The Most Important Conversation I’ve Had About My Business Ever

In my last post, I had mentioned that I wanted to tell you what my favorite infomercial was and dissect it so we can all learn about why it’s successful. Well, I decided to change things up a bit because a few nights ago, my wife and I had what was probably one of the most important conversations ever, and it’s directly related to what I do online. This message that I want to share with you, which came as a result of our discussion, is more important than any infomercial tactic, blogging tip or online business strategy that I could possibly offer.

(And in case you are wondering, the infomercial was P90X.)

The Issue

The subject of our discussion was my work schedule. The problem was: I didn’t have one.

As someone who has been somewhat successful online thus far earning a passive income, I do have the ability to work less hours, and if I really wanted to, not work at all. However, having this freedom to work whenever I want has put negative thoughts in my head about adhering to an actual schedule.

Why would I want to “force” myself to a schedule and work during specific hours of the day, when I have the freedom to work whenever I want?

I now know the answer.

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The Path to an Audi R8 (Or Anything Else You Want)

Most of you know that family is my number one priority, especially with the recent birth of my son who is now 25 days old. Most, if not all of the decisions I make from now on are done so with him in mind.

However, I’m still a dude, and dudes love their toys. My dream toy is an Audi R8, a car that I first saw in a commercial during the 2008 Super Bowl. I don’t remember the score of the game, or even where it was played, but I do remember that car. I’ve wanted it ever since.

To quote Left Lane News, the Audi R8 has “…a 420 horsepower high-revving V8 engine and all-wheel-drive. It uses the mid-engine Lamborghini Gallardo platform positioning it squarely against the BMW M6, Porsche 911, and Aston Martin Vantage.”

The base price for this bad boy is $114,200 USD.

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6,795,850,072 Reasons Why You Can Make A Successful Living Online

How much money would you need in a year to live a comfortable lifestyle, one where you know your bills will be paid, you’ll have a roof over your head and there will be food on your plate, plus a little extra for fun?  $50,000? $75,000? Let’s just say you need $100,000 a year, just to be generous. To put it into perspective, the mean household income in the U.S. (the last time the survey was taken in 2005) was $60,528 USD.

If you sell something online for $30.00, how many units would you need to sell in order to support a $100k lifestyle?

The answer: 3,333 units

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The Top 5 Reasons NOT to Quit Your Job and Work from Home

It’s been almost exactly one year since I was laid off and started doing business for myself on the internet. Within the past year, I’ve learned so much about running an online business, internet marketing and how to be profitable online. Not only that, I’ve learned a lot about myself and life in general too. Although I love what I do and feel very fortunate to be where I’m at today, living this kind of lifestyle does have it’s hardships.

Now, you may be wondering why the hell I’m writing an article about reasons NOT to quit your job and work from home, which contradicts the very existence of this blog and exactly what I do. The point here is just to help you realize exactly the kinds of things I have noticed after transitioning from corporate world to working from home for myself. Many people view the kind of lifestyle I’m living as “the dream”, but as with anything, there are hurdles and obstacles to overcome, which I’m about to share with you. I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t do anything – that’s up to you. These are my opinions based on my own experiences, and you can formulate your own conclusions about them.

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What’s Stopping You From Using a Virtual Assistant?

In Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Work Week (aka, my 2nd Bible), he dedicates an entire section to VAs and the benefits of hiring virtual assistants to do almost any task for you. At first, I was reluctant to agree with the idea of outsourcing because I was always the one who wanted to do all of the work myself. But, after reading more about VAs and how they could help me, I soon realized the huge advantage I would have by making a VA a part of “my team”.

Now, understand that there are a lot of people out there who use VAs for almost everything they do. If there was a way a VA could cut up their steaks and feed it to them, they’d probably have them do that too. Tim gives an example of a man who asked his VA to “make up with his wife” after they had gotten into a little quarrel. The VA sent his wife an apology letter and some nice flowers. I think if I did that, my wife would be pissed…anyways, I digress.

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The “How to Tell if Your Ideas are Good for Online Passive Income” Checklist

Ok, so you have some ideas – but are they online passive income worthy?

The goal here is to create something that you put a lot of work into so that you can eventually put it on auto-pilot and have it earning income for you, all while you either sit on white sandy beaches or work on even more projects. In order to tell if you have an idea that is perfect for this kind of lifestyle, here are a 5 things you can ask yourself about each one. Enter the checklist:

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If You’re Searching for Ideas, This is What You Need to Know

We’re all in the same boat. We’re all business-minded people who think of ideas and dream that one will be the next million-dollar idea. That’s good…motivation is good key. Like I say, dream big – or don’t dream at all.

If you’re just starting your online venture and you’re in the idea generation phase, here’s what you can do to help yourself find that next big idea:

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A Passive Income Mistake: Knowing and Doing Everything

When I’m working on a project, I’ve always felt the need to be totally involved in each stage. By doing so, I am able to make sure things are done correctly. If things go wrong, I’ll find a solution. I’m in total control.

This even goes back to my middle school days. I was once assigned an English project with two of my classmates. The task was to present a poem, in any media format, and share it with the class. We decided to do a video presentation, and I was in charge of the video taping for our group. Well, I did more than just video tape.

I composed and scored the music for the video, I was the narrator, the editor, and the presenter too. I took on almost all of the tasks myself because I wanted to make sure they were all done correctly. Was I being a jerk? No. My classmates were more than happy to let me do all of the work. Was I working really hard? Yes, obviously. Was I being resourceful? Absolutely not. I had two classmates willing to put in work, I just did not give them the chance. Our project received an A+, but looking back, I was not being smart.

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Why Making Money Online Is Ridiculous…To Our Parents

Every morning I wake up, check my email, brush my teeth, and go downstairs to have a nice breakfast with my parents. And every single morning my retired dad asks me the same question: “So how much money did you make while you were asleep last night?”

I usually answer with a number between $75 and $150, which means I usually sell between 4 to 8 books while I’m asleep. He always responds with the same phrase:

“That’s Ridiculous.”

Now, I’m not quite sure what he means by that. He usually shakes his head a little, but he adds a little smile. I can interpret this in a few ways. One, maybe he’s using the word “ridulous” in the sense that it’s FREAKING AWESOME, like when I sit on the beach and watch a surfer catch a massive wave and I say “that’s ridiculous.” Or instead, he could be saying to himself “How could it be that easy?” I was curious, so I asked him.

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Passive Income as a Lifestyle Design Aid

The question that I’ve been pondering lately is this: what exactly is lifestyle design?

It was only a few weeks ago that I first heard the term lifestyle design. I had no idea what that meant exactly, but in very basic terms I knew that a lifestyle was how someone lives, and to design something is to create it. But, to create your own lifestyle? I had to do some more research…

Lifestyle design is such a new term that it’s not even on Wikipedia yet, but successful internet business gurus are using it like we use air to breathe. So, I decided to do some research, because I want to be an internet business guru someday too.

I learned that lifestyle design, actually creating your own lifestyle and living how you want to live, is something that is very real. People like Timothy Ferris, author of The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, has done things in his life to live exactly how he wants to live. He’s a national Chinese Kickboxing Champion, a breakdancer in Taiwan, actor and a multi-millionaire. Oh, and of course, he works only 4 hours a week.

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