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Why Some Procrastinators Succeed and What We Can Learn From Them

Pat — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:00:22 +0000

When I was in Architecture school at Berkeley (Go Bears!), my classmates and I suffered long, hard nights at the studio drawing massive plans, building detailed models and drinking lots and lots of caffeine.

Some of our semester long projects required over 60 hours of work per week, in addition to our actual class time for both Architecture and general education courses. It was nuts, and because we had segments of the semester long project due about every 2 weeks, I often found myself pulling all-nighters, crashing on a nearby couch, or in a sleeping bag under my desk.

Most of my classmates were right there with me, pencils in hand – however there were a few select students who just seemed to never be around until the last couple of days before each deadline.

My studio mates and I always thought, “There’s no way these people are going to finish in time. We’ve been here for almost 2 weeks straight, and they come in with 2 days left before the deadline with nothing.”

Well – when the deadline came around and our graduate assistants and professors looked at our work, some of the “procrastinators” always seemed to get the better comments.

Truthfully, it bugged the crap out of the rest of us! As a result (sadly), those students were segmented from the rest of the group because we couldn’t stand how they could get so much good work done in such little time. It just didn’t seem fair. They weren’t in the studio much to talk to anyways.

Fortunately, I ended up becoming good friends with one of the “procrastinators” because we were both in the Marching Band together. I eventually ended up talking to her about why she comes in with only a few days left before a project was due, and this is what I remember she said:

“There are a few of reasons. First, I know if I spend all of my time in studio with you guys, we’ll chat all day and all night and probably get nothing done. I’m actually glad the rest of you feel this way about me, because then you won’t talk to me when I do come in and I can focus and get my work done.

“Secondly, it’s because the deadline works in my favor. It forces me to be extremely focused, because I have no other option but to be focused. Putting things off and not making decisions doesn’t become an option anymore, and I can get more done.

“Third, I have so many other things to do, and so many other things I’d much rather be doing than spending all my time in studio. No offense, Pat.”

Here is what I (and you, possibly) can take away from this kind of mindset and approach:

Just because you’re spending time doing something doesn’t actually mean you’re getting things done. Yes – I was basically living in the studio and doing “work”, but was I focused and doing work the entire time? No.
Minimize distractions to maximize efficiency.
Be smart about your time. Time is something we cannot get back, so being efficient and smart about what you do with your time matters a lot. Stay laser-focused.
Understand what makes you laser-focused. For my marching band friend, her came from the approaching deadline. For you, it may be something different. Force yourself to be focused when you want to get things done. This combines perfectly with #2.
What she said about “…not making decisions doesn’t become an option anymore” really struck a chord with me. Many times, we find ourselves working on projects, websites and businesses, and not following through because there’s something “just not right” about it, or it’s not perfect. Well, nothing good will happen until you launch, until you actually finish your project and make those decisions.
Understand what you want in life, set your priorities, and do what it takes to make it happen.

There are two types of procrastinators in the world: the lazy ones who waste time, and the smart ones that control time. Luckily, I met a smart one and learned a lot about how she utilized her time and forced herself to stay focused.

Should you be a procrastinator?

No.

Should you strive to be efficient, maximize your efforts and stop wasting time, so you can spend time doing other things that you love?

Absolutely.

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Why Some Procrastinators Succeed and What We Can Learn From Them

How Well Can You Describe Your Website in Just Three Words?

Pat — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:14:28 +0000

This is a short post – yes, but a powerful one. It involves a little bit of participation, so please don’t be shy...

A couple of weeks ago, I shared this little exercise on my Facebook Page.

I asked my followers to share a link to their website and describe it using only three words.

Any words, but only three.

After over 100 responses, I found that this simple sounding task was actually quite hard for some people, and in fact it made some rethink the entire concept of their websites and why it exists.

So today, I invite you to do the same. In the comment section, please only respond with three words that describe your site. Do not include a link in the comment section, because my spam filter might block you. Instead, put the link in the URL field under where your name goes.

3 words only. No URLs. Oh, and no hyphens either…sneaky people!

I won’t leave you with any more instructions, but here’s something to think about:

What three words will you choose that make you stand out from everyone else?

