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9 Quick Stress Relief Tips to Try Today

There may be affiliate links in this article on quick stress relief tips. If you were to purchase something through the link I would receive a small commission at no extra cost to you, read the full disclaimer here.

 

 

You probably already know that stress can reduce your performance and focus in all areas of your life. 

And stress can pile up quickly in our increasingly busy lives. Getting a balance can be really hard. However, there are some quick stress relief tips that are proven to work and you can use right now.

This post will show you 9 quick stress relief tips that you can try today. 

 

Why is Your Mindset so Important? 

The Happiness Advantage is an incredible book that has proven the importance of happiness on performance. There are around 200 studies in this book that researched over 250,000 people and found one common theme…

Happiness improves performance in nearly every area of our life including:

  • Business
  • Health
  • Relationships
  • Creativity
  • Community involvement

So let me ask you this, do you think it is important to spend time reducing stress in our lives? 

 

Let me tell you the story of 3 different groups of doctors in a study presented by The World Counts. 

One group of doctors were primed to feel happy, one group were given neutral but relevant medicine related statements to read, and one group was given nothing.

They were all given a series of symptoms to analyze.

Can you take any guesses as to how the study played out?

Well, of course, the doctors that were primed to feel happy made decisions and used more creativity to find the correct diagnosis quicker. But would you expect it to be almost 2 times as quick as the other groups?

But that’s not the most interesting part! The most fascinating part of the story is how the doctors were primed to feel happy…

They were given a piece of candy before the test…

And they weren’t even allowed to eat it before the study in case the sugar affected the results!

 

Now let me ask you this, if you are an online marketer or need any creativity with your job then do you think having a positive mind may help you? It’s certainly going to be necessary to reach financial independence and retire early. 

Related: Why Make Time Online? Financial Independence Retire Early Blog

So here are the quick stress relief tips you can try today to improve your performance!

 

#1 Meditation

You’ve probably heard that this one before. 

Meditation is one of the most important high-performance habits out there. You may have seen all these celebrities talking about it and posts on social media about the magic of meditation.

But when are we mere mortals supposed to fit this into our hectic lives?

 

Now let me ask you this…

Do you think successful people have more time to meditate, or do you think they are successful because they meditate?

It’s the whole chicken and egg thing!

 

If you’re like me you probably think that meditating is for hippies sitting in a field with flowers on their hair. But let me tell you something. If you can really start letting your brain switch off more often, it will be much more powerful when you switch it on. 

Yes, it will feel weird the first few times you try it. 

Yes, it is easy to forget to do. 

And yes, you will want to push it to the back burner when life gets busy. 

 

You will never find the time to do anything. If you want time, you must make it.

Charles Buxton

 

Meditating has been scientifically proven to improve performance and reduce stress. 

This fact is verified by Idea Pod. Neuroscientists researched monks that had meditated for more than 20 years. Their left prefrontal cortex (the part of their brain responsible for happiness) had actually increased in size. And it doesn’t have to be a really long time every day… even just a few minutes can have has this effect. 

You’re probably wondering how to even start meditating or what you should think of. Luckily there are some great guided meditation apps available to learn about how to meditate more effectively.

Headspace (Ten 10-minute guided meditation’s for free… A great way to learn what you should be doing!)

Calm (free for teachers and some basic features for free)

 

Note- these are not affiliate links, they are just great apps that I have personally used!

 

https://twitter.com/FCLAFRICA1/status/1106042377922400256

 

#2 Use the Pomodoro Technique 

You may have heard this before too, but my guess would not be to do with stress reduction! 

Stress often sneaks up on us when we are overwhelmed. And the Pomodoro technique is a great way to feel less overwhelmed. Top internet marketers such as John Lee Dumas speak about this religiously as a time-management tip. 

To simply explain what the Pomodoro technique is:

Set a 25-minute timer and focus on one task… then take a 5-minute break. Repeat.com

 (Apologies!!! I hate it when people add “.com” to things, I have just watched a cat video so I’m in a particularly good mood)

 

FUN FACT: The word Pomodoro actually comes from the Italian word for tomato. This was because Francesco Cirillo developed this time-management method using a tomato-shaped timer. 

