Write Your Way Rich
ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
I’ve also written many times about my fellow blogger Darren Rowse, founder and a principle author of Problogger.net and one of the all-time "good guys" of blogging.
Darren monetizes about as well as anyone you can think of, and he does it cleanly and smartly … he’s always "white hat", his methods are above reproach, and he doesn’t have to resort to stupid tricks like "rick rolling" people and then writing follow-on posts about how he doesn’t care if people didn’t like his technique. You won’t get take for a ride with Darren.
What you will get is sound, useable information about making six-figures a year from blogging, and the nitty-gritty details of how to do it. Darren has a co-author on this book, Chris Garrett.
ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
I’m buying this myself because I always find it handy to have a written reference next to my desk, even though I virtually live on line. I don’t think you’ll go wrong on this one.
I’ve discussed here and recommended others who have expert views the advisability of self-publishing or going with an established publisher. I think in the long run it’s a good idea to get one book published "conventionally", just because of the market penetration and the authority it adds to your profile.
I do not recommend making a career or of writing books like this one … at $16 (already discounted) Darren and Chris will be lucky to share between them a dollar or so per sale … and they will wait a year or more before they ever see any real returns. And the $.99 "Kindle" version? Words fail me. I don’t know anyone out there whose specialized knowledge isn’t worth more than $.99 cents, no matter how "off the beaten path" it may be.
I highly recommend you go read my friend Jack Reed’s web site and buy his book, How to Write, Publish and Sell Your Own How-To Book. It costs more than $16, it won’t be available on Amazon’s ridiculous Kindle and Jack doesn’t even give me a commission, but I own this book and feel it is the tops in the field, bar none.
top sitting and start writing (message to myself as well as the rest of you still on the fence).
Financial Independence With a Motorhome — Is This Guy Insane?
One of the things I noticed when I go through the server records that show searches made here at retired Pay World is that an article I published some months back that was partially about a family who was free of the senses grind of a regular job by means of their own unique talents coupled with a good old American tradition … a motor home.
(See these additional two article if you want some starting points on why getting a job is a foolish thing to do in today’s world, and why self-employment is your only real security. 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job or a companion piece, 10 Myths Abut Self-employment.)
I was just running the numbers on this kind of lifestyle again today and I thought I would write about them for the curious … the "believers" who still think a "job" means financial security. before or after retirement.
I can almost read the minds of some of my readers … is this guy Dave Crazy they are asking … does he know what gas costs these days? And don’t these things get like 6 or 8 miles to the gallon?
Well, as Billy Joel once said, "You may be right, I may be crazy", but that is beside the point. I run into dozens, even hundreds of people because of this site and others that I operate or frequent online who have a dream of making it on their own without being tied down to a talent-sapping, mind-numbing job, except they have been taught since infancy that the only real security in life is to drive yourself (or your parents) into debt for a college education, then sign up with this mega-corp or that one and work until they give you the gold watch (which today is gold-plated and comes from China by way of Wal*Mart)
To stay more on-topic for my large percentage of retiree and senior readers, (I’m happy to see that tiny as my efforts are, this blog is consistently Google’s number one or number two selection for Seniors and Retirees making money online.) I know of many couples already retired or ready to retire who are aghast at what their Social security payments are going to actually be, and at how worthless their IRA’s and other investment vehicles are that leveraged so heavily into over-priced, over-hyped real estate investments.
What can you do? Well, you can do what so many retirees or folks nearing retirement do, whine, moan and band together with socialistic organizations who promote nonsense like taking away from working, younger folks to promote the better lifestyle of older folks (AARP comes to mind, a group that Karl Marx would have been proud to join, but I will never be a part of). Or, you can engage in senseless endeavors like writing your Congressman asking the government to regulate the cost of gas, forgive housing loans and otherwise drive the economy even farther into the mire. I don’t like these ideas. I’m 62 years old, I am drawing the Social Security I paid into, but I earn money still, make jobs for other people, and take no handouts and special favors from anyone … why should I?
Dave’s suggestion? In the words of another famous song of my era, (Percy Mayfield, made famous by Ray Charles), "Hit the Road, Jack". If I had to live in the US right now, I’d give very strong consideration to visiting someone like Cruise America and buying, as a real bargain, a small motor home. here’s the stats on just one of their offerings:
Comparable New Price: $83,711
Prices Starting from $24,995
Payments as low as $234/mo*
$234 a month? You can’t rent a clapped out, freezing in the winter, roasting in the summer trailer house for that. And when it’s cold, go down to Big Bend Texas and stay until it gets hot enough to make you want air conditioning in the Spring, then move north along with the sun. Stay at a "campground host" site in Montana in the Summer and follow the changing colors down through Georgia and into Florida when the Winter comes calling again.
When you’re tired of living in something this small, you can sell it for what you paid or more (hold the note if you want to) and, if you read this blog and others that teach you how to make a living online, you should have a nice nest egg put away for the next phase of your empowered retirement.
