The 4 steps to financial freedom

09/29/2024 by

Financial peace isn’t the acquisition of stuff. It’s learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can’t win until you do this. ~Dave Ramsey

Many people are searching for the steps to financial freedom. Search the internet and there will be references to seven, eight, nine, and even ten steps but I think only four steps matter.

However before I discuss those steps, let us first think about the biggest cause of people remaining poor, namely the debt burden.

Statistics suggest that most people these days are heavily in debt. And debt is a burden that enslaves us. Knowing we have debts can be stressful.

What is the underlying cause of such debt? That’s simple. Mostly it’s the overuse of credit cards with little or no thought to how this will affect our financial well-being.

Unsecured debt built up through the excessive use of credit cards is expensive. Very, very expensive!

That means even a small sum outstanding on a credit card can quickly become a large debt due to the effect of compound interest if you only make the minimum payment each month.

Are you affected by debt, dear reader? Are your finances out of control? Would you like to achieve financial freedom?

Steps to Financial Freedom:

People often say, “If only I could increase my income, I could pay off my debts.”

Those same people, if they did increase their income, would probably just spend more. And financial freedom would remain a distant dream.

If financial freedom is your aim, then you must take control of your finances. The steps to financial freedom are as follows:-

1. Spend less than you earn:

It all starts with spending less than you earn. If you spend less than you earn, you can work on becoming debt-free and then start to build capital.

2. Pay yourself first:

You must always pay yourself first. What does that mean? It means that as soon as you get paid each month, you take a minimum of 10% of what you earn and put it away somewhere safe immediately.

Never, ever wait until the end of the month to see what you’ve got left.

If you do that, you’ll never save anything.

If you take 10% upfront, it will just be another debit on your income like taxes and pension contributions. You’ll quickly get used to having only the remaining 90% to live on.

And what do you do with the 10% or whatever you’ve put away?

3. Eliminate credit card debt:

Initially, if you have a credit card debt burden, then it makes sense to use that money to deal with paying off your debt first because the interest you’ll pay on the debt is always greater than any interest you’ll get on savings.

To pay off your credit card debt, you must find a way to eliminate the interest element each month so that any payments you then make go against the outstanding balance.

And how is that done?

Well, when you take out a new credit card account, it often comes with a period of zero interest, usually six months. These accounts also usually allow you to transfer in outstanding debt from another credit card account.

So by moving from one card provider to another and transferring the debt across to the new account, you then have a period of six months to make payments against the outstanding balance without accumulating interest on the old debt.

Never, ever use this card to increase your debt. Use it only to reduce your debt.

At the end of the period of zero interest on your new card, repeat the process if necessary. Once again, you move to another card account offering you a zero-interest period. By focusing only on the outstanding balance, it will be paid off sooner.

Eliminating the burden of debt is the first step on the road to financial freedom.

Freedom from debt will give you peace of mind. And that peace of mind is a good reason for spending less than you earn.

Once the debt is cleared, what next with the money you’ve paid yourself first?

4. Build capital:

Initially, put your money into a savings account. Then, as that builds into a larger sum, you can start thinking about other forms of investment like stocks, bonds, and property.

Once you develop the habit of putting some of your money away each month, it’s amazing how quickly it accumulates into a decent capital sum, and you’ll be on the road to achieving financial freedom.

Conclusion:

Learn to live within your means.

If you live modestly and spend your money wisely, you can ensure that you have enough money when you need it.

You can also build that nest egg for your retirement and give a little back to those less fortunate than yourself. And you’ll feel so much better about yourself too.

Conversely, gathering too much clutter through excessive spending on things you don’t need can become stressful, as well as wasteful. The choice is yours.

Financial freedom is achievable, and it will give you peace of mind.

You will sleep better knowing you’re debt-free.

The steps to financial freedom are quite simple. Spend less than you earn; pay yourself first; eliminate expensive credit card debt; and start building capital.

Do this, and one day your older self will be grateful you made the effort, I can assure you.

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Daily Habits of Successful People

07/21/2024 by

If success is your aim, can you learn from the daily habits of successful people?

Certainly, I believe quite strongly, that we are what we do on a daily basis.

Anything you achieve or don’t achieve is brought about by the habits you develop over time.