This is your “abridged elevator pitch”, so make it good.

Oh, and there will be something nice in store for the few that stand out to me the most. Be sure to leave your correct email address in the required field so I can contact you.

Lastly, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the launch of The Smart Passive Income Podcast this coming Monday. I’ve been working hard setting everything up, but it’s finally here!

Cheers!

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As always, I just wanted to thank you for subscribing. This blog is a success because of you and your support. Here's to your online success!

Become a Fan of the Smart Passive Income Blog on Facebook and join the conversation!

Thank you so much!

How Well Can You Describe Your Website in Just Three Words?

Shadows of Marketing – Are You Paying Attention?

Pat — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:02:17 +0000

When I was attending architecture school at Cal, I took a class called Environmental Design 11A: Intro To Drawing. It was four hours of class on Monday and Wednesday, and a meetup for an hour on Friday as well. The crazy part was that this didn’t include the time that was needed to complete our weekly projects. In total, I was averaging about 35 -40 hours a week just for this one class out of my entire schedule. Ah, the life of an architecture student.

During the semester, we were taught that one technique to make our drawings look more realistic is to not focus on the object that you’re drawing, but to focus on the shadows on and around the object instead. Why? Because shadows are everywhere, we just don’t realize it.

If you take a quick glance around the environment you’re in right now, whether your inside a home or office, or outside in a cafe – you’ll begin to notice that shadows are everywhere. Even in and around the keys of your keyboard lie a very precise pattern of shadows.

If you try to draw something, it will not look realistic without shadows.

After I learned this lesson, I began to look at the world in a different way. I noticed shadows everywhere, and I became a better artist as a result. Some of my non-architecture friends thought I was weird, because I would point out certain shadows that looked really fancy or interesting to me. Ah, the life of an architecture student.

Shadows of Marketing

Ever since I started doing business and marketing online, I’ve begun to look at the world in a totally new, different way. Much like how I started to notice shadows to help improve my artwork, I notice marketing techniques and strategies all around me, everywhere I go. It has opened my eyes to numerous ways to reach people that I have or would like to incorporate into my online repertoire.

The shadows of marketing are everywhere, you just have to notice them.

Take a quick glance around the environment you’re in once again, and notice how many forms of marketing are around you already. The labels on your electronics, the t-shirts that people wear, and every single commercial on television, just to name a few things.

Trillions of dollars are spent each year on marketing by companies who are fighting for our attention. Notice what does catch you’re attention, and figure out why it worked on you. Is there a way you can incorporate the same kind of strategy or thinking process into your own work? It costs these companies trillions of dollars to put it out there, but it’s free for you to consume and learn from.

There are way too many examples that I can show you, but here are a few of my favorites:

Costco Samples

Costco is awesome. Not only do I like to go there to get my annual supply of peanut butter and a 12 pack of croissants, but I like to go around the store and try all of the free samples too. Have you ever given any thought to why they give away free samples? Yes, it’s because they want you to try certain foods and purchase that product, but its far more calculated than that.

For one, there is human interaction involved. You go up to grab a piece of hotdog with a toothpick stabbed in it it, and you’ll get back a nice smile, and a small 5-10 second mini-presentation that describes the piece of food. Sometimes, you feel kinda bad just taking and leaving, so you listen for a little bit. A plate with food and no human interaction wouldn’t do any good.

Secondly, there’s social proof. You see large huddles of people standing around a small cart with a microwave on it, and you want to know exactly what everyone is excited about. It triggers a kind of “I want that” emotion inside of us, and sometimes that thought transfers from the sample, to the actual bulk product itself.

Lastly, it’s another awesome reason to come back and shop. Anyone who I’ve ever talked to about Costco always mentions the free samples, and not without a little bit of excitement or a smile. Have you ever seen anyone frown because they get something free, especially if its a small piece of something delicious?

Infomercials

I’m proud to admit that I love to watch infomercials. I’m sort of a night owl, so I get to see a lot of informercials in the late hours of the night. I don’t buy the products – I study the sales pitches. The next time you stumble upon an infomercial, spend a few minutes to watch it from a marketing perspective.

