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Awake with Possibilities: Your Second Income

April 21, 2011 in Financial Freedom, Passion, Second Paycheck with 1 Comment

Have you ever read anything that left you ‘awake with possibilities?’

JA Konrath Photo

That’s the only phrase that sticks with me after reading this post from self-publishing phenom JA Konrath.  He’s the guy in the picture with the Kindle glued to his face.  He knows a thing or two about Kindle’s and more specifically, selling ebooks.  Lots and lots of ebooks.

“So far this month, I’ve sold over 18,000 ebooks on Kindle.  When I include Smashwords, Createspace, and Barnes and Noble, my income for January will be about $42,000.  Last January, I made $2,295 on Kindle, and I was amazed I could actually pay my mortgage on books NY rejected.”

Did your mouth drop?  Mine did.  I told you about Amanda Hocking, the 26 year old who’s making a million bucks from ebooks on Amazon.com, but after reading this post from JA, it’s like a much-needed eye-opener.  I’ve written a lot of ebooks through the years.  They sell via direct marketing, one-page sites.  It’s a nice steady income, but nothing like the avalanche of money he’s making.

It just opens the mind to possibilities.  Also in the post you will see the HARD WORK and commitment that JA had to the craft and to selling his books – see the part about his book tour.

How about you?  What’s your talent, your passion and the thing you do regardless of whether you get paid?  Doing what you love to make money from it might not be the advice MJ DeMarco would give you, but based on the results that JA and Amanda are showing, it’s not a bad option.

http://www.fabiomarciano.com/Recommends/millionairefastlane

Go ahead and read JA’s post.  It ends with the line: Self-publishing ebooks hasn’t just made me money. It has also given me my life back.

Not a bad thing to shoot for.  Not bad at all.

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Focus and Grow Rich (More Meaningful Work. More Often.)

April 10, 2011 in Second Paycheck, Unstoppable with 0 Comments

You’ve read Think and Grow Rich, well this post is about why you need to FOCUS in order to grow rich.  Specifically, you need to focus on the ONE THING you were meant to do in this world, the thing that you’re better than anyone else you know.

“You are the only person on Earth who can use your ability.” ~Zig Ziglar

Hat tip to Tina Su for sharing this quote this morning.  With it, she asked “How can you contribute utilizing your unique abilities?”

That’s the question you MUST answer before starting out any venture or side business.  If you’ve chosen the corporate route and want to get to the top, what do you bring to the table and how will you flex your STRENGTHS to get there?

If you’re looking to start a killer side-business and want to be the next Tim Ferriss or Seth Godin, what are you going to uniquely bring to this world…and to your readers/followers?  What’s your legacy?

You MUST go deep into your niche and become that go-to expert that everyone is seeking out.  Don’t fall for the Get Rich Quick route or else you’ll fail miserably and will have nothing but wasted money and a couple of crappy ebooks you’ve produced and sold to folks you’ll never hear from again.

If you’re going to do it, do it right.

Go in, fully in, with 100 percent of your dedication and attention to the project.

What’s the ONE THING you’re going to focus on doing better than anyone else?

Are you struggling with this question?  Maybe this will help.  In my post Doubling Your Most Important Skill I said:

What’s the ONE THING you’re best at?
It could be anything – personal or professional – but it’s the ONE THING your family, friends and co-workers agree that you’re the best at.
How would your life change if you dedicated yourself for a year to DOUBLE your proficiency in this one skill?
Ponder that question for a moment or two.   Now set about creating that Action Plan and get to work.

Don’t over-think this process.  Don’t sit there and try and create a pros and cons list of things you can do or create some elaborate plan of attack.  Pick the skill (it should be rather obvious what it is), think of a few ways to double your skills and get started.  Today.  Now.

Brian’s one thing is creating great content that gets read and makes him money, lots of it.  His website is simple and beautiful.  He doesn’t have to focus on selling you anything, because you’ll get there eventually.  JD, Seth and Hugh practice the “soft sell” and it seems to be working quite well for them.

I’ve written about finding your ONE THING here and here and here if you want more information on finding your calling.

In fact, I write about the importance of FOCUS and doing ONE THING a lot because it’s really what’s going to help you get on the fast track to success (however you define success) and leave a legacy that’s worth writing about long after you’re dead.

Enough talk, time to find that ONE THING and start doing it religiously.

Side Note: By the way, the parenthesis in the post title comes from this quote from Hugh:

“More meaningful work. More often.” – Hugh Macleod

YES! is all I’m going to say about that.