 

When you use this technique you help to get your mind into a deep state of concentration and only focus on one thing at a time. This helps to:

  • Manage distractions and control your time
  • Increase accountability
  • Improve weekly and quarterly planning
  • Decrease back pain and mental fatigue
  • Maintain motivation

Noisili is an awesome (free) Chrome extension you can use to set a timer and send a bit of white noise into your earbuds. 

The best thing is that when the time is up, the white noise stops, which is much less offputting than an alarm going off. This helps to finish your sentence or thoughts instead of being rudely interrupted!

 

Top tip- I’ve tried a lot of combos for the noises in noisli and I’m currently loving the fan & leaves combo. Play with it and see what works for you! 

 

If you are looking for more ways to make more time then check out “Save Hours of Time with these Resources“. There are some apps in here you absolutely need to use your time more efficiently. Combine this with the course on using Pinterest to automate traffic and you’ll be well on your way to making way more time to sit on the beach sipping cocktails!

 

 

#3 Exercise 

I can almost hear your mind saying “Oh man really, you’re saying this too?”

Well yeah! 

Apart from the fact I’ve been a PE teacher for most of my adult life… it’s again scientifically proven! And it’s probably the most important of the quick stress relief tips.

Imagine what it would be like if exercise didn’t have to be super long. Or if it didn’t have to be super strenuous. In fact, it’s actually recommended it’s not either of these things to reduce stress (unless you really enjoy what it is you’re doing).

The habit is far more important than what it is you do. You really just want to achieve 2 things by exercising to relieve stress:

  1. Release serotonin (the happy hormone) 
  2. Get the blood flowing through your body

 

https://twitter.com/mazefire56/status/947852457312432129

 

A brisk 10-minute walk every day would be way better than forcing yourself to go to the gym and “smash out a 2-hour body blitz”. Especially if you were so achy and put off that you don’t do anything for the next week. 

Look for ways to create a habit out of it. Here are some ideas:

  • Walk the dog every morning 
  • Take the stairs at work
  • Walk to the shops instead of driving
  • Do 10 minutes of yoga in the morning
  • Cycle/ jog/ walk to work 
  • Spend one minute doing one of the exercises below…

 

https://twitter.com/boomboxfun/status/1051784518200422401

 

Who else likes free money?

So if you’d like to get paid for the exercise you already do, then get Achievement. You get paid just for walking, plus loads of other great ways such as taking surveys and logging other exercises that you do.

You’re missing out on free money if you don’t connect your phone with this app!

 

#4 Conscious Random Acts of Kindness

The important word here is conscious. 

Be on the lookout for ways that you can do random acts of kindness for other people. This is one of the best quick stress relief tips out there. 

Big Think conducted some studies that proved that when you give money to someone else (or charity) you get a hit of positivity that lasts much longer than when you spend money on yourself. 

But as you keep skimming through this article, you’re beginning to realise it doesn’t have to be big gestures or money related tasks to reduce stress. 

Here are some free and easy random acts of kindness you can try to reduce stress (remember they need to be conscious!):

  • Holding the door open for someone
  • Giving someone else your last sweetie (candy for our American friends)
  • Making your family a nice dinner
  • Calling a relative you haven’t spoken to for a while 
  • Massaging a loved one
  • Asking a colleague or friend about an issue they have (and LISTENING… you don’t need to fix it!)
  • Playing a game with your children or family
  • Let someone else decide what to watch on TV
  • Send a thank you email (or a handwritten note) to a colleague, family member or friend

Are you beginning to see it’s not the act that is important but the conscious attempt to help others?

 

#5 Writing a Grateful List 

This has a double bonus!

Not only do you feel grateful for something during the day but you can get a hit of positivity when you remember this. Writing 3 things that you are grateful for is an awesome way to notice the little things. 

