How serious money is made through self-employment

Today I thought it would be interesting to consider how serious money is made through self-employment rather than spending your life working as a wage slave.

There are many ways to make money, dear reader, and they all have their merits.

For instance, if you get a job with a big corporation, it’s possible to earn a decent income, and you may enjoy a few fringe benefits too.

And if you get a job in the public sector, the pay may not be as good, but the pension scheme is usually the best you’ll find anywhere. And of course, working for the government is usually a fairly secure form of employment too.

So, if you become a wage slave in any sector, you can make a living, and sometimes that can even be a decent living as well.

However, unless you work on Wall Street or for an investment bank in the City of London, you are unlikely to make a fortune. Unfortunately, dear reader, that’s one of life’s facts.

How serious money is made through self-employment
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The road to serious money:

So, if you aim to make serious money, then you should consider self-employment.

And the good news is that we live in an age in which becoming self-employed has never been easier or cheaper. As a result of the Internet, there are so many business opportunities that were simply not available to previous generations.

And the best news is, you don’t even have to give up your day job, not initially anyway.

You can start your own business as a part-time side hustle, initially, and keep it that way until the income your business is generating for you is sufficient for you to live on.

You can even start one business to generate extra cash and as it makes money you can invest that cash into bigger and potentially more profitable opportunities. The possibilities are endless.

The downside of being an employee:

As an employee, you’re trading your time for money and that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that if that’s your preference.

However, if your firm does well, you’re unlikely to benefit significantly from any extra profit they make. You might get a bonus but regardless of personal contribution, it’s more likely to be an incidental sum rather than life-changing money.

With your own business, you can make money whilst you’re sleeping.

If you want to get seriously rich then you’ll have to find ways to start making money while you sleep.

Now dear reader I can hear you asking, but how do you make money while you sleep?

Let me give you some examples of online businesses where you could start with little or no money and start making money while you sleep.

Selling products online:

The Internet provides you with the ability to reach most of the people on the planet, wouldn’t you agree?

Think about that for a second.

If you create a website or an online store then billions of people around the world will have access to it. And those people can access it while you’re asleep.

So the potential is there for you to create something that can be generating money for you 24 hours a day 365 days every year.

Still not convinced? Let me give you some examples of businesses you could start to achieve this goal:-

Selling on Amazon:

If you’ve ever bought anything from Amazon you’ll probably have noticed that Amazon is not always the actual seller of the item you are seeking to purchase. Other suppliers sell their products through Amazon via what is known as Amazon Marketplace.

And when third-party suppliers sell products via Amazon they can also use a service known as Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA).

This means if you are the seller, you deliver your stock of products to Amazon and they’ll handle all the logistics associated with product delivery to the buyer.

Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA):

If you want to sell products but you don’t want to handle the packing, postage, and delivery then you can get Amazon to handle it all for you using FBA.

You can do it yourself of course but the point is that you don’t have to because there’s an easier way.

So you can focus on finding products that will offer solutions to the problems your target customers have and just let Amazon do the rest.

And remember this; those products don’t even have to be new. They can be ‘second-hand‘ or used items too.

Second-hand products:

As long as you can find a suitable niche in second-hand products, there is money to be made.

Let me offer you an example.

Each year graduating students have textbooks to sell. Maybe you’ve had that experience, dear reader?

Essentially such students want to get some cash back for books they’re unlikely to read ever again.

Shrewd entrepreneurs recognize that there’ll be a ready market for those textbooks at the start of the next academic year. New students will want to obtain course textbooks at a better price if they can.

So entrepreneurs offer ‘selling students‘ a quick way to turn their textbooks into a little cash.

And then ‘buying students‘ will be sold those same textbooks at a rate which will save them money on the price for the same book had it been bought new.

You make money and everyone’s a winner.

Set up a website:

The entrepreneurial you can set up a website to attract booksellers and then through Amazon Marketplace the books you’ve bought cheaply can be sold at a profit.

And in that way, you could create a profitable second-hand book business.

You could repeat the same trick with music such as vinyl records and CDs, as well as films on DVD.

Second-hand smartphones, tablet computers, and other technology items offer another entrepreneurial possibility.

And don’t forget there’s demand for second-hand clothes too.

Alternatively, you could source your products, e.g. skincare products, cosmetics, household products, and so on and then sell those via Amazon.

I know plenty of people who have created successful businesses with this approach and from them made good money. 

Selling on eBay:

When people sell stuff at a boot sale or yard sale, they usually sell at low prices because they price items for a quick sale.

These are things they need to get rid of as quickly as possible for whatever reason and get whatever they can for them. So, there’s a potential opportunity for those with an entrepreneurial spirit.

You buy these items cheaply and then resell them on eBay for profit.

More importantly, people sometimes sell valuable stuff at boot sales and yard sales for ridiculously low prices because they don’t realize the real value of the item.

On the British television show Flog It, I saw a woman sell an antique vase at auction for £800 having originally bought it at a boot sale for just £1. Now that’s a healthy profit.

Yes, such examples would be the exception but shrewd people can and do make money this way and eBay is a great vehicle for doing so.

Affiliate Marketing:

Affiliate marketing is ‘commission only’ selling.

It works through an idea known as content marketing. The idea is that if you can direct traffic to a product seller’s website which results in a sale then you get paid a commission for that sale.