Everything you do is a result of your habits, good or bad. So surely it makes sense to develop and maintain good habits and make them your master?

The power of repetition:

Habits, good or bad, are formed through repetition.

Good habits can be hard to form but they’re easy to live with. Whereas bad habits whilst easy to form tend to be very hard to live with. Our lives can become a battle of good habits versus bad habits. Don’t let the bad habits win.

Good habits can be learned and bad habits can be replaced by good habits. Yes, it requires self-discipline on your part dear reader but it can be done and people do.

Decide on the habits you want to develop and focus on achieving them one at a time.

Start with one good habit:

Start with one good habit you’d like to form and then force yourself to repeat the necessary actions daily.

After around three weeks that habit will be formed and it will just become part of your routine. You’ll start to repeat it with little or no thought. Essentially you’ll do it on autopilot.

If you have a bad habit you wish to replace with a good habit then each time you find yourself about to perform the actions of the bad habit, stop yourself and perform the actions of the good habit instead. Again after around three weeks, the good habit will be programmed into your brain.

Self-discipline is key:

Successful people are driven to develop good habits. Self-discipline is the key ingredient for good habits to form and for replacing bad habits.

Successful people also establish the habit of goal setting on a daily basis.

You cannot hit a target unless you can see that target. Setting a goal is the first step in achieving that goal. Successful people are results-oriented.

Successful people are also people-oriented.

The power of helping others:

You get what you want in life by helping other people get what they want.

Every product is a solution to a problem. Even if your goal is to sing or dance, to succeed you must always recognise that you perform to and for people.

They have a need to be entertained and your aim is to fulfil that need. To solve this particular problem for them if you like.

In dealing with people you must be honest and show integrity if you are to win the respect of others.

So honesty is a good habit to develop. Dishonesty and cheating will catch up with you and will be a permanent stain on your reputation. You don’t need that now, do you?

Look after your health:

And above all, you must look after your health. You have one body and one mind and they must last you a lifetime.

So develop the habit of taking good care of both.

To reinforce the message of the importance of repetition and routine I‘ve included this excellent video from Brian Tracy.

Brian is always a source of great advice for anyone seeking success and aiming to create a successful life for themselves and certainly, he’s one of my main sources of constant inspiration.

The video is short but well worth your time and I recommend you watch it now.

Habits of successful people:

Further Reading:

Regular readers will know that I am keen on building a personal reference library of books and audiobooks which I use to inspire and motivate me and to help me achieve my goals. And I would encourage you to do the same dear reader.

In the video, Brian Tracy refers to his book Million Dollar Habits: Proven Power Practices to Double and Triple Your Income. This is an excellent book and would be a good addition to your library. You can take a look at the print and Kindle editions if you click on the link in this paragraph.

However, I must be honest and tell you that actually I decided to purchase Million Dollar Habits: Proven Power Practices to Double and Triple Your Income (AudioBook). Personally, I find the audiobooks really useful because I can listen to them whilst I’m driving which means I’m making better use of what would otherwise be dead time. If you’d like to take a look at the audio version of the book then, once again, just click on the link in this paragraph.

DISCLOSURE: This website is an Amazon affiliate. Should you click on any of the links included in the text above and you then make a purchase, you should be aware that this website will receive a small commission. There will be NO additional charge to you in making that purchase. However these commissions do serve to cover the cost of maintaining this site, so you’ll be helping to ensure that this resource can remain available free of charge to readers everywhere. Your understanding is truly appreciated, dear reader. Thank you.

If you’re looking for useful articles on this subject that are free to read then you might want to take a look at The Habits of Highly Successful People which has been published on the Porch website. This is an interesting article and worth a few minutes of your time.

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How to build wealth from nothing: 5 Top Tips

06/16/2024 by

There’s nothing you can do about being born poor. If that was the case, then it was just unfortunate. However, you don’t have to go through life remaining poor.

It is possible to build wealth over time, and plenty of people do, frequently from absolutely nothing.

Many people born poor become wealthy through their efforts, and you can too, dear reader.

Here are five tips to help you build wealth from nothing.

How to build wealth from nothing:

1. Pay yourself first:

You can make money relatively easily, but holding on to it can be very hard.

We’re all constantly bombarded with reasons why we should spend our money in return for some fleeting sense of gratification. Would that be an experience you recognize, dear reader?

