Make $4,000 Each Month by Taking Your “Hobby” Online (Part 2)

Here are the six steps you will follow to turn your hobby into cash:

Step One

The first step is to choose a hobby or activity that inspires you. Begin by scratching out a list of everything you enjoy. Make the list as long as possible. Don’t worry if your passion seems crazy or even embarrassing. Crazy and embarrassing can be good!

After you have at least 10 (but hopefully several dozen) topics, you will begin to narrow them down by asking the following questions:

• Is this something that is difficult or complicated? (Collecting butterflies, rare coins, etc.)
• Is this something that requires skill? (Golf, fly-fishing, playing the French horn, building airplanes, etc.)
• Is this something that needs tools or parts? (Repairing old radios, vacuum cleaners, motorcycles, etc.)
• Is this something people have strong opinions about? (Wine, beer, cooking, etc.)
• Is this something that sounds crazy or embarrassing? (Skydiving, sexual fetishes, eating dirt, etc.)

You are looking for “yeses.” The stronger the yeses, the better. You can then get rid of topics that don’t have that many yeses.

Of the remaining topics, think about the ones that YOU feel you could really get behind and write about enthusiastically.

Step Two

This is where we figure out the online supply and demand for your topic ideas. Supply represents the number of websites and pages that have already been published on your topic by other people and companies. Demand represents the number, or universe, of people who are actually looking for information on your topic.

As you have perhaps already figured out… you don’t want too much supply, and you do want a healthy level of demand.

To see the supply number, think of a search term that matches your topic and type it into the search box at Google. Just above the list of search results you’ll see a number that tells you how many results are being listed.

To find the “demand” number, you can use a free tool like Google’s Ad Words Keyword Planner. This will tell you how many times people use that search term each month.

If this sounds complicated, don’t worry. It doesn’t take long to get the hang of figuring out a promising supply/demand ratio. And you’ll use this ratio to identify which of your topic ideas has the most potential.

For now, let’s focus on the “demand” figure, which represents your universe of potential site visitors.

Take CrossFit, for example. Tim is enthusiastic about CrossFit. A quick look on Google AdWords gives me a universe of 4 million people.

That is a lot of people.

Or how about one of my favorite topics—Jiu Jitsu? Every month more than 1.8 million people scour the Internet looking for information on Jiu Jitsu.

So both CrossFit and Jiu Jitsu might be good topics for a moneymaking website of this kind. (When you start working on this, you’ll also be looking at the supply figures, to make sure your topic isn’t too competitive.)

The purpose of this step is to find a popular topic that has a sizeable universe of prospects, and not too much competition.

And yes, this process works. For example, Tomaz Mencinger, whom I mentioned earlier, is bringing in $3,000 per month in extra income from his site. And Tomaz tells us that it hasn’t yet reached its full potential.

Step Three

After you have determined your topic has the universe you need, find an angle that makes it unique in some way.

I told you that Nick saw a gap between the large coffee websites that offered general information and the connoisseur websites that appealed to coffee snobs.

Every site, forum, or blog he went to was for the “coffee geeks,” the people who freak out if their coffee is brewed two degrees too hot. So Nick decided to fill gap by providing the basics.

Nick’s angle was to create a website for people interested in coffee that was not too snobby, but still comprehensive enough for these beginners to become experts.

Kathy Widenhouse from Lake Wylie, S.C., turned her passion for tomatoes into a moneymaking website. Her site, Tomato Dirt, digs up the best gardening tips for growing tomatoes in your garden or patio.

The money it brings in helps pay for her daughter’s living expenses while she goes through a three-year doctorate program at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Then there’s Nancy Hearn from Phoenix, Ariz. She has an incredible passion for the health benefits of water. Nancy’s site, Water Benefits Health, teaches the health and fitness benefits of drinking water. Her site brings in anywhere from $1,000-3,000 per month with minimal effort.

What you are doing in this step is one of the most important things you must do if you hope to make money from your website.

Every good book on entrepreneurship will tell you that it is easier to sell a product or service if it has a unique selling proposition (USP).

Usually this is some quality or characteristic of the product or service that is lacking in the competition. But sometimes it can simply be a different approach.

For example, let’s say your interest is in pet care. You search the Internet and find that it has a sizeable universe. So you think, “How can I narrow this down?” You could narrow it down by focusing on just one kind of pet, so you choose cats.

That helps but there are hundreds of websites dealing with cat care. How can you make your website unique? You decide that your website will focus on some special interest that you have.

It turns out that you are also a vegetarian. So you decide to create a website to teach and help people who want to feed their cats a vegetarian diet. This is loony but as I said, crazy is good. Sure enough, you’ll find more than 4 million results on Google when searching “vegetarian cat food.”

Or you could devote your website to communicating with your cat telepathically. This is both crazy and embarrassing (or it should be), but it will certainly give your website a USP.

Not every USP sells. You will discover that later in the process—when you test your website.

