or investment strategies. For obvious reasons, these firms want to keep people in the dark.

This is why I feel so strongly about being comfortable. I want to continue persuing my passion for investing, not being comfortable and content with my job, have a safe 401k plan, and retire at 65. I try to avoid this by making myself uncomfortable. Austin and I express our thoughts, views and opinions on residual income life for the whole world to see, which can, at time, be very uncomfortable. While it was scary at first, but I now what I am talking about, that I’m helping people, and that we provide extremely valuable information to others.

Comfort can feel great, but in the end, it will ultimately be unfulfilling. I understand that stepping into the unknown can be terrifying, but it is more than worth it. It may be difficult, but i highly recommend everyone does something uncomfortable once a day for a week. It will allow you to realize your fears. I’d put money down that most people would be ready to take the first big step towards their residual income dreams.

Austin and I would like to hear about your endeavors and the uncomfortable things you tried this recently.

-Chris

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the concept of selling another company’s product on your online real estate. You are basically an online sales broker. For an example, if you have a website on cycling and give reviews on the kinds of bicycles that are out on the market, you could affiliate link to the bicycles on Amazon.com or wherever they are sold through an affiliate program. Every time a customer clicks through your assigned links to the bicycle that you reviewed you get a commission based on if those customers actually buy the bicycle. So you get credit for referring that customer to the product through your special link.

Why is it so popular?

Have you ever thought the stock market is a dark scary place or a form of gambling for rich people? If so, you are not alone, you also are not correct. The stock market is an unknown for most people and thus a scary place. However, today we hope to walk you through how the stock market can work for you at any income level. At Residual Income Life we understand the stock market can be one of our greatest resources to grow residual income. Hopefully by the end of this podcast you will not only understand the stock market better, but be able to make smart decisions with your money.

First, we will discuss How Much Money You Need to Get Started. Surprising, you can start investing with less then  $100. We have broken investor down into four categories. $0-500, $500-2000, $2000-5000, and $10,000 and up. As you will hear there are very specific ways you are going to invest at each investment level. The key is just to get started.

Second, we will talk about how to start investing at each level. We will walk you though tools and resources we personally use for our investing. For example, at the $0-500 level you should be investing in a 401K or IRA. I personally have both. My 401K is through Fidelity  and my IRA is through American Funds. We will discuss why getting a 401K through your employer might be the best decision you have ever made.

Finally, we will talk about when is the best time to invest in the stock market. As Austin always says, “When is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago. When is the second best time? Today.” The best time for you to start investing in the stock market is today.

If you have any questions or comments free to leave them below or send us an email.

-Chris

Residual Income Life has never and I mean NEVER done anything related to a network marketing company or suggested it as a form of residual income. I guess the first thing to look at is WHY! Why haven’t we recommended that as  a form of income or as a way to support yourself?
I guess the first answer to that is time. Network marketing isn’t for everyone.

That is one of the main reasons that has never been seen as a viable income for Residual Income Life. A residual income opportunity should be for everyone that is willing to try it. However network marketing requires a very specific kind or person and a very specific kind of personality  in order to be successful. However with out emphasis on online marketing here at RIL, I think that there is a lot of merit to the Visalus Sciences product called “Body By Vi“. I only say this because I have tried this product myself and have seen tremendous results with it. That is the only way I promote something, as always. Things I use, prove and can’t stop talking about.

Before I say anything else, ViSalus has a 92% retention rate for it’s distributors over a 7 year period. This is higher then most companies, let alone network companies.

So out of every 1,000 people that join… 920 of them stay on board to be fit, make money and enjoy life. 80 people out of 1,000 that join, don’t see the results, they don’t see the money and they didn’t put the effort in.

The basics of Body By Vi is a 90 day Challenge that challenges the end user to use the Body By Vi products and process to lose weight, become more healthy, to become more focused and to live a healthier lifestyle. So first of all, it is incredibly easy to sell a product that does all of these things, but the best part is the advantages. ViSalus offers those people who are interested in making an extra income the opportunity to do so by becoming distributors of their products. This means that not only will you benefit by being able to lose weight but also increase your monthly earnings and where possible attain financial independence. It is because of these that many people who want to become distributors will often be heard asking what is the process of becoming a ViSalus distributor? The response to this question is very important as it opens the door for many opportunities based on how you handle it.

To begin with, it is important to understand that ViSalus promoters and distributors perform the same function that is to promote the Body by Vi Challenge. In return these distributors are paid based on the volume of sales that they have been able to move within a given time frame. This includes the sales made by their company. The process of joining the ViSalus challenge is quite simple. First you will need to identify an existing distributor under whom you will enroll. This is a common aspect of network marketing therefore it is advisable to ensure that you use the person’s link as this is very important. Having done this, you will need to disclose your location before opting for the ‘promote the challenge’ option on the site.

The third and final stage in becoming a ViSalus Distributor is selecting one of the three startup options that you consider to be most appropriate for you in terms of finances. The first kit is the Basic ViSalus Distributor kit that attracts a one off payment of $49. This kit contains marketing materials that are vital in helping you advance your marketing goals which translate in higher bonuses in the long run. With this purchase, you can also begin receiving payment as soon as your personal sales volume gets to $125.

The second kit (the one I bought) that you could purchase is the ViSalus Executive Success System and is valued at $499 and comes with body kit products meaning you will not need to go for additional products. The kit also contains other extras that include samples, additional training as well as the eligibility to participate in the BMW incentive as well as bonus pools. Even then, you can only begin earning when you attain sales volume of up to $125 just as is the case with the basis kit.

Lastly, you may also opt to purchase the ViSalus Executive Success System with Samples Distributor at $999. Which I do not particularly recommend. This is similar to the ViSalus ESS kit with the main difference being the fact that it comes with up to 50 samples that you can give to prospective clients as a way of convincing them to join the program. This is more for the doctors offices, health clubs, MMA gyms and other kinds of business that know they have the ability to sell the product.

If losing weight, selling a great product, and making a lot of money is for you… Give ViSalus a chance.
If you become a promoter, I will personally work with you, assign you a team member to answer all of your questions and show you what all of the hype is about!

-Austin

For a complete FAQ on Body By Vi and ViSalus visit: doesbodybyviworkhq.com
As always you can reach me with questions personally: austin@residualincomelife.com

Henry David Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” I first read that quote in my high school English class and didn’t think anything of it. However, I recently stumbled upon it and found new meaning and depth. My thoughts were drawn to all of the “what ifs” of my life.  I was reminded of how many of my passions have been stifled, because of what needed to get done. I know we all have memories of times when we didn’t take a leap or pursue our passion for whatever reason. I say all of that to make the point that I fear I may be leading a life of “quiet desperation”, leading to me not pursuing all of my dreams and passions. I have to assume you too may have had similar thoughts or feelings at something. Let us not hold back any longer.

I want to encourage you to strive to “sing” all of the “songs” of your life as Thoreau would say. Never be afraid to take a risk for something you believe in. Never let someone else’s cynical attitude deter you from pursuing your dreams. Often times in life we become so comfortable with our current situation we see change as a bad thing, a hurdle, or a nuisance. When in reality change can be one of the greatest parts of life. Working on Residual Income Life has been a huge change in my life. A few years ago I could not have imagined putting myself out there for all to see. I would never have guessed how residual income would change my life. How many new opportunities and experiences would arise from one decision to start a website about my passion. Now I can’t imagine my life without Residual Income Life and all that it has brought.

 “Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is startled, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance.” I want to encourage you today to take the first step whatever that may be for you in your residual income life. Maybe you will go buy an website and start a blog or maybe your website will be sales driven for your own products or products you believe in. On the other side of the coin you might want to start utilizing the stock market better or buy your first rental property. Whatever the case may be, do it. Today, right now, take to first step and let the rest happen. I honestly believe we can accomplish anything we want in life, but you have to take the first step.

For more tips, and tricks of the trade on how to start growing residual income sign-up for our free email updates and get our Product Creation Series as out free gift.

-Chris

There are a few basic principles to live by if you want to be successful. Some of the most successful people throughout history all had a few very similar characteristics. Napoleon Hill talked about these things in many of his books including “Think and Grow Rich.”

1. Have a Positive Attitude: There is much to be said for the power of positive thought. Studies have shown that having a positive attitude can have a great affect on the outcomes of one’s life work. Taking that theory in its simplest form we can see why positive thoughts help influence outcomes. Imagine there is a person who is in a constant state of doubt. They are a pessimist through and through. It is a safe bet when times get tough for them they will quit or fail. They will chalk the failure up to bad luck or the universe being out to get them. When in reality they never gave themselves a chance to succeed, because of their overall lousy outlook on life. I’m sure you know someone like this, or maybe this is you, but it doesn’t have to be. Now picture a person that looks at each day as a possibility for great success. They believe they can accomplish any goal they put effort into. This person will also have difficult times and days when they want to give up, but their positive outlook will help get them through. They will get through the tough day, to realize greatness in the next. I don’t believe by only having a positive outlook on life one will never fail, but I do believe positive thinking can have a large impact on one’s successes and failures.

2. Be a Perfectionist: “We will be perfect in every aspect of the game. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, and i will break my foot off in your John Brown hind parts and then you will run a mile. Perfection. Let’s go to work.” We all remember that quote from coach Boone in Remember the Titans, and the standard he set for his team. That is the standard we should set for ourselves. Be perfect or as close to it in everything we do. Just think for a minute what your work day would look like if you strived to be perfect. You might be more productive, your work might be better quality, but most certainly your business would be better for it. When we do anything for our business it needs to be to the Best of our abilities period, and if it’s not we are selling ourselves short. I challenge you to try this for a month, strive for perfection in everything you do. I guarantee when you look back you will not be disappointed. Feel free to share your findings.

3. Hard Work: The single greatest misconception of residual income is that it will be easy. As with most things in life, it won’t be easy, you will have to put forth great effort to accomplish your goals. However, residual income is different in one very specific way, it gets easier in time. There are many things in life that will never get any easier and may actually become more difficult over time. Your job for example, you start out as low level pawn in a corporation, you work some long hours, but they are rare. Then you get promoted, which is great in theory, but now you have more responsibility and more work, thus longer hours. Then after a few more years of hard work, you become a manager and get the gift of even more work, responability, and you get to work on weekends and at home after your 9-5 day is over. You get the point. With residual income though, the hard work you put into it today can pay off forever. If you buy a foreclosed house, spend a few months fixing it up, and then rent it out. You now can collect rent checks forever, with little maintenance here and there. Another example would be with a blog, you work very hard to produce great content, build your brand, and get ranked in google. Then one day your you wake to realize your blog gets 10,000 hits a day and you make more money then you could have ever imagined from your affiliate links, products, etc. Did I mention that day you woke up at 10:30am and worked for  6 hours on your blog content for the week and were done.

 
4. Learn From Everything You Do: Life is a journey of twists and turns, we never know what will happen next. In most cases, we can look back on what has happened and learn from it. Whether that be learning from a mistake or a success. People can get caught in the trap of only learning from their mistakes. There is much that can be learned from your successes. You did succeed, meaning you did something right, don’t forget to reflect on those events to see what lessons can be learned. More times then not there is something we can take away from the happenings of our life, remember that and you will be ahead of the game. You won’t fall into the same traps twice and you will know what lead you to your previous success.

 
5. Never Quit: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” Coach Jimmy V of NC State. He lead NC State to a national championship in mens basketball, and was later diagnosed with cancer. While having cancer he fought to live and gave a great speech in which he made the statement, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give.” To often in life when things don’t go our way we quit and if we could have just stuck with it a bit longer we would have succeeded. I know in my own life there have been things I wish I would have worked harder for  and not given up on. I implore you to never quit, see things through to the end. If you fail, you fail, and you live to fight another day. You pick yourself up and keep working. However, by quitting you never push yourself to find out what you can accomplish. Push yourself a little bit harder today in your work, with your family, or while working out, and see what happens.