First, think about what channel you’re on. That’s called, target marketing. It’s not a coincidence that half of the commercials during the Price is Right are for some kind of mobility scooter or denture cream.

Each infomercial is a carefully calculated sequence of events that has been researched and optimized to sell. People end up buying products they don’t even need, because these sales pitches are so good. You might not buy whatever it is they are trying to sell, but they know that someone out there who is watching the same channel as you definitely will.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself while watching an infomercial:

What is the problem?
What is their solution?
What are the benefits of their solution?
What kinds of things do their testimonials say?
What are the features of their solution?
What was the original price?
What is the actual price?
What are the bonuses or free gifts?
What is the scarcity factor?
And what kinds of images are shown in each of these stages?

Oh, and in case you were wondering how to create an online sales page for your next information product, you’re welcome.

At the Casino

As a person in the architecture field who worked on a few projects in Las Vegas, I knew that Casinos were places of marketing genius. In the way the floor plan is drawn, to the location of their slot machines – everything is carefully planned to get the most bang for their your buck. For example, did you know that some of the loosest slots are placed next to the buffet line? Why? Because everyone who is waiting an hour and a half to get their prime rib dinner can watch all of the winners nearby. I’ll bet you that 99% of the time, when people are finished with their buffet they are trying to get their money back on the slots.

Next, casinos aren’t built so you can find the exit easily. It’s sort of like an Ikea. The more lost you are, the more you get to take in, and the better chance there is that you’ll find something that peaks your interest (and your wallet).

Here in San Diego, there are more than half a dozen Indian Casinos that are within an hour of where I live. My parents and I like to go every once and a while, not really to gamble, but more to take advantage of the pretty awesome buffets they have to offer. I do gamble a little though.

In each of these casinos, you’ll notice a Winner’s Wall, where previous jackpot winners are featured for everyone to see. Have you seen the types of people who are featured on that wall? No offense, but none of them are particularly beautiful people. They are just average. Why do you think that is? The reason is because it makes it seem like anyone could be a winner. If there were only beautiful people on that wall, it would discourage the average person from thinking that they could win a jackpot, and therefore spend less money. They aren’t consciously thinking that – it’s just subconsciously what happens.

How about the free drinks to anyone playing at the tables, or the really loud sounds from the slot machines, or the beautiful waiters and waitresses. The list goes on and on, you just have to notice these things.

Try It Out

As I said, I could go on and on about this. It’s come to a point where I notice things that work, and notice things that don’t work either. Sometimes, I just want to call the marketing department of a company and say “What are you thinking?!”, but I’m not going to do that. I’d rather use my knowledge that I learn from the outside world on my own blogs and businesses, and I invite you to do the same.

The next time you turn on the television and see a commercial, or go to the mall to shop for something, consciously think about how companies are trying to get your attention. What is the company, who employs the person that says “hello” to you in a retail store, really trying to do?

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it), and I wish you and all of your families a safe, happy and relaxing week.

Cheers!

p.s. The artwork at the top is from a mid-term in my ED11A class. We were to draw something in pencil that incorporated a coat, a desk, and a chair. I chose to represent the desk and chair as a piano and piano bench, and I also threw in my trumpet, which was my passion at the time.

Images used under Creative Commons from Webolutions and Spider.Dog

The Best Day of My Life

Pat — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 07:05:32 +0000

If you’re not interested in my recent wedding and honeymoon, feel free to ignore this post and come back in a couple of days when I talk more about making money online. I just wanted to take a moment to share this special moment in my life with you, since it’s the reason why I’ve been gone the last half-month (hence all the guest posts.

I was recently married on 2/21/09 in San Diego. I make a joke about this date with my wife all of the time, and she always gives me a funny look as a result. The date, February 21st, also known as 2/21, or as I like to say, “two to one”, like two families becoming one…hah. Anyways…it had been raining the two previous weekends, so we were really blessed to have a nice, clear sunny day in San Diego for our wedding.