Go now, for free, and join my friend Jeremy Palmer’s Black Ink Project and learn how to set up your online business as a business. If you use this motorhome as part of your business, such as actively blogging about your travels, making honest good faith efforts to make money with your motor home activities, and (of course) paying the legally required taxes you can make the whole operation tax deductible … find a tax advisor who thinks outside the box, I am not qualified to give tax advice, only to blog and make money about it. (and yes, before you sic the IRS on me, I did pay taxes, everything is on the Schedule C, all neat and tidy and on the up and up. ;-))
Making Money With No Money — Another Installment
Update: I received a report that the links in this post were broken. I just tested them agin and they resolve just fine. Mysteries of the ‘net. There IS a sales page after you click the Gold key but you should clearly see, on the righ, a place to enter your email and recieve the report absolutely free. Let me know if there are any other problems and I will find a way to download the reort directly. Thanks for your patience and attention.
Some time back I published a little series on making money online without spending money. It was pretty popular. Lately I notice I have gotten far into the technicality side of things, how to structure your sales and order pages, etc.
Well, back to some basics. Suppose you are sitting there, reading this and wishing you could make some money online … have have none, or are unwilling to expend any of what you do have. Too many unfulfilled dreams, scams and broken promises.
I don’t blame you. And I hear your frustration. here’s what I recommend. Click on this icon for a $47 "Make Money Online" eBook.
"What"? I hear you screaming … "Bait and Switch, you just said with no money and now you are going back on your word"!
No, I’m not, just seeing if you are paying attention. That book from my good friend Jim Daniels, publisher of the WebBiz Gazette and some other very useful web properties. This guide essentially has it all, and because you are a loyal Retired Pay World reader and I have a business relationship with Jim, you get the report for free … among other items it contains dozens of suggestions for making money online, from home, some with absolutely no investment. You will not find any of that "sign up now for only $1997.00" nonsense here.
Let me outline just a couple examples you’re read about in detail … Jim has dozens and dozens of them, verifiable and true:
Example #1: Home Checking Service
Jen is a hard working 30-something who puts in 40-50 hours a week at her regular deli job. Yet with an $800 a month rent payment, a car payment and well, you know… all the rest of the bills that continually flow into her mailbox, making ends meet can be difficult.
But a regular "kind deed" she’s been doing sparked an idea for a business. Jen lives in an area where lots of residents migrate south for the winter. Most of them leave their homes unattended. Every week or two she had been checking on the home of a local doctor and he’d pay her when he came back in the Spring.
Jen figured, why not offer this service to other local residents? So she put up a simple one-page website explaining her service, RhodeIslandHouseWatch.com.
She included a letter from her first customer and carefully listed all the local areas she served. This helps her get search engine traffic when people search for a service like hers plus the town they live in.
Next she made up a flyer and posted it on local community bulletin boards, in supermarkets and local shops. She called a few real estate offices that deal with seasonal rentals and offered her services to their clients at a discount rate.
Before long she may just be earning more from this "part-time" venture than her regular job!
Lesson: Look for opportunities like this in your local area. Home watch services and even housesitting is a growing business anyone can profit from.
Now,how complicated was that? yes, yes, it says she set up a website. Well, that’s not complicated and if a one page web site idea is holding you back, just email me at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll put you online, free. I have server resources just going to waste and I am here to help you.
Example #2: From Yard Sales to Craigslist
Warren loves going to yard sales and flea markets. During the summer he resells the goods he finds by holding his own weekend yard sales. But during the winter, his basement gets kinda full.
This winter he needed some extra cash to pay for a tank of heating oil. If you use oil to heat your home in the winter, you understand just how much extra cash Warren needed.
So he took his digital camera into his basement and started taking pictures of everything he thought he could sell for more than $20. In the span of two hours, he had more than 40 items ranging in potential resale value from $20 to about $100.
He had heard about ebay for selling items but didn’t want to deal with shipping and paying commissions. So he figured he’d try Craigslist instead.
Craigslist.org is a classified site that serves more than 500 cities in 50 countries. It gets millions of visitors a week, is 100% free to use and it deals only locally. That means lots of eyeballs to see your offers, but no commissions to pay, and no shipping hassles!
Warren sat down and started posting all his items for sale. Minutes later, the phone rang — even before he got to his 4th item. Warren was dumbfounded. Why hadn’t he tried this before today! Yes, minutes after posting an ad he had sold his first item. (I can vouch for this, as I posted an ad on craigslist last year for a french door I had left over after a remodeling job - I sold it literally 4 minutes after posting it. In fact, I sold a $14,000 Jeep on Craigslist too!)
In the span of two weeks Warren sold 28 of the 40 items! His wife was much happier. She could now make it to the washer and dryer without going through a maze of Cabbage Patch Kids, artificial trees and strange looking car parts.
Warren was happy because he heated his home for the rest of the winter and still had enough money left over to "restock" the basement this Spring! As a matter of fact, he went out and bought himself a new digital camera and a laptop to make his new "business" run faster. After all, one man’s junk is another man’s er… business!
Lesson: When things get tight, sell off some of the extra stuff you have laying around. Most people have literally hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of items in their house, that they never use! With Craigslist you can easily turn it into cash, and maybe even make a business out of it.
This one required nothing except a digital camera 9actully, you could do it without the camera, but picture ads sell so much better. Zero cost, a basement with less junk, a happy spouse and a warm house. Now I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like a win-win, it sounds more like a win-win-win-win-win sort of transaction.
So, if you want to make money online. And if you want to invest nothing in doing so, then click the link, press the special Gold Key as my $47 gift to you, and see how you can learn to earn. No salesman will call 