I hope this was helpful and inspiring. Feel free to leave your comments below.

-Chris

Writing a book is scary. We get that. But that doesn’t change the fact that this the absolute best time in human history to write a book. We have a few reasons that cannot be ignored about publishing your own ebook, self published physical book or traditionally published book.

1. Make a lot of money.  Regardless of whether you take the traditional publishing route or choose to self-publish your own book – you can earn extra income, sometimes SUBSTANTIAL extra income by marketing your own books.

2. Gain More Followers.  If you operate your own business or rely on leads converting into sales for your living, then writing your own book can make a fantastic difference to your take home pay.

3. Broaden Your Brand.  As your market gets more cluttered, getting your message out becomes tougher and tougher.  Launching your own books, e-books, courses, or reports is a terrific way to build up your perception in the marketplace.

4. Make a Better Foundation For Your Other Products.  Everyone who operates their own business knows that marketing your own products gives you more control, more leverage and more profit in the end. Information-based products such as books, e-books, and reports set your foundation for a real, high-value business.

5. Free Awesome Publicity.  Some of the biggest names in the world understand the power that writing a book can give you in terms of publicity.  Books not only allow for reviews, exposure, opinions, interviews and other formal publicity, they also can be the launchpad for a social networking, word-of-mouth campaign that can truly become viral saving you hundreds of thousands on publicity.

6. High Profit to Effort Ratio.  In the case of self-publishing, publishing digital e-books, downloadable information products, 95% of the price is retained in profits which goes directly to you.

7. Generates Massive Buzz.  Its difficult to explain, but when you have your own book e-book, report or course available to the public – it can take on a life of its own attracting experts, partnerships, synergies, co-marketing offers beyond anything you may have considered.

8.Allows You To Express You. Writing a book is intense and reveals a lot about who you are.

Thoughts, questions, or concerns?
Let us know below!

-Austin

Dividend paying stocks are one of the best tools to grow residual income. Austin and I both own dividend paying stocks as part of our portfolios. The stock market can be one of your best friends or your greatest enemy, it is up to you to decide. You can take advantage of things like dividends as a way to make the stock market work for you. There are seven basic reasons you should own at least a few dividend paying stocks

1. Income in Addition the Stock Price Increasing: Most stocks that pay dividends pay them quarterly, meaning every three months you will receive your payment. In addition to that if you do your research and invest in quality companies the stock price will go up too. Not only will you make money form the dividend, but also you will make money from the growth of the stock. For a great example of this look at WFM Whole Foods, from early 2010 to early 2012 their stock price grew a great deal, and they paid a quarterly dividend. Making them a very attractive investment over that time frame.

3. Pick Good Dividend Yields: Another factor to consider is the dividend yield. This is the percentage of the stock price the dividend represents. For example, a stock that is $100 per share and pays a yearly dividend of $5 per share has a 5% yield. We suggest looking for yields from 2-10% as a general rule.

4. P&G, Microsoft, & CVS: Thesee are just a few examples of very solid companies that pay dividends and have been doing so for years and show no signs of not paying a dividend

5.  Less Likelihood the Stock Price Moves Violently: Companies that pay dividends tend to have more stable stock prices, because short sellers of the stock have to pay the dividend. Thus, people are less willing to be short a stock that pays a dividend. All of the stocks listed above have relatively stable prices over the last 20 years, and that makes them attractive because you get the dividend plus some grow in the stock price each year.

6. Quarterly Payouts for Income: Most dividends are paid quarterly, and depending on the amount of capital you have invested, you can generate decent extra income. Some people actually live off of dividends.

7.Use a Dividend Drip Program: Another way to use dividend paying stocks is to use a dividend drip program. Where you reinvest the dividend and buy more shares of the stock that paid the dividend, thus creating more dividends in the future and compounding your income. This can be very affect in the long-term as an investment strategy.

Want to be a great entrepreneur? We will discuss the three types of entrepreneurs and how learning from each of those types of entrepreneur can set you apart from the pack. Entrepreneurs are one the most interesting group in society, they are hardworking, self-motivated, determined, go getters that make things happen. The most interesting thing is how few of them there are. It begs the question why?

Today will look at the three types of entrepreneurs; Successful, Unsuccessful, and New. Our focus is looking at what got the first two types to where they are. Why was one person successful and another unsuccessful? As a new entrepreneur you have the ability to learn from all of the success and failures of those that have come be for you. Learning from others is one of the greatest ways to make sure your business starts and runs as well as possible.

Here is a little bit about each type of entrepreneur:

Successful:

These guys are easy.  They know the game.  They understand why you build a business.  They do it over and over again because they love the challenge.  They are not in it for their egos, the idea, or the need to have President on their business card.  They do it because they can’t do anything else, but build things and then sell it off.  They get it started, then hand it off to people to run it.

Unsuccessful:

Things just don’t work out for the Unsuccessful Entrepreneur.  More often than not, they keep on trying, and get it a little more right next time.  Eventually, some become successful.  Often, they give up and return to the safety net of a 40 hour per week job.  Their idea, product, or service just does not solve anyoneís problem, but their own.

New:

I have a lot of respect for people that venture out into their own or try to turn an idea into action.  These are people that generally donít fit into the corporate structure, are generally liberal minded (not to confuse the Rush Limbaugh listeners of the world, liberal minded means finding new ways of doing things from how it is always done.  Or, it simply means outside the box thinking).  Having the audacity to question how things are being done and suggest there is a better way to do it.

Thanks for listening and feel free to rate the podcast in iTunes.

-Chris

So, you’ve taken the plunge into the virtual world of internet marketing.

You’ve planned your strategy, crafted your marketing plan, prepared your marketing materials, and launched your internet marketing campaign. Well congratulations! That’s a lot of hard work.

Once you’ve got your plan in motion, half the battle is done. However, that’s not the end of your internet marketing plan. Every marketing program, whether offline or online, needs to be followed up on to ensure that your advertising and promotional efforts are actually producing results and residual income.

Follow-up efforts that are crucial to success in internet marketing include tracking each source of marketing that you use, determining which sources are producing results, analyzing the effective methods, and revamping the ineffective methods. So, running a results-oriented internet marketing campaign is an ongoing effort that requires constant monitoring and refining.

Besides, how can you measure what you don’t track?

Website logs are a wonderful source of information that aids in monitoring your internet marketing program. By reviewing your website logs you will be able to determine where traffic that comes to your website is directed from. Be sure that your web hosting package has a control panel through which you can access your traffic logs to see the source of your website traffic.

Even better then website logs is Google Analytics.  Of course there is much, much, much more information included in Google Analytics then the average internet marketing beginner will need, you will thank yourself a thousand times down the road for at least learning how to track a few basic things once a week. If you are total nerd like me you will check them several times a DAY, but I have found that to not be very productive or helpful and honestly starting out it can be down right discouraging.

“Refresh” 5 views. “Refresh” 5 views. “Refresh” 6 views.
Of course this is not the point of tracking!

A comprehensive internet marketing program includes market research, strategy development, campaign design, and launching the campaign. Monitoring the campaign and making adjustments to your strategy and techniques will ensure that your marketing efforts are effective. You should strive not only to bring traffic to your website, but also to convert website visitors to customers.

Your goal should be learning how to turn a tiny statistic into a sale. To turn as many website visitors into an income as possible. Should the quality of your information and products be a never ending pursuit? Of course, but you will never know your true successes and true failures until you learn how to discover why you got that result.

PS. How and what have you tracked?
Did it save you time? What did you learn from it?

Talk to me! Until next time,
-Austin

No person is perfect, and therefore, people will always be judged in both a positive and negative way. Everything a person does will be judged, and as a result, those who disagree with a person’s actions will most likely be deemed a hater. Even the most masterful ideas face opposition from haters. For example, world peace is often criticized as being impossible to achieve, and haters often express their feelings about it being a waste of time.

We all want to be well liked by everyone, knowing full well this is unattainable. Knowing we cannot please everyone, should we rather try to please no one? I often speak of my passions for the stock market and high-risk investment strategies with many people who return blank stares or raised eyebrows. I also have a life that does not revolve around work, which often scares people and gets me weird looks. Again, it’s impossible to please everyone.

One of the biggest issues out there is the overall cynical nature of society. When talking about how to achieve success and how to lead my life, people often respond in awe at the fact I am trying to do all these things. Why? Because they all believe all that I want is impossible to achieve or attain. Those of you like me, focused on residual income, have likely come across some haters as well. This article seeks to address how to deal with haters.

More often than not it is easy to talk the talk, but not actually walk the walk. People will advise ignoring haters, but when it comes down to it, the extreme negativity takes too big a toll to simply ignore. When times get tough, having that negative person telling you how dumb your ideas are or that you can’t do something can weigh quite heavily on you.

When such haters pop up, I usually question whether or not I will fail, or if I made the right decision. Am I wasting my time? Once I realize it is just the haters getting in my head, I have a clear answer to all my questions: no. I would like to offer some inspiration and give some advice about how to handle haters.

There are five things one must realize about haters before trying to deal with them. The first is that you cannot change them. It is important to understand that you will more than likely not be able to change a hater. If you are fortunate enough to change a hater, it will probably take years. The best example deals with politics. Imagine a conservative twenty something. Over time, this person realizes that not all liberal ideas are bad, and then has a few life experiences that make this person more liberal. While this person has indeed become more liberal, they are not fully to the left. The process of even becoming more liberal has taken time, and to be completely liberal would take even more time. Knowing this process and the fact that changing a person is truly rare will save you a lot of stress in the future.

The second suggestion is to expect the unexpected. In the age of technology where everything is faster, haters can attack at any time. The best way to combat these sneak attacks is to be prepared. It typically goes like this: you have a great idea, someone disagrees with it, that person tells you about how much they disagree with or hate your idea. Be ready for this. The haters want you to scream and yell, and post your reaction online—it gets their message out there more so than yours. The best thing to do is to not react to the haters.

Third, trying to please everyone is a certain sign of mediocrity.  Like most people, I want people to like me, which is why I do things that encourage that. That being said, when everyone likes you and your message, it is likely there is something wrong. Some of the greatest minds have endured haters simply because their ideas were different. While the ideas were remarkable and made sense, not everyone liked them. We all know the story of Galileo and the sun. The main point is to realize that there will always be haters, but that does not mean your work, ideas, or ideology is wrong. Having opposition means you are perhaps doing something right.

Another thing to consider is being cool and collected at all times when dealing with haters. As previously stated, avoid confrontation with the haters and keep reactions private…most of the time. Sometimes dealing with a hater requires confrontation. When this is the case, the best advice is to remain calm. When haters present logical arguments contra to yours, do not respond with anger and frustration. This will not get anyone anywhere. Respond with your arguments, point out their flaws, and open yourself to the possibility of their argument. Be able to admit if your view is incorrect, or if it maybe needs some work.

The last thing to remember can be summed up by a quote: “living well is the best revenge.” I am a true believer in this as it has reduced a lot of stress in my life for years. Live a good life in spite of all the haters constantly trying to break you down. People always tell me how silly I am for expecting to make money from penny stocks. I respond by setting goals. I am hoping to make 40 percent in a quarter and then post my results for fact checkers. This allows me to promote my strategy and allow everyone to cash in. Living well is the best way to serve up that revenge to all the haters.

What experiences have you had with haters?

-Chris

People often associate residual income with affiliate programs, email marketing, and scams. While some of these negative first impressions are indeed justified, one must realize the broad potential of residual income outside the sphere of online business.

Residual income can be summed up as operating “in the green.” For example, everything is paid off for the month, and there is still some money left over. Residual income deals with tactics to grow that remaining money, and learning how to work in a way that reaps rewards not once but continually. It continues rewarding long after the main part of the work is done.

