Make Money Online

Underground Scholarship, Internet Marketing Discussion and Forced Continuity

Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Michael.

Hi Everyone

I have three IMPORTANT updates that I wanted to let every one know about today.

1) Young Entrepreneurs Scholarship to Yanik Silvers Underground Seminar

Are you a Young Entrepreneur aged 13 – 23 or do you know a Young Entrepreneur aged 13 – 21?

I am very pleased to announce that my RetireAt21.com website has partnered with Yanik Silver to offer: Scholarship Attendance To The 2010 Underground Online Seminar for selected Young Entrepreneurs aged 13 – 23

A Scholarship includes Free admission to Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar® 6 to be held at a top-secret location in Washington, DC on March 12-14, 2010. ($3,495 value) plus a host of other benefits – check out link below for more details

You can find full details of the Young Entrepreneurs Scholarship here

Yanik offered scholarship’s last year for the first time and at least 5 of the scholarship attendees were readers of mine. I would love to meet even more readers at this years event.

2) Internet Marketing Discussion

I was very pleased to see some very interesting and considered comments following my “Are You Frustrated By Internet Marketing” post last week.

It appears I struck a bit of a nerve. Of course getting comments is not unusual, but what impressed me was the quality of comments and indeed the ‘discussion’. I had not mentioned it before, but one of my goals for IncomeDiary.com in 2010 is to have more DISCUSSION and interaction between readers.

Andrew mentioned THE HYPE you find with Internet Marketing and there was much agreement about that point – especially with regards to just how much (or little) effort is required.

I was also thinking that a lot of my readers are aware of my own personal lifestyle choices with regards to Internet Marketing and traveling etc. I am now fortunate enough to be able to do a fair amount of travel, doing fun stuff etc while at the same time earning a very decent living. But what is perhaps not so clear is just now ‘hard’ or diligently I do actually work whenever I am in actually at work. Indeed I would go so far as to say that even when I am relaxing I am always thinking of what I see or experience in terms of Blog Posts, Business observations etc

A long post on one of my blogs (e.g. A Top List) can actually take several days to research and put together.

So How Much Work Is Required Per Week To Realistically Earn A Full Time Living As A Blogger?

Well, I think it actually depends on NICHES’s but I would say that most ‘full-time’ bloggers like me work at least 25 – 35 hrs per week. OK, there will be times when I work less than 10 hrs per week, but that is only because I have invested time and effort into future posts in previous weeks. There will also be weeks when I put in 50 hrs plus, usually before I go of on a trip somewhere.

In my own spirit of Removing The HYPE, I will be spending more time in future posts discussing the work element.

My good friend Bernadette Doyle is an Internet Marketer that I really look up to and she runs a 7 Figure Business while working just 3 days per week. In Bernadette’s case this is because of necessity – she is mother to two Young Children (and even Nannies need days off). If I have it correct in addition to her 3 work days I believe Bernadette schedules two days at weekend to be with her Children Full Time (Bernadette works from home, so she sees her Children every day, but the weekend is dedicated Children time) Additionally she has one day a week dedicated to “Me Time” – when she goes to Spa, Dancing etc. The remaining day is a floating day I believe that allows her flexibility to catch up on things etc.

Actually Bernadette’s example is one that I am trying to emulate.

Overall, I think it would be better that Marketeers made this WORK thing much clearer to people, where more realistic about what kind of effort is required. Afterall:

There is no such thing as a Free Lunch

One other comment in that post that got my attention was from Felix

Felix makes the case for delivering value first – and then attempting to sell a product. Something I agree 100% with.

Felix also made the point that ……….

If you are not willing to put in the work, your fairy tale bubbles will burst as soon as you stop hustling

Thank you Felix – that is exactly the point I was trying to make above

Additionally Felix says:

If a lot of value is being delivered for free, how much more will you receive if you buy.

Felix does say to take his comment with a pinch of salt so I am not 100% sure what point Felix was making here. If the point is that paying for something will no necessarily improve the return then I personally cannot agree.

Firstly, if you pay for something then in ‘theory’ you are being more serious about your business and more likely to take the required action to succeed long term.

But even more importantly in my opinion, I have not ever met any successful marketer or business person who does not invest in themselves on a regular basis – in terms of training etc.

I find a lot of wannabee Internet Marketers suffer from Poverty Consciousness – never buying a product (but often ‘borrowing’ someone elses product or looking for “freebies’ generally)

Of course, I am not for one second suggesting Felix is one of these people – far from it. What I am saying is that if you ever really hope to make it BIG online then you will have to invest in yourself in terms of buying courses, attending workshops, seminars etc.