It doesn’t have to be that way, of course, and rich people know that only too well.

So what do rich people do that’s different from everyone else?

Simple! They always pay themselves first.

And what do I mean by paying yourself first?

I mean, the moment you’re paid, you take a slice off the top of your income immediately and put it away somewhere safe. And by a slice, I mean to say 10%, or more if you can afford it.

And what do I mean by somewhere safe?

Well, initially, that would be depositing your money in an interest-bearing account.

However, once your money starts building into a larger sum then you can start thinking about other forms of investment that’ll potentially give you greater returns. Stocks and bonds, for instance.

Building a capital sum is important because, as your money grows, it starts to generate a second income stream for you. That may not seem important to you now, but it will be as you get older.

So paying yourself first is a discipline to which you must adhere until it becomes a habit you do without thinking.

You must always put some money away, and you must make that money work hard for you. You must grow and protect your investment portfolio with careful diversification, and over time, you’ll find yourself building a sizeable fortune.

So here’s today’s mantra for you: Pay Yourself First. Never forget that, please, dear reader.

2. Be an investor, not a speculator:

You must understand that there’s a big difference between investing and speculation. They’re not the same thing at all.

I don’t wish to imply that there’s something wrong with speculation, though. There isn’t.

In the world of finance, speculation brings liquidity to the market, and therefore it does have its place.

However, speculation tends to operate on the ‘greater fool’ principle.

By that, I mean someone is prepared to buy an asset for a given price in the hope that it can then be sold quickly to someone else, the greater fool, for a greater price.

This is what professional speculators do, and they can make money this way because they know what they’re doing and they have sophisticated systems to support them.

However, for ordinary people, speculation is like gambling in a casino. And you should never invest your money as though you’re gambling in a casino.

You might get lucky occasionally, of course, but over time your losses will outstrip any gains you might make, and almost certainly by a significant margin.

So my recommendation to you, dear reader, is that you should never speculate. Instead, you should focus on becoming an investor.

By investing, I mean buying stocks and shares in solid, well-managed, cash-generative businesses that can pay good dividends on a sustained basis.

Buy stocks worth holding for the long term. This will provide you with a steady income stream from the dividends, regardless of any short-to-medium-term volatility in the market. And spread your risk by building a diversified portfolio.

If you reinvest your dividends, then over time you will find that this approach should give you a good return on your money.

If you want to make money and build capital, then my advice to you, dear reader, is to be an investor, not a speculator.

3. Focus on value, not price:

The legendary investor Warren Buffett once said, “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.”

With this observation, he’s making an important point. There’s a distinction between price and value.

A low price for an asset doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get good value.

And a high price doesn’t automatically mean you will not get value.

Price in itself is not a measure of value. You must consider other factors to judge value.

When you’re buying any financial asset, say stocks and shares, you should always focus on value, and you must establish metrics by which you can adequately judge the intrinsic value of that asset.

Judged in isolation, price is just a number, nothing more.

A lower price means absolutely nothing if you’re getting little or no value in return for your money.

Never, ever forget that it’s the intrinsic value that will determine whether something is worth buying or not.

Get genuine value at the right price, and then you can get a decent return over time from an investment.

4. Create a personal private income:

Much as we all aspire to do work we love, you must never forget, dear reader, that ultimately work is simply a means to an end.

Essentially, work is just doing stuff for other people in exchange for money. In turn, that money is then the fuel on which we run our lives.

Money provides us with the means to put bread on the table, a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and those of our loved ones, of course.

If you work hard enough, you can earn a lot of money.

Manage that money wisely, and you can build capital. Invest that capital intelligently, and you can create your private income streams.

When you have a decent private income in your own right then you can truly pick and choose the work you do.

Then you only have to do what you enjoy doing; that thing that gives you a genuine sense of purpose.

Creating a personal, private income is a worthy goal, and it’s well worth the effort.

That way, you’re in control of your own life, and no one else can dictate what you should and shouldn’t do.

You’ll be in control of the good ship ‘Me’ and only you will decide where it goes.

The message here is, to work hard now, so one day you don’t have to work hard.

5. Never forget what matters most:

It would be very easy to believe that a life filled with lots of money and materiality would make you blissfully happy. Well let me tell you, dear reader, that in isolation, it won’t.