There is no one way, one type, one path to residual income. Different kinds of residual income work better for different types of people. Residual income is all about diversification and ensuring different sources of income. This is why there are different paths for each individual, and different ways to grow that residual income. Residual Income Life has five major residual income strategies, which include: real state, online business, stock market, using the Internet as a tool, and minimizing debt.

1. Real Estate: Real estate has always been a proven method of residual income. Although there are numerous dangers and potential risks with real estate, business, commercial, residential real estate, and rental properties have all made many people a full-time income. Residual Income Life has strength with mitigating risk and diversification, but it believes there is most definitely a place for real estate in RIL’s material.

2. Online Business: This often holds a negative stigma, sometimes rightfully so. Online business certainly isn’t for everyone, and it’s not something that will show instant success. There are, however, a few clear benefits to online business. These include zero investment (aside from time) and nearly unlimited potential. Because this requires perseverance, not everyone can successfully work with online businesses. If the personality isn’t right, the business will not succeed.

3. Stock Market: This has the most potential for residual income. At Residual Income Life, the focus is on penny stocks, dividend-paying stocks, and a balanced portfolio as a means to decrease risk. These also increase income from day one. These strategies are purposely created so that anyone can get started in the stock market, and more advanced techniques for people already investing.

4. Internet: One of Residual Income Life’s favorite tools for rapid growth is supplementing a small business by using the Internet as a tool. This allows not only for the integration of different angles and concepts, but the entrepreneurial spirit seems to resonate with residual income best here as well. Many of these strategies come naturally to small business oriented people.

5. Minimizing Debt: Minimizing debt in addition to effectively managing taxes is essential in creating and growing residual income. By minimizing debt, residual income has an unlimited potential to grow and influence one’s life.

To anyone interested in or passionate about these topics and how residual income can change your life, please for our free email updates and receive your free gift.

-Chris

In this podcast we discuss how to make your website the most effective it can be. Your website copy should be written for 3 types of website browsers. If you make these 4 small tweaks, you’ll have your bases covered!

1. Number one reason your website isn’t remarkable is that you can’t create bite sized content.

-Look at your website as a whole compared to a similar website you know that is popular.

-Be sure to bold text on important words

-Include text boxes with small bits of copy

-Utilize photos with word captions

-Give them bulleted lists

-Use effective headlines (big and small)

2. The second reason you website isn’t remarkable is that you aren’t satisfying would be “super-fans”.
-Now that you’ve grabbed someone’s attention with your headlines, then you want to deepen their interest with the small text.

-Don’t put very much detail on your home page.

-Put the detailed information a level or two deep, in the places where someone is looking for specific information.

-Remember, you want to break up the tiny text with lots of breaks for those page scanners.

-Super fans WANT all of the little details that bore you just to write down.

It’s a good thing, it’s a complement.

3. Your website isn’t robot friendly.
That’s right, I said write for those computers ñ you know the ones that determine your search engine placement. One of the best ways to improve your search engine placement is to include lots of keywords in your writing. (Don’t be obnoxious and type your keywords in a nonsense fashion. That can get you banned from search listings.) But, DO use your relevant keywords on every page, in the headlines and in the details.

4. The fourth reason that your website is not remarkable is because you content did not pass the “friend test”.
-Material should be interesting enough to hold a several minute conversation about the topic with a friend.

-Hand in hand with that is that you have to be able to present the information in a way that interests and engages people.

As always we thank you for listening and appreciate your support.

Please rate the podcast in iTunes and give us your feedback. Let us know if there is a topic you would like to hear about at comments@residualincomelife.com

-Chris

In this podcast we discuss the ten reason people fail at internet marketing. Ninety-five percent of the people that start a internet marketing business will fail. However, that doesn’t have to be you. There are very common mistakes most people make that lead to there failure. We have made most of these mistakes ourselves and have learned from them. We hope that you won’t have to learn the hard way like we did.

1. Failure to Plan: People think they can start a website and just somehow make it happen. That is not true with internet marketing or and other business venture. You can have a lot of great goals, but if your don’t have a plan of how to achieve them you never will.

2. Not Work on Your Internet Business Daily: If you owned a brick and mortar business you wouldn’t only work on it once a week. You have to be dedicated to making your business successful, and it is not always easy. If you want to have a full-time income from internet marketing you have to understand handwork is required and be willing to do that hard work.

3. Making Goals to Big to Achieve: We have done this too, and we felt like we were failing, when really the goals we set were unrealistic. The key is to remember you can be very successful in internet marketing, but you need to have lofty, yet achievable goals. There are a lot of people that have made a great income from internet marketing and you are probably a lot like them. The main difference being they have put tons of handwork into there business to get it where it is today. Anything is possible if you are willing to work for it.

4.Lack of Knowledge: This doesn’t mean you should wait to know everything about internet marketing, but you should know a decent amount. You wouldn’t be a good golfer without clubs, so make sure you are learning about internet marketing and putting clubs in your bag. However, we don’t want you to wait forever to get started. You don’t need to have a PhD in internet marketing to be successful, but you do need to at least know the basics.

I don’t want to give to much away, you will have to listen to the podcast for the other six reasons why people fail at internet marketing. You don’t have to be a part of the majority that fils if you can learn from other peoples failures.. As always we thank you for listening and appreciate your support.

Please rate the podcast in iTunes and give us your feedback. Let us know if there is a topic you would like to hear about at comments@residualincomelife.com

-Chris

I myself have found that Internet marketing can be exciting, challenging, and sometimes confusing. Honestly it can make or break your internet business career and yet many people who depend on internet marketing don’t have a full grasp of the simple essentials involved in internet marketing. In fact, many internet entrepreneurs waste a great deal of time, energy, and momentum because they do not fully understand internet marketing. Don’t let this lack of understanding undermine your income potential.

Sometimes a basic cost/benefit analysis help can help:

Three Key Questions
1. What Is Internet Marketing?
2. What Is The Cost Of Internet Marketing?
3. What Is The Benefit of Internet Marketing?

What Is Internet Marketing?

Marketing is actually rather simple. Marketing is communication about an idea, product, service, or organization. Marketing therefore encompasses advertising, promotion and sales as well as the various techniques and forms of communication used to advertise, promote and sell. Marketing is broader than simple advertising or promotion in that it includes researching the market to learn what consumers want and then setting out to meet their needs with the appropriate product, price, and distribution method. Marketing includes market research, deciding on products and prices, advertising promoting distributing and selling.

Marketing also covers all the activities involved in moving products and services from the source to the end user including making customers aware of products and services, attracting new customers to a product or service, keeping existing customers interested in a product or service, and building and maintaining a customer base for a product or service.

Internet marketing includes these same activities but also pulls in various internet tools including web sites, email, ezines, banner advertising, blogging, RSS, text links, search engine optimization, affiliates, autoresponders, and other ecommerce applications.

What Is The Cost Of Internet Marketing?

The range of expenses for internet marketing is huge. There are a number of promotional and marketing ventures that can cost you nothing or only pennies a day while other advertising efforts can cost you thousands a day.

It is important to consideryour goals — both long-term and short-term — as well as how much each prospective customer is worth to you. This will help you determine a workable budget for your internet marketing campaign.

Many internet promotions are free, you can set up a web site and/or blog for $250 a year, and you can buy text links for $10 a month. You could easily spend $25-50 a day for advertising but there are many cheaper ad options available.

The best program is to start small and cheap and slowly build as you test and learn what is successful for your market and product. There is no perfect advertising solution that works wonders for everyone. Each marketer and each product has a different formula.

What Is The Benefit of Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing offers more benefits than many traditional marketing mediums. The very nature of web sites and blogs is that they continue working to promote and market your product long after your initial marketing effort is over. Similarly many advertising efforts, such as ezines, newsletters, banners, and text links also continue to increase in power over time.

Email marketing can be a tremendous surge in contacts and sales and offers the ability to personalize your message as well as reach a targeted audience so your chance for sales goes up exponentially.

The other tremendous benefit of internet marketing is that it offers convenience and immediate satisfaction. Your potential customer sees your marketing message when it is convenient for them — and often when they are seeking information about your specific topic. Then you offer them the ability to act on that interest right then. They can locate your product and buy in the time it would take to watch a commercial on television or turn a page in the newspaper. That is the true power of internet marketing.

Summer is more often than not one of the most difficult seasons to remain motivated. Understandably so, as people are going on

vacation and the stock market becomes choppy. It is not hard to slowly slip into inactivity with entrepreneurial pursuits. These lazy days have often been referred to as the dog days of summer.

In Canis Major, meaning the big dog, Sirius is the brightest star. This also happens to be the brightest star in the entire sky. In fact, it is so bright that ancient Romans theorized that the earth received some heat from the star. During the summer months, Sirius rises and sets with the sun. This led the Romans to believe that, along with the sun, this star was responsible for the hot, sultry weather. These long, hot days were nicknamed after Sirius, the dog star, hense “the dog days of summer.”

Like many, I, too, suffer the effects of “the dog days,” so I am hoping to provide some much needed advice in this post. As previously stated, growing residual income requires time, lots of time. Some of the most time consuming tasks include using SEO to rank websites, allowing movement of high growth stocks, and product development, which is why one cannot fall prey to lazy summers.

Working on residual income during the summer months does not mean not enjoying vacations or time with family and friends. It simply allows for one to avoid the “oh no! I haven’t worked on my residual income for months!” Instead, we suggest having a fun summer and taking some time to work on residual income. Tim Ferriss’s “Mission Criticial Goal” approach is a great way to achieve this. I suggest making a list of the five most important goals to achieve for the next day. I also suggest writing down five to 10 personal goals. For example, eating a healthy breakfast, spending time with family, and working out.

Depending on personal preference, one or two lists can be used. I prefer two for one simple reason: the personal list typically stays the same while the business list changes almost daily. I don’t want to be just a successful businessman, but a healthy, successful human being. More often than not, people tend to focus too much on business, which is a difficult line to walk.

1. Efficiency & Effectiveness: It seems simple enough, “effectiveness is doing the things that get you close to your goals…[while] efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible.” Taking these simple definitions, one can apply them when the dog days of summer and that lack of motivation settle in. Like most, I would rather be doing the things I love than developing products or making sales calls. However, if I do my work, the results will be well worth the hard work. This particular step is not at all fun, but waiting until tomorrow or the next day or the next to look at your residual income is not efficient or effective.

2. Daily Goals & Clarity: Some people are not motivated by goals, while others, such as myself, find them extremely useful in achieving a goal. The best way to achieve goals is to have at least one personal and one business goal set each day. For example, my business goal is to write a blog post, and my personal goal is to forego pop. Having one goal in each category allows my self confidence to build as I achieve more and more goals. Another piece of advice would be to slowly keep adding another goal to the lists each week and see how life improves, both professionally and personally, as you become more and more productive.

3. Recharge Your Battery: No one particularly wants his or her business to fall apart over the summer, but it is important to take time to relax and recharge. My personal preference is to do batch work. This kind of work involves completing similar work in one sitting in order to be more efficient. Rarely do Austin and I write one blog per session. It just makes more sense to crank it out all at once, as opposed to meeting up several times to get the same amount of work done. It is all about effectiveness and efficiency. Go relax and enjoy the beach with family and friends, after all, you have earned it. If you follow the first two steps, step three will come naturally.

4. Exercise: Running, biking, swimming, hiking, whatever it is, get active. Running allows me to clear my head and recharge daily. I do this for several reasons. First, exercise is proven to release positive chemicals in the brain, which, in turn, has a positive effect on us. Exercise also allows for a more positive outlook on life. Whatever the activity, just do it.

Summer has always been difficult for me in terms of work, so I hope this post is at least somewhat helpful. My hope is that everyone can use the tips above to improve business and life in general.