I remember one particular very successful online marketer once explaining to me that he would invest $2000 in a Home Study Course that would provide him with just one good idea and be happy about it.

Of course, the important point here is to decide wisely on what products, courses, seminars to invest in — and in the coming weeks as mentioned previously that will be one of my focuses

3) Forced Continuity

My good buddy Ryan Lee made an interesting post on forced continuity over at his blog recently. As always, Ryan (himself the Continuity King) gives us lots to think about – but what I found most interesting was the actual wealth of comments the post got.

Do you know what Forced Continuity is?

Well, definitions do vary – but to me Forced Continuity is when a marketer often offers something free or low cost on a Trial Basis (Capturing your credit card details as they do it) that then continues to bill you each month thereafter at the higher cost and the reason it is FORCED is that the Marketer does not make this clear in their marketing, or if they do, then it is such small print as to be almost unnoticeable. What is more the process of canceling this ’subscription’ can be a nightmare afterwards. (Difficult to locate cancellation pages etc)

Now let me be clear – I am a great fan of Continuity – it is an excellent business model and one that has been used long before the Internet existed (I don’t remember, but my Father was just telling me about the Book Clubs that used to automatically send you a new book every month after an introductory offer). What I am not a fan of is deceit and scamming people.

Ryan is a great example of someone who does Continuity correctly. People will want to cancel subscriptions – but don’t make unhappy customers out of them by making it difficult to cancel etc.

I am already noticing a lot clearer offers when in comes to Continuity Recently – and this can only be a good thing

A word of personal advice – do not join any subscription service without first also being clear on how you going about canceling the subscription later if you wish.

I hope you enjoyed this post – I normally try to make my posts specific to one topic (and actually I usually recommend that) – Today is the exception with multiple topics.

I look forward to your comments as always

To Our Success

Michael

PS: You can find full details of the Young Entrepreneurs Scholarship here

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Are You Frustrated By Internet Marketing?

Posted on 21. Jan, 2010 by Michael.

Alternative Title:

Why I Attend Seminars

Hi Everyone

I get a lot of feedback and emails from my blogs. Most of it is very positive and encouraging – but occasionally there are some less positive comments. (I even had someone refer to me as a ‘retard’ last week) I accepted a long time ago, that I am not going to please everyone and not everyone will like me. Come to think of it, that’s a business rule that could have well been included in my recent list of 21 Rules For Business blog post.

Anyway, last week I sent out a promotional email for Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar It is not unusual to have some un-subscribes after a mailing – but one in particular that I received last week got my attention. In the reason for un-subscribing they said:

Fed up with all these people trying to sell me things, I want to make money not buy things.

I was surprised and saddened – I mean how can anyone in business hope to make money without spending some money on their education?

As I thought a bit more about this email, something else occurred to me – that this comment was in fact a comment made out of Frustration. In fact this person is most likely trying very hard to be successful online but for whatever reason not having the breakthrough they hoped for. (Either that or else they are already so successful they don’t need to educate themselves anymore!)

I like the Wikipedia definition of frustration:

Frustration is an emotional response to circumstances where one is obstructed from arriving at a personal goal

I am not sure I can help this individual but I do know from the emails I get a fair number of my readers experience frustration.

I think too many people have been ’sold’ on the idea that making money is easy, requiring little investment and almost no hard work. Often the people being ’sold’ are desperate, in debt, working in jobs they don’t like and even quite depressed.

I am not going to give a lesson on handling frustration here but I will give you my personal strategy for handling those frustrating moments by asking myself on simple question:

What Have I learned From This Situation?

Even if you are BROKE, you have learned how to be Broke – and if you know how to be broke, then you should be able to reverse engineer so that you are not broke!

Another great question to ask is:

What Can I be Happy About Right Now?

Not an easy question to ask in really tragic situations but most times in business there is something that you can be happy about – even if it is only that you are taking ACTION about being Broke, or you have learned away to not do something.

I know that many of us don’t find it that easy, especially if we have had a lifetime of conditioning otherwise. Where we are right now in our lives is the sum total of all our decisions up to now. If we are to experience a better outcome then clearly we will have to make some new decisions.

What New Life Changing Decision Are You Going To Make Today?

Finally on this point, almost every major breakthrough in my life has been preceded by some moments of frustration – when you accept that frustration leads to breakthroughs then I find it is much easier to handle.

Why I Attend Seminars

For me personally, all the big breakthroughs have come at seminars – it is being around other like minded and ambitious people that makes the difference. If I had not attended seminars then I would never have been able to brainstorm with people like Yanik Silver, James Schramko, Ryan Lee and Alex Jeffreys. Being able to do that is Frankly worth far more than the price of admission to any seminar.