When you are in the habit of being grateful for the things in your life, you will start to notice more of the things in your life that you should be grateful for. 

If you’re looking for some quick stress relief tips, then this may just be the one you can do right now. 

Top tip- Try to put down one thing you have learnt or read that day. This way these seemingly small pieces of information can produce a whole load of knowledge that you can use. Check out “What I’ve Learnt from Reading Over 100 Books in the Last 3 Years” to see how useful this information can be. 

 

#6 Watching an Inspirational or Funny Video

This is, without doubt, the easiest of the quick stress relief tips you will find on this page. 

Have you ever wondered why those cat videos are loved by so many people? I dare you to watch this and try not to smile!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHH6hIc2GyE

 

These types of videos give us a hit of positivity. They make us feel good and as we now know, we are more productive and creative when we feel good. 

TED talks are a great place to find some serious motivation. 

If you ever have one of those “I can’t be bothered to get out of my PJ’s days” then TED talks are the place to find some inspiration you didn’t even know existed within you!

Here’s Shawn Achor (the author of the Happiness Advantage) to give you quick boost!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJsdqxnZb0&t=627s

 

Top tip- Bookmark a few funny short videos that you know will make you laugh or feel happy. Watch this before you set off to write or do something creative online.

 

#7 Have Something to Look Forward to 

No this doesn’t have to be the holiday of a lifetime, a wedding or the arrival of a baby!

It can be any simple, cheap or free activity that you enjoy. For example:

  • Date night with your partner
  • Games evening with some friends
  • Playing a sport that you enjoy
  • A movie that you want to see in the cinema
  • Invite some friends over for a party
  • A staycation
  • Spa day 
  • Arrange to meet some friends for a big sports event/ concert
  • A street party with your neighbours

By planning for these fun things you have coming up you will actually get a hit of positivity when you plan it… and when you do it! That’s two for the price of one amigo!

And are you beginning to notice that positivity is the antidote for stress?

 

#8 Stop Using Screens Before Bed 

You probably have heard that getting a good nights sleep one of the most important stress relief tips.

However, that is much easier said than done. 

Sleep Foundation explains the science behind why not looking at screens before bed is the best way to improve your sleep. 

Now, I can almost hear your mind thinking “but screens don’t really affect me, and I need it for my work!”

Let me guess “caffeine also doesn’t affect you right?” 

Well, here’s the thing. We are becoming immune to these stimulants. The more we rely on them the more we feel like we need them to feel “normal”. But it’s not normal…

Here are the facts:

  • Screens omit an artificial “blue light”
  • This suppresses the sleep-inducing hormone (melatonin)
  • This makes it harder to fall asleep
  • We get less REM (deep sleep, the main cycle of sleep that we need to have)
  • Therefore we are less alert and awake in the morning (leaving us feeling tired and sluggish)

 

Top Tip- Try reading for half an hour in bed & leave your phone in another room. Steadily increase the time where you don’t look at a screen before bed… remember the habit is more important! You can increase the time before bed without screens after the habit forms!

 

#9 Give Someone a Hug! 

Healthline has found that our body releases Oxytocin (the hug hormone) when we hug, touch or sit close to other people. 

This is another one of the stress relief tips that is scientifically proven to work!

There’s not too much more to be said about this one, find someone to hug and do it! Not only will it help you, but it can be another random act of kindness that can brighten up someone else’s day too.

 

Quick Stress Relief Tips Summary

So there you have it! 

9 quick stress relief tips that you can use today. With each breath you take you feel more and more relaxed and in a positive frame of mind. 

And I can’t leave you without sharing my all-time favourite TED talk (if you don’t have time right now remember to pin this page for later)…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU&t=2s

 

So what is your favourite quick stress relief tip? Have you got any others that aren’t on this list?

 

Keep changing for the better,

 

Mike

 

P.S. If you have enjoyed this article you should definitely check out Shawn Achor’s book “The Happiness Advantage“. His writing style is awesome and you are guaranteed to learn some amazing ways to be more positive every day.