Our ceremony started at 11:00am at the Immaculata Chapel on the USD (University of San Diego) campus. The church is BEAUTIFUL and we paid a little extra to make sure we got it because we loved it so much. Here’s a picture of the chapel below:

I have to admit, I knew I was going to cry, but when Canon in D played on the organ when April was walking down the aisle, I was balling! Tears of Joy.

Anyways, the ceremony went smoothly, and by 12:00pm on 2/21, I was a teary-eyed happily married man. Here is a picture of our wedding party below. 4 Bridesmaids, 4 Groomsman, 1 Matron of Honor and 1 Best Man:

Yep, that’s me sporting the white tux. The green thing around my neck (and the groomsman’s necks too) is a lei made of maile leaves. Mine was the only one that had white orchids on it. We had a hawaiian/tropical theme for our reception, so we had to do something to connect the ceremony to that theme too.

Our reception was at Paradise Point in Mission Bay, San Diego. You may recognize that name from an episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8, where they stayed when they went to San Diego on their way to Hawaii to get married (this is kind of ironic because that’s where we went for our honeymoon). The resort is VERY tropical feeling and it fit perfectly with our theme. Here’s a shot of me and April from the windows of the ballroom (courtesy of one of my best friends and awesome photographer, Ryan Acain at radcaptures):

The reception was awesome. All of our friends and family were there, and since basically had the same set of friends since high school (we met in high school, but did not start going out until after College), it was like a giant reunion for everyone.

Our first dance was a hit too. We danced to Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love”, which was seemed to be interrupted by a DJ mishap. Everyone booed the DJ for ruining our dance, but then Akon’s “Beautiful” came on and we performed a hip hop dance routine. April is a hip hop dancer, so she choreographed this awesome dance to surprise everyone. It was sweet. I’m hoping there will be a youtube video up soon which I’ll definitely share with you.

Here’s a picture of us during our first “dance”, hehe:

Here’s a picture of us at our “sweetheart table”:

Dinner was perfect, and the champagne toasts were even better. My best man made the funniest, most thoughtful speech that I’ve ever heard. It was definitely a tear-jerker, but it bought back some good memories about our past. Good times.

Well, the night ended with open dancing and it was fun to see family and friends all together again having fun. Honestly, the whole day went by so fast. Our other friends who were married said they don’t even remember their wedding day happening because it flew by so fast, and now we know exactly what they meant.

I’m glad there are pictures and a DVD to capture these memories of the best day of my life, my first day as a husband to the most beautiful woman in the world.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this, your kind words and wishes, and for being a part of my life, even if you’re just on the other end of a computer – it means a lot to me. All the best to you!

Here’s to health and happiness for the rest of our lives.

Cheers!

My Second Month of eHow Unwrapped

Pat — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:00:11 +0000

In my second month of writing articles on eHow, I decided to let my articles marinate on the web without writing any more. I did this half because I was super busy, but also because I wanted to see how much more money, if any, I would make by just letting my articles sit. I’m actually very pleased with my results.

In my first month of writing on eHow, you may remember that I made $20.02 after reaching my goal of about 150 articles, or 5 articles a day. I’ll estimate that I averaged a generous 2 hours a day writing, or 60 hours in total. In order to see this in a way we can all relate to, that’s about $0.33 cents per hour of work. On paper, that’s chump change. But, as Yoda would say, “After some time, see results, you will. Herh herh herh.” (I used Yodaspeak.co.uk for this, lol!)

The Results

In my second month, my 150 or so articles earned me a total of $96.87. This, for zero hours of work. (Note: I did write 6 extra articles in December, because I found some keywords that I had to take advantage of…for the purpose of this report, I have excluded those articles in my results.)

So, zero hours of work in December earned me $96.87. That’s pretty darn good passive income right there. That’s a total of $116.89 in 60 hours of work, or $1.95 an hour. Still, that’s much less than minimum wage. But, remember what Yoda says. Let’s actually do a hypothetical calculation of the future. For this calculation, let’s assume I do not write any more articles, and I only earn $96.87 per month from now on. This, of course, assumes my rate of earnings does not grow at all, which is probably not true – but for ease of calculation, let’s just assume my rate of earnings stay the same at $96.87 per month after the first month, for 6 months:

$8.41 an hour – now we’re talking. But the most impressive thing is – notice how many hours of work was put in between December and April – absolutely none! After a year, I’d have over $1000 and $18/hour. Again, this is what earning a passive income is all about: doing the work now, and reaping the benefits later.