Step Four

After you have chosen your topic and its USP, it’s time to choose a domain name. A domain name is basically your Internet address. For example, our domain name is Palmbeachletter.com.

It’s very simple to create a domain name. All you need to do is go to a website like godaddy, type in the name of the site you’d like, and godaddy will let you know if it’s available and for how much it costs.

Step Five

Once you choose a domain name, you can start setting up your website. A content management system (CMS) makes this possible. It also allows you to design, publish, and update your content seamlessly.

This used to be difficult and expensive. But thanks to sites like SiteBuildIt! and WordPress, it’s simple for non-techies to do. And affordable too.

For example, SiteBuildIt! makes it easy for anyone to set up, manage, and maintain and monetize a website—without having a degree in website development. You pick a template you think best suits your website and then start filling it in. All this in one place for $30 or less each month.

Step Six

Now it’s time to fill up your website with content. It needs to be chock full of facts, statistics, articles, reviews, and, most importantly, insights and opinions. It needs to show the universe of prospects that you have something useful and unique to offer.

Here are a few steps to help you get started:

1. Determine your audience. Are they beginners, experts, or somewhere in between?
2. Choose a point of view. You’re an expert, and that’s why we should listen to you. Maybe you’re an amateur with a few years of experience. Or you’re just like the reader and want to share your journey with them as you learn about your specific niche.
3. Remember why people are on your site, what their needs are, what questions they may be looking for answers to. Most people will come to your website in search of the answer to a particular question.
4. Find content ideas by using Google Alerts, Google Insights, and Google Trends. Follow related blogs, check out customer reviews, and browse newspapers and best-selling books.
5. Immerse yourself in social media. This not only is a great way to find inspiration for content ideas but can also tell you which aspects of your topic people get the most passionate and enthusiastic about. (Once your website is published, you can get a ton of visitors through social media too.)
6. Write your own content—you can get inspiration from all the sources I mentioned above, but writing it in your own style with your own unique perspective is what will keep readers coming back.
7. Develop your own unique voice. This will make you stand out from your competitors.
8. Keep your writing style simple. Use short sentences and paragraphs with simple words.
9. Keep all your content on-topic, and optimize all your pages to get the highest possible listings in the search results.

This may sound like a challenging task, but let me assure you, it’s not. The content management systems I mentioned earlier, such as SiteBuildIt!, offer tools to maximize your search results by utilizing keywords and other strategies.

How You’ll Make Money With Websites

How much money can you make with a website for enthusiasts?

There’s really no typical or standard answer to this question. There are websites that make millions of dollars per month and there are those that bring in just a few hundred dollars.

Since this is an extra income opportunity and not a full-time business, our marketing plan is designed to bring in hundreds or thousands of dollars, not millions. But the great thing about this kind of website is that once you get it going, it becomes relatively easy to gradually grow it without working terribly hard.

Remember Nancy Hearn? She spends just 4-5 hours per week on her website about drinking water. Spending this little amount of time will eventually bring in $3,000 per month, she believes.

Once you have your website set up and the content on your topic loaded, the two best ways to generate money from your site are:

1. Selling affiliate products
2. Selling your own products

Affiliate marketing is where you sign up as an affiliate with an online merchant or network of merchants. You link to its product sales pages from your site, using a unique affiliate link.

If someone clicks on your link and goes on to complete a purchase at the merchant website, you get a percentage of the sale price.

Depending on the nature of the product or service, this commission can range from 10-75% (or more!). In some cases (we do this at PBL), the fee can be 80% or more!

Nick has averaged about $2,000 per month with just one affiliate partner on his coffee website.

Lastly, you can offer your own products or services. You can sell physical products if you want, but that involves trips to the post office. If you want to stick with the passive income model, you simply sell e-products, such as e-books and guides.

These are purchased through your site, and then the payment and delivery process is automatic. So even while you’re away on vacation, your site will continue to display, sell, and collect money through e-product sales.

On her website about raising rabbits, Karen Patry makes good money selling a series of e-books on the various aspects of keeping and taking care of rabbits.

Once It’s up and Running

Let’s review the benefits of having your own moneymaking website for enthusiasts:

1. It’s inexpensive and relatively easy to set up.
2. Your reach is national or even international.
3. You don’t have to be an expert, just an enthusiast.
4. You can do it part time when you want from your home.
5. Every page you publish can make you money indefinitely.
6. You’re building a long-term asset.

Moneymaking Websites Versus Blogging

You may be wondering what is the difference between a moneymaking website and a blog—the extra income opportunity I introduced in a previous essay.

In many ways, they are the same. You write about something that interests you. You develop readers and followers. And you advertise products and services to those readers.

One big difference is that for the most part a blog tends to be tied to its writer. And because a blog is all about the writer, it’s not a very easily sellable asset.

But a website can become a very valuable and sellable asset. In fact, Nick once turned down an offer of over $100,000 for his site.

Why would someone offer to buy his website?