Do you have any tips to stay motivated? Leave them below.

-Chris

In this podcast we discuss four low risk residual income ideas. Low risk doesn’t mean low reward. All four ideas we present in this podcast can reap great benefits. By low risk we mean not a lot of money needed to get started i.e. not a lot of money can be lost.

First, we will talk about ebooks. Ebooks can be one of the best ways to generate residual income. You need very little money to start, al you need is time and the will to get it done. You can write an ebook on almost anything, you can write about whatever your passion might be. A great plus to ebooks is the number of market places they can be sold. Amazon for example, there are people making five figures a month from ebooks. All you need to do is find your niche and write a good book.

Second, we will talk about affiliate marketing, it is one of the most popular ways to grow residual income. You can create a product and pay affiliates to do the sales work for you or you can be the salesperson. Either way affiliate marketing works and can make you a solid income stream. You need to pick quality products you believe in and pick the right niche, but you can be successful with a little hard work. Again affiliate marketing requires very little up front cash investment.

I don’t want to give to much away, you will have to listen to the podcast for the rest of the residual income ideas. As always we thank you for listening and appreciate your support.

Please rate the podcast in iTunes and give us your feedback. Let us know if there is a topic you would like to hear about at comments@residualincomelife.com

-Chris

By Far the easiest and fastest way to make money online is selling digital products. Reselling products that other people have made and you approve of gives you practice and experience in marketing, without a huge risk to your personal time wasted if it doesn’t sell well. Also digital products have NO shipping charges, they are in high demand, and many of them come with a professionally designed sales page. So all you have to do is promote them to new eyes and web traffic.

The only problem is that most people start off in the digital products business trying to sell a huge amount of out dated products. (Or products that you can probably get for free somewhere else.) Don’t get me wrong… older products can sell, but not as much and you have to work a little harder. It’s far easier to sell a digital product that you can see is gaining momentum, but perhaps has not peaked at it’s full potential. Gauging this is really only possible with experience, but it doesn’t take long to get a feel for it.

The key to making good money from these products is to do a lot of research. First make sure the product is new”ish” to the market (the newer the better). Then find its market value, a good way to judge this is to search the title of the product on eBay, look through the listings and you should get a good idea what its selling for. If you don’t see it listed, its usually a good sign. Try searching the title in Google and see what pops up.

I know there are a lot of sites out there selling these products and after a while it seems that they are all offering the same old stuff. Which brings me to my next tip. If you come across a unique product that not many people are selling… get on board!! With the right promotion these products can be the MOST profitable. If for some reason the product you thought was right for you doesn’t sell… then at least make the experience worth something by determining what NOT to do next time. As long as you have an important thing to take away you can at least pin point something to keep in mind for next time. Remember that not everything you try will be a home run. Everyone is different and what works for some people may not work for others. Sometimes you will hit a single or a double and sometimes you’ll strike out or have a wild foul ball. The point is, you can’t have a batting average if you never step up to the plate.
Feel free to comment below, and happy selling!

-Austin

When it comes to running an efficient business, there are several elements that can keep things running very smoothly for you. Conversely, there are also several elements that can slow your work down. In an economy that relies on efficient pricing and accurate work that is delivered to your clients on time, you can’t be held back by various slowdowns known as bottlenecks. Bottlenecks are created by either personnel or your business model and can seriously hinder your business workflow and keep your system running like a well-oiled machine. The actual bottleneck itself actually occurs when the workload exceeds the work capacity.

One type of business “bottlenecking” is organizational. From the inception of a business it is crucial that the organizational structure in place is optimal. If there are too many people at one managerial level, this can often lead to questioning of one’s responsibilities. If it is clear that everyone knows their role in the organization, there will be no wondering exactly who is supposed to take on what tasks and no time is wasted in trying to solve the issue. When people begin to question what exactly they are supposed to do and what their co-workers are supposed to do, this is time lost that could be spent working on projects and the workload begins to all behind.

Another type is workload bottlenecks. Businesses try to run with minimal expenses all the time. This is the most common cause of bottlenecks. If the workload is greater than the work capacity, employees become overwhelmed and business begins to suffer. Workers who are comfortable in their environment often work more efficiently, while employees who are in a high stress, high workload environment are often known to suffer from mental blocks which severely slows the workflow that passes through your organization. Make sure you are aware of any shorthanded issues in your office to prevent this bottlenecking.

A third type is administrative bottlenecking. Often in business, there are several papers, contracts, and agreements that must be signed before work can either begin or get completed. It’s crucial that not only your workers understand the paperwork that is in place, but that your client is fully aware of any papers that need to be signed as they go through the process to get their work completed. When all paperwork requirements are fully disclosed, whether in writing or verbally, you can get your work off to a quicker start, and a faster finish as well, preventing slowdown or further bottlenecking in the future of your partnership.

With all business models, the most important method of preventing bottlenecks is communication. Talking with your team members and clients alike can often prevent even the slightest bottlenecks. When bottlenecking occurs, it usually snowballs into a larger issue and it’s very difficult to recover from. If you can prevent business bottlenecks before they occur, you’re guaranteed to have a long prosperous career for yourself and your employees, which also creates a more relaxed, happier work environment.

For those individuals wanting to increase residual income, Tim Ferris’s book “The Four Hour Work Week” was a likely first read.The book opens e reader’s eyes to how incredible one’s residual income can actually be. While the book has much to offer, there is a lie within in which many readers choose to believe.

Ferris provides advice and examples of how to make a business more efficient so one can start “living the life,” and not just working through life. Like so many readers, this hit home with me. I so often feel like all I ever do is work. So many people are comfortable in their current careers, and therefore, are petrified to take a leap of faith to pursue their passions. I am one of these people. However, after reading Ferris’s book, me and many others have been inspired to chase our dreams and start living our lives the way we had always hoped to.

There is one very important aspect of the book that is often overlooked: none of the strategies will be applicable if the reader doesn’t realize how hard Ferris has worked. His diligence and years of hard work to get his Brain Quicken product to make a sizable profit–$40,000–is what allows him to provide such excellent advice about residual income. Ferris was fully responsible for the development and production of the product, as well as all the accounting, marketing, and customer service. Like any good entrepreneur, Ferris spent countless hours building the Brain Quicken brand. This is a crucial part of the book as many readers expect only to work four hours a week as opposed to having to work insanely hard to get to that point

I am by no means suggesting a 100-hour work week for years on end, but rather that getting to a four hour work week requires time and effort. The hardest part, starting a business from scratch, takes a lot of time and energy. If likened to a plane, getting that plane off the ground can take a long time and a lot of hard work, but once it is up, autopilot turns on and it’s smooth sailing from there. Ferris’s book will ultimately help in thin process by allowing one to create the most efficient business possible.

My main point is this: nothing worth having comes without hard work. One can have the freedom of time and money such as Ferris does if willing to work for it. Overall, I love “The Four Hour Work Week,” and suggest reading it, even if only to think

I hope you all enjoyed the second podcast and if you would like to keep in touch sign up for our email list or email both Chris and I at commets@residualincomelife.com

Thanks for listening and giving us a rating in iTunes if you have a moment!

-Chris

As previously promised in the “What is a Hedge Fund?” video, I have written this article explaining how one can have his or her own hedge fund. Like most, I
was in complete disbelief when I heard that I could have my own hedge fund. Surprisingly, they are quite simple to set up and manage. Of course there are issues, especially in dealing with stocks, options, bonds, currencies, and commodities to trade. However, as previously stated, research is a must before embarking on any investment adventure. That is never truer than in the case of a hedge fun. In theory, if one allocated this as a larger portion of his or her portfolio, it can either make or break you more than in the case of smaller investments.

Now that we have thoroughly confused you, let’s back up and answer some of the basic questions.

First, why would someone want to run his or her stock/investment portfolio like a hedge fund? Also, will doing this actually provide benefits if it works, and if so, how well? The main logic in running investments like a hedge fund is to maximize gains. Take the example that is most common in the United States—fear. In a typical portfolio, people have grown so fearful of stocks they refuse to own any on an individual basis. They instead grow them through mutual funds, which are owned in the protection of an IRA or 401K, or both. While these decisions are made to reduce risk, they also reduce potential gains.

An important statistic to keep in mind is this: most mutual funds do not beat the S&P 500 on an annual basis. Another thing to keep in mind is that mutual funds are long stocks. What this means is that they go up when the market goes up. Like we all know, the market goes up and down all the time. Who wants to settle for only making money when the market is good? If you think this is as ridiculous as I do, you are likely shorting stocks. These allow you to borrow shares, and should the price go down, you make money. (For more information about shorting stocking, click on the video link Video Link). Additionally, mutual funds do not allow the diversity to use Forex and Options.

I have been talking about all the pros of a hedge fund, but I want to make one thing clear as well. I do have a 401K and IRA. These are just small parts of my portfolio, but because my employer matches my contributions up to a certain percentage, I keep them. Afterall, I can’t pass up a one hundred percent gain with the match. That being said, I do still contribute a larger overall percentage to my personal hedge fund, thus allowing me to optimize money for the largest potential gains.

While I do appreciate the financial gains, I must admit that being a part time trader is fairly difficult. Unfortunately, I learned this through mistakes and losing money. I didn’t do enough research or thorough research to be a financial genius. However, once I figured all of this out, investing became far easier.

To make the investing process simpler, I paid for an investing system that has a hedge fund manager that makes all the picks. Most importantly, the hedge fund manager does all the research. The cost benefit analysis was simple when I saw the growth in my portfolio, and the time I was saving. How does this all work? Just sign up for a subscription and link your Think or Swim account to the Davian Letter. This service is then auto-traded into your account. After everything is set up, it is as simple as just watching your money grow.

The stock system has made me 30 to 40 percent over the past few years. Despite all this, I still expect skeptics, but I want to put their minds at ease. Austin and I do not endorse products and services often, but when we do, they are the top of the line. If you do have any questions, more information can be found here or by emailing me at Chris@residualincomelife.com.

This will work, and work well. This is for you if you like the idea of making money in both up and down markets, and enjoy doing little work. The first step is to get rid of that fear and to just kind of jump in. Don’t be afraid to be different—everyone is settling for an IRA and waiting for forty plus years for a return on investment. Running your portfolio like a hedge fund is just one alternative.

I would advise, however, that as with any investment, risks are involved. Not every trade is going to be amazing. That being said, I have yet to find a better trading system.

Feel free to leave comments and questions below.

-Chris

Listen here or in iTunes/Stitcher!

Ever wanted to know the ins and outs of  investing in a hedge fund? Get a successful hedge fund manager’s story, techniques and best practices all in one interview. We want to really extend our thanks to our friend Anthony Davian for spending some of his valuable time with us. This interview is packed with information about hedge fund investing and this podcast gives an excellent introduction to how you can have hedge fund trading strategies in your own portfolio.

Coupon Code as Promised: podcast512 (10% off your entire order)

Link to The Davian Letter Hedge Fund Product

Link to The Gravity Penny Stock Product

“We wanted to make a hedge type trading product for everyone”

In this podcast you will learn:

1. What a hedge fund is and how you most likely are invested in them indirectly. Anthony’s background is in accounting and finance so naturally he has done an excellent job at using that knowledge to build a great hedge fund. You also learn what Anthony’s biggest motivation was in developing hedge fund strategies for normal people in The Davian Letter.

2. Anthony in a local guy from Ohio and has stayed in Ohio and out of the New York and Chicago Herd trading mentality.

3. The stock market does not have to be a dark scary place. If you are not investing in the stock market you are missing out on huge amounts residual income.

4. Learn how you can spend 5 minutes a week on your portfolio at ThinkorSwim.com and make 30%-40% per year.

5. Anthony speaks directly about penny stocks and how they are huge money makers. I won’t give it all away here, but his advice is certainly worth listening to. The stock market can generate wealth like no other business and penny stocks are one of the greatest tools you can use.