I’m not suggesting that these things are not important but you must get your priorities right.

Yes, of course, go out there and make money. Manage it carefully. Buy nice things and enjoy some of that money too.

However, to be truly happy, you must never lose sight of the most important thing in your life and that is family and friends.

People are social animals; we’re not solitary animals like cats. We need other people and most of all, we need our loved ones. A life filled with loved ones and laughter will be a happy life.

So make time for your loved ones, especially your children. Enjoy their company and make the most of every minute with them.

Never focus on work to the exclusion of your family and friends. Without them, you have nothing. Money is important, of course but people are much more important.

Never lose sight of the people in your life.

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The secret to being a successful entrepreneur

06/08/2024 by

The secret to being a successful entrepreneurHow often do you hear people say they’d love to start a business and become entrepreneurs?

People will tell you they’d love to be a business success, making a difference in people’s lives with great products and services.

Then they’ll add the caveat that, unfortunately, the time’s not right for them now. They’ll have a go one day, but their circumstances won’t allow it now.

However, very few who say they’ll have a go will ever actually have a go. They don’t have the desire and they probably don’t understand the secret to being a successful entrepreneur anyway.

The only way to get rich:

The measure of success for an entrepreneur is the money they make.

Let’s face it, starting any business is all about making money for the owners. Otherwise, why would anyone bother?

Starting your own business can be a fantastic thing to do, and, for most people, it’s the only way you’ll ever have the chance to make some serious money.

Certainly, you’re unlikely to get seriously rich working for someone else.

However, to succeed in business, you must first get started.

The critical ingredient to success in business is getting off your butt and doing something about it.

And the best time to do it is now. Last year or the year before might have been better, but otherwise, now is always the best possible time. It’s simple, really.

The secret to making money:

Getting off your butt is one thing, but how do you make money as an entrepreneur? Well, dear reader, pull up a chair and listen carefully, for the secret is very simple.

The secret to making money as an entrepreneur is to solve problems for people. To make their lives easier in some way.

Solve problems; make money:

Every product you sell must solve a problem for the customer.

So if you can identify problems for which people need solutions and if you can offer those solutions, otherwise known as products, at value-for-money prices, then you can make money and you can be successful.

Remember this too; you don’t necessarily have to be the first with a solution either. If you can improve on an existing solution in some way then you can still make some serious money. If you can ‘build a better mousetrap‘ then people will buy it.

For instance, Steve Jobs and Apple were not the first to offer cellular mobile phone handsets, and neither were Samsung. Yet these two companies both dominate the market for smartphones right now.

The secret to being a successful entrepreneurMake a difference:

Has your appetite for business been whetted, dear reader?

Do you have any ideas you think might make a difference?

You do?

Then you have to be prepared to take action. Having ideas means nothing unless you take action.

Ideas are ten-a-penny. Plenty of people have good ideas that never see the light of day.

Occasionally, people will have good ideas but leave them all too long, and then someone else comes along with the same idea and makes serious money from it. That’s happened to me. I came up with a great idea for a t-shirt slogan. I failed to act, and someone else came along with the same idea, and it’s currently a best seller on Amazon. My loss; their gain.

Having ideas is easy. Implementation is the hard part, and there are too few people with the drive and determination to turn a good idea into a business opportunity and then make money from it.

So you must take action if you want to be a successful entrepreneur.

Not tomorrow; not next week; not next year; but right now.

Become a ‘doer’:

In my experience, true entrepreneurs are doers; they’re not dreamers.

So go on, get started right now.

Solve people’s problems, and you’ll be on the road to riches. It can be done and people do. And so can you! Go for it.

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How we’re damaged by our school days

05/26/2024 by

Could our school days have damaged us? Is that 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?

This 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 which 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 you recognise such feelings, dear reader?

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.

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 through 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

I’m as good as anyone; I’m better than most; I will achieve success; nothing will stop me!

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

Please share this post with your friends:

Did you find this article interesting and useful dear reader?

If so, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

So please share it now. If you do I’ll be ever so grateful and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you.

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Life is short: Here’s what’s important to you today

04/27/2024 by

Life is short:

You’ll often hear people talk about the importance of money in terms of living life in the modern age.