His website is focused on the brand, Coffee Detective, not Nick Usborne. In other words, even if he sells the website it doesn’t affect the market… consumers will be interested in coffee whether it’s Nick writing about it or someone else who shares the same passion and enthusiasm.

You might wonder why Nick refused that six-figure offer. After all, that’s a pretty nice chunk of cash for what is essentially his hobby. Well, he simply did the math and figured out his site would make him a lot more than $100,000 over the next few years.

Besides which, Nick sees his coffee website as an important part of his retirement planning. When he retires, he wants a “portfolio” of websites that continue to deliver passive income, month after month and year after year.

That said, there may come a day when he does want to cash in and sell the site. And because his site is a stand-alone brand, he can do that.

Plus, blogging can be more of a JOB. To keep readers interested in your blog, you’ll typically need to add a new post at least twice a week, preferably every day. This means you have to stick to a publication schedule and be at your desk.

And remember, blogs attract comments—or at least the good ones do—and as the writer and publisher, you need to be around to respond to those comments.

A moneymaking website is not a job. You can work on it every day if you want. But you can also take a break for a week or two. Nick tends to work on his moneymaking websites in bursts, when he has the time.

And when he goes on vacation for 10 days, that’s fine… the site will look after itself. Not fine if it were a blog.

Does that mean blogging is bad? No, not at all. If you love to write and have no problems writing a few times per week, blogging is for you and you can make great money.

But if you’re looking to create an asset that generates passive income, moneymaking websites could be exactly what you are looking for.

Are You Ready to Start Your Own Moneymaking Website? 

Someone once said, “The best time to launch your new website is five years ago. The second best time is now.”$

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

Make $4,000 Each Month by Taking Your “Hobby” Online (Part 1)

Before the Internet, breaking into a new business was mostly a local affair. You got an idea, created a product, and tried to sell it in your own backyard. If it worked, you could expand outside your local market.

Eventually, if you were very good and somewhat lucky, you could have a national or even an international enterprise.

Today, the Internet gives you the chance to market internationally—from day one.

Take the idea of selling inexpensive Chinese goods to customers in the U.S., for example.

Prior to the Internet, this was a tough business to get going. You’d have to travel to China, negotiate deals with wholesalers, find a trustworthy shipper, get an importer’s license, and then find a market to sell your products back home.

That would involve beginning in your local market and then gradually expanding, if you were good and successful, to a regional and then a national level. Today, you can do all that in two steps. Buy the goods you want from the sites we recommend and then sell them on eBay or through some other Internet venue.

A recent income opportunity we discussed was blogging. Blogging is a great way for writers to make extra income by developing an Internet audience and then attaching advertising to their essays or websites.

Today’s opportunity is like the blogging model in the sense that it takes advantage of a website and monetizing the attention of your visitors. But the big difference is you don’t have to stick to a regular publication schedule, as you do when posting to a blog.

A moneymaking website delivers a truly PASSIVE source of income. You add new content to your site as and when you want to. No schedule… no JOB.

The main thing you need is enthusiasm for something that other people are enthused about too. That could be knitting or gardening or cooking or motorcycle maintenance or pet care or coin collecting or brewing beer—the list is endless. The main idea is that it should be a hobby or activity that people get passionate about.

For the purpose of identifying what I’m talking about here, let’s call this kind of opportunity moneymaking websites for enthusiasts.

From Passion to Paycheck

Let me give you a good example. It comes from Nick Usborne, a guy I’ve known for many years. One of Nick’s hobbies is coffee. (In fact, when he read my Living Rich report on “Drinking Like a Billionaire,” he sent me suggestions on how to improve the section on coffee.)

In 2006, Nick was making a good living as a copywriter but he was spending almost as much as he was making. He realized that to get ahead he needed to create a second income stream. And what he really wanted was a passive income stream.

He decided to start a website on something he enjoyed and loved—coffee!

Nick wasn’t an expert on coffee by any means, but he knew more about it than the average Starbucks customer. He also knew that coffee was a big, international business.

[Coffee is the most popular beverage in the world, with more than 400 billion cups drank each day. It’s the second-most-traded commodity in the world. And in just the U.S. alone, the coffee industry is valued at $19 billion each year.]

He did a quick search on the Internet and found there were already several seemingly successful websites talking about coffee, such as coffeeview and coffeeuniverse.

These sites were comprehensive, but because he had a copywriting background Nick knew that being comprehensive was not always a great thing. Sites that provide a great deal of general information can attract a lot of eyeballs, but sites that have authority and offer opinions are usually more effective at attracting buyers.

Further research identified a dozen more targeted sites that appealed to the connoisseur. Nick’s idea was to create a site that would be more specific and opinionated than the big data-oriented sites, but also more accessible and friendly than the sites for coffee snobs.

He called his site coffeedetective.

Coffee Detective was an instant success for Nick. It didn’t make a fortune, but it did well enough to encourage him to start a few more. Each website took a little while to get going, but once it was up and running the workload dropped dramatically.