There is so, so much more in this interview, so please have listen and let us know what you think.
And once again, thanks Anthony!

-Chris

If you are like me you have always been intrigued by the way wealthy people use the wealth they have to grow more money for themselves. One of the vehicles wealthy people use are Hedge Funds. There is a ton of media coverage of hedge funds. However, most of that media attention is negative. We at Residual Income Life are here to present our audience with the truth, whatever that may be. The truth about hedge funds, is there are far more honest hedge fund managers then there are cheats. The greatest truth is that you and I have the opportunity to have our own personal hedge funds. More on that later, we first need to understand what a hedge fund is and how it works.

What is a Hedge Fund?

Before we can take advantage of hedge fund trading strategies with your money we must understand how a hedge fund works. First and foremost, a hedge fund is a large amount of money that is managed by a hedge fund manager. You might be thinking how is that guy different from my current investment manager? The hedge fund manager is different in many ways. First, the hedge fund manager will use any investing tool possible to make you money. For example, hedge funds trade stocks, bonds, options, currencies, commodities, futures, etfs, and even real estate to make you money. Your current investments are most likely in IRA’s and 401K’s which own mutual funds and are based on the principle that you are willing to hope in 40 years you have enough to retire. Hedge funds are based on the idea of making as much money as possible with every trade, thus increasing returns and lowering your retirement age.

How Does It Work?

How a hedge fund works is actually very simple. The idea of a “hedge” is to have the ability to make money whether the market is up or down. For example, you will be both long (you want the price to increase) and short (you want the price to decrease) stocks. That allows you to make money in any economy. Secondly, as previously discussed your money will be invested in many different markets, also increasing potential gains. However, the SEC has very strict laws about who can invest in a hedge because of the risk. You have to have a million dollar net worth and have an initial investment of $100,000. I don’t know about you, but I don’t meet either of those qualifications.  However, to most people’s surprise you can run your personal stock account at ThinkorSwim for example like a hedge fund. By that, I mean you can be long and short stocks, you can use options, currencies, and commodities to make money. I will warn you though you will need time to do research before you put money into any investment.  You have the opportunity to make lots of money if you do your research. NEVER under estimate the importance of research. I learned the hard way that if you haven’t done your research you will lose money.

Keep your eyes open for my next blog post “How to Run Your Portfilio Like a Hedge Fund” were I take you through everything you need to know to trade like a hedge fund.

As always, if you have any questions or additions… leave me a comment to respond to.

-Chris

Like so many out there, I often contemplate whether or not my day job will end up being my career, or if it’s really just a means to an end. By this I mean, of course, I have bills to pay. My day job fulfills that obligation. Paying my bills provides shelter over my head, yes, but after reading several books, I have begun to question if I am perhaps selling myself short. Think and Grow Rich, Crust It, and The Four Hour Work Week are a few such books that have made me question the legitimacy of my day job as a career.

Americans seem bred to work, and as such, a common idea is that we are to work for years on end and then retire. I regret to say that I bought into this idea. I’m now kicking myself for all the time I wasted hoping to accumulate mass wealth and happiness after four decades of hard work. This fantasy couldn’t be further from the truth.

After overhearing water cooler talk at work about planning for retirement, I realized several somewhat frightening things. First off, many of my coworkers are more than willing to blindly accept that depositing money in their IRAs and 401Ks for decades is the best way to reach a healthy retirement. Another commonly accepted idea is that we will all work away our lives just to reach retirement. Lastly, no one can seem to accept my goal of retiring at 35. This frustrates me most because of their utter lack of faith in me, and my goal of early retirement. Sure, one can explain away the first two by saying people generally follow “the way things are,” and do not wish to risk retirement by going against social norms.

Despite what my coworkers think, I have discovered ways to become a millionaire in just 10 to 12 years. Simple math and a high quality investment strategy can move this process along, especially if the initial investment is large. For more on this, look at the “Why IRAs Are a Waste of Your Money” post.

So the question still remains: is one’s current job a career or merely a means to an end? Countless subscribers have sent me emails asking how to make their residual income their career. How do we allow our residual income to grow? How can we turn our current income into residual income cash flow? People often ask these questions hoping for a cure all, but too afraid to try anything. Everyone seems to be fearful of the consequences of quitting their job, having the residual income idea fail, and then having nowhere to turn. In all honesty, this is my biggest concern too.

For an accountant who has numerous monthly bills, the idea of just quitting is terrifying. I am constantly crunching numbers just to see how much money I need to get by each month. However, my goal is not to just “get by” each month, but rather, to enjoy life, to have enough money to not have to worry every month. Does your job allow you this luxury, or again, is it just a way to get by?

If a job is solely a means to an end, perhaps setting some goals can change that. This is key. As an athlete, I have been conditioned to set and achieve the physical goals I set for myself. This could be anything from being better at free throws to throwing more first pitch strikes. Using this goal setting mentality with residual income has had a tremendous effect.

Setting goals has allowed me to focus on the things I need to do today, this week, and this month to achieve what I am hoping to accomplish. After I did this, I realized the best course of action for me is to determine how much I need to make per month in residual income to leave my current job without worrying. This provided me two benefits: I determined my risk threshold for income, and it gave me something to work towards.

I am a very goal driven individual, and cannot function well without having a clear goal in sight. Perhaps some of you are, some not, but I would argue that having a clear goal is extremely beneficial, even if the goal seems unreachable.

After all this, I’m sure many of you are asking yourself if you should leave your job and focus mostly on residual income. My advice to you would be no. unless you are making a decent residual income consistently, it is not a good idea to just pack up and leave. Many residual income players argue that if one can’t get residual income flowing with a full-time job in place, it will be near impossible to do so without. I would mostly agree. If it is your hope to live off residual income, hard work is a must.

My final piece of advice is to have a job that can at least pay the bills, and keep that job for at least a little while. Then start your life with residual income after all your typical 9-5 work. It is a very tough journey, but well worth it in the end when you’re living off residual income. We will all reach our destination of having a career as opposed to a means to an end, but it will require much work.

For those individuals wanting to increase residual income, Tim Ferris’s book “The Four Hour Work Week” was a likely first read.The book opens the reader’s eyes to how incredible one’s residual income can actually be. While the book has much to offer, there is a lie within in which many readers choose to believe.

Ferris provides advice and examples of how to make a business more efficient so one can start “living the life,” and not just working through life. Like so many readers, this hit home with me. I so often feel like all I ever do is work. So many people are comfortable in their current careers, and therefore, are petrified to take a leap of faith to pursue their passions. I am one of these people. However, after reading Ferris’s book, me and many others have been inspired to chase our dreams and start living our lives the way we had always hoped to.

There is one very important aspect of the book that is often overlooked: none of the strategies will be applicable if the reader doesn’t realize how hard Ferris has worked. His diligence and years of hard work to get his Brain Quicken product to make a sizable profit–$40,000–is what allows him to provide such excellent advice about residual income. Ferris was fully responsible for the development and production of the product, as well as all the accounting, marketing, and customer service. Like any good entrepreneur, Ferris spent countless hours building the Brain Quicken brand. This is a crucial part of the book as many readers expect only to work four hours a week as opposed to having to work insanely hard to get to that point

I am by no means suggesting a 100-hour work week for years on end, but rather that getting to a four hour work week requires time and effort. The hardest part, starting a business from scratch, takes a lot of time and energy. If likened to a plane, getting that plane off the ground can take a long time and a lot of hard work, but once it is up, autopilot turns on and it’s smooth sailing from there. Ferris’s book will ultimately help in thin process by allowing one to create the most efficient business possible.

My main point is this: nothing worth having comes without hard work. One can have the freedom of time and money such as Ferris does if willing to work for it. Overall, I love “The Four Hour Work Week,” and suggest reading it, even if only to think

Your thoughts and comments are welcome below.

-Chris

Listen here or in iTunes/Stitcher!

Ever wanted to know the “nitty-gritty” of real estate investing? Get a successful real estate investor’s story, techniques and best practices all in one interview. We want to really extend our thanks to our friend Tim Beck for spending some of his valuable time with us. This interview is packed with information about real estate investing and this podcast gives an excellent introduction to the basics of investing in rentals and in flipping houses.

“If you buy a property right, you make money the day you buy.”

In this podcast you will learn:

1. About how a young investor got started in the real estate/rental business. Tim’s background is in business and real estate so naturally he has done an excellent job at using that knowledge to build a great real estate business. You also learn what Tim’s biggest motivation for moving into the real estate business.

2. A lot of what Tim did in his early days was “flipping” properties before it was cool or honestly even a term. Eventually he did start keeping houses and renting them, but flipping was part of his business too.

3. One of the biggest factors of success in the rental business is not you, but your tenants. How to filter and reduce risk with tenants is a very important part of land lording. Every time you have a tenant turnover (especially with evictions) there can be an immense cost built into that. So keeping good tenants and finding great people to live in your properties is extremely important. Tim gives some great tips on how to do this.

4. Learn what the most time consuming and difficult part of the rental business is. Well the short answer is vacant rentals. Vacant rentals cost you money in utilities, repairs, and fixing up for the next resident. Tim tells us how to minimize the time that is consumed and the money spent on a vacant rental. The longer a property sits empty, the less rent you get, the more utilities you pay and the more vulnerable your investment is. Don’t miss this segment!

5. Tim speaks directly to people who are new at investing and thinking about investing in real estate. I won’t give it all away here, but his advice is certainly worth listening to. The real estate business can generate wealth like no other business but you have to keep some things in mind before getting started.

6. Buy, buy, buy should not be your motto. Be careful and be educated when you go to make your first purchases. Remember that one of the first steps to getting involved in real estate is financing. How much should you put down? How to run the numbers to make sure it’s a good decision?

There is so, so much more in this interview, so please have listen and let us know what you think.
And once again, thanks Tim!

-Austin

If you are already an affiliate marketing pro, this article may not be for you.Here at Residual Income Life we try to keep things simple and easy to understand. While some of our friends that visit here are more advanced in their online adventures, some are not so experienced. We want to have a library of articles on things that are often taken for granted if you have been in the internet marketing space for a while. So this may be brand new information to you, or maybe this is old news. Either way we will be able to refer new people to this article… well pretty much forever! So thank you for your patience if you are one of the more advanced marketers here.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Before we get into the main topic, we have to get on the same page about what a product is. Well it’s quite simple! A product is anything that is bought and sold. For example, cars, computer, eBooks, videos, websites, etc. The reason it is important to know what a product is is because affiliate marketing is just selling a product you didn’t make.

How Does It Work?

The basics of affiliate marketing are extremely simple. You market a product and get paid a commission when you sell the product. You may have many questions right now. Like how do they know I made the sale? How much money will I get per sale? Where do I sell these products? Those are all great questions… so let’s dig a little deeper.

First, you get create for the sale because you will have a “special” affiliate link for that product. Meaning when you sign up to sell the product you will be given a unique link that credits you. Now you have your link… you have to put it places people will click it to view the product. Where you put your link is totally up to you. You can build a sales website for the product with your link on the page. You can drop the link in blog post. You can put up Facebook ads with the link. The list of places you can put your link is endless. The key is not to trick people and to be very clear that the link is to a product that they may want to purchase.

What Should I Market?

There are plenty of products out there that you could market but may want to reconsider some of them. You should only affiliate market products you use and believe in. If you follow this rule you will know what it’s strengths and weaknesses are and will be able to better inform potential buyers. Would you be more likely to buy a product if someone showed you how to use it and how it works? Be the authority on your affiliate products. Know them as good as the person that made them and you will have a huge advantage over all other affiliate marketers selling the same or similar products.