 

P.P.S. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, have a look at my #1 recommended program here. Plus get your free email course on how to turn your blog into a profitable website.

 

 

 

 

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The Ultimate Passive Income Strategy to Retire Early

MTO8- Podcast on the ultimate passive income strategy to retire early. Note, I am not a financial advisor these are just my opinions that have been formed from researching different studies and books. Please, please, please do your own research. Remember, knowledge is power! There may be affiliate links in this article, read the full disclaimer here.

  1. 7 reasons you should invest in index funds today
  2. How to invest in index funds
  3. The ultimate passive income strategy using index funds

 

Everyone knows that the way to retire early is to find a passive income stream. However, it can be hard to know what is the best way to actually achieve this. 

Most people will be willing to put in hard work now if it means they can reap the rewards later on in life. You may be thinking that there really isn’t such a thing as passive income because no matter how you make money you will have to put in some work at certain points. Well, this strategy is the closest thing to earning true passive income.

This podcast will reveal the ultimate passive income strategy to retire early. 

 

How Much Money do I Need to Retire Early? 

(1 min) 

Work out your own “financial freedom figure” so that you would never have to work another day and live off this passive income forever. 

The only number you need to know is how much money you spend each year (annual expenses). 

 

Here’s the maths:

Annual expenses x 25

 

e.g. $50,000 x 25 = $1.25 million

 

Now, I can almost hear your mind saying… How the heck am I going to get $1.25 million? 

This is a great question and is the whole point of this website and podcast. To help you make money, retire early and make more time in your life. 

 

Before we really get into that remember this important quote:

If you aim for nothing you will hit it every time.

 

Related: 

Financial Freedom Book Review

Why Make Time Online? Financial Independence Retire Early Blog

 

Tony Robbins Freedom Stats

(4 min)

These freedom stats will help you to realise why you should start investing ASAP:

  • Corrections (a drop by at least 10%) have happened on average once a year since 1900
  • Less than 20% of corrections turn into a “Bear Market” (fall by over 20%)
  • Nobody can predict the market
  • The stock market rises over time despite many short-term setbacks
  • Bear markets have happened every 3-5 years, historically
  • Bear markets always become bull markets (see chart below)
  • The greatest danger is being out of the market (see chart below)

BEAR MARKET TABLE

 

Why the Stock Market Goes Up Over Time

(5 min)

There are 2 main reasons why the stock market goes up over time:

  1. Inflation
  2. Current financial system

As you absorb this information you’ll realise our current financial system needs growth to survive. You may have heard on the news about how a 2-3% annual growth is healthy for our economy and is good news. 

The fact is it doesn’t have to be!

If there was a set amount of money in the world and it was all backed to something that was finite (such as gold… which is what the economy used to be before 1913…) then growth wouldn’t be needed at all. 

Our current financial system relies on quantitative easing and would implode if deflation was to occur. This means the powers that be do everything in their power to prevent a deflationary economy (resulting in more money being printed, hence an increase in the stock market prices and all assets over time!)

 

Related: 

How our wealth is being stolen- The power of Inflation

Save Hours of Time with these Resources

 

How This Strategy Allows Your Pot to Grow (…and Earn Passive Income)

(6 min)

Remember a 7% return each year is a conservative number compared to the growth of the stock market over the last 100 years.

  • The US stock market has averaged 10.16% annual return between 1920 and 2016- Stat from Andrew Hallam’s book Millionaire Teacher
  • The S&P 500 returned an average of 10.28% a year from 1985 to 2015 (if you invested $50,000 in 1985 that would be worth $941,613.61 in 2015) – Fact from Tony Robbins book Unshakeable

So let’s assume the index fund returned a conservative 7% interest rate (suggested by Grant Sabatier in Financial Freedom). This means you can take 4% out to live on ($50,000) and leave the extra 3% in your pot to allow it to grow!

 

In the example this means:

  • 1.25 million would increase to 1.2875 million

This would mean the following year you could live off $51,500… and your pot would grow to $1,326,125. Are you beginning to see how this strategy is inflation proof?

