Recap for March 2010
The month of March follows our somewhat linear trend with a total revenue of $3421.06!
This is our record month, and throughout the month, we have finally reached the goal of the challenge that inspired us to start making website... the "100 bucks challenge", where Steve Crooks challenged himself to make 100$ a day in 3 months using 1 website and only adsense. Well we did it in 12 months using 46 websites, adsense and other affiliate programs ;) (but anyway, long story short, he did not succeed to make 100$ a day in 3 months using only adsense and 1 website).
And this morning, we woke up with an awesome surprise... A lot of the websites that were ranking low are suddenly moving to the top !! We started adding more content to some of the older websites, and apparently, Google liked it...
Easter weekend is coming up, we would not be surprised if this weekend would see low days of income, due to people probably gathering with their families and friends.
Nat
Lessons from The 4 hours work week
I started following Tim Ferriss blog after a friend sent me the link.
My first reaction was that Tim Ferriss was way too weird to my taste... I didn't believe that he could be 100% truthful in his blog... How he became a tango professional dancer by hiring a local dancer at a local rate, how he learns any language in 3 months by cutting down on some elements usually taught in school, how he wanted to become an actor and became one... in Hong Kong and mainland China...
The other day, while I was visiting some friend in my hometown, that friend and I got talking about Tim Ferriss. That friend of mine happened to had read his book and to have liked it. That why, the other day, as I was browsing in the bookstore, I remembered about Tim Ferriss book... So I went and found it, found a cozy spot in the bookstore to sit down and started reading the book.
I realized that he was nowhere as crazy in the book as he is the blog. The 4 hours work week book is a bit less cliché than Rich Dad Poor Dad. I did find it more enjoyable to read, because Tim Ferriss demonstrates what he means by his weird own experiences. I still think that Tim Ferriss is a little bit odd, but I came to realize, just like Rich Dad Poor Dad, that The 4 hours work week book is a great book for the big concepts it brings and to get start ideas about becoming independently wealthy and create residual income.
So the big idea of The 4 hours work week revolve around 4 concepts: Define your goal, Eliminate distractions to free up your time, Automate your cash flow, Liberate yourself of the traditional and expected stuff.
To define goals. Basically what do you want? Nothing more nothing less... I guess a question we often don't know the answer. That's why we should take some time one day to decide what we really want (What do I really want??)
To eliminate distractions in order to create free time. In summary, learn to focus focus focus on the 20% most important things, and learn to say no. 20% seems a little bit low to my opinion, but it's the general idea I would like to emphasize: focus on important things, and learn to create free time for yourself.
To automate cash flow, create residual income and outsource. I personally think that Tim Ferriss does emphasize too much on outsourcing, and that he sometimes brings the outsourcing to a ridiculous and even offensive level.
To liberate yourself from the conventional, be different. Tim Ferriss recommend to make changes to your professional life, change your job so you can increase your mobility. Use your time to follow your dreams.
Of course Tim Ferriss book is not for everybody. Many people do not want what Tim Ferriss wants to experience. I know many people who are less than interested in trying weird stuff and living around the globe. I find most people like the cozy idea of staying in their hometown, getting a cute house the suburbs, a good job, getting married, having children and possibly early retire at 58-59.
However this conventional lifestyle I find does not suit me (yet), and this why Rich Dad Poor Dad and The 4 hours week work books are so appealing to me. It has open my eyes to all the possibilities beyond my everyday job.
Create residual income?
Like I said in my last post, my next big thing is to decide where I need to start...
I will admit it, I didn't thoroughly read Robert Kiyosaki, Steve Crooks and Tim Ferris blogs or books, nor I have make very much investigation on the topic yet... I kinda read pages there and there, posts there and there, read reviews about them and listen to my close friends talking about them (while I was taking mental notes heeheehee)
The only thing I know... I need to create a residual income. I currently work, but in the future, I would like to be able to generate and collecting money from "X" while doing "Y" in "Z". Now I need to fill out those blanks... Easy to say... less easy to do...
Their secret
So what does Robert Kiyosaki, Steve Crooks and Tim Ferriss all do in common?
They all have very different background, different interests, even different ways of getting there...
How do they achieve to all three, be independently wealthy?
The answer lies behind these three words:
Create Residual Income
.
To create a residual income consists in creating circumstances or conditions where a first boost of effort is needed. After that first boost of work, income keep flowing in, no matter what, with you needing doing minimal or no work at all. In summary, you are earning a passive income for your initial work.
There are many ways to make residual income, most people do it the traditional way, by investing their money in mutual funds, stocks or saving accounts. However, by reading Robert Kiyosaki, Steve Crooks and Tim Ferriss and similar authors, I realized that many more options were available, such as making websites, owning real estate, etc.
The next step is to choose where to start...
My New Year’s resolution
This year's resolution is to become independently wealthy by age 30.
26 of age, I currently work at the hospital. The reason I am doing this is not because I actually hate my job, but mostly because I like the idea of independence. My vision of life is not too work hard and maybe early retired at 55... But more to create a situation in which I will be able to generate money with the freedom of doing what I want to do, where I want to, but no constraints.
Nevertheless, because I've always been in my own cuddly bubble, my knowledge of the world is fairly limited. Therefore, to assist me in achieving my goal, I will follow three gurus of wealth independence:
1. Robert Kiyosaki author of Rich Dad Poor Dad
2. Steve Crooks from the 100 bucks challenge blog
3. Tim Ferriss author of 4 hour work week (blog and book)
Keeping a blog will help me set goals and stay on track. Also, this will be a diary I will refer to to assess my progression toward being independently wealthy at age 30.