I appreciate for some of you it is a financial stretch – but if you can do it, I really believe that Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar can be life changing, as it has been for me. Indeed it was attendance at last years event that allowed me personally to move up to being a 6 Figure Blogger. (Remember The Starbucks Effect I discussed in this POST)

I have had more Ah-ha Moments and breakthroughs from frustration at seminars than anywhere else.

Finally, on the subject of seminars, I have to say that not all Internet Marketing seminars are equal — indeed, there are some dreadful seminars (better described as “Pitch Fests” ) that often offer free or low cost admission that I plan to discuss in a future post. That said, even at some of these Pitch Fests I have made some awesome connections and got ideas for my business – ideas that I would not have got if I had stayed at home. When I do that post I will reveal my personal strategy for deciding what products to invest in for my education – and which ‘teachers’ to avoid.

I also plan to discuss mentoring, coaching and Mastermind Groups (another ’secret’ of my success) in a future post. If you have any questions related to that let me know.

Also, I would really love to hear what frustrates you about Internet Marketing or business in general? Or what your solutions are for handling frustration? Let me have your comments below.

To Our Success

Michael

PS: Just as an afterthought — I also know some of you get upset when people un-subscribe. Please don’t. What interests someone today may not interest them in 6 weeks or 6 months from now. Get over it

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Happy New Life – The Bloggers New Year Resolution

Posted on 01. Jan, 2010 by Michael.

Happy New Life

Hello Everyone

Happy 1st January 2010, Happy New Decade, Happy New Life

Today’s post is a little shorter than you usually expect from me. Not exactly a New Year resolution – but you may just see some slightly shorter Blog Posts from me in 2010 – but hopefully none the less beneficial and impacting as you expand your blogging adventures online.

Thought For New Years Day:

Don’t Put Off Your Happy Life

Thoughts for 2010

1) Don’t live in the problem, live in the solution.

You probably heard that before – but have you acted on it before? If you saw some of the emails I get – from bright, intelligent people who it seems can only focus on how bad their work is, or their business is or even how bad their relationship is. If only they could turn the ‘problem’ on its head and focus on the SOLUTION.

“Problem’ is another word for OPPORTUNITY – lets focus on that in 2010

2) Live in the NOW – not in the past, not in the future.

Look I believe in being positive and all that and saying things like ‘This Time Next Year I will be a Millionaire’ is great – but only if you really are taking action right NOW to make it happen. You will have heard people say – Fake IT, To You Make It. Well the theory is good, but if it includes going out and getting in debt just so you can look like you have made it – don’t do it!

3) Understand Your Body Clock (Understand your moods)

As a successful blogger you do believe it or not become a sort of Agony Uncle to some people. One thing that comes up a lot is what hours do I work? How do I keep motivated? How do I relax?

Well, of course I could answer, and I often do – but really everyone’s MOODS do vary. Everyone has a better time of day to work than others. I mean, I can work late at night – often into the early hours, but really I rarely start work before 11am most days. That is because that is what works for me. At this time in my life it appears I am not a ‘morning person” – so why try and be a morning person if your ‘energy’ (moods, hormones, whatever) is not into working in the mornings? As a side note – this is much of an annoyance to my Father – as he is very much a Morning Person

Likewise I find that working solid in 90 mins – 2 hr chunks works well for me – then have a brief rest during the day – but if I am working late evenings, I can go on for several hours no problem.

What I am saying – is recognize your “Moods” – work with your “Moods” – not against them

This is a deep subject and I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point. Work with your MOODS, Don’t live in the problem and Live in the NOW.

I love being a Blogger, I love working the hours I do and I love the Internet Lifestyle of being able to travel and not being tied to an Office Desk.

What do you like about being a Blogger and what are your New Year Resolutions? I would love to hear them in the comments below.

Very Best Wishes for 2010 and a Happy New Life

Michael

PS: You have done what you could — some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense ~ Emerson

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Don’t Let Anyone Steal Your Dreams!

Posted on 21. Dec, 2009 by Michael.

It was the week before Christmas and Bloggers Everywhere are preparing for the Holidays!

Hi Everyone

Today’s post is of the general round-up variety – not something I normally do at IncomeDiary.com, but there has been a number of happenings recently, so I thought I would bring all these things together in one post.

And of course it is also the Holidays! Not just Christmas, but Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year and I am sure, several others – So Happy Holidays Everyone!

Don’t worry – the Title of this Blog Post will become clearer as you read on.

1) My 21st Birthday

Firstly, for those of you who did not know, it was my Birthday yesterday – 20th December. Not any old birthday – but my 21st Birthday – see photo with my Hip Grandmother below.