Today Nick has several websites that bring him a monthly income of up to $4,000, although he’s made as much as $7,877 in a single month.

Since he started in 2006, he’s made more than $200,000 in passive income from his websites for enthusiasts. And he never works more than a few hours per week!

Is a Moneymaking Website for Enthusiasts a Good
Extra Income Opportunity?

When we introduced the Extra Income Project, we promised to show you dozens of ways to generate more cash… without having to leave your job, spend a lot of startup money, or kill yourself working long hours.

Every extra income opportunity we have presented to you so far has had to meet certain criteria.

These criteria include:

• Anyone should be able do it (it’s easy and simple to understand)
• You should be able to start it from home
• You could work part-time or on weekends
• You could begin without investing a ton of money.

A moneymaking website for enthusiasts fits the bill. You can start part-time with a few hours of effort per week. You can get started for as little as $100. And you don’t need to be a computer geek or Web expert to do it.

As I said, Nick’s Coffee Detective is just one example of a moneymaking website for enthusiasts. There are thousands of other examples among hundreds of topics.

Take Lisa Irby, for example. She has a passion for fitness. It started as a personal challenge to find the best ways of flattening her stomach. As a result, Lisa became somewhat of an expert on keeping her stomach flat.

This inspired her to start her own website, called Flat Stomach Exercises. She wanted to help other people battling the same problems she had. She says her website gets about 6,500 visitors per day and brings in four figures per month.

Another guy, Tomaz Mencinger, has been working in tennis clubs and academies for around 10 years. He loves to teach people everything he knows about tennis. So in 2005 he decided to create a website about his passion, called FeelTennis. Now he’s able to reach thousands of people rather than just a few on the court each day.

Then we have Sara Ding. In her early 30s, she was struggling with short-term memory loss, high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, and low blood pressure.

Sara was experiencing all of these health problems due to malnutrition caused by a poor diet. During her research to find out the best way to get her body the nutrients it needed, she discovered juicing. She became very enthusiastic about juicing and decided to launch her own website about it, juicing-for-health.

Today, not only is she healthy, but she doesn’t have to worry about her finances anymore, either.

These websites are real. The money is real. And regular people like you and me are behind them.

If this piques your interest let me walk you through the process of setting up your own enthusiast website.

But before we do that… let me ask you a question. Did you notice how all of the examples above are about people who really enjoy writing on the topics they have chosen?

In fact, they would probably write these sites without any expectation of making money. These are topics they are truly enthusiastic about. This is a game-changer when it comes to making a passive income—because you get to make thousands of dollars extra each month, but without the feeling that you are “working.”

Anyone Can Do This

You don’t have to be a world-class expert to start an enthusiast website. All you need is passion, persistence, and the knowledge of how this business model works. You simply supply the passion and persistence. We will give you the knowledge of how this market works and step-by-step instructions on getting started. Here’s how you can get started today.

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

How To Develop a Money Mindset

A man observes evergreens growing along the roadside and thinks that they look pretty, covered with snow. Another man sees the same trees and thinks, “These trees would look good in people’s living rooms at Christmas. I wonder what they would pay for them?”

The first man has an ordinary mind. The second, the mind of a natural-born moneymaker.

In The Prime Movers, Edwin A. Locke provides some interesting insights into the way moneymakers think:

He argues that an active, inquisitive mind is a hallmark of the successful entrepreneur. The most successful entrepreneurs in history, he says, had this sort of mind.

• Thomas Edison: He was a “virtual thinking machine. Almost until the day he died, his mind poured forth a torrent of ideas, and he might track as many as 60 experiments at a time in his laboratory.”

• Steve Jobs: He bombarded people with his ideas – his investors, his board of directors, his customers, his subordinates, and his CEO.

• Henry Ford: “He threw himself into every detail, insisting on getting small things absolutely right… But he never lost sight of the ultimate, overall objection. He had a vision of what his new car (the Model T) should look like. From all the improvisation, hard thought, and hard work came a machine that was at once the simplest and the most sophisticated automobile built to date anywhere in the world.”

Take my friend Sergey…

I have a friend, an émigré from Kharkiv Ukraine, who has this kind of moneymaking mind. I have known him for more than ten years. During that time he has started at least a dozen successful companies. Every company he forms, it seems, becomes successful very quickly. He has become a wealthy man and enjoys a wealthy man’s lifestyle, but his interest in making money has never waned.

In that respect he is very different from me. I am building my wealth by making plans and working my ass off. And once I make more than I need, I will stop paying attention to it.

He made his money effortlessly. Or so it always seemed. And he continues to make money because he really enjoys the process.

He makes money not just by starting successful businesses and investing in real estate (my secondary vehicles) but by buying and selling exotic cars, boats, antiques and expensive watches. Every time I see him he is driving a new car. One month it’s a Bentley. The next month it’s a Ferrari. He buys slightly used cars and enjoys them and then turns them over for a profit. He has become an expert in barter and countertrade. He never pays full price for anything. He knows how to get the best price for everything. And he loves the game.