The amount of commission can be as low as 4% or less from the Amazon Affiliate Program to as much as 75% from some items offered through programs like Clickbank and CJ (Commission Junction, as it was known previously).

The idea is that you create a website in a niche of your choice, generate content on known problems for which people are searching for solutions, and then recommend a product as part of the solution you offer. Then you include an affiliate link to that product and you’ll get a commission every time a sale is made.

How do you achieve this in practice?

Well despite its relatively low commission rates, Amazon offers the easiest opportunity for the beginner. You sign up for the Amazon Affiliate Program and then identify a suitable niche that interests you.

Let’s say that niche is budget-priced sports shoes for women. Now the niche does need to be focused and quite narrow. The category ‘Shoes‘ would be far too wide. You need to think about categories for which people will be searching via Google and other search engines.

Once you decide on a niche, you create a website publishing offering reviews of sports shoes for women.

And remember; those reviews don’t have to be your own necessarily.

They could be a curation of reviews you’ve read elsewhere, summarised with an overall rating based on what others have been saying. In other words, you’ve done the hard work for readers by providing them with a comprehensive summary of all the reviews out there and then providing a convenient link to Amazon so that they can easily make their purchase

Creating a review summary by curating input from other sources is legitimate, as long as you acknowledge the different sources which form the basis of your article.

Why review sites are a good idea:

Review sites work with affiliate marketing because they capture buying intent and that’s important.

If someone searches for a review of an item on Google, there is a strong possibility that they will buy if the reviews are positive.

When producing your review articles the crucial action is to embed affiliate links within the text.

Getting readers to click on those links and taking them to Amazon is how you’ll make money. If they buy within 24 hours of clicking on a link you will get paid a commission.

Amazon commissions vary depending on the number and type of sales for which you are credited each month.

So in choosing a niche, you must think about product value too. Generate low-value sales and you won’t make much. However, sales for items with a bigger price tag can prove very lucrative.

That said generating some low-value sales can be a way of pushing subsequent bigger ticket sales into a higher commission rate. So don’t ignore them completely.

Content Marketing:

Essentially content marketing is publishing web content to promote products and services. Content marketing is closely linked with affiliate marketing but not exclusively so.

There are two types of content you can consider, as follows:-

(1) Written Content:

For instance, if you’re producing regular content and publishing it on your blog then there’s the potential to generate an income through advertising.

Now selling advertising space on your blog or website is only possible if you have substantial traffic.

However, If you’re just starting you will not reach those levels for quite some time.

Nevertheless, what is known as pay-per-click (CPC) advertising could generate money for you right from the start.

Perhaps the best-known CPC program is one offered by Google Adsense. You sign up for this program, then embed Google’s links in your blog and they will insert advertising on your blog that is relevant to your content.

EZOIC is another excellent advertising opportunity for new content marketers and bloggers.

Every time a reader clicks on an advertisement you will get paid and it’s not purchase-dependent. Readers only have to click for you to get paid.

The trick with Adsense and EZOIC is to have a narrow focus for your blog.

Here’s an example. Let’s say your blog is about how to keep chickens and deal with blights like red mite. You’ll attract search-engine-generated traffic from people desperate to deal with the problem of red mite. Google or EZOIC will insert ads from companies offering products that will help with this problem and desperate people are likely to click on those ads to see what’s on offer. They click, and you get paid.

As long as your subject matter is focused and narrow, and ideally based on a highly searched keyword or phrase, then this can be a way to generate decent money. However, the traffic levels to your blog will have an impact on how much money you can reasonably make.

(2) Video Content:

Another way to benefit from Google Adsense is to create your own YouTube channel, produce videos and again insert links from Google so that relevant pay-per-click advertising will appear on and around the video. Again if people click then you get paid.

Write eBooks:

Devices such as the iPad, the Kindle and other eReaders, provide you with the opportunity to self-publish eBooks and sell them through Amazon.

You may not be able to come up with the next Harry Potter work of fiction but there is good money to be made writing ‘How To’ books on just about any subject.

They don’t even need to be that long either.

As little as 50 pages or 8,000 – 10,000 words covering a topic of general interest can be enough to produce something that will sell for one dollar or one pound sterling. That might not seem like a lot but sell 1,000 of them and you’ve made a decent sum of money.

Write something on an evergreen topic and it could sell for years.

If you write several eBooks like this on evergreen topics, that could become a decent income stream.

And what do I mean by evergreen?

These are topics for which people have always looked for solutions. That might be something like tips for good time management, or how to lose weight, and so on.

And even if you’re not an expert you can research the necessary information and pull it together for people. Essentially you will be doing the work for your readers.

And don’t forget, nowadays you also have the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to help you in the form of Gemini and ChatGPT. These are powerful writing aids.

Develop Apps:

If you can learn to write code, and of course, you can learn to write code, then you can also learn how to develop apps. If you can develop a killer app and sell it through the App Store then you can make serious money.

And a great app might attract a corporation to buy it for big money. By way of an example, the app Wordle was sold to the New York Times for more than $1 million. That’s a decent payday, don’t you think?

OK, so you’d love to develop an app but you don’t know where to start, right?

Well, there are endless videos and tutorials on YouTube and from these, you can learn how to code and develop apps.