To learn more about this ultimate passive income strategy to retire early check out this related post:

Examples to Reach Your Figure

(7 min)

So going back to that great question you asked earlier…

“How am I going to get $1.25 million?”

Well, if you could save and invest $20,000 a year you would reach your figure in 23 years. If you’re a high earner this could easily be within your reach as long as you don’t live beyond your means. And don’t you think that sounds better than working for 50 years on the off chance your pension pot pays you when you’re old enough to retire?

 

If you think that would be impossible to save this amount each year, then you may have to find an additional stream of income. After all, if you currently earn $18,000 a year the most you could possibly save is $18,000!

But don’t worry that is where this website will come in handy to help!

 

Related:

Do you remember hearing that there are 4 main asset classes to invest in?

  1. Paper (Stocks, Shares, Bonds etc.)
  2. Property
  3. Business
  4. Commodities 

Investing in these appreciating assets is crucial to building long-term wealth.

If you have no idea where to start I would highly recommend focusing on learning new skills that can be monetised in the future. 

Skills are your future equity. 

 

Can you imagine learning marketing, website design and copywriting skills all whilst making an income? Jumpstart your own profitable website by following this 11-day course for free. 

 

 

ACTION

(12 min) 

There are 3 pieces of action for you to take today that your future self will be very grateful for…

1. If you haven’t already, the first step is to understand what your own financial situation is. Work out where you spend money and how you earn money. 

You can get your free financial statement planner and the tips on how to use it below to easily work out your annual expenses. 

 

 

 

2. The second main way to ensure you are making good financial decisions is to learn more about the current financial system.

You probably know that most people do not understand how the economy works. 

The more you learn about the way that money is used within society the more informed decisions you can make about what to do with your money. By watching these 30 minute YouTube videos you will learn more than what the vast majority of people know about our current financial system. 

If you haven’t got time now, pin this page and come back to it later on for some quality Netflix and chill time 😉

 

 

 

3. Just start! Open an account with Vanguard if you are living in the UK, US or Australia. If you live somewhere else or are an expat you can open an account with Saxo to invest using ETFs. 

Even putting in the lowest amount possible may seem ridiculously far away from your “financial freedom number”. But it is infinitely closer to that number if you currently are not investing anything (I guarantee it’s the hardest step to take, but it’s actually very simple to do!)

Learn more about how to do this in the 2nd episode of this series.

 

The Ultimate Passive Income Strategy to Retire Early Summary

Little by little you begin to notice this ultimate passive income strategy to retire early could be possible. It doesn’t mean getting there is super easy but it certainly can be done!

Taking these small steps and actions will compound over time to make your future situation that much better!

 

 

Keep changing for the better,

 

Mike

 

P.S. Please do subscribe and leave a review here… If you are reading this on a computer find the podcast by going into your podcast app and search for Make Time Online. 

 

P.P.S. Leave a comment on whether you found this mini 3-part series useful on investing in index funds and what you would like to hear more about in the future. 

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How to Invest in Index Funds

MTO7- Podcast on how to invest in index funds. Note I am not a financial advisor these are just my opinions that have been formed from researching different studies and books. Please, please, please do your own research. Remember knowledge is power!

This is a 3 part podcast series on index funds:

  1. 7 reasons you should invest in index funds today
  2. How to invest in index funds
  3. The ultimate passive income strategy using index funds

 

You may agree that finding a way of earning passive income is not very easy. 

Most people will want to find ways of doing this but don’t know where to start. If you listen to episode one of this 3-part podcast you will learn 7 reasons why index funds can provide a genuine passive income stream. 

This podcast will show you how to invest in index funds and the best platforms to use when doing so.


How to Invest in Index Funds if You’re From the UK, US or Australia

(1 min)

There is a simple way to get started if you are from one of these 3 countries… Vanguard.

John C. Bogle (the founder of Vanguard) has basically invented index funds so that normal people can get invest in index funds. 