Let’s be honest, it’s difficult to live without money today, is it not? Certainly, it’s up there with oxygen and water for sustaining life.

Nevertheless, we must also remember that life is short. And sadly for some people, it’s very short indeed.

So, while money’s important, it’s not an ideal means for measuring success, is it? Not real success in life anyway.

Misplaced priorities:

In the modern age, it’s easy to become obsessed with money.

However, the accumulation of money for its own sake should never be the underlying motive that drives us, surely? That can only lead to a life of misplaced priorities, I think.

If your approach to life includes an obsession with money, then you’ll be doomed to disappointment, and I think you’ll realise that eventually.

One day you’ll look back and wish you’d spent a bit more time with family, friends, and loved ones, of that I’m quite sure.

So what would be an ideal measure of success?

A measure of success:

For me, a better measure of success is whether we’re feeling fulfilled by what we’re doing.

If our work is something we’d do as a hobby if we couldn’t get paid for it then that’s a better way of gauging success. As the legendary investor, Warren Buffett once said, “Look for a job that you’d take if you didn’t need a job.”

A sense of purpose and work that is fulfilling and truly absorbing is a much less stressful way of living.

Enjoy what you do:

Enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy, if you possibly can.

If you enjoy what you do, you’ll do it well, and the money will follow anyway. If you do your work exceptionally well, then people will notice. And once you get noticed, you’re on your way to genuine success.

Never be driven by money alone.

Never accept a job simply because it’s well paid.

It’s nice to have a good salary, of course.

However, once you get used to the money, you still have to spend a third of your life doing the work for which you’re being paid well.

And doing work you don’t enjoy is a significant price to pay in terms of your emotions, stress levels, and the potential impact it will have on your health.

Time is precious:

If life’s short, then our time is very precious, surely?

What’s the point of working every hour you’ve got just to become rich, only to die suddenly of a heart attack having had no time to enjoy the fruits of your labour?

What a waste that would be. Being the richest man or woman in the graveyard is hardly a title worth having, is it?

So my underlying message to you today, dear reader, is to find work you enjoy doing and to make sure you leave a little time to enjoy life too. A little ‘me time‘ is essential for everyone.

No one’s life is perfect:

Don’t forget that everyone faces challenges, occasionally. No one’s life is perfect. We all have problems.

Inevitably, your life will have its ups and downs. However, make sure there are more ups than downs in your life, as far as you are able.

Take some time to smell the roses and have a laugh.

As the old Music Hall song used to say; “enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.”

You wouldn’t want to live forever, but you should be living your life to the fullest today.

Life really is short and it’s definitely later than you think. And as we say where I come from, “you’ll be a long time dead.”

So go on, live life and live it now. And if you’ve yet to find work you enjoy doing, keep looking.

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To find a job you’ll love start with these questions

04/11/2024 by

Most people, if they’re lucky enough to have a job, are in jobs for which they have little or no passion.

They just do whatever they have to do to ensure they have a regular income. It’s a living but it’s hardly a life, wouldn’t you agree?

If you’d like to find a job you’ll love doing then start by asking yourself some searching questions like these:-

Questions to ask yourself:

  1. What activity gives you a genuine buzz?
  2. What activity would you regard as more fun than work?
  3. Do you have a genuine talent for some particular activity?
  4. What activity makes your eyes sparkle with enthusiasm?
  5. What would you do as a hobby if you couldn’t make a living at it?
  6. In which activity would you not have to be asked twice to participate?
  7. In what activity would you be so absorbed that you’d completely lose track of time?
  8. For what activity would you willingly rise early, knowing that this was on your day’s agenda? 

Why the answers are important:

The answers to these questions will help you to identify the activity for which you have passion and enthusiasm.

If you can identify a job that consists primarily of activities consistent with the answers to these questions, then the chances are that you’ll have found the job you’ll love to do.

And as the saying goes, find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.

Now, getting that job won’t be that easy, of course.

However, knowing what you really want is the first step on the road to success.

If you have a real talent for your work then you’re likely to enjoy what you do. If you enjoy what you do, then you’re likely to do it well. Do it well and people will notice. And once people begin to notice you for the work you do then your career will start going places, potentially to places beyond your wildest dreams.

Finding a job for which you have a passion really can lead you to success.