Yes, there’s some work to be done upfront of course.

However, a good app will generate money for years to come. Just think about apps like Candy Crush Saga.

Produce something that becomes a real fad and there’s serious money to be made.

11 things to bear in mind:

If becoming self-employed appeals to you and you fancy making money as an online entrepreneur then here are 11 things you should bear in mind:-

  1. Know your target customers.
  2. Know your target niche or niches
  3. Know your strengths and interests?
  4. Apply your strengths and interests to serve customers
  5. Recognize that different markets need different strategies.
  6. Make sure you’re capturing buying intent.
  7. Create an image that will appeal to your target audience.
  8. With a website, traffic matters.
  9. Search engine optimization (SEO) will bring traffic.
  10. Getting backlinks from other websites will help with SEO.
  11. Be determined, work hard, and learn as you go.

6 things you must do when you’re self-employed:

(1) Register with the tax authorities: Make money by all means but pay your taxes too. Upsetting the tax authorities is not a good idea dear reader wherever you live. In some countries, tax regimes are more benign than in others but it’s always better to keep the tax authorities happy.

(2) Register for sales taxes and VAT: Again it’s all about paying your dues. If you do well financially then you have an obligation to share some of your wealth with the rest of society. Taxes are the price we pay to live in society and you can’t have a successful business without the society in which you live.

(3) Get a separate business bank account: Keep your business activities separate from your personal life. This is very important.

(4) Keep accurate and up-to-date records: You’ll need these in any dialogue with the tax authorities. You don’t want to end up paying more tax than was necessary. Paying your dues is one thing; overpaying your dues is careless.

(5) Insure your business: When you’re in business, you’re required by law to have certain insurance policies. Exactly which policies you need depends on the nature of your business activities. Make sure you know your obligations and act accordingly.

(6) Keep it simple: In the early days, you don’t want to be spending money you don’t have on things that are initially unnecessary. So keep everything as simple as possible for as long as possible.

Conclusion:

Self-employment can be an attractive proposition and for most people, it is the only way you will ever make a fortune. It’s not easy of course but it can be done and you don’t have to ditch your day job to get started.

With an online business, you can start small and build it up over time. And you can mix and match options. For instance, you can start a website to make money with both affiliate marketing and Google Adsense or EZOIC.

A good review website can become quite profitable and once it’s generating revenues on ‘autopilot’ it can become an asset that you can sell for serious money. There are plenty of examples where such sites have sold for 6 and even 7-figure sums.

Don’t underestimate the challenges of course but it can be done and people do. Why not you?

So, think carefully about how best to exploit the opportunities before you and then have a go.

Good luck and may you be the next Richard Branson.

Phil Sutton

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Success Secrets: How your life can be better than it is now

How is life for you? Perhaps you’re lucky, and you have a great job, a nice house, a fancy car, a loving family, and a lifestyle that is the envy of your neighbours. If that’s you, then well done, but there’s nothing for you here. If you’ve achieved all that, then you don’t need any success secrets from me.

Success Secrets
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If it is you, then I must tell you, you’re in a minority. However, I’m guessing you’re not part of that minority. Am I right? Statistically, you’re much more likely to be a member of life’s majority. Those people with a desire for their lives to be better, but who, for whatever reason, cannot translate that desire into something that’s better.

Statistically, you’re more likely to be part of that group of people constantly on the lookout for success secrets. People searching for the ‘secret sauce,’ if you like. You’re not alone, of course, but I hope this post will help you.

Why is it that some people are successful and others are not?

What secrets do the successful know that the unsuccessful do not know?

Can anyone be successful? The simple answer is yes.

However, unsuccessful people tend to think it’s not possible, so they don’t try. They just accept what they’re given as if that’s all they can expect from life. It’s almost as if they say to themselves, this is all life has for me. It’s like they believe that there are no success secrets.

Well, I must tell you now, if it’s not obvious to you, life can be better. Life is what you make it. Within reason, you can be whatever you want to be. You can have more. Other people do, so why not you?

Right now, where you are is where you are. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you don’t have to remain where you are. You’re not a tree; you can move. You can change. You can decide that your life will be different. And you can work towards something that’s better.

Your life really can be better than it is, and you can be better than you are. However, for it to be better, you have to believe it can be better, and you have to believe that you can turn it around. In fact, you have to believe in success secrets.

One thing all successful people have in common is a belief that something different can happen, and they can make it happen. They don’t allow anyone to tell them it can’t be done. They know what they want, and they’re determined to get it.

Some might consider them delusional, but successful people see it as self-belief. They won’t accept that they cannot do something because, intuitively, they know that if they try hard enough, then anything is possible. If they decide what they want and strive for what they want, they just know that somehow they can get it. The price is determination and hard work, but they’re willing to pay that price.

Successful people know that when faced with an elephant, you cannot swallow it whole. However, it can be eaten one bite at a time.

If you’re building a wall, then you don’t start with the entire wall. You start with a single brick, and you get that right. Then once that’s securely in place, you move on to the next brick and then the next and the next and so on. Pretty soon, if you stick at it long enough, you’ll have the whole wall.

Successful people know that they can’t get to where they want to go in one single leap. They know you get there gradually, one step at a time. And if you want to be successful, it starts with taking the first step.