Finally, the money, yes you will get paid for your hard work. How much depends of the price of the product, the commission percentage, and how many you sell. Keep in mind that some people make millions of dollars a month doing affiliate marketing. Some people make hundreds of dollars a month. What matters is that you use the product and believe in it. Once you start educating people about the product and about what it can do for them, you will begin to make some sales.

As always, if you have any questions or additions… leave me a comment to respond to.

-Chris

Success is something that is deeply transferable. A person that is successful in their career will be able to transfer that to other job markets. Everyone likes to claim that they know what the common denominator is for the people that “make it”. I can’t claim to know that but I do know one thing about the people that make it and the people that don’t. Success comes to focused people.

In a world where attention spans are growing rapidly smaller and in a world where so many inexpensive tools are at your disposal it’s hard to concentrate on how to grow your business. Unfortunately as entrepreneurs, investors, bloggers, small business owners or a combination of any of those we are faced with decisions every day of how to grow our incomes and how to focus our energies.

This is not a game that you can play “lets try a little of everything and see what happens”. When it comes to results (whatever that particular result may be to you) is very important to identify what works and to stick with that. You don’t stick to a strategy because it’s what you have always done. You don’t do a particular strategy because it worked for someone else. You asses your business and your situation and quantify what needs done to get results.

Quantifying what needs done is important because if you can write down your focus in a sentence or two, every action you take becomes clear. When you are doing something in particular are you asking yourself: “Is this a money making action?”. Do you ask yourself: “Is this part of my strategy?”

I wasted an entire year online for one reason only. I went for the shiny objects. There are a lot of different ways to supplement your income online and I tried them all. 80 websites later I had about 100 dollars to show for it. The take away here is to dial in on what makes your approach work. Find the project that has the most potential and stick with it.

If you plant too many seeds your crops will go unattended and eventually wither.
Stay faithful, stay focused and watch your efforts grow into a new stream of income.

-Austin

Some may find this episode to be a little more advanced then the last episode but some social media pros out there will not. Even though Twitter came to the scene as a social platform in 2006, people are still looking for tips, tricks and best practices when it comes to the platform. If this is you, then you are in the right place!

6. The Metrics of Twitter

It’s important to know when your audience is online, when they are using social media the most and how you can most effectively communicate with them. There are very unique tools available that give you this information and help you “get to the next level” with your Twitter account. Some of the features and tools that you can use with Twitter apply more to businesses and brands but some individuals will find value in them too.
One of the tools mentioned here is www.tweriod.com

7. How To Best Interact With People

Twitter is a special community that like most social media forms, has it’s own etiquette and best practices. It’s important to keep some of the things that we mention in the episode in mind when hopping on Twitter.

8. Another Time Management Tool For Twitter

Here we mention a tool that may help you manage your time spent on Twitter (or should I say not on Twitter?) more effectively. Scheduling tweets is not for everyone, considering some people have scheduled content to promote and some do not. A tweet scheduler is particularly nice for people who want to push older “evergreen” content from the archives in ways that may be valuable to their followers today. bufferapp.com

9. How To Brainstorm What To Tweet

In this one we give some suggestions on how to brainstorm what to tweet about the most effectively. Some of the things we discuss in the episode include. Your own content, other people’s unique content, industry related quotations, asking lots of questions and several other strategies.

10. Using Twitter As A Search Engine.

Twitter is indeed a search engine even if not in the traditional sense. The service handles about 1.5 BILLION search queries a day with people looking for other people, hot topics, related users, and valuable content. Learn how to get the most out of Twitter’s search function.

That’s it! I think we are all Twittered out!
If you would like to follow us, hit us up here: Residual Income Life Twitter

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
-Winston Churchill

Humans have an incredible ability to recognize faces and people. We can look at 100 faces in under 1 minute and still be able to pick out the one person that we know in a crowd of strangers. This is of course because each human face is unique and the human mind has been sharpened and conditioned over time to notice and identify these subtleties.
I think that this also applies to online businesses. When people visit your site, how long do you think you have to make an impression? A minute? Thirty seconds? You may be surprised to hear that it is far less (as in just a few seconds). This isn’t necessarily your fault as website owner because this happens to everyone’s website. These few second visitors simply won’t “boomerang” back to your site because they did not find what they were looking for and there isn’t much you can do about that.

These visitors that navigate to your site and immediately leave make a statistic for your website called your “bounce rate”. There are ways that you can improve your bounce rate but that isn’t what this post is specifically about. This post is about the “human” element and how you can increase the “boomerang traffic” to your business. We can scan over 100 faces in 1 minute and easily detect an acquaintance and I would argue that your site is a lot like that. Just like meeting that cute girl/guy for the first time, it is critically important that you get the “first impression” right. Some people will “bounce” and some people will stay. The goal is to get the people who stayed to eventually boomerang back.

So how can you do this? There are lots of techniques to do this but the one I will focus on is how to activate the “human element” on your homepage. This is anything that makes your page more memorable and anything that leaves a lasting impression. The first obstacle to the boomerang effect for traffic is helping people remember you at all.

Here is a handful of actionable things you can do to help people remember you and boomerang to your site:

1. A personal touch..
Add a picture of yourself. This may seem a little like cheating but it really works for a simple reason. Like I mentioned at the beginning, people are really, really good at remembering faces. I see people all the time that I recognize even if I don’t particularly remember where from. I forget the exact stat but people are about twice as likely to revisit your website if they associate it with a face. If you want to put this tip in turbo mode, make a video with your face, your personality and your welcome statement.

2. Logo shenanigans.
Having a distinguishing logo that is friendly, clear and simple is a great way to help people remember you and your brand. I chose “friendly” colors for Residual Income Life because I knew that I would be basing the colors for the website and any other extension for the brand. Also my logo is my URL if you add “.com” to the end. I have a lot of people who don’t subscribe to the site but return occasionally because the brand logo and URL were easy to remember.

3. The “Meet Us” page.
In case you didn’t notice, there is a prominent “Meet Us” tab at the top of the site. A fair amount of people visit this page and the ones that do get a decent snap shot of who Chris and I are as people, they see our pictures and get just a little extra “flavor” for the site. This helps you to connect with people, because you have to remember that not everyone has read every single one of your blog posts. It is very rare to have visitors that have been with you from the beginning so having a page that constantly introduces you to your new visitors is important.

Hopefully these are three ideas that you can immediately put into action with your own business or blog. The same thing goes for “brick and mortar” businesses too! The more you can connect personally with your visitors the more likely they will stick around and (more importantly) come back at all.

Did I miss anything? How would you make a business really “pop” with that first impression?

All the best,

-Austin

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes as I travel though the lands of internet marketing or sail the seas of community building and begin the next big adventure (podcasting for me), sometimes it’s still hard to not imagine your work as fruitless. Your not getting any feedback or interaction and it’s rough. 

In the early stages of my online adventures I found myself in a cliche but very real mental state. I felt like I was in the desert of the internet and that the only oasis I could go to was already occupied. Do you ever feel like your niche is stagnate and you don’t know what to do about it? I stumbled through this internet desert with this sinking feeling I wouldn’t find my real home, a source of life, and precious water. It is my understanding that every blog no matter how many followers it has, gets to this point every few months.

Okay, so yes this was an extremely dramatic picture that I am painting but I’m not doing it to be silly. If you can bear with me I am actually attempting to make a very serious point about a hardship every entrepreneur makes. There are times when people are building residual income streams, starting small businesses, and trying their luck with online marketing and they reach a point where it all just seems hopeless. I have been there and you are not alone.

I have been a dusty nomad with no home and all I could do was look at the beautiful oasis full of life and springs that I wasn’t welcomed to be a part of. Then the realization hit me. Those people didn’t find an oasis and the fulfillment it brings by wandering around the desert. If this is you then you are just looking for the next mirage on the horizon. The great oasis of creativity, nourishment, the work you love and communities you admire are not to be found. These kinds of places are built with hard work, determination, and acceptance of past failures. It’s not easy to build an oasis in the desert. But the only person who can make yours, is you.

Residual income streams are life giving and a source of productivity to build the oasis paradise that you see others have. If you look at your online real estate and projects and the word “Oasis” is not in the top few words you want to use to describe it, the you might be in the desert.

You don’t need to be stuck being the desert though, the only good thing about the desert is that it provides radical opportunity to make something so much better. It doesn’t take much to improve on some sand. Take one specific action every day to help make your online space an oasis, not a desert. If you do this then other real people will be walking through the wastelands, tired, cheated, thirsty for knowledge, solutions and a fresh outlook on their problem or pain. These people can be your friends, your customers and your community. People will stay if you give them a reason to rest.

So laser identify the problem or pain your audience has and work to make your space an oasis for those people.
Why? Because people come back to an oasis. People tell their friends about the oasis. People can’t live without the oasis.
Stop looking for your own oasis and BECOME it, and invite the people who were just like you to come along.

-Austin

EDIT: For me, Residual Income Life is my oasis. But it isn’t my oasis because it is a place free from stress, worry and hard work. It is my oasis that I can build to give purpose or goals to some and allow others to rest just for a moment knowing that the remainder of their adventure lies ahead of them.

A collaboration of the best Twitter practices and strategies is a podcast that I have been wanting to hear for a while now. Every time I think “I wish some I could listen/read/watch a certain kind of content” I have been teaching myself that means we should be making that content ourselves. This list of Twitter practices is of course not exhaustive but it is certainly helpful when understanding some core concepts about the platform.

Oh, and I never knew this about myself but apparently I really like the word “sphere”… a lot. So if you can count how many times I say it in this episode, you get a free internet high five. Leave it in the comments and if you get the number correctly, you can collect your internet high five here. (Yes, it’s on the honor system!)

Here is the first 5 of 10 Dynamic Twitter Strategies covered in this Podcast:

1. How To Build Your Brand Using Twitter

2. How To Connect With Customers

3. How To Find People Interested In Your Topic

4. How to use Twitter to Create Sale Opportunities

5. How To Get The Right People To Follow You

Talk to you soon!
-Austin

PS. Thanks again for listening! If you have a moment I would really appreciate it if you would leave a rating and a review in iTunes for our podcast. Your feedback helps us out a lot! Just click the blue button that says “View In iTunes” here. Thanks a million!

We are not in a position in which we have nothing to work with. We already have capacities, talents, direction, missions, callings.
-Abraham Maslow

Do you need technology to make residual income?

Do you need to know about affiliate marketing, SEO, SEM, copy writing, website building, list building, virtual assistant team management, keyword research, video creation, copy writing, podcasting, blogging and new media in order to succeed in building residual income?

Of course not.

You can invest in the stock market, real estate, sell your product and make a start up business all without ever plugging in a laptop. Importantly, a lot of the strategies that Chris and I want to grow into our audience do not require an online presence. This is important, because not everyone is an internet guru, not everyone has a talent or a knack for technology. I want to be the first one to say that this is okay. You don’t need to know everything there is to know about building websites and communities. There are ways to make recurring money without the internet and people a lot smarter then me and a lot dumber then me have done it.

So I’m sure you had it all figured out by just reading the title, but the internet is an incredibly powerful tool. I would even argue, the MOST powerful tool you can use to build an income today. In fact, the  main principle that I want to leave with you today is that we live in an age where technology and information is redefining the human condition.

If you are privileged enough to be reading this on a computer screen in a developed country then you already have all the resources you require to reach a billion people and even more sources for information. What other object in your home, workplace or free time do you find with that kind of power? If you have the capability to type on a keyboard then I believe that you have endless possibilities that you have huge incentive (and I believe an obligation) to pursue.

I like to talk about deliberately planning your time and maximizing your efforts so I would be a hypocrite to not craft this post in this way. If you can use the internet to expand your reach, to increase your engagement and expand what you can know, then why wouldn’t you?