This only means one thing – I’d be dumb just to let the articles sit and do nothing. After my wedding planning and moving into a new apartment – I’m definitely going to crank out some more articles. I would love to earn a total of $4000.00 in 2009. This seems doable, as long as I’m persistent and stick to a schedule, which I’ll figure out later. How many articles are you going to write in 2009…or I should say, first – how many articles are you going to write in January of 2009?

The Growth of the Rate of Earnings

Here is a chart of my earnings per day (in blue) and my average earnings per day over time (in red):

You can see how each day, the earnings may vary, but over time – they will go up. After 2 months, I now average $2.02 a day in earnings. Remember, in December – I did not write any more articles, so I attribute all of my earnings in December to my patience while waiting for Google to pick up more of my articles in their search engine.

Gosh, I wish there was a way to track where all of the viewers came from. It would be really easy to implement, and it would make our lives on eHow much more interesting. Just imagine finding that a website has linked to one of your articles – then you can thank the author for posting the link. Or, a pie chart (google analytics-esque) showing where all of the readers come from, or even better, where all of the people came from who clicked on the ads on your articles. Find that out, milk it, and you’re gold. As much as I love eHow and the opportunity is presents to people, there is still a lot they can improve on. Anyways, I digress. I may write a post in January with suggestions and improvements – we’ll see.

The point here is, as I’ve said before, if you write articles on eHow, and maximize your chance to be ranked on Google through smart keyword research and smart content writing, your earnings will grow over time – even if you don’t write any more. Obviously, the more articles you write, the more chances you have to earn more money.

My Top Articles

If you remember in my last eHow report, my top earning article was How to Be Financially and Location Independent, which I published on November 27th, earning me $1.72. It was pretty cool because it was one of the last articles I wrote right before my 150 article experiment ended. I figured I hit a “golden article”. Today, that article has earned me a total of $3.43 – not the rate of growth I was expecting.

I noticed that my Google ranking for a keyword: “location independent”, had dropped. It is now on the second page, when in the first few days, it was actually ranked 4th or 5th on the first page. This is why I think my earnings weren’t quite as impressive for this particular article. Just another confirmation of how important keywords and Google Rankings are.

Here is a list of my Top Earning Articles since I began:

How to Buy Stocks in a Recession: $9.79, 193 views
How to Get Paid to Advertise: $9.76, 243 views
How to Print Pretend Money: $6.74, 781 views
How to Become a Penpal to a Soldier: $5.05, 694 views
How to Become an Internet Entrepreneur, $4.49, 227 views

About My Top Articles

All of my top money earning articles, about 21 out of my top 25, were all written after 11/16/08, which is when I purchased and read Maria’s (aka. TheWriterGig) eBook about how to improve earnings. It makes me sad that I didn’t purchase this eBook earlier, because I could have definitely used the information inside to make my numbers look even better. I pretty much wasted the first half of November…let’s take a look:

Articles written before 11/16/08: $19.71 total, 19,288 views
Articles written on 11/16/08 and later: $100.68 total, 16,390 views

Very, very interesting, and again it’s obvious that keyword research and content writing is key. I know I’ve said that a few times now, and I hope it’s annoying you, because if you’re not doing the research, you’re wasting your time (if your goal is to earn as much money as possible). I just want to thank Maria again for her book and very sound advice.

My later articles were exclusively about topics that I found doing keyword research. My earlier articles were exclusively about topics that I thought would be good, or just things I had in mind – without research. Writing about keyword terms is a little harder, and a little less interesting, because it’s not necessarily something that inspires me, but knowing that it may earn me money in the future is enough to get me through writing them.

Why I Keep Track of all this Stuff

Well, for one – it interests me (I LOVE math), but really, it’s all for you. I hope you can learn from my experiences and earning reports, so that you can begin to produce a passive income stream online using techniques such as writing articles on eHow.