Readers familiar with Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) will know that if you want to be successful, you look for successful people, identify what they do and then copy that model. The idea is that if it worked for them, then there’s a good chance it will work for you, too. Most successful people will have had role models they’ve copied at various times.

So if you want to be successful, look around for successful people and listen to what they have to say. Most people would accept that Will Smith is successful. In the video included here, he shares his thoughts on the secrets of success.

His observations are interesting and well worth a few minutes of your time. I can recommend them to you.

Further Reading:

An article of this type can only ever be a taster on the subject, but there are plenty of good books which will enlighten you further on the subject of success secrets. For instance, one I suggest you explore is:

It all depends on how you define success, of course. If you see success as being all about achieving financial independence as fast and easy as possible, then this book could be for you.

Remember, it’s never easy. It requires hard work and determination. However, while it’s not easy, it can be easier, and this book will tell you how.

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Thank you.

101 Quotes on self-improvement to inspire you

In seeking quotes on self-improvement, perhaps you’re looking for a better life.

Well, life doesn’t have to be as it is now. It can be something much closer to what you’d like it to be. And with a little effort on your part, you can make it happen.

Remember you’re not defined by your past. That serves only as a series of lessons. The future is yours to create and it all starts with self-improvement.

Self-improvement is just a process whereby you decide what it is you want; you decide what skills you’ll need to develop in order to get what you want; you work out how you can get those skills, and then you set some goals and start improving the quality of your life and that of your loved ones.

It can be done. People do it all the time. And so can you.

Learn more and you’ll earn more.

You’ll need a little inspiration to motivate you and keep you going. Motivational quotes are useful because they help you acquire ideas on getting started and they’re beneficial in helping you realize your dreams and goals.

So here are 101 quotes on self-improvement to inspire you and propel you along the road to make your dreams a reality.

Enjoy them all and please share them with your friends.

Quotes on Self-Improvement
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Quotes on self-improvement (1-20):

  1. Let us cultivate our garden. ~Voltaire
  2. If you can dream it, you can do it. ~Walt Disney
  3. Good things happen to those who hustle. ~Chuck Noll
  4. You will never win if you never begin. ~Helen Rowland
  5. If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. ~Milton Berle
  6. If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. ~Zig Ziglar
  7. All things are difficult before they are easy. ~Thomas Fuller
  8. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ~Mark Twain
  9. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. ~Jim Rohn
  10. He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior. ~Confucius
  11. You just can’t beat the person who never gives up. ~Babe Ruth
  12. Believe you can and you’re halfway there. ~Theodore Roosevelt
  13. Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there. ~Bo Jackson
  14. Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. ~Carol Burnett
  15. It is never too late to be what you might have been. ~George Eliot
  16. You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind. ~Joyce Meyer
  17. My purpose: to lift your spirit and to motivate you. ~Mavis Staples
  18. The dreaming has to be backed up by the doing. ~Carrie Wilkerson
  19. Problems are not Stop Signs, they are guidelines. ~Robert H. Schuller
  20. The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work. ~Harry Golden

Quotes on self-improvement (21-40):

  1. Nothing will work unless you do. ~Maya Angelou
  2. The only journey is the one within. ~Rainer Maria Rilke
  3. Either you run the day or the day runs you. ~Jim Rohn
  4. You don’t have to get it right the first time. ~Barbara Sher
  5. Life has no limitations, except the ones you make. ~Les Brown
  6. Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds. ~Gordon B. Hinckley
  7. Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star. ~W. Clement Stone
  8. The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch. ~Jim Rohn
  9. If you’re not doing what you love, you’re wasting your time. ~Zig Ziglar
  10. There is no such thing as failure. There are only results. ~Tony Robbins
  11. If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. ~Jim Rohn
  12. Don’t let someone else’s opinion of you become your reality. ~Les Brown
  13. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. ~Arthur Ashe
  14. The time is now. Stop hitting the snooze button on your life. ~Mel Robbins
  15. We will always tend to fulfil our own expectations of ourselves. ~Brian Tracy
  16. In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can. ~Nikos Kazantzakis
  17. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you don’t stop. ~Confucius
  18. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. ~Charles R. Swindoll
  19. A barrier is a limitation only when you perceive it as one. ~Stephen Richards
  20. When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go. ~Carol Burnett

Quotes on self-improvement (41-55):

  1. The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that it does exist. ~Zig Ziglar
  2. Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority. ~Tom Hopkins
  3. Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. ~Les Brown
  4. You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. ~Zig Ziglar
  5. The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
  6. Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practised every day. ~Jim Rohn
  7. Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. ~Tony Robbins
  8. I never see failure as failure, but only as the game I must play and win. ~Tom Hopkins
  9. Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. ~Walter Elliot
  10. The difference between being mediocre and achieving excellence is you. ~Stephen Richards
  11. Become addicted to constant and never-ending self-improvement. ~Anthony J. D’Angelo
  12. The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare. ~Bobby Knight
  13. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you’ve always been. ~TD Jakes
  14. How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable? ~Seth Godin
  15. You are essentially who you create yourself to be, and all that occurs in your life is the result of your own making. ~Stephen Richards

Quotes on self-improvement (56-70):