2) Be Careful With Weights

On Friday morning I was at the Gym with my good friend Ali – when I offered to help him as he positioned to lift some weights. I don’t know how I managed to do it – but somehow in those few moments I ‘creaked” my neck and I have been in quite a bit of discomfort all weekend. I have been to see a lovely lady called Carol (a Manipulative Therapist) who has twisted me and turned me always – she assures me it will be good for me in the end.

Needless to say my Birthday Celebrations had to be somewhat curtailed – originally I was going to spend Saturday Night at a nice London Hotel with some friends – and we had Indoor Paint-balling planned for Sunday. Alas those celebrations will have to wait until 2010 now. I have to say everyone has been amazingly kind to me this weekend – doing there best to make me feel comfortable and I have eaten very well and friends have been dropping in. As long as I don’t have any sudden Jolts I am fine

Of course it is horrid to have this happen – but it has happened, I can’t undo it now so I find it is best to get on with things as best as possible. Anyway – I have had an opportunity to catch up on lots of DVD’s that I have been meaning to watch for some time. Plus I have been making notes on a pad for future blog posts – so not all is lost.

Anyway, enough of feeling ’sorry’ for me.

3) Moneylove Man Of The Year 2009

Normally my Modest Persona would not allow me to mention the next bit – but I am deeply touched that Jerry Gillies (whom some of you will remember from the Moneylove Manifesto Post a little while back) has awarded me his Moneylove Man Of The year 2009 award

2009 has been my best year ever in so many ways – and I consider it an honor when great prosperity thinkers like Jerry Gillies who frankly was a Star long before I was born acknowledge my impact on their online career. Thank you Jerry.

4) Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar

Many of you will have heard me mention about the great impact that Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar has had on my online career. Well in 2010 Yanik and I have teamed up to add a Young Moguls pre-day, just before the official seminar which will feature some of the most remarkable young entrepreneurs – under 25 and making a living online.

Right now I am looking for potential speakers. Amongst those already confirming are: Neil Patel of Crazy Egg, and KISSmetrics, Derek Johnson of tatango.com – ( See my interview with Derek Here ) and Kieran O’Neill – a 20 something serial internet entrepreneur with three huge successes online so far! Kieren sold his first website online for $1.25 Million at the age of 19 (See My Interview With Kieran Here)

Are you a Young Entrepreneur who would like to speak at this event? Or do you know someone who would make a good speaker? You can Contact Me Here to discuss.

If you have not already signed up for Yaniks Underground Online Seminar (affiliate link) BUT you are serious about your online career then now is the time to Book a trip to Washington DC next March. Yanik is offering the special rate of $1995 until 20th January 2010 which includes a whole raft of bonuses such as admission to a VIP Networking Dinner & Spy Mission for people who book now. I have to tell you, that Networking Dinner has to be experienced – to be believed. Yanik delivers and then delivers even more. I will of course be there. The people you meet, the insights you will get, the fun you will have is out of this world!

Yanik’s event attracts some of the brightest and best minds online – many of whom are generating significant incomes and building large businesses ‘underground’ – and are always a lot of fun as well as educating. Yanik also brings in some amazing Keynote Speakers. For example Bob Parsons of Godaddy and Tony Hsieh of Zappos both spoke at the event this year.

I really hope you can make it.

Give yourself the Ultimate Holiday Gift – a trip to DC and Yanik Silvers Underground Online Seminar next March

5) Some People Don’t Get It

Once in a while I get a really odd comment here on the blog – some that no matter how hard I try I really just don’t understand.

For example in last couple of days I have had an Anonymous comment …. from an individual who took issue with me promoting Hostgator.com and Woothemes.com

Apparently they took issue with me using affiliate links to promote products on my Make Money Online Blog? I mean, what planet are these people on? What – they expect me to run a Make Money Online Blog that doesn’t make money?

Just about every host offers an Affiliate Scheme – so clearly if you are going to recommend a Host after your research then you would use their affiliate scheme. I researched loads of hosts and have used a good number of them over the years and I chose Hostgator.com because for me the offered the simplest and easiest to understand support and CPanel with one click easy install for your blog.

Likewise with Wordpress Themes – I had spent $1000’s on customising Wordpress Themes prior to discovering the wonderful, beautiful range of inexpensive themes from Woothemes.com

The thing is this individual is clearly interested in making money online because they mentioned they had been looking at Make Money Online Blogs for a while – but we are all the same, using affiliate links to promote products! This is just my impression but I felt this individual hated the idea that anyone earned any money out of something they bought? I mean when they buy a cane of Coke at the Grocery Store they probably object to the retailer making a profit on the transaction.