If you are into flipping houses or keeping residential properties for income, why wouldn’t you publish a website as a way of creating a brand for what you do? A brand creates more value, generates trust and allows people who want to invest in you and what you do much more easily. The point is, that if you can do these things then you should be doing them. When it comes to doing things online people get so hung up on the how that they paralyze themselves from taking action. If you have gleaned any kind of vision for what your residual income stream could look like online, then you need to put that into writing and start today.

The internet has been building an infrastructure for the past 15 years that was designed for you. The investor, the entrepreneur, the communicator, the tribe builder, the product maker and the world changer. I knew nothing about how to publish a website online just a few short years ago. But I knew it was important and I knew there was potential in the ideas that I had.

So if you have not already… go forth into the internet my friends! You will never regret that you did. If you already have taken the plunge, I am very interested in your project so I can see what you are up to and maybe even learn something new from you. So if you can, please leave a comment about your online project and a link so I can check it out. I’m quite curious!

Of the hundreds of websites I have made, only 20% of them have made me money and I would consider and less of them to be a success. But what I learned on each and every failed project made me what I am today and if you don’t take that inevitable chance of failure, you’re not going to learn anything just like I wouldn’t have.

You will have terrible ideas. You may waste some time, you may waste some money, but only if you look at it as a waste instead of an education. What’s that next step you need to take today into the world wide web?

Until next time,

-Austin

PS. If you have no idea where to start with your online adventures, building a website is a good place.
Here is a video tutorial I made on how to get started with your own website.

Does blogging really create residual income? This is a question I have heard several other people respond to, but I feel this topic is missing some core analysis. So if you would like the short answer that a lot of other people have been giving, then I will just give to you now. The short answer is “no”.

Whew! Now some of you can move on with your day! For the rest of you that would like to hear some analysis on why Chris and I feel it is important to include the blogging style of media consumption into Residual Income Life, then read away!

My friends, blogging in itself is not lucrative, passive, or even a good way to build your first residual income stream. But I want to clarify this statement. Do people make a lot of money online with blogging? Well yes and no. Many people online have blogs and make a lot of money online, but if you see that and it’s the only connection you make then you are seriously being lead down the wrong path.

I have heard you only need two things to make money online. Traffic and conversions. Hopefully this is not news to some of you and it probably isn’t ground breaking for anyone. However the most important part of selling anything if that is a product, a course, an eBook or a knitting video guide people have to know it exists and that is what traffic is all about. People simply knowing that you exist. However people being aware that your product exists doesn’t necessarily mean residual income either. So what are the goals of blogging if blogging alone is not a profitable strategy to take online?

1. Traffic With Purpose: Attracting traffic to your product or offer is important. Blogging can be a very effective way to attract traffic, but the problem is that it can take well over a year to build any kind of consistent results with traffic generation on a blog. Of course, some people have done it much quicker then that but over all… I would expect to get into the trenches and make content that few people will read for a very long time before you should expect to get noticed for it. In fact one of the few exceptions to this rules is Derek Halpern from Social Triggers. He did an awesome job of providing great content through the blogging format and has generated a lot of traffic as a result. So that is awesome for Derek, but what about everyone else? You can get the same traffic generation results that Derek has achieved, but I would expect to take a lot longer.

2. Community Building: The difference in traffic generation and community building is that you are developing relationships with the people that you are attracting through the blog. Perhaps you don’t have thousands of blog visitors everyday, but perhaps you have a handful of people that are truly engaged in your content and what to contribute to what you do. The nice thing about community building is that it is impossible to fake the quality of your blog. In order to build engagement in your material you have to have material worth engaging in. Perhaps you don’t directly profit from or market to your community, but if you build the real deal your community will love and want to support what are doing. Is this a residual income goal? No not really, simply because you have to love it and you have to stick with it for it to have any true power. I consider myself to be part of an online community that I know I have financially contributed to. Cliff Ravenscraft from gspn.tv and The Podcast Answer Man has built an incredible online community and the influence he has generated there has become very profitable for him. However once again, it is not very residual but certainly profitable. Cliff used content generation (specifically podcasting) to build a community that supports seemingly, whatever he does. So although many of his podcasts are not directly profited from, there is a community there that he involves in the activities that DO make him money. These activities are consulting, equipment sales, group coaching, and a membership site.

So it’s not JUST content generation. It’s providing irresistible value to people. There is an important analysis that I think some people miss when thinking about blogging and income.
In my opinion no one has ever made a cent from blogging and this is why:

Traffic can come from blogging, conversions can come from traffic, and conversions can lead to income but there is no direct to connection from blogging to income except for one thing. People.

Conversions are not just a metric by which you can establish the profitability of your sales page. Conversions are people who make a decision on the value exchange you are proposing to them. These people have family, friends, jobs and a billion other websites to visit then yours. The question is… how good is your proposed value exchange? I’m not just talking about the value of the sale you want to make but the value of everything you have to offer.

Is your brand valuable enough? Is your content valuable enough? Does the customer value the trust you have attempted to build with them? Using a blog to build a brand is a concept of longevity and not a concept of how to get that quick sale. The real point of this post is to be careful of people who claim “blogging is equal to traffic, traffic is equal to conversions and conversions are equal to income”. If you lose sight of what is really happening (which is an overall value exchange between human beings) you will miss the boat on blogging and all of the people who are genuinely being supported by a “community” of traffic will set sail without you.

Question: Is your blog idea, content ideas, and product concepts truly worth a value exchange with another person?
If you already have a blog, a product or a service like this, what tips have you learned along the way?

Thanks for reading,

-Austin

Did I mention that we love podcasting?? There is something really exciting about connecting with an audience in that way and we want to keep bringing you that content as soon as we can. In fact, we want the podcast to be a biweekly show released on Thursdays, but we were so pumped about the podcast we went ahead and released another one a week apart from the first one. Of course, at the risk of everyone getting tired of us really, really fast.
Please note that from now on we will be sticking to the biweekly format unless there is just an irresistible demand to have the podcast be weekly.

What is the Residual Income Formula?
Is this one of those “make money with no work in three days” kind of thing? It certainly is not. Earning residual income is a process and it takes time to mature a residual income stream. We will be using the “Residual Income Formula” as a short cut to refer to when a person really takes that first step in beginning a residual income stream.

Why start the Residual Income Formula?
The only way that you can start to see full time results with a part time effort is if you begin the formula. Thinking about residual income or that if you just have a little more preparation you will be able to dive in is a myth.  There is no day like today to start. In fact if you don’t start today, like me you will risk never starting.

How can you start the Residual Income Formula?
You definitely want to set apart some time in your day to focus on one residual income stream that interests you the most. That could be penny stocks, real estate, buying a website, affiliate marketing, and many other things. The point isn’t that you pick the “right” one to start with but that you start with the right one for you. Every one has different time budgets and financial budgets. However even if your plan to get started is conservative with your time or finances then that is better then not having a plan at all. Identify the steps to implement your residual income stream that works best for you and set aside the time of day to make that a reality. We will talk about how to optimize and improve that source of residual income in a later episode.

I hope you all enjoyed the second podcast and if you would like to keep in touch sign up for our email list or email both Chris and I at commets@residualincomelife.com

Thanks for listening and giving us a rating in iTunes if you have a moment!

-Austin

Today we are going to talk about the most important part of your portfolio. Why you might ask, the answer is because today we will learn how you can set your portfolio part from 90% of the world.
Those are important pieces of your overall portfolio, but they are very long-term focused. Also, everybody and their brother has an IRA to save for retirement. However, if you only have those two pieces of the puzzle you are missing out on tons of money that can be mad win the near term.

Now your are thinking “What is a stock trading system?” or “How can it help me make residual income?” Basically, a good stock trading system acts as your own personal “hedge fund”. You will own some companies long and others short, so that no matter what the stock market is doing you can make money. If you aren’t sure what “long or short” of the market means then you read a post about it here.

The trading system I use has averaged overall 30% gains for the past four years. You might think that is impossible, but you would be wrong. Some trades are not a profitable as others but an occasional bad trade is not a good reason to sit on the sidelines of the stock market. Just to emphasize how important this can be to your portfolio is best shown by using simple math. For example, think about what a $5,000 growing thirty percent a year can do for you. You would have grown that portfolio to over a million dollars in just 15 years.

That’s a lot faster then the 40 plus years it will take your IRA to grow to one million dollars. Now remember this is not to replace your IRA as a retirement strategy, it is to enhance it and help grow it in the short term.

In closing, I want everyone to understand there are risks involved with any type of stock trading. However using the Davian Letter as my trading system has given me a lot of confidence over the past couple of years. You might be thinking if some trading systems are so effective why don’t I put my entire portfolio there? The answer is simple a diversified portfolio is the safest kind. With a 401K and IRA we have slow growing relatively safe investments. With trading systems like the Davian Letter we have a higher risk investment system that can help us get to retirement faster.

Be effective and don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

Questions or comments? Arguments?
Leave me a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

-Chris

On our very first episode of the Residual Income Life Podcast we talk about The 5 Lies of Residual Income and give a short introduction to the show.

Some things just do not need to be that complicated when it comes to defining market terms. So going back to basics, you know that you can buy and sell stocks of companies. Being “long” of a particular stock means that you buy the stock and you think the value is going to increase. There are lots of reasons to think why a stock might increase in value, but that’s not important right now.

To short a stock means that you sell the stock because you think the price is getting ready to decrease. So on the most basic terms possible… you buy a stock thinking that the price is going to go up and you “short” the stock if you think the price will go down.

So how do you know when to short a stock? Well if you have visited Residual Income Life before then you know that there is no substitute for research. Here are some things you are going to want to investigate.

Company Financial Statements
Company 10K: This is an annual report that allows you to look at virtually any specific information you need for that company.
Company 10Q: These statements are released every quarter as a financial summary of the company.
Cash Flow: Can you identify where most of the money is going?
Cash Generation: Can you identify where most of the money is coming from?
Almost all of this information can be found at one place:  http://sec.gov/

Looking at these reports has a very specific purpose. You are attempting to determine the general standing of that particular company. Companies can do a lot of questionable things as long as they are reported at the appropriate times so most of the time some key information is in black ink, available for anyone who takes the time to read it.

One thing to look for is are they generating cash from their everyday operations or are they generating money by selling off assets? If a company is accomplishing everything by creating massive amounts of debt, this is a great indication that not everything is as they appear. That may be that is a company that you’d want to short because that is a bad sign for them that if they are not generating revenue or cash from their core business.

Another important aspect of research besides financial statements involves using simple logic and reasoning. I like calling this “going with you gut” as well as the financial records. Maybe a LOT of people are long of a company that they think has all the potential in the world based on finances alone. However maybe you see a fundamental flaw in the scalability of the company or you just see their business structure as too unstable.

A great example of this is Netflix. Netflix provided an awesome service for a long time. They would mail DVD rentals to your house instead of you going to the local video store to check out and then return a video. It was a brilliant model that made them a lot of money. But things changed and eventually the company had to face the fact that they needed to start streaming their content online to stay relevant. This went really well for a while but as demand for streaming increased the costs for the companies streaming rights got higher and higher. They eventually had to pass those costs onto the consumer and they received a lot of criticism and unsubscribes because of this. As a result Netflix plummeted over $200 dollars a share. Wow. Not a good time for all the people who were long of Netflix because they didn’t do their research and didn’t think logically about the big picture for the company.

Thanks so much for reading and as always feel free to email me at chris@residualincomelife.com with any additional questions.

Or leave me a comment below!

Thanks,
-Chris

Forming an LLC is one of the most important things any business owner can do. More specifically, it is a must for small business owners. What is an LLC? A LLC is a Limited Liability Company. Why does that matter to you? Well if you are like me you are running or hope to run a small business and you definitely want to separate your business assets from your personal assets.

Buying a rental property can be a daunting task… however here are some unique tips that we came up to help guide your decision making process.