  1. Opportunity does not knock it presents itself when you beat down the door. ~Kyle Chandler
  2. Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to the person you were yesterday. ~Anonymous
  3. When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given. ~Barbara Sher
  4. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. ~Samuel Beckett
  5. Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work. ~H. L. Hunt
  6. You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plough right ahead. ~George Lucas
  7. Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more. ~Tony Robbins
  8. I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often. ~Brian Tracy
  9. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  10. Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay. ~Simone de Beauvoir
  11. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success. ~Joyce Brothers
  12. If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes. ~John Wooden
  13. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact. ~William James
  14. I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. ~Jimmy Dean
  15. Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. ~Vince Lombardi

Quotes on self-improvement (71-85):

  1. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson
  2. There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. ~Aldous Huxley
  3. I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’ ~Muhammad Ali
  4. Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. ~Martin Luther
  5. Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. ~Nido Qubein
  6. Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret to success. ~Swami Sivananda
  7. Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas A. Edison
  8. Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them. ~Ann Landers
  9. Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having, except as a result of hard work. ~Booker T. Washington
  10. Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. ~Jim Rohn
  11. Become addicted to constant and never-ending self-improvement. ~Anthony J. D’Angelo
  12. The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. ~Jim Rohn
  13. Outstanding people have one thing in common: An absolute sense of mission. ~Zig Ziglar
  14. It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going. ~Brian Tracy
  15. If there is one lesson I’ve learned from failure and success, it’s this. I am not the outcome. I am never the result. I am only the effort. ~Kamal Ravikant

Quotes on self-improvement (86-95):

  1. You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. ~Jim Rohn
  2. Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong. ~Ella Fitzgerald
  3. If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success. ~John D. Rockefeller
  4. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. ~Jim Rohn
  5. It is not as much about who you used to be, as it is about who you choose to be. ~Sanhita Baruah
  6. If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. ~Jim Rohn
  7. If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride – and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards. ~Bear Bryant
  8. My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style. ~Maya Angelou
  9. No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, and become a better version of yourself. ~Madonna
  10. We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. ~Jim Rohn

Quotes on self-improvement (96-101):

  1. If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results. ~Tony Robbins
  2. Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning are where the miracle process all begins. ~Jim Rohn
  3. Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new. ~Brian Tracy
  4. You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour. ~Jim Rohn
  5. Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new. ~Brian Tracy
  6. You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset. ~Tom Hopkins
Phil Sutton

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The real cost of television? The answer will surprise you

The real cost of television

Have you ever considered what the real cost of television is and the effect it has on your life?

When you’ve worked hard all day, I’m sure you find it so easy when you arrive home in the evening to have a bite to eat and then relax in front of the television. You just passively watch whatever’s on offer because it’s your time now, right?

If you’ve worked hard all day, you deserve a rest, surely?

Anyway, you’ve got a nice television, and it cost you a lot of money, right?

So, of course, you want to make the most of it, don’t you?

If you’ve spent all that money, why would you want to waste such a fine piece of technology by not using it? Surely that’s a reasonable argument?

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Opportunity cost:

Well, it’s an argument, of course, but have you ever given serious thought to the real cost of that television to you?

How much do you think it actually costs?

Now, I’m not referring to the price tag in the store when you purchased your television, though even that’s not insignificant.

I’m referring to the opportunity cost of the time wasted passively watching television.

Never forget, time is money.

And time wasted watching television could have been used doing something that would have been far more profitable for you, at least in the long term.

Deep down, I suspect, in your heart, you know that dear reader, don’t you? Nevertheless, knowing and acting on the knowledge you possess are two different things.

The importance of time:

How often do you hear people say things like, I’d love to earn more money; I’d love to have a better job; I’d love to learn another language; I’d love to learn to play the piano; and so on? Then you’ll hear them say, “If only I had the time.”

Do you recognise yourself anywhere there, dear reader?

The simple fact is that when it comes to time.

We all have the same amount, 168 hours each week. It all comes down to how you choose to use and prioritize your time.

Time is a resource, like any other:

Successful people recognise that time is their most precious resource, and they use it wisely.

People who succeed have a genuine sense of purpose, and they’re very focused on their goals. They know what they want, and they have a plan as to how they’ll get it.

Do you have a genuine sense of purpose, dear reader?

Have you got a clear idea in terms of where you’re going?

Do you know what it is you want out of life?

Life can be better:

Perhaps life is something that’s just happening to you, and you’re just going with the flow?

That’s an acceptable strategy if you’re willing to accept whatever life throws at you.

However, you must ask yourself: Are you really happy with your life and the share of life’s pie you’ve been given so far, or do you want more?

Well, let me tell you this, dear reader. For things to improve, you must first learn to use your time wisely.

Secondly, you need a clear sense of direction and your own plan for how you’ll get to where you want to go. Without direction and a plan, you’ll be destined to be used as part of someone else’s plan.

However, that’ll only be for as long as you can serve some useful purpose for them.

Once you no longer serve any purpose for them you’ll cease to be part of their plan. And then you’ll be scratching around looking for another way to earn a living.

The world is an unforgiving place, that’s for sure.

Be a person of value:

Work is just doing stuff for other people in exchange for money.

However, we don’t just get paid for the hour. Our pay is dictated by the value we put into that hour.

The more value we can add the more we’ll earn.

And to add more value we must be increasing our knowledge and skills constantly.