Sergey may not have the highest net worth, but he’s got more than enough for the rest of his life and he seems to enjoy making money much more than most.

I admire that about him. I like talking to him about all his recent deals. His excitement gets me excited. It also embarrasses me when I discover that he pays a fraction of what I pay for just about everything.

What if you don’t have the Mind?

I have another friend, Sal, who used to be my partner. He was making $400,000 a year when he suddenly sold his business and retired. Today he makes a living teaching meditation. His income is modest, but he lives in a beautiful house, belongs to a private yacht club and takes vacations every two months.

Like Sergey, Sal enjoys his life. He works when he wants to, rests when he wants to and enjoys the best that life has to offer.

Sal’s secret is that he knows how to buy the best of everything for pennies on the dollar. I am always amazed at how he and his wife can meet us in Chicago, Panama or Nassau, stay at fine hotels and do everything we do but on a budget.

I’m convinced that Sergey and Sal both have very special minds. Like Edison, Jobs and Ford, they think differently than I do.

Raw intelligence is not the issue. These guys are smart but don’t think they are any smarter than I am. And anyway, if it were a matter of intelligence, Einstein and a slew of other geniuses would have been wealthy men.

I call what Sergey and Sal have the multimillionaire’s mindset. I’ve also called it the Rich Mind.

This is the first of several essays I’ll be writing on this point: how to think like a multimillionaire.

And here’s the goal: to discover exactly how they do what they do by figuring out how they think. If you study this and subsequent essays seriously – and implement the suggestions I’ll be making – you may be able to “upgrade” your brain to one that will allow you to have the kind of life they enjoy.

I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for myself. I’ve mastered one part of the equation: making money through entrepreneurship. But the other part – enjoying a multimillionaire’s lifestyle on a limited budget – has so far eluded me.

Some Preliminary Observations

To get started, here are some observations I’ve made from studying my two friends and from reading about great wealth builders like Jobs and Edison and Ford.

1. A “normal” person is concerned with protecting his ego. When dealing with a problem he doesn’t really understand, he pretends he understands the contributing factors and doesn’t try to find out what anyone else thinks. A person with a multimillionaire mind asks questions inces-santly. He has no ego when it comes to learning. He knows that knowledge is power.

2. A “normal” person has a consumer mentality. He looks at a hot new product and thinks about how he would like to own one. A person with a multimillionaire mind has an entrepreneurial men-tality. He looks at it and thinks, “How can I produce this or something similar in my own industry?”

3. A “normal” person is wish-focused. He daydreams about making gobs of money. A person with a multimillionaire mind is reality-based. He is always analyzing his own success and the success of others and wondering how he could learn from it.

4. A “normal” person, when confronted with a challenging idea, thinks of all the reasons why it might not work. A person with a multimillionaire mind sees the potential in it and disregards the problems until he has a clear vision of how it might succeed.

5. A “normal” person resists change. A person with a multimillionaire mind embraces it.

6. A “normal” person accepts the status quo. A person with a multimillionaire mind is always looking to make things – even good things – better.

7. A “normal” person reacts. A person with a multimillionaire mind is proactive.

8. A “normal” person looks at a successful business owner and thinks, “That guy’s lucky.” Or “That guy’s a shyster.” A person with a multimillionaire mind thinks, “What’s his secret?” And, “How can I do that?”

Most importantly, a person with a multimillionaire’s mind likes living like a multimillionaire. He doesn’t shortchange himself when it comes to comfort and luxury. Rather than believing always that pain leads to gain, he thinks, “If I’m smart I can have my cake and eat it too.

You can start your mental transformation by studying this list and assessing your own impulses. Be honest. Identify the habits you don’t have and try to develop them. Rather than think of this process as work, think of it as fun.$

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

10 Ways to Improve Your Finances with Social Media

UP YOUR SOCIAL GAME

Twitter can make it easier to lodge a customer service complaint, and LinkedIn can help you land a new job. Facebook friends can offer encouragement when you share progress toward goals, and you can collect inspiring images of what you’re saving for on Pinterest. There are all sorts of ways social media can give your finances a boost – but there are also some dangers to avoid.

PERFECT YOUR PROFILE PAGES

If you freelance and are looking to pick up new clients, then you can use your Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn pages to describe the services you have to offer. Similarly, a fleshed out LinkedIn profile with examples of your work, recommendations from co-workers and any honors you’ve received can help you land a new (and higher-paying) job.

BECOME KNOWN AS AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD

Before Donna Karan spokeswoman Aliza Licht ever started writing her book, “Leave Your Mark,” she began tweeting career tips for young people in public relations using the hashtag #PR101. As a result of the outpouring of interaction she received over Twitter, she turned her ideas into a book – just one way social media posts can lead to offline opportunities.