The thing is their attitude here (objecting to someone else making money) is actually the attitude that is preventing them from making money. Personally I have always found it better to be inspired by what the other guys is making rather than jealous of their success. Or putting it another way – I really don’t care that much what someone else is making, as long as I am making money myself.

It is always my goal here to deliver awesome value and I have found that if you do that the money side of things really does tend to take care of itself.

Forgive my little rant – but I am also aware that it is individuals like this who steal other peoples dreams and make other people into sad cynical individuals just like they are. People who will tell you it is too late, you can’t make money in this business or that, or that other people can make money, but not you because you don’t have the right education, right background etc. Do not let these people steal your dream!

If a young college dropout and dyslexic can succeed online – why not you?

And for the record – I make no apology for repeating the affiliate links above – I mean if people really object to me earning from my recommendations – they can always strip out the affiliate link!

Finally

Thanks to the many of you who sent Birthday Wishes — I shall be returning to this ‘turning 21 thing’ again soon.

And watch out for at least a couple of interesting posts that I have planned for between now and the end of the year.

2009 has been such an amazing year and it is my sincere pleasure to count on so many of my readers as friends now – Thank you.

Enjoy the Holidays

best wishes

Michael

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Jonathan Mead Interview, Discover Your Passion And The Zero-Hour Workweek

Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by Michael.

Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link and choose save as or save link.

 

Download The MP3 File

Zero-Hour Workweek Maverick Reveals His Secrets To Living Life On Your Terms

Hi Everyone,

Today I have a very special guest as an interviewee – Jonathan Mead of IlluminatedMind.net

I have been a fan of illuminatedmind.net for some time – it appeals to my values and in particular I like how Jonathan inspires people to Live On Your Own Terms. He also has a very bold statement on his website that makes me smile every-time I see it:

Don’t Read This Website If You Want To Be Ordinary

Jonathan says illuminatedmind.net is for the unconventional soul, the wanderer, vagabond, outlier, and those of us who walk the edges – I like that. Indeed Jonathan is an amazing example of someone who has took “Personal Development” – stood it on its head and come up with a refreshing new approach. As Jonathan says:

We’re born free, but somewhere along the way we become domesticated and we lose our authenticity. We start thinking we need to become something we’re not, and hold it against ourselves that we aren’t “what we should be.”

We should never go against ourselves, and never change who we are to succeed. The purpose of Illuminated Mind is to incite a ruthless resolve deep within to go with yourself; to empower and emancipate your most authentic self.

Jonathan also in this interview introduces us to the Zero-Hour Workweek (it may not be what you think) and explains why he doesn’t care for the word: monetize.

Enjoy the interview (Podcast above | Transcript Below) and as always I look forward to tour comments

best wishes

Michael

PS: When you have finished this interview, make sure to download The Zero-Hour Workweek – completely free and no opt-in required. Thank you Jonathan

Jonathan Mead Interview

Interview Transcript:

Michael Dunlop: Hello, everyone. Today I’m with Jonathan Mead. So I would just like to welcome you Jonathan. Great to have you here today.

Jonathan Mead: Thank you, yeah, it’s awesome to be here and to speak with your readers, and hopefully I can share some kind of value today.

Michael: All right, well, I’ll jump in straightaway. I understand you’ve recently gone self-employed and you’ve been doing this now full-time. How were you able to do this? So many people who are listening to this right now have their main goal is just getting away from the nine to five and not working for the man and doing it on their own terms.

Jonathan: I personally believe that you can have all the tools in the world, you can have all the resources. You can have a really great mentor. You can have the best training you possibly can find. But I really think the shift happens — and what’s really going to make it inevitable that you make this happy for yourself whatever you want to call it, ditching the 9-to-5 or working for yourself — if you want to make that happen it really starts in your mind.

I personally believe the biggest attribution to making this happen for myself was knowing 100% without a doubt that this was going to happen. It was only a matter of time and I would do whatever it took and I would try everything that I possibly could try. I would fail over and over if that’s what needed to happen, but I knew that it was going to happen, that it was just a matter of time.

So I think it’s that kind of just certainty that, you know, that you’ll do whatever it takes. It doesn’t matter whether you have enough resources or whether you have enough time you are going to make the time. You are going to make the resources.

Yeah, I think that was the biggest shift for me.

Michael: What would you say to those people who don’t really have too much time to spend, to get to their goals? I mean, we’re both rather young compared to a lot of people trying to do this, so we can waste a bit more time. But a lot of people, they need this now. This has to happen for them as soon as possible.

Jonathan: Yeah, you know, for some of those people I could definitely relate. My situation wasn’t — it’s obviously not exactly the same as everyone’s. Some people have kids. Some people have grand-kids. Some people have lost their job and now they have to make it happen.