We reap what we sow.

If we fail to reap, we cannot sow.

And how can you reap if you spend your life passively watching television? Time wasted cannot be recovered.

You’ll get out what you put it:

In my experience, we get out of life exactly what we put in. The more we put in the more we’ll get out.

The obvious question is, how can you get more out of life?

If you’re happy to go through life passively watching television but struggling to make a decent living then that’s fine, if that’s what you want. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Waste as much of your time as you like.

However, if you want more than that then it’s time to start designing the life you want and avoiding time-wasters like television.

It’s time to decide where you’re going; and what you want out of life. It’s time to develop your plan for success. And above all, it’s time to stop wasting your time.

You can be a winner. Anybody can.

However, it does require some effort on your part and a clear sense of direction though. That’s a given.

A great source of inspiration:

And if you’re going to be a winner, in addition to using your time wisely, you’ll also need a constant source of inspiration to keep you motivated.

One of my greatest sources of inspiration is the late, great business philosopher Jim Rohn.

You’ll find plenty of videos featuring Jim Rohn on YouTube.

However, you might also consider buying one of Jim Rohn’s books or even an audio recording to listen to in your car or on your smartphone or iPad.

One Jim Rohn book (also available as an audio recording) that I can highly recommend is:

The Art of Exceptional Living.

Check it out on Amazon while it’s fresh in your mind. You won’t regret it.

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Phil Sutton

Does being a success really matter?

So many people are just trying to get through life with as little effort as possible.

Now that’s fair enough if that’s what you want. Then again, do nothing and you’ll get nothing and you’ll be nothing.

Again, maybe you don’t care. Maybe a stress-free life is much more important to you than being driven to achieve. And that’s a reasonable choice to make.

However, we all have enormous potential.

We can all make our mark and make a real contribution to life and the people who matter most to us.

If you want more out of life, then success really is there for the taking.

Yes, it requires a lot of hard work and you will need to hone your skills until you are one of the best at what you do. However others do it, so why not you?

Why shouldn’t you make a real difference?

If you can continually focus on your desired outcome then you can and will succeed.

Go the extra mile and you’ll reach a place worthy of the effort you’ve expended. And remember, there’s very little traffic on the extra mile.

There really is far less competition than you think. For most people, the required effort is just far too much.

So go on, go for it. You’re as good as anyone and better than most. Believe you can and you will.

Being a success does matter because you have enormous potential and the world needs all the potential it can get. The world needs people just like you to make a real difference.

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Success and why you should never quit

Today I want you to consider success and why you should never quit, dear reader.

Achieving any form of success requires determination and a lot of hard work. Anything you want can be yours if you want it badly enough, but nothing’s for free.

The price you’ll pay is in blood, sweat, and tears. Long days, late nights and a laser-sharp focus on your goals.

The road to success will also inevitably involve occasional setbacks. That’s the nature of the game we call success. And it is a game where the best players become the winners.

So you’ll need to be single-minded, and you’ll need to push yourself very hard. It’s not easy and nor is it meant to be.

From time to time self-doubt will creep into your mind. You’ll start to imagine that maybe you’re not quite good enough. Siren voices in your head will start telling you that it’s all too difficult and that maybe it’s time to quit.

You may even start asking yourself, Why am I putting myself through all the hard work when I could just spend my life cruising along and having fun?

The problem is, no pain, no gain. And if you quit, you’ll spend your life wondering what might have been.

So just keep your eye on the prize. Nothing worth having was ever easy to achieve. However, it can be done and people do.

You can do it too. All you need is a little self-belief and a genuine desire to make your mark on life.

Just ignore any setbacks; ignore any siren voices in your head, and refuse to give up until you get to where you want to be.

Remember this; quitters never win and winners never quit. Greatness lies within you. So go on, be a winner.

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25 Quotes by Richard Branson to inspire you to do great things

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, or simply Richard Branson as he’s better known, is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. By any measure, he’s a successful, self-made man, and therefore we can learn from him. So, some quotes by Richard Branson are worth exploring.

He expressed a desire to become an entrepreneur at an early age. In the 1970s, Richard Branson founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.

Over the years, his interests have extended across retail, music, and transport (including land, air, sea, and space travel), and his taste for adventure and his humanitarian work have resulted in him becoming a prominent global figure.

So here are 25 quotes by Richard Branson to inspire you to do great things.

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Quotes by Richard Branson (1-10):

  1. A good leader doesn’t get stuck behind a desk.
  2. Material things are delightful but they’re not important.
  3. Starting your own business isn’t just a job it’s a way of life. 
  4. In business, if you realise you’ve made a bad decision, you change it.
  5. Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.
  6. Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.
  7. You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.
  8. One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes.
  9. If you’re embarking around the world in a hot-air balloon, don’t forget the toilet paper.
  10. My philosophy is that if I have any money I invest it in new ventures and not have it sitting around.