SHARE YOUR GOALS

Without giving away details that are too personal, you can share goals with your friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter. If you want to pay off student loan debt, you can let people know, especially if it means they’ll gently keep you on track by not asking you to go out to an expensive dinner with them. Sharing savings goals with friends can make it easier to keep them.

GET BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE

Instead of waiting on hold when you call up customer service by phone, consider sending a tweet first. Many retailers, banks and other customer-facing companies have customer service representatives on social media, ready to respond. The response might involve a direct message or communicating offline to avoid sharing personal information, like an account number, publicly.

TALK WITH YOUR BANK

Banks are increasingly using social media to communicate with customers, and it’s often the first outlet for sharing news about new products or deals. Following your financial institution through social media can help ensure you know what’s going on at your bank.

USE SOCIAL SHOPPING APPS TO SNAG LOW PRICES

Apps from Wish to Blinq make it easy to browse products, get deals and share thoughts – or desired items – with friends. Retailers often announce their sales first through social media so their followers and fans get the early deals. Just make sure you’re not oversharing – if you’re making purchases you don’t want the world to know about, then avoid sharing them on Facebook.

MAKE NEW CONNECTIONS

Tweeting at someone you admire in your field, retweeting a co-worker’s thoughts or following professionals you look up to are all great ways to network. It’s less time-consuming than in-person get-togethers, and networking over social media has the advantage of potentially being less awkward, too. Plus, you can communicate with people who are based around the world from your desktop (or phone).

MAKE YOUR ACCOUNTS SECURE

If someone fraudulently logs into your Facebook account, he or she could collect a lot of personal details about you and potentially use that information to defraud your friends or log into your bank account. To reduce the chance of becoming a victim, use strong passwords and turn on two-step authentication when possible.

PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY

Posting vacation photos while you’re away lets potential thieves know that no one’s currently home; sharing details like your wedding anniversary can give someone the answer to a security question that makes it easier to log into a financial account. Avoid sharing too much personal information, turn up privacy settings and don’t accept friend requests from strangers.

CONSIDER YOUR DIGITAL AFTERLIFE

To keep your accounts safe even after death, Facebook allows you to appoint someone to manage your accounts after you pass away. Other social media platforms offer different options, including setting your account to delete or freeze. Consider reviewing your current settings to make sure they reflect your preferences – and you might want to tell one trusted person where to find your passwords.

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

How to Become Financially Independent in Seven Years or Less

You are middle aged. Your net worth is meager. Your income is barely sufficient to meet expenses... And those expenses are going up. The "New Normal" is here. Economists are predicting things will get worse. What can you do? 


Should you give up your dream of retiring comfortably one day? Should you accept a future of increasingly meager existence? Should you grow bitter and curse the powers that be for putting you in this situation? 

Or should you take responsibility for your situation and make changes 

That last question was rhetorical, of course. But sometimes, I wonder if people really do understand their options. There are things that happen in life that we can't control. But we can control the way we respond to them. 

I understand that when you are halfway through your life and are barely making ends meet, it seems like the only chance to become financially successful is to win the lottery (either an actual lottery or the stock market equivalent of one). So it may be frustrating to hear some investment guy from Chicago telling you that you can't quickly turn $25,000 into $1 million by investing in stocks. 

But I believe – no, I am certain – that anyone who has modest intelligence and a positive attitude can become financially independent in seven years or less if he or she is willing to work enormously hard. 

You do not have to give up on your dream of being wealthy. You always have the ability to change your financial life. It will take a bit of time and patience. And it will require that you change some of the thoughts and feelings you have about wealth and your relationship to wealth.

The first thing you must do is accept the fact that you are solely and completely responsible for your current financial situation. Before you react defensively, read that sentence again... I didn't say you are the cause of your situation. I said you are responsible for it. 

By taking responsibility for your current condition, you also assume responsibility for your future. Nobody can change your fortune but you. And nobody else will. The sooner you accept that reality, the sooner you will shed the anger and blame and begin to feel financially powerful. 

I'm not giving you a pep talk. I'm telling you the truth. I've done it myself, and I've coached dozens of people to do it, too. It is a simple adjustment of your thinking, but it is extremely powerful. It works instantaneously. Without it, you cannot move forward, even by a single inch. 

The next thing you must do is set realistic expectations. I've had people tell me that they don't want to make 10% or 15% per year on their money. They think returns like that are "ho-hum." They want some incredible stock tip or some secret get-rich-quick technique. But when I hear people say that, I think, "This person will never become wealthy." 

Realize that 10%-15% is a high rate of return. Warren Buffett – the most successful investor of all time and the third-richest person on the planet – has averaged 19% on his investments over his entire career. 

And realize that the journey to millions of dollars is earned $100 at a time. You must be willing to accept this fact to move your financial life forward. Your financial life is like a train that has stalled. And right now, you want to be driving it at 100 miles an hour. But it can't go from zero to 100 miles an hour in no time flat. Inertia is against you. Be happy with 10 miles an hour now... and then 20... and then 30. This is how wealth accumulates: gradually at first, but eventually at lightning speed. 