So a lot of people in a lot of different situations. But personally for me… what initially happened is that I started to read a lot of stuff online and I started to get into the kind of entrepreneurial space. And once I started to see how much more it made sense for me to work for myself and how much better that would make the quality of my life, I knew that had to happen. It made me really frustrated with my current situation because I knew where I wanted to be but I wasn’t there.

I wasn’t getting there as fast as I wanted to be. So yeah, for me it was a necessity that I needed to make time. So personally I think you have to really ask yourself some hard questions. You have to ask yourself what am I willing to give up in order to make that happen.

There’s the obvious time-wasting things that everyone mentions, like watching TV or surfing the Internet or spending time reading blog posts that have no point or have no purposes. Those obvious time-wasting things which a lot of people talk about, but there is also commitments that we make that we think are non-negotiable that really are optional.

So it’s taking a look at those things as well. Like maybe you had some kind of committees or groups that you are involved in that aren’t really necessary that you could drop. Maybe there’s some hobbies that you don’t need to be spending so much time on.

Maybe you don’t need to be spending that much overtime at your work, trying to impress your boss and keep up with everyone else. Maybe it’s that you don’t need as expensive of a car as you bought, that is requiring you to make $600 car payments that makes you have to work 10 more hours a week.

It’s taking a look at those things that are kind of like the hidden things that we think don’t really make much of a difference, but they really do. So I think it’s really just taking a hard look at those things and really being honest with yourself and asking yourself: do I really want this? What am I willing to give up at least temporarily until you make it happen?

Michael: Oh, great advice. And you mentioned that you did look online to find some ways to make money yourself. What was the way you found that worked best for you and why do you think it did work for you?

Jonathan: The first thing that I found that worked pretty well was my e-book. I think that’s fairly traditional way that a lot of people start making money online, at least if they’re in the kind of information product marketing realm, so to speak. That was pretty effective for me because I would say I had a lot more success with that, promoting my own product.

Before that I was promoting some other people’s stuff as an affiliate and that wasn’t as effective for me as promoting my own stuff, because I actually had that trust and that relationship both with my readers. So that was pretty effective for me. After that, that just kind of grew organically into coaching. It seemed like the next step.

I wanted to help people on a more personal level and really get inside the hearts and minds of people and see what kind of problems they were having and get to know people personally, so I could really know my audience a more intimate level. That really helped me with being able to see what kind of, that those biggest problems were. What those biggest frustrations were.

And that really helps you figure out where you can provide the most value. So even if you are not interested in coaching or consulting on a long-term basis, it can help to do some kind of free consultations or free coaching just to be able to get to know people and get to know your clients on a more personal level.

It really helps you to make a more emotional connection when you do release another product. So that was kind of the organic evolution for me.

Michael: And you mentioned that you sold an e-book and you have done coaching. Which would you say was the best for yourself or the time put in versus the return you get?

Jonathan: Yeah. It’s really hard to say because they’re really two totally different markets. For me, I got a lot of value out of the e-book and creating it. But the thing is, after you do that you don’t have a lot of interaction with your customers and you don’t have a lot of interaction with the community of people reading it, as much as you do with something, say, one-on-one or in a group setting or something like that with coaching. Or even seminars or things like that.

So I would say that it really depends on your goals. I had some different goals. I did coaching because I, number one, wanted to connect with people on a deeper level. And then I also wanted to create another income stream for people that wanted to take what they had learned in my e-books to a higher level.

My goals were different for each thing. I think for anyone who is listening, it’s really about what kind of market you want to be in and how you want to market yourself. Obviously coaching on consulting, there’s a ceiling that you’re going to reach, because you can only make so much money based on how much time you have.

If that’s OK to you and you really value that one-on-one interaction with people, then go for it. You’re going to have to learn how to market yourself in a much different way than a product, which we obviously don’t have time to get into right now. But I really think it really depends on what you want out of it. If you start asking that question, then you can get into that.

Personally, I value the coaching but I don’t have any goals to take it to a huge scale. I just like having three or four clients a month, and that’s fine for me.

Michael: That’s cool. I get what you’re saying. And it sort of give you also ideas what to cover on your own site. Because they sort of tell you the questions they’re still not too sure about themselves.

Jonathan: Yeah, absolutely. It’s like free content.

Michael: Yeah, that’s good. So you’ve mentioned you sell coaching and you sell your own e-book. I take it this is all from your blog?

Jonathan: Yeah, it’s all kind of evolved from my blog. I do have another project that I just launched at the beginning of October as well. It’s called Paid to Exist, and it teaches people how to create an income out of their passion. We’re on week six of that out of eight weeks, and that’s going really well as well.