Quotes by Richard Branson (11-20):

  1. I always find the time to exercise – kitesurfing, tennis or cycling – and to spend time with my loved ones.
  2. Every successful businessman will have experienced setbacks and failures. They’re lying if they say they haven’t.  
  3. It’s a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur’s metric for success. It’s not, and nor should it be.
  4. My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.
  5. Being a good listener is absolutely critical to being a good leader; you have to listen to the people who are on the front line.
  6. Entrepreneurs are natural problem-solvers, which means that we always have ideas for new businesses popping into our heads. 
  7. My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again.
  8. It’s rare for a start-up to make money immediately, so you need to make sure that you have enough saved or that you have another income stream that can support you. 
  9. Fun is one of the most important and underrated ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.
  10. Most people would assume my business success, and the wealth that comes with it, have brought me happiness. But I know I am successful, wealthy, and connected because I am happy.

Quotes by Richard Branson (21-25):

  1. Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again. Failure is only the end if you decide to stop.
  2. Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with. In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.
  3. There’s an inherent danger in letting people think that they have perfected something. When they believe they’ve ‘nailed it,’ most people tend to sit back and rest on their laurels while countless others will be labouring furiously to better their work!
  4. From a young age, I learned to focus on the things I was good at and delegate to others what I was not good at. That’s how Virgin is run. Fantastic people throughout the Virgin Group run our businesses, allowing me to think creatively and strategically.
  5. If you want to be more productive, then start at the start: get there on time. Whether it is a meeting, a flight, an appointment or a date, it’s important to ensure you are there when you say you will be there. This may feel like an old-fashioned tip to give, but it has served me well for five decades in business.
Phil Sutton

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This is the key to success in one lesson

Dear reader, would you like to know the key to success? It’s simple.

Success starts with making a decision. You decide what you want to achieve, and then you decide that you’re going to go out and get it.

Once your decision has been made, you pursue your objective with determination and tenacity, and you don’t allow anyone or anything to stop you.

In 1960, US President John Kennedy made a speech in which he said that by the end of that decade, the United States would put a man on the moon. And in 1969, the United States fulfilled the promise made by Kennedy.

Kennedy didn’t know how they would achieve the goal he articulated in 1960.

However, he believed in their ability to do it; he believed they could develop the technology to do it, and he made a decision that they would do it. However, ultimately, in making his promise, there was an element of risk.

Now there’s risk in everything we do, of course, and nothing exceptional will ever be achieved without some degree of risk along the way.

Lesser men and women may allow the fear of risk to stop them. However, men and women destined for great things will feel the fear, and they’ll do it anyway.

Greatness cannot be achieved without paying your dues along the way. That’s a fact.

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Be fearless:

Anything worth having comes with a price tag, namely blood, sweat, and tears. So be bold, be strong, and pursue your dream with passion.

Yes, it will be challenging mentally and emotionally. And yes, plenty of people will tell you that it’s not possible or that you’re not quite good enough.

Well, don’t listen to the naysayers and negative Nellies. It matters not what they think, but only what you think. If you believe you can do it, then that’s all that matters.

If you want it, whatever it is, just keep pushing and never, ever give up until you get to where you want to be.

Greatness can be achieved by anyone with sufficient determination. People do succeed, and so can you.

So whatever it is you want to do, just go out there and do the damn thing. Do it now. Believe you can and you will.

If you’re still not convinced, then take a look at this video, which I think is a fantastic motivational speech.

Watch it now and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed. And the bottom line is that you’ve got to be fearless.

Key to Success – Video:

Phil Sutton

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How to break a bad habit and improve your life

When it comes to bad habits, we can all be guilty, to some degree, at least. So people often consider the question of how to break a bad habit.

Habits are what we do on autopilot. That is, done automatically without thinking.

Do you have any bad habits, dear reader? Now, be honest with yourself.

I refer to those little, irritating patterns of behaviour you simply can’t help. Those obsessions you may have occasionally. Perhaps you have one or two bad habits you’d really like to break?

Now habits can be hard to break, of course, particularly bad ones.

So here’s another question. Could you break bad habits simply by being more curious about them?

Well, the psychiatrist Dr Judson Brewer certainly has an opinion to offer on that issue.

Dr Judson Brewer studies the relationship between mindfulness and addiction, and in the TEDTalk included in this post, he shares his views on everything from smoking to overeating to all those other things we do even though we know they’re bad for us.

If you want to learn more about the mechanism of habit development, then you’ll find this video interesting, and it’s definitely worth watching.

If you have habits you’d really like to break, then it would certainly make sense for you to learn more about how you developed those habits in the first place.

The more you understand, the better you’ll be able to take action and break those bad habits.

So take a few minutes now and listen to what Dr Brewer has to say. It’ll be well worth a little of your time, I promise.

How to break a bad habit and improve your life
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How to break a bad habit:

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How we are damaged by our school days

How we are damaged by our school days seems like an oxymoron. However, the idea is worth exploring, I think.

So, could our school days really have damaged us? Do you think that’s even possible?

Were they the best days of our lives, as we’re encouraged to believe, or could our school days have been detrimental to our mental well-being and self-esteem?

I think that is an interesting question.

So let’s think about it for a minute.

Certainly, many people will have had mostly good experiences during their school days.

However, there will also be some for whom their school days will have left them mentally scarred and with a sense of failure. That much is philosophically self-evident, surely?

For instance, perhaps at school, people such as those to whom I refer never quite achieved the grades their parents or teachers thought they should.

Perhaps they were the last to be picked for a sports team regularly?

In either case, how would such experiences have made them feel?

What impact would they have had on their mental well-being?