The third thing you must do is thoroughly understand the difference between spending, saving, and investing. With every paycheck you get, cover your necessary expenses first (bills, mortgage, etc.). Then put some money toward saving. And then put some money toward investing. Then and only then – after you have "paid yourself" – should you add to your "spending" account. 

The fourth thing you must do is recognize that your net investible income (the amount of cash you have after spending and saving) is the single most important factor in determining how quickly you will become wealthy. 

 Commit to adding to your income with a second income. Make an honest count of the number of hours each month you devote to television and other non-productive activities. Devote them to wealth-building instead. Cast aside the comfortable shoes of victimization. Put on the working boots of a financial hero.

It's not fun to realize, in the midst of your life, that you haven't acquired the wealth you want. But the good news is your past doesn't have to be a prologue... unless you allow it to. You can change your fortunes today by doing the four things I've just told you to do. 

You are only 47, not 87. You have plenty of time to increase your income and grow your net worth. Why do you assume all is lost when – as any 87-year-old will tell you – you have a whole wonderful life ahead of you... a life that can be rich in 100 ways? 

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]

8 Money Mistakes to Avoid: What the Wealthy Do With Money

What the Wealthy Do With Money

For the average person, a gift of one million dollars would not last long. It might be used to pay off debt, or to buy new items that would quickly depreciate in value. The wealthy are different. They avoid wasting money, and 7 other money mistakes. And that is why, of course, that they are wealthy. 


“A penny here, and a dollar there, placed at interest, goes on accumulating, and in this way the desired result is attained. It requires some training, perhaps, to accomplish this economy, but when once used to it, you will find there is more satisfaction in rational saving than in irrational spending.” – P. T. Barnum 

Most people think preserving money is all about what stocks you pick and which money managers you employ. Not at all. 

What matters most is the right family culture. Families with old money all have their own norms, values and no-nos. These largely determine their success or failure over time. 

What follows is a list of eight taboos for families who want to create "old money." You will have your own list. What's important is that you spend time instilling the values on your list in your kids and grandkids. Your family's success rests on their shoulders. 

Mistake #1 – Consuming, not Producing 

Give $1 million to an average person, and he immediately thinks of what it will buy. But give a million to an old-money family, and it goes into a business... an investment... or a new entrepreneurial venture. 

What matters for old money is producing, not consuming. We don't want to consume goods and services. We don't want to consume information and ideas. We don't want to consume Wall Street's fee-stuffed products for high-net-worth individuals, either. 

Let others drive their fancy cars, carry their expensive handbags and have their addresses in the chic zip codes. Old money doesn't show off by buying things. It prefers to keep a low profile... and a low cost of living. 

Old money knows that investment costs have to be kept down, too. The best way to do that is to avoid hedge funds and structured products. Stick with simple, low-cost, long-term investments. 

Mistake #2 – Spending the Family Fortune 

"Never touch the capital" is a hallowed tradition among old-money families. You may spend the interest on the family fortune – even the capital gains it produces. But woe to the heir who draws down the principal. 

The principal must be kept intact. Any distributions should be of interest, after taxes and inflation adjustments. At today's low interest rates, it is hard to earn much income – safely – from your investments. 

Families are tempted to "dip into capital" to make ends meet. There's a taboo against it for good reason. Once you begin living on a previous generation's savings, you will find it hard to stop... until the family fortune is all gone. 

"Eat only what you kill" it is a better way of expressing the taboo against spending family wealth. 

It allows you to spend only what you make yourself. The earnings from capital go back into the family fortune, replacing losses from inflation and taxes. 

#3 – Doing What Others Do 

Most people want to fit in. They seek social approval by doing what other people do. But if you do what other people do, you will get the results that they get. You will become average... just like they are. 

Having wealth is rare. Having it for more than one generation is rarer still. You don't do that by doing what other people do. You have to think more clearly... and avoid many of the ideas, values and habits that most people have. 

You must be willing to be different. Sorry. But that's the price of having old money. 

#4 – Making a Public Spectacle of Yourself 

Paris Hilton may have enjoyed getting her face in People magazine. But the Hilton family didn't like it at all. Old money likes to keep things private. It favors private businesses, private information, private investments and private lives. 

Private businesses are more profitable to their owners than publicly quoted stocks. They pay fewer legal and accounting fees and spend much less money trying to please investors and the media. 

Today, publicly traded businesses in the U.S. distribute a measly 2%-3% of their profits to shareholders. A privately owned and controlled business, on the other hand, may return significantly more of its earnings to shareholders. 

It may give the owners corner offices, too. In a public company, much of the earnings go to pay CEOs and corporate managers. In a privately controlled corporation, the owners decide who gets the money. 

Old-money families also learn to discount public information – the stuff you get from newspapers and TV. They put a premium on their private information sources. They trust their own eyes and ears... and their personal contacts. 