But yes, it’s all evolved out of my blog. It’s just been really awesome to see it happen. Once you have it going, the coolest thing is you can always find ways to optimize things, you can always find ways to continually make things more and more effective. The only thing that’s really limiting you is asking yourself how far you want to take this.

Michael: Sounds good. I have thousands of people who visit my site regularly who have recently set up their own blogs. What’s the difference between when you first set up your site to actually monetizing? What was the transition you had from not making money to finally making money and making enough to give up your job?

Jonathan: That’s a great question, because that’s something that I personally really struggle with. Before I had this blog and now really this business, I had never run a business in the past except for maybe mowing lawns for neighbors when I was 10 or 11y years old.

When I first started this blog, I had this mindset of if I can just get enough readers, if I can just get enough subscribers, I can find a way to monetize things. You hear that word a lot in the blogging realm, “monetize.”

I personally can’t stand that word, because it implies that you’re taking something that’s not meant to make money, or that doesn’t start with the purpose of making money at least, and then trying to figure out a way to make money from it.

So instead of starting with that paradigm, this is shift that I had to make, because I did start with that monetization paradigm. I had to shift to the paradigm of I’m running a business, these are the things that I need to do to make money, how can I use my blog in way that supports these objectives?

So it’s going from the mindset of how can I monetize this content or this whatever into how can I run this business in a way that’s supported by a blog?

Michael: All right, cool. That sounds good. I’ve read the “Four-Hour Workweek, ” a great book. But you’re brought out you own e-book for you blog, called the “Zero-Hour Workweek.” I love the idea of it. It’s something that I apply to what I’m doing today.

It would be good for you to share with my readers what “zero-hour workweek” means.

Jonathan: I talked a little bit earlier about figuring out that it made more sense for me to work for myself, and that in the beginning it really frustrated me. That was a really big, eye-opening experience for me, realizing that I can be much happier working toward my own goals and furthering some personal mission that I have and the kind of change I want create and the difference I want to make in the world.

What really, really frustrated me is that in our society, we live in this paradigm or this – we have this framework really that says that work is a chore and life is what’s fun. We’re constantly thinking that we have to do one in order to do the other. You work in order to have your life and when you’re spending time in your “life,” you’re basically avoiding the work, and dreading and counting down the time to when you have to go back to work.

That kind of concept really frustrated me because I thought, why should there be such a big dichotomy between those things? Why can’t those things exist harmoniously? For me, it was just about realizing that even though there was this big, giant paradigm out there that was looming over me and looming over so many other people that want to do something that they’re passionate about, just because a lot of people chose to live that way, doesn’t mean that you have to choose that as well.

Because it’s not a requirement. What that paradigm is, is it’s really an agreement. So if you stop agreeing, then you can choose something different.

So what the zero-hour workweek is really about, what this whole philosophy is really about, is realizing that there doesn’t have to be a boundary between your work on one hand and your life on the other hand.

There doesn’t need to be any compartmentalization.

Your work can be your life, and your life can be your work, and that’s actually the best way to live.

Michael: All right. Yeah. That really makes sense. So you’ve been running your own Internet business for a while now. Life online and the whole Internet gives you the freedom, most of the time, to do what you want when you want. What would you say the Internet lifestyle means to you?

Jonathan: It’s given me the freedom to do a lot of different things. I study martial arts and I can do Jeet Kune Do during the day whenever I want, which is something I wouldn’t want to have to try to do in an office, because I’d probably get thrown out by security or something. [laughs]

It’s allowed me to book a plane ticket within a couple of weeks and go fly out and spend time with my family without having to ask a boss if it’s OK. It’s allowed me to do a lot of things. I can basically set my own schedule and work when I want.

That’s something I’ve really had to train myself to realize, that I have the ability to do that. Because when you leave the 9-to-5, you can start bringing in those old patterns with you to your new work.

So that’s something I’ve had to constantly remind myself that I can work four hours in the morning, take five hours off and spend the afternoon with my wife and go see a movie or something and then I can work a little bit more at night.

It’s really just about how you want to design it and that’s really the coolest thing to me. It’s really like constantly evolving process of seeing, OK, this is cool. This doesn’t work. What do I want to change and just keep refining it?

Michael: Right. And one of the main things you talk about in your blog is how it came in your dreams of being who you wanted to be. So many people aren’t able to live their dreams and do the things they want to be.

Which is kind of silly, because it’s 2009, we can do whatever we want. What would you say to those people, whoever it is, to make money and then do something or just to take something off their bucket list and get something done?