How to Pick Your Rental– Location, location, location, right? Well yes. But there are some other things that are important to consider when purchasing your rental. The first decision is commercial versus residential. Commercial real estate is known to be much lower matentanice , longer rental contracts and more hassle free “tenants”. Residential properties have one HUGE advantage of being way cheaper. A good, clean residential property will typically go for a fraction of what an attractive commercial property would go for.

How to Pick Your Renter – Always be certain you have the equity to keep your rental without a renter for several months. This is because it may actually take several months to get a qualified tenant in the property. Also it may be best to pass on some renters. Judging by credit, personality, and flexibility it may be best to pass on some would-be renters.

Do The Work – There is something to be said for sweat equity. The work you put into your own rental will reduce your costs, improve the rental and enable you to raise the actual cost of the rent, attracting a more qualified renter. If you aren’t handy with tools or repairs it may be best to hire someone. That doesn’t mean you have hire an expensive renovation company, sometimes a handy friend or family member will do the trick.

Focus On the Customer – If you are hiring a more qualified tenant then it may be worth actually initiating phone calls to check for any concerns and focus on getting referrals for tenants to use your future rentals. A referral from an established tenant may save you a lot of time, headaches and effort in screening for a new one.

Do you own rental properties?
What’s been your experience?

Leave us a comment below!

Hi I’m Austin, if you know nothing about me or my business partner Chris, then Meet Us!
Or don’t and proceed reading.

Okay so it may be a little late for New Years resolutions but I think defining clear goals for a calender year is smart.
It gives you a way to gauge your success and personal growth in any area.

So for me I have one personal goal and a few goals for the Residual Income Life brand.
My one and only goal is based entirely on residual income. Weird huh?

My goal is to earn 5,000 dollars a month in Residual Income per month.
This may sounds a bit ambitious (or really lame to you big residual earners) but remember that I only started my own personal Residual Income journey about a year ago and currently earn about $2,000 dollars a month of residual income plus my salary. Now I want to highlight that there has to be more then earning more money. I want to be fulfilled and know that my hard work is what brought that extra income. I also want to know that I will continue to earn that money because I worked hard even if I am working on other things or not working at anything at all.

That is the true beauty of residual income.
So not all that unrealistic really, but a goal never-the-less.

• For the Residual Income Life brand: The following are my goals.

5000 Engaged Twitter Followers
That’s right! That little quirky website predicted to have limited success and certainly never rival Facebook as a social outlet is my first goal.
I like how the Twitter community connects and I think I have a lot to learn about how to use it as an effective tool to reach a residual income audience.

100 YouTube Help Videos
Chris and I have been blown away by the response to the 5 horrifying quality videos we first put up.
People watched them, benefited from them and some even took immediate action to building a residual income. Bravo!
But before we slap ourselves on the back too much I want to keep in mind that we have only covered a mere fraction of the kinds of material that truely helps people and makes the internet a better place. So watch out for more videos and more content because we really want to make it happen.

20 iTunes Podcasts
I am fascinated by the Podcast community.
I listen to maybe 10 podcasts a day. (Yes! A day!) I listen to financial, business, comedy and social podcasts. Naturally because I listen to so many podcasts I have a million ideas for podcasts and what my own would sound like. In fact I don’t particularly care if anyone listens to it because it will be achieving a personal goal and hopefully deliver helpful content to an entire new audience to me.

100 Blog Posts
This one is pretty self explanatory (well they all are really). In 2012 I want to have a total of 100 pieces of solid content helping people realize their own residual income dreams. Of course I’m not going to make a post just to meet the goal but between myself and Chris I hope that we can have the energy and dedication to bring this topic to the masses and sincere people who are interested in their own financial security.

Okay this is getting a bit long, so if you are still reading thanks for sticking around!
Please help keep us accountable in these goals and always feel free to contact me with questions or your own ideas.
austin@residualincomelife.com

Also keep in touch with me through my emails in the silver bar above.
I won’t share your information and want to bring you exclusive content updates.

PS. What where/are your goals for 2012?

Part 1: Fact or Fiction?
How Penny Stocks Generate Income

The first thing I want everyone to understand is trading penny stocks are not a get rich quick scheme. However, trading penny stocks offers the highest potential investment returns in stock market. The flip-side is they also offer the highest potential losses, but with the lessons you will learn here you can mitigate a lot of that risk. You be wondering why you should even waste your time trading penny stocks.

That answer is twofold, first there are many factors that go into trading any stock. You can do all of the research, look at financial statements, and know a company is great or awful, but with big money trader like hedge funds and investment firms you can’t control what they will do. Also, don’t under estimate the affect those institutions can have on the stock market. For example, I along with many other people believed Netfilx was overvalued earlier in 2011.

When the stock was trading over $200 per share, but those big money traders fell in love with the stock and the price went up to above $300 per share. Then, my theis was proved correct when Netflix was forced to raised monthly fees to compensate for the high expense of acquiring streaming rights from movie studios. The stock ended up falling $250 per share after that and now trades around $70 per share. The point is you can have the correct theis about a stock and lose money. However, mutual funds, and large investing firms can’t or wont touch penny stocks.

Meaning the “everyman” investor can do the research, be correct, and make great trades. Many penny stocks can be easily spotted for fraud by mearly reading the companies 10-K that is files with the SEC and is public record.

Research is the most important thing any trader can do to ensure he makes the best trades possible. Some people just don’t have the time and end up paying a trade alert service to do the research for you and tell you which stocks to buy and sell. One service you might want to consider is Gravity from The Davian Letter. Nevertheless, do not skip on your research.

Now why are penny stocks the most profitable way to invest? That is simple, because you can make 50% and the stock price may only has to move .$0.35. You can short a penny at $0.70, watch it fall to $0.35 and make 50% on that trade. The second reason penny stocks are the most profitable is because they are very volatile and move very quickly. You can make a fortune in a penny stock in days or weeks. Unlike most investments that take months or years.

The next part we will discuss how to do affective research.

I work very hard for the money that I earn and I’m sure that you can relate. I have goals, passions, and muses (not all of which make money) but all are a part of fulfilling me personally. Residual income to me is not a path to doing nothing, but redirecting my time into things that I enjoy. So I’m here to admit something: I don’t want to work less. It’s true! I actually want to work more, but let me explain.

I Love Work

Anything that I love is related to work. Owning an operating a small business, participating in sports, spending time with family, traveling, and many more of my most loved activities are considered work in some ways. Yes, I am suggesting that spending time with family can be work! However it is the work that we love and are passionate about that drives us to be better people and have a better quality of life.

It’s Better to Give AND Receive…

I’m not saying that “idle hands are tools of the devil” there is certainly a time and a place for true rest and escape. But I don’t know anyone that has pursued the Residual Income Life simply to do nothing. So it’s not about escaping work, is it? It’s about working with what we love. I believe that residual income is by far the most fulfilling model for income in my life’s timeline. Residual income suggests that you receive regular and continuous income for action (or work) that occurred earlier in our timeline.

Finite Vs Infinite

I don’t mind exchanging my time for income. But who says that time has to be proportional to the amount of money you make? If I am investing my time in something I want to be rewarded continuously and not just compensated for a one time sum. But this is fairly obvious, because everyone would prefer to be paid continuously and exponentially instead of a one time finite compensation. So we need to explore the kind of work and the kind of income that returns again and again not the kind that visits once, never to be seen again.

What do you think?

Can you think of a time you put in a lot of work but were rewarded again and again for your efforts?
If you can, please share it with us. If you can’t, then stick around because we want to share our Residual Income Life experiments with you.

-Austin

The 3rd Most Important Aspect of Residual Income

One of the most difficult things about building a residual income is deciding how to do it, where to start and learning how to set goals. I have found personally that a passion for wanting to build this kind of income is by far your most important asset in actually building the dream into a reality. The good news is that if you are currently reading this then you may not have a passion but you at the very least have an interest in the process of building residual income.

Another principle that has seen my own success even though I am in what I consider to be the beginning stages of my residual income life journey is pure “hustle”. I consider hustle to be the concept of realizing what needs to be done and taking bold action until you achieve your goal. This is a process that takes time and practice to execute well. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I had the passion and the hustle but misinterpreted what needed to be done to accomplish my goal. I spent a frustrating amount of time working really hard towards an end that did not particularly benefit me.

In contrast, I have had opportunities in my life that were absolutely something that would have launched my residual income dream to an entirely different level, but I did not put the effort or the dedication into seeing it through. I regret those times now that I see the opportunity has passed and doing that hard work then would be accruing huge benefits now.

As a goal for Residual Income Life we want to challenge you to two things.

The first one is our responsibility:
A: Show you exactly what kinds of actions you can take and exactly how to take them.

The second one is your responsibility:
B: Take immediate bold action to change the course of your financial future.

I can no longer tolerate excuses from myself for not building my residual income life. Although seeing the missed opportunities drives me crazy, I now channel that into immediate action that I can take to shape my own future.

Keep in touch! Plug your email into the silver bar above the website and we will send you new content and videos that we create.
We want to share our residual income failures, successes and experiments with you.

PS: Please “Like” us on Facebook and get involved in the community there.
facebook.com/residualincomelife

Talk to you soon!
-Austin

WARNING: In a style very unlike the frank reporting on products at Residual Income Life, this product information will not contain a single bad thing. This is the product we use ourselves and are incredibly pleased with the results. If you would like to know more… read on!

One of the biggest partners of Residual Income Life is The Davian Letter and we are really excited about their latest product: Gravity. Chris and I talk about this product whenever we are mentioning “penny stocks”, pump and dump, or really any kind of stock market training. We have grown to know and really trust the creator of these products, Anthony Davian, and simply cannot say enough about it.

The Gravity trading system has been out for about half a year so far being tested along site other products. However it is officially it’s own product now and the results could not be more exciting. The Gravity system certainly isn’t literally printing money, but it looks that way when you examine the figures. Long term investments certainly add depth and maturity to your portfolio, but nothing gets you charged up about investing and residual income like making a 50% gain in a matter of weeks.

Gravity is “sending promoted stocks crashing back down to earth”.

In a Davian Letter blog post, these positions were being held:

FRPT
LSTG
XCLL
STEV
RAYS
NENE
LPH
CBAK

What you don’t see in the blog post is the gains on these positions were 19.2%, 18.1%, 15.4, 28.3,
and the biggest one of the group RAYS 52.7%. Needless to say, that was a very exciting trade. 

These gains are in WEEKS not months. Also these are not unusual gains.
If you watched our How To Pick Penny Stocks course, you know that research is the only true key to making money with penny stocks and the pump and dump technique. Well we have totally trust The Davian Letter with this responsibility and could not be more satisfied.

The best part about Gravity is that all the work is done for you.

And here is how it’s done:

The staff at the Davian Letter runs proprietary screens every day and it pulls out a bunch of promotional stocks that they pick out some certain things looking at many characteristics, including volume, value history etc. These stocks are put it in their database then they then they wait for the promotional activity to start. Once the promotional activity starts they run it through a proprietary volume, market cap, short interest screen or once it meets that criteria, then they go over to the financial statements of said companies. They look at the income statement, they look at the balance sheets and they look at the statement of cash flows. Once we know that the fundamentals confirm the promotional activity, then they issue the alert for what kind of action you should take. 

What I care about is that they have strict rules in place and they are never broken.
This system is absolutely unbelievable.

We don’t give products this kind of review, but this one deserves it.
To us, residual income isn’t just about a building, lasting network of money. It’s about conducting it in such a way that you can leave it to it’s own and it still makes money for you. The days of researching my own picks were fun, but very time consuming. The joys of a profit and the agony of a loss got less and less satisfactory as my research time shrunk.

These guys do my research for me and they couldn’t do it better.

Get the Gravity System only at thehedgies.com.

PS: Thanks for reading! -Austin
Please email me or Chris with any questions regarding this product.