Not only that, but I am learning a lot as I go along too, and I’m hoping to pass along reports of what I’ve learned and the mistakes I’ve made to you – so YOU can improve your earnings and ultimately, your lifestyle.

Keeping track of all these numbers and earnings is not easy. Again, I wish eHow made it easier for me – but each day I wake up and see how much I’ve earned and plug that information into an excel file. I manually find the articles and information that seem interesting, in hopes that you and I both learn and increase our earnings. I just want to say thanks for your comments and encouragement, for if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have the energy to do these reports, that I hope help you out.

To Sum It All Up

In conclusion, I would recommend that you keep writing as much as possible, making sure you do the necessary keyword research and content writing techniques to improve your articles’ Google rankings and click-throughs.

I would create a schedule or goal of how many articles you want to write each week, and stick with it. Even if it’s just 1 article a week – you gotta do it, because time is on your side, as long as you take advantage of it.

Also, if you have been writing and you haven’t seen much in terms of earnings, it could mean…

You didn’t do adequate keyword research – meaning you’re writing about an article that not many people are searching for.
You’re writing in a niche that does not produce many ad clicks. As most of us know, recipes aren’t that good, but you’ll have to look at your own articles and stay away from the topics that don’t do well for you and your writing style, and milk the ones that do well for you.
You did the keyword research, but someone else has beat you to the punch. Writing about something someone else wrote about already will decrease your chances of earning money, obviously. But, you can improve your earnings, if you want to write about that particular topic, by making sure the title of your article is unique, and the content of your article is better.
You need to give yourself more time. Be patient, trust your research, and you’ll do great!

I hope this post was informative. Good luck to you, and I wish you the best!

P.S. – Useful eHow Books to Increase your Earnings

If you haven’t read one of the following eBooks, you may want to if you want to increase your earnings. I’ve only read Maria’s, but I’ve heard that Janet’s is just as good. Good luck!

Have a wonderful day!

My Monthly Report – December 2008

Pat — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:00:19 +0000

This is the third of a series of reports that I will post each and every month summarizing my progress. I’ll first mention the major events that may have happened within the month that could have made a difference in my earnings. I will also break down the sources of my income so that I can keep track of how each one is doing. Lastly, I’ll conclude with the most important things that I learned and what I have planned for the near future. I’d love to respond to any questions or comments that you may have. Thanks!

Important Going-Ons in December

Optimized my eBook landing page with Google Optimizer
Found a handy “buy it now” button that increased my sales. It only took 5 minutes to implement.
Began production of my audio guide. I hired a voice talent (voiceoversbytrish) to record most of the audio. She should be finished within a few days.
Held a contest on 99Designs.com, one of my Online Passive Income Tools of the Trade, to get a logo designed for my audio guide. Check out the design contest page to see all of the cool designs.
Began various methods of affiliate marketing, including adding affiliate links to my eHow articles and other links on my blogs as well. I also started to research and participate in PPC affiliate marketing campaigns using Adwords and Facebook as a means of reaching customers. I will go into more depth about this in a few of my January posts.
I reached my December goal of 100 subscribers by January 1st, 2009. The numbers do fluctuate, but there is proof.
I reached another one of my December goals by enrolling in a health insurance plan with Blue Shield! Yep, I am now officially covered. I saved over $300.00 a month by opting out of the Cobra option I almost used. Again, I’ll tell you exactly what I did sometime in January.

Income Sources

Ebook Sales: 379 Copies – $10,900.70
- last month: $8,598.51
- difference: + $2,302.19
Google Adsense: $854.41
- last month: $702.03
- difference: + $152.38
Private Advertising (pro-rated): $183.33
eHow Earnings: $96.87
- last month: $20.02
- difference: + $75.95
Affiliate Marketing (various methods): $163.16
Gross Total: $12,193.59 in December
- last month: $9,787.77
- difference: + $2,410.70

I honestly cannot believe the numbers. Another record month for which I owe to quite a few things. Besides the addition of affiliate marketing, and the successful growth of my eHow earnings (my next post is all about my eHow earnings for the month), I again owe most my success to my eBook.