Jonathan: It really comes back to that whole thinking that you have to live by what you believe is the proper way to live or what is the acceptable way to live. And really, if you find that you take those risks and you do what you want to do, you’re going to find out that your whole life didn’t fall apart and nothing exploded. [laughs] And that everything is OK and it’s going to work out.

So I think start taking small risks and start challenging the status quo in your life. Start with little things and then build your way up to the things that really scare you. As you kind of build that courage, I guess, then it will be easier and easier for you to do it with the bigger things in your life, like say quitting your job or something like that.

Michael: Wicked, that sounds good. So you start making money online and you started taking all the dreams you want to do yourself and just living life how you want to, on your own terms. If you could gain a time machine and go back and do it all again, what would you do differently?

Jonathan: I think one of the things that I would do differently is start out with my business operating it as a business and as a real professional. So a lot of bloggers — and this goes back to that monetization mindset. A lot of bloggers and myself, I was guilty of this, too. They just want to run a blog and they just want to do something that’s fun and they don’t want to treat it like a business.

They don’t want to be a marketer. They don’t want to have to do accounting. They don’t want to have to do administrative stuff. They just want to run their blog and then put up some ads and hopefully they’ll make a few hundred dollars a month and then everything will be fine.

But if I had to go back, I would change that and I would start out that this is my business. I’m setting up my corporation. I’m setting up my books. I’m setting up my accounting. I’m setting up all my systems. I’m treating this as a real professional business and figuring out what are the things that I need to do to make money are and then kind of use that as a tool to be a little bit more serious about it.

Because I think that once you make that shift, it’s a lot easier to start creating the income and start getting the other stuff rolling, because you don’t have as much mental resistance.

Michael: No. Completely great. Its something most bloggers get wrong. Especially with the whole having accounts and stuff, because it’s something where a lot of people slip up. I think from the beginning you’ve got to realize, is this what you want, to make money online, or is it just the fact that you have a voice and you want people to hear it?

That’s definitely important, you can talk about. OK, I’ve got a few quick questions – just two. What did you like most about the Internet?

Jonathan: I like that it’s able to connect so many different people that have different interests. So it really empowers community and it empowers tribes. I think that’s my favorite thing.

Michael: Wicked. What do you like least about the Internet?

Jonathan: I like least that it can, if you are not careful, stop you from realizing that there’s another more intimate version of the Internet or Internet version of reality out there. So you can forget that you can email someone 100 times, but if you just pick up the phone once, you can likely make a deal with someone in five minutes.

So it can be easy to forget stuff like that and it can be easy to forget the value of kind of the face-to-face communication.

Michael: So that’s a fair point. What’s the best advice you have ever been given?

Jonathan: Whoa. [laughs] The best advice I have ever been given. I think the best advice I have ever been given it to not take life too seriously and to realize that it isn’t going to kill you if you don’t get everything done on your to-list today. It’s not going to make that much of a difference in the long run. You are not going to be sitting on your deathbed wishing that you would have installed a better productivity system.

Michael: All right, cool. And who do you look up to model yourself on?

Jonathan: One person I look up to a lot is my martial arts teacher. And just living consciously and being more aware of your health. Another person I look up to is Steve Pavlina, the personal development blogger.

In the marketing niche I look up to Eben Pagan a lot.

Michael: Great.

Jonathan: So those just a few people.

Michael: They are good people to model yourself on. Very cool people. All right. Thanks very much, Jonathan, for sharing some great advice with us. Is there anything you would like our readers to check out?

Jonathan: Yeah. So I will be launching, if you’re interested, I will be launching the next round of Pay to Exist within the next couple of months. We’re just wrapping up the last couple weeks now. So if you go to http://paidtoexist.net/test/ you can get free tests that I have created called:

The Passion + Profits Test which allows you to discover, before you start, if you’ll be able to get paid to do what you love?

So it’s basically there to help you figure out before you take the plunge to doing what you love to see if it’s going to be profitable, and to see if you’re going to have enough long-term interest in the pursuit that you’re looking into that you’re not going to get bored of it or you’re not going to invest a lot of time and realize that it’s not exactly what you want to do.

So that test will help you kind of get some confidence in doing what you love for a living before you start out. Again, it’s http://paidtoexist.net/test/

Michael: All right, brilliant. Thank you very much, Jonathan.

Jonathan: Thanks, Michael.

More Web Links For Jonathan

http://www.illuminatedmind.net

http://twitter.com/jonathanmead

Passion + Profits Test

http://paidtoexist.net/test/

“Could you really be able to know, before you start, if you’ll be able to get paid to do what you love?”

Make sure to download The Zero-Hour Workweek – completely free and no opt-in required. The “zero” part is in reference to when you do what you love, “work” no longer feels like work.

More Background Information on Jonathan Mead

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