Perhaps they felt they were not quite good enough?

Possibly a little bit bruised and embarrassed by their inability to achieve what they believed was expected of them?

Adults may have thought that putting pressure on them would motivate them to do well, yet it probably left them feeling inadequate.

Your birth date matters:

Do any of these ideas resonate with you, dear reader? Have you experienced such feelings?

The problem with the school experience is that the age range of our classmates is spread over a whole year. And that’s a lot more significant than it first appears when you’re young.

Someone whose birthday is at the beginning of September will be a year older than someone whose birthday is towards the end of August, despite both being in the same academic year.

Now it might not seem much, but one year at that time in our lives makes a huge difference in terms of our development, both mentally and physically.

So, what does this mean?

It means that if your birthday is at the end of the school year, then you’re at a significant disadvantage relative to some of your much older classmates.

That disadvantage carries with you right throughout your school years if you’re affected by it.

And it’s a disadvantage that extends not just to your academic studies, but also to sports and physical activity too.

Success breeds positive reinforcement:

Most importantly, it’s not just the fact that you’re behind in terms of your physical and mental development. It’s also a fact that success breeds positive reinforcement.

Older students benefit from the constant reinforcement and encouragement of being told, ‘Well done!‘, while younger students struggle to keep up unless they’re exceptionally gifted.

Even if people are of above-average ability for their age, they can still be at a disadvantage relative to older classmates during their school days, particularly if those older classmates are also of above-average ability.

Inevitably, at school, people are compared to their peers, and statistics show that the older ones tend to do better because of an inherent age advantage. That’s true with sports as well as academic subjects.

If younger students appear to perform less well frequently, that’s interpreted as them not being quite as good as their older peers.

Advantage goes with age:

And few people, least of all our parents, recognise that the system essentially does not favour younger members of the class. It puts them at a disadvantage.

The obvious question is, how many people have gone through life feeling like a bit of a loser due to their experiences of a school system that tends to work against them simply because of the month in which they were born?

And how many people never fully recover from the inevitable damage done to their confidence and self-esteem during those all-too-important developmental years?

More importantly, our school days not only affect how we feel about ourselves. They also impact how others perceive us to be as well.

A reputation for being a ‘straight A’ student beats being a bit of an academic ‘also ran’. No one questions whether the former had an inherent advantage over the latter.

How we’re perceived by others matters. Think about it. Their perception of us results in all the negative talk we often hear whenever we express ambition, which can affect our self-esteem.

I’m sure you know what I mean, as no doubt many readers will be familiar with the experience. Something like:-

You:Oh, I’d like to be a doctor.

Parent:Oh, don’t be ridiculous, with your grades?

And so on.

Our need for encouragement:

People will always give you reasons why you’re not good enough when what you need is encouragement.

With encouragement, you could make it in whatever pursuit that makes you feel truly energised.

If you’re someone who experienced disadvantage for whatever reason then let me tell you something. You’re as good as anyone and you should acknowledge that to yourself, constantly.

Schooldays represent a very small portion of life and they’re significant only in so far as they are only one of many experiences we’ll have in life. Certainly, they don’t define you.

If your schooldays were a good experience then fine. If not, so what?

You can still achieve your ambitions with sufficient hard work and determination.

It doesn’t matter whether others believe you can do it, just as long as you believe you can do it.

There’s no such thing as a failure:

Remember; there’s no such thing as a failure. That label does not belong to people.

Failure is just an unwanted outcome and a learning opportunity. It’s not a person.

You have enormous potential. We all do.

Everyone is capable of achieving much more than they could ever think possible. With determination and hard work, we can all achieve great things.

Attitude matters:

Your attitude is much more important than your aptitude when it comes to achieving your goals in life. Believe you can and you will.

However you feel about your past, it’s not too late to become something more than you are now.

You should embrace failure as nothing more than a learning opportunity. It does not define you, and nor should it.

Recognise that just because you didn’t set the world on fire during your school days, it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve great things now.

No correlation:  

Remember; there’s no correlation between success at school and success in life.

Plenty of ‘Straight A’ students fail to achieve anything significant after they’ve left education behind. Whereas plenty of the less academically successful go on to achieve great things in life.

It’s not about how many times you get knocked down that count but how many times you can get back up and keep going until you get to where you want to be.

Victory is sweeter when it has been achieved following the experience of defeat.

You cannot achieve anything without the experience of at least the occasional failure along the way.

We all start as beginners:

Before anyone achieved success, they started as a complete beginner. And along the road to success, they will have made plenty of mistakes. Anyone who suggests otherwise is either lying or deluded.

If you want to succeed, work hard, make mistakes and learn the lessons as you go.

If you’re determined you’ll find a way to achieve your goals and realise your dreams.

Failure’s not fatal:

Don’t be overwhelmed by any perceived failure. It doesn’t have to be fatal, nor does it imply that you’re not capable of achieving great things.

Never, ever give up until you get to where you want to be. Success can be yours if you want it badly enough. And remember this; it is better to try and fail than never to have tried at all.

Never be afraid to try because there are no failures, only outcomes we didn’t want and lessons to be learned.

Daily Mantra:

Reinforce self-belief by repeating this daily mantra

Go on, get started now. Success is waiting for you.

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Phil Sutton