So go on, start reflecting on these questions and then ask yourself, is what I’m doing now consistent with the answers? A negative conclusion would imply that it’s time to make some changes.

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Thank you.

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How serious money is made through self-employment

03/23/2024 by

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.

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.

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If so, then please share it on social media with your friends. When you share, everyone wins.

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Thank you.

Self_Employment

You might like to try these free games too:

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How to be happy and why you should be

03/17/2024 by

How to be happy? Now, that’s a question I hear frequently.

Well, I believe that, if you’re going to be happy, then you need a sense of purpose.

Now just think about that for a minute. Your work takes up one-third of your life so surely it’s essential that you’re happy doing whatever you do?

So dear reader, if the question on your mind today is how to be happy in life then to find the answer it’s worth reflecting on your work for a moment and thinking about whether it’s right for you.

Reflect on your work:

Does your work make you happy?

Do you believe your contribution to your job is something that only you can supply?

Would you say that your work is closely aligned with your natural talents?

If your job is a mismatch with their natural talents then you’re unlikely to do it as well as you might do otherwise. If you don’t do it well then it’s hard to feel a sense of pride in your work, surely? And, if you’re not doing it well, your boss is likely to be giving you a hard time too.

So in this scenario, you’re not going to be very happy, are you?

Do what makes you happy:

Let’s face it, spending your life doing something you don’t enjoy is such a waste, wouldn’t you agree?

You have so much natural talent that could be put to better use.

Yes, every job has its chores. Things you have to do which you hate but accept as part of the job. No job is perfect.

However, tedium should only be a small part of your whole work experience.

To feel happy and fulfilled doing the work you do means that you should enjoy at least 80% of your daily activity.

What happens if the job you do and your talents are mismatched?

Consider the personal cost:

Human beings are flexible and adaptable of course. So even in the worst job situations, people survive but at what cost to themselves?

How to be happy

The further you are from applying your natural talents and abilities, the less likely it is that you’ll enjoy your work in my experience. And being unhappy at work means you’re less likely to be happy in life. That’s a fact.

And if you’re not happy then it’s difficult to make a genuine contribution to life and the lives of other people. And this matters, particularly for those people who are your loved ones.

If your loved ones have to deal with someone who’s doing a job they don’t enjoy then it can make their lives miserable too. In fact, it can be no pleasure for anyone around you.

If you derive no pleasure from your work then life just becomes a grind. Also, it becomes stressful which is not very good for your health either.

The sweet spot:

The best and least stressful way to earn a living is by pursuing your interests and something which you both enjoy and which is compatible with your natural talents. This is the sweet spot and it’s how to be happy in life.

If society encouraged people to pursue their interests and work to their strengths, then we would not only be happier but we would become more productive.

And of course productive lives are happy lives too. We would all benefit and society would reap benefits too.

So think about what you enjoy doing and your natural talents, and then think about how you can best apply them.

Not there yet? Keep looking:

It’s important to be happy doing what you do, but if you’ve yet to find work that makes you happy, then keep looking and don’t give up until you find it.

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Please share this post now and I’ll be forever grateful. You’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you.

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Creating a Life Plan: 17 ways the rich think differently

03/10/2024 by
Creating a Life plan

Have you ever thought about creating a life plan, dear reader? If you’re young and have your life ahead of you, certainly, it’s a good idea. You can always let life happen to you, of course, but it’s better if you go out and make life happen the way you’d prefer it to be. And to have a good life, having money certainly helps. So money is at the heart of life planning.

Now, why is it that some people are wealthy and others are not?

You might argue that the rich inherit money, and therefore they’re just lucky. For a few people, that may be true. However, it’s not a universal truth.

Having wealthy parents helps, no doubt but there are plenty of examples of self-made millionaires and billionaires. And there are plenty of examples of people who lost all their wealth and then just created another fortune.

There are also plenty of examples of poor people who enjoyed good fortune winning a lottery only to squander their millions within a few short years.

This would suggest that the rich and poor have a different philosophy concerning creating a life plan and money as a resource.

17 ways the rich and poor think differently:

The video embedded here explores 17 ways in which rich people and poor people think differently. It’s an interesting video and it makes some really useful points that will help you in your life planning. It’s informative and well worth a few minutes of your time, in my opinion.

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Thank you for your support.

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