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Your Empire Building Starts Today

March 30, 2011 in Second Paycheck with 0 Comments

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of increasing your Action to Doing ratio.  The key thought being that too many times we sit there and create some grand plans on how we’re going to make a lot of money or get to the next level in our jobs.  While planning is important, getting started and taking MASSIVE ACTION is even more important.

Take a look at Hugh Macleod’s desk.  This is the place from which he runs his cash-generating, idea-changing, life-altering business or as he puts it - Hugh’s Empire.


Still think you need a grand plan to make it big?  Start building your empire today.  You have all the tools you need at your disposal right now.   STOP MAKING EXCUSES.  You don’t need more money.  You don’t need more time.  You don’t have to have a grand plan.

All you need is your PASSION, DEDICATION and a lot of HARD WORK to start making your dreams into a reality.  Enough said.  Get to work.

Drop me a line and let me know about your own Empire when you’ve got it up and running.

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The Truth Behind Making Money Online

May 14, 2010 in Second Paycheck with 0 Comments

Darren Rowse just posted one of the most truthful posts I’ve seen in a long while when it comes to Making Money Online.

If you’re looking to make money online through selling ebooks, affiliate marketing, ebay, Facebook marketing, coaching or any other method, this post is a must read.

According to Darren, the following are the 9 Unsexy Truths about Making Money Online:

1. It Takes ALOT of WORK
2. It Takes Time and Starts Slow
3. The Sexy Moments Happen – but are Often Few and Far Between
4. There are No Guarantees
5. You’ll Fail More than You Succeed
6. Some People Just Won’t Make It
7. It can be Lonely
8. Increased Success Can Bring Increased Critique
9. Scaling it Sucks

Take a few moments right now and head over to problogger and read this post now: The Truth About Making Money Online.

You’ll save yourself a lot of time, money, sanity and more money by knowing what you’re up against.

Read. Apply. Succeed. Repeat.

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Turn Your Passion into Profit

January 18, 2010 in Passion, Second Paycheck with 0 Comments

Dan Dunn is a painter who has found his niche among the thousands of artists that go unknown.  He created his own unique painting style that has transformed his life.

He used to do caricatures at Six Flags as his first gig, and then looking to take things to the next level, he started a company that had him going all over the place drawing people’s faces.  200 events a year and he was still deeply in debt.  It was about that time that inspiration hit him.

You could argue that he’s still painting faces and that the portraits are pretty close to what he was doing before, but now they’re done in “Paint Jam” style.  He’s created an experience for the audience.  He entertains the audience while he paints and in less than 10 minutes a beautiful work of art is created.

In the process of making that mental switch from doing things like everyone else, Dan has created a profitable niche for himself by THINKING DIFFERENT about his skills and what he could do to add value to this world.

 Pick a topic, any topic and Google it.  You’ll find dozens of people who are quietly (or loudly) making a profit from their passions.  Go ahead and type in anything and you’ll see Google Ads running on the right side of your browser, which means people are paying for your attention.  Click on the results and you’ll be taken to websites, blogs and forums where people are interested in those topics.

Go ahead and type in what you’re passionate about, no matter how small you think it is, someone’s making money from it…not that money is their sole motivator, nor should it be yours.  I’d argue that you go further, get more out of it and yes make more money if you’re in it first to share your gift with the world.

Go ahead and Google what you’re passionate about.  Whatever the topic is, whether it’s real estate, taking pictures, marketing, simple productivity or lifestyle design, you’ll find someone sharing their love and their wisdom with others.  And they’re making a buck in the process, which doesn’t hurt when it comes time to pay the mortgage and the electric bills. 

Sometimes you don’t even have to come up with the idea yourself, you just have to see how big someone else’s idea could be and take things over. 

These people fought through the dips in their lives.  They fought through having no money, no resources or no definable niche that existed before they walked through the door with their desire to breakthrough. 

They persisted and continued to WORK at their Passion until the day came when people started lining up at the door asking for more.  Your day can and will come someday soon, but you have to stick with it through the ups and the downs.  Everyone has something to offer the world.  Sometimes it just takes time to find your voice and your platform and your audience.

Your audience is the hardest part to find, but they’re out there waiting for you.  Don’t let them down.

And if you’re in need of inspiration from time to time, think of Dan the Paint Jam guy.  He went from sketching caricatures for $20 a painting to $40,000 a painting, doing pretty much the same thing…with a twist. 

What’s your unique twist/take on things?

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