This attitude informs old-money families' investments. Rather than invest on the basis of what everybody knows, they try to pin their investments on what they know that other people don't. Deep knowledge of particular industries is developed. Special "family secrets" are encouraged. 

Jobs, financing, insurance and a helping hand are available when needed. Old money looks to private sources – primary among them the family – for what it needs. 

#5 – Too Busy to Make Money 

It's capital that counts, not income. Most people – even high earners – are on a treadmill. They earn. They consume. There isn't much left. Since their consumption depends on their income, they are eager to increase their income at every opportunity. 

Not so with old money. It knows that in the long run, income barely matters. It knows, too, that expenses normally rise with income, but not with real capital gains. 

In other words, when you earn more money, your taxes rise... and you tend to spend the extra money on lifestyle enhancements. But if the value of the family farm goes up, the extra wealth tends to stay put. (See No. 7 below.) 

Old-money families don't care as much about income as they do about capital. Often, they live in houses that were bought many years ago (no mortgages)... they drive cars that were fully depreciated during the Bush administration (no car payments; no loss in value)... and they eschew costly fads and fashions of all sorts. 

The typical young person is encouraged to go out and get the best-paying job he can find. Then he enters the labor force and spends the rest of his life trying to stay ahead of his expenses. He becomes a living example of the old expression, "Too busy to make money." 

I tell my children: "Don't worry about how much you make. Worry about what you learn... and what you end up with. Tell your employer you'd rather have equity than a salary increase." 

This is true in your careers. And it is true in your investments. If you worry too much about the current yield, you are likely to miss the real payoff later. 

Trading out of winning stock positions, for example, can trigger taxes and incurs trading costs. In your work, as in your investments, you are better off ignoring income and short-term gains in favor of long-term capital growth. 

#6 – Trying to Beat the Market 

We all have seen the study results. Most of your investment profits come from being in the right market at the right time (beta), not from picking individual stocks (alpha). 

Trying to beat the market is a losers' game. You can count on two hands the number of professional money managers that do it with any consistency. Most individual investors end up having the market beat them. 

If you stick to the romantic notion of beating the market, sometimes you will get it right. Other times you won't. Over the long run, you will make too many mistakes and probably end up poorer than when you started. 

It is better to find a decent market – a beta position – and sit tight. Trading in and out of it... or moving from one market to another... is usually disastrous. The results over the last 30 years, for example, show that an investor in oil, gold, stocks or bonds – had he simply just sat on his positions the whole time – would have had an average annual gain three or four times as high as the average investor during that period. 

Why? 

Because the average investor couldn't sit still. 

I use the term "beta" in a broader sense, too: It is important that you and your family are in the right place at the right time. 

One hundred years ago, for example, Russia had one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. But it didn't matter how good an investor you were. If you had stayed in Russia at the turn of the last century, you would have lost all your money. Stocks, bonds, real estate – all were confiscated by the Bolsheviks. And your family would have waited two full generations before it could begin rebuilding its wealth. 

That's why we spend so much time trying to understand what is going on in the world. Beta matters. 

And we're not alone. A report in a recent Financial Times tells us that most rich people "make the same investment mistakes as the rest." In short, they go with investment fashions – notably hot hedge funds – rather than sticking to a sensible long-term discipline. 

But "the richest of the rich... are different," the report concludes. They "started liquidating their portfolios and slugging money into cash as early as the summer of 2007. The suspicion has to remain that the very wealthiest escaped into cash because they, almost uniquely, understood the gravity of the situation." 

Why? Because the richest were focused on beta. And they weren't distracted by alpha. 

#7 – Selling the Family Farm 

Ordinary people need liquidity. Banks need liquidity. The whole financial system needs liquidity. But it's illiquidity that works for old money. 

Families fare best when they have old assets that are hard to buy, hard to run and hard to sell. A family farm, for example. 

It's not easy to sell a family farm. Family members develop a sentimental attachment to it. It's hard to get all the family to agree on a sale. And you usually can't sell it in pieces. You can't fritter it away. It's all or nothing – a big decision that takes time and reflection. 

Families tend to hold onto their illiquid assets... and they grow. 

#8 – "Na... Na... Na Live for Today" 

Old-money families know they have to give up something today to have more tomorrow – accepting a short-term disadvantage for a long-term strategic advantage. 

Great businesses, great families and great fortunes take time. You have to be willing to invest time and effort... and wait for the payoff sometime in the future. Old money knows how to delay gratification, in other words. 

As Albert Einstein noted, compound interest is the ninth wonder of the world. But it only becomes a miracle at the end, not the beginning. That's when you get the huge increases that create real family fortunes. 

These are 8 lessons I've learned from old money families about how to preserve wealth for generations. Putting these ideas into practice will help create a legacy of wealth for your family.$

[Ed. Note: If you're not happy with your financial situation, you're in the perfect position to change it for the better – right now. Ray has just released a special video that covers an online business system that you can use to start growing your wealth. To watch this short video, click the following link: http://www.raybuckner.com]