Higher Conversion Rates. I wasn’t expecting to sell more books in December because of the holiday season, but my conversion rate (the number of sales per number of visitors) was much higher this month, and I believe it’s because I’ve optimized my landing page. That magic button I spoke about earlier does indeed work wonders, at least compared to the old one I was using. I can’t thank Ryan Deiss enough for this button.
A Price Experiment. One other thing I did, was simply increase the price of the eBook by $5.00. This was suggested by a friend of mine from the Internet Business Mastery Academy, a group that I joined and have since learned so much from. I owe a lot of my success to my colleagues there. Anyways, he was wondering why I priced the book so low. I told him that I wasn’t trying to rob anybody, and thought that the $24.99 price was enough for people to want to buy the book without breaking the bank. He then explained how pricing my guide 1/3rd the price of other guides was ridiculous, and people would still be willing to pay a little more, especially if the content was good. So, I raised the price $5.00 and I actually sold more books in December than in any other month. After thinking about it, $5.00 isn’t that much more money for one person to spend. But, over hundreds of sales, $5.00 definitely adds up. Thanks Sterling for your suggestion and advice. I owe you one.

Important Things I Learned in December

Creating a Schedule is Key. Because I’m working from home now, it’s really easy for me to be distracted by any number of things, all of which can easily take away from any production and potential future “money making” that I could/should be doing. The number one thing I did in December to help me get through those urges was to create a schedule of what I wanted to finish each day. This helped me, big time. iCal on a Macintosh works great.
You Can Always Do More to Improve. When doing housework, how do you know when you’re finished? When creating a painting, how do artists know when they’re done? To many, the answer is that there’s no “finish line”, because there’s always something else that could be done. The same holds true for our internet businesses. There’s always something more you can do to improve sales, improve readership, improve anything. I thought my sales page was pretty good, but after running some split tests and implementing the magic button, I saw I was not even close to doing as much as I could. I’m still running split tests on my sales page as I type.
The Most Important Asset to Any Business, Blog, Article: What I’ve learned, is that I could do all of the work I want – hundreds of websites, thousands of blog posts, tons of eBooks and courses – but it would all be for nothing if it wasn’t for…other people. Without people, like readers or customers, there is no success. Absolutely none. I’ve realized that it’s really important to make sure that I understand that my customers and the readers of my blogs are my number one asset, because without them, I’d have nothing. If I cater to their needs, I will be rewarded. Think about that.

What’s Next

I can’t believe 2009 is already upon us. I hope you and your family had a wonderful and safe holiday season and new year.

For January, I have just a few things I want to get done. I’m less than 2 months away from my wedding, so a lot of my focus will be on that – but I will still be doing more to improve my earnings for next month.

My main goal is to launch my audio guide. I plan to offer my ebook and audio guide for sale separately, as well as a combined price that will save the customer a little bit of cash. I also plan to contact all of my previous customers about the audio guide, and offer them a discount since they’ve bought the book already. I’m hoping for $15,000 in sales next month total.
I plan to begin monetizing The Smart Passive Income Blog. The cool thing is, you can watch it as it unfolds, and I’ll describe exactly what I’m doing as it happens.
Tax season is upon us. I’ve recently filed for my LLC, to protect my personal assets, and I’ll talk about this in much more detail later. I know I’ll be hit hard with taxes this year, because making money online is a lot different than earning a paycheck every 2 weeks and having taxes automatically deducted. I’m saving half of all of my earnings for a potential large check I have to write come April. I want to find an accountant in my area that I can work with to help me figure out all of the money-stuff that goes on with running a business. I’m kind of excited about it…kind of.

I’m putting my podcast on hold, as I’d like to focus on that after the wedding. Hey, maybe it will be about wedding stuff or marriage – just an idea.

As far as subscribers, I’ll shoot for 150 by February 1st.

Lastly, just know that my schedule of blog posts this month may be irregular because I have quite a few major things going on this month that will take me away from my computer. For instance…my BACHELOR PARTY! We’re going to snowboard at Lake Tahoe for 4 days…and take advantage of the nearby casinos in Reno. 11 dudes shredding down a mountain – legendary.

Have a wonderful New Year, and let’s make 2009 the most profitable year for us ever!