There are 2 main reasons why Vanguard is the best way to invest in index funds:

  1. Their fees are the lowest you’ll find
  2. You can invest in “retirement funds” which are managed for you

Click the following links to learn more and get started:

Vanguard UK

Vanguard US

Vanguard Australia

 

(Note these are not affiliate links!)

 

Stocks vs Bonds Figures

(5 min)

Stocks are small portions of a company. The company uses this money for growth and you can see an increase in the price of the company stocks if they do well over time. 

Bonds are basically a form of debt (usually for a company or government)- you find out the interest rate and when the borrower agrees to pay you ahead of time. Check out this short Penny Hoarder YouTube video to explain this simply…

 

 

Typically stocks will outperform bonds in the long run. However, bonds are historically much more “safe” and less likely to have a big drop in any given year. 

These are the stats for the 10-year range between 2008-2018:

Bonds- 4.18% annual return 

Stocks- 8.72% annual return

 

 

Just remember if you invest in a single company and it goes bust you would lose all of your money invested with them. When you invest in index funds this cannot happen (unless all the companies in the whole country go bust at the same time). Check out part one for a reminder about this. 

 

The simple way to look at this is that if you are younger it would be wiser to invest more in stocks than bonds (as they have a larger gain over time). If you need to start withdrawing money from your investment pot then you may want to have a higher ratio of bonds as they are less likely to have a big drop in any given year.

This leads to Vanguards amazing retirement funds…

 

Vanguard Retirement Fund Benefits

(6 min)

There are 2 massive advantages of using Vanguard retirement funds. 

  1. Hands off- Saves you more time!
  2. Leave your emotions out of it Rebalance portfolio- Buy low and sell high automatically 

Look at how transparent the fees are for this account as well. You will find it almost impossible to pay such a little amount in fees when compared to transaction costs (if you buy stocks yourself) or management fees you would find in any mutual funds. 

 

 

So the best thing about investing in these retirement funds is that you don’t have to do anything! It’s completely hands off and your account will be managed for you making you more time! But that’s not all…

Morningstar discovered that DIY investors tend to underperform the Vanguard retirement fund.

This is because investors tend to speculate on the market and buy when prices are higher and sell when prices are lower (if you listen to the news it makes it very hard not to do these things!)

So all of this uncertainty in the market at present (March 2019) leading up to Brexit and the trade agreements between USA and China may mean the market is more stagnant or we may even see a correction. But that is a great time to buy more funds (as the market is on sale!) 

Related:

Minimum Amount to Get Started

(11 min)

Now, I can almost hear your mind saying… but I haven’t got enough money to get started. This is a concern that a lot of people have when they start investing. But as you can see the minimum amount to open an account is very reasonable:

  • UK- £500 or £100 per month instalment.
  • USA- $1,000 to get started with a “retirement fund”.
  • Australia – $3,000 to get started with a “retirement fund”.

Just so you know you can put a lot more than this into an account if you have it, but you will likely need a lot less than you may have first thought. 

 

What Account to Open?

UK

If you’re from the UK you get £20,000 per year to put into an ISA (Individual Savings Account). This is completely tax-free and you won’t pay any capital gains tax (CGT) or income tax. Check out Vanguard’s “Benefits of Investing in an ISA” to understand more about which account you should open.

 

USA

If you’re from the US, check out this link to understand more about the best account(s) to open. 

 

Invest for the Long Run

(13 min)

View the money you are putting in like a future pension pot. It’s not money that you can dip into if you want to go on a fancy holiday next year. 

This lets compound interest do its magic over time. 

 

Skip the below video to 6:50 minutes in to see the power of compound interest in a simple story…

 

 

How to Invest as an Expat or From Another Country

(14 min)

Open an account with Saxo for the region you live in.

Invest in ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). These are very similar to index funds but they just have a different fancy name. 

Read Investopedia’s article on the advantages and drawbacks of ETFs to understand them a bit more. 

  1. Open an account with Saxo
  2. Buy ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)
  3. Keep your share allocation as you’d like it by buying more of the underperforming ETF

Read more about this in Andrew Hallem’s article about investing as a British Expat in Singapore. 

 

Related:
The Best Way to Earn Passive Income

 

ACTION

There are 2 action points for today:

  1. Work out your current annual expenses
  2. Open an account to start investing in index funds for where you live 

Finding out more about your current financial situation can be an unbearable thought for some people. It’s much easier just to carry on doing what you’re doing than facing the harsh reality of where your money is going. 

This is a core step in the “Financial Independence Retire Early” (FIRE) community. You can use this great FIRE calculator to figure out how much you need to put aside to retire by a certain age. 

But I can tell you from experience it 100% helps your future self to allocate your money on things that you want rather than finding there’s not enough month at the end of the money.

Related: How we Save £30,000 a Year and Travel as Teachers

 

You can get your free financial statement planner and the tips on how to use it below to easily work out your annual expenses. 

 

 

 

Summary

So should you invest in index funds? Does a bear poop in the woods? 

Listen to the first part of this short series here to see the 7 reasons why you should invest in index funds ASAP. 

As you can see it doesn’t have to be a long task or really complex to get started with investing in index funds. If you can get a Vanguard account then get on like that bears poop would get stuck on velcro. If not find a brokerage account that you can buy ETFs for a low transaction fee (Saxo!)

 

….and remember…

The best time to start investing was when you were born. The second best time is today.  

Keep changing for the better,

 

Mike

 

P.S. Do comment below to let us know what you currently invest in or what is holding you back from starting… or send me a message on WA here

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7 Reasons You Need to Invest in Index Funds Immediately

MTO6- Podcast on reasons to invest in index funds. There may be affiliate links in this article, read the full disclaimer here. Note I am not a financial advisor these are just my opinions that have been formed from researching different studies and books. Please, please, please do your own research

This is a 3 part podcast series on index funds:

  1. 7 reasons you should invest in index funds today
  2. How to invest in index funds
  3. The ultimate passive income strategy using index funds

 

You probably know that finding ways to invest your money can be very time consuming and daunting. 

However, it is possible to make a good return on your hard earned cash without having to spend hours in front of your computer screen. It’s also possible to do this without paying other people to manage a fund or relying on people pay you in the form of interest or rental income. 

This podcast will show you 7 reasons why index funds are so highly recommended by the financial giants of the world. 

If you’d like to see more detail about this podcast then check out this link:

What is an Index Fund? 

An index fund is a public fund that requires no “active” management. 

Basically, you don’t need to buy and sell individual stocks of certain companies, it will simply own all the stocks in the index (i.e. the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 index fund, which is the top 500 companies in the USA)

Simply put, there will be much lower fees that you pay to any brokers because it doesn’t require anyone to select stocks in certain companies.

As you continue to read on and listen to the podcast, you will realise this is the #1 that any investor should spend their time researching (how to lower the fees you spend on investments!)

 

Facts!

These are some of the facts that show why index funds are superior to mutual funds or the average individual investor!

 

  • The US stock market has averaged 10.16% annual return between 1920 and 2016 – (1) 
  • The S&P 500 returned an average of 10.28% a year from 1985 to 2015 (if you invested $50,000 in 1985 that would be worth $941,613.61 in 2015) – (2)
  • The average investor returned 3.66% during this same time (the result was $146,996 in 2015) – (2)
  • A 15-year study in the Journal of Portfolio Management showed that 96% of mutual funds underperformed the S&P 500 stock market index fund – (3)
  • Another study showed that 33 out of 195 (17.5%) mutual funds DISAPPEARED between 1979 and 1999. There’s almost a 1 in 5 chance that your mutual fund may go bust! And there’s no telling which ones they will be – (4)

Are you beginning to see why index funds are recommended by the smartest investors?

 

 

Here are some freedom facts from Tony Robbin’s book Unshakeable, which should help you to realise why you should be involved in the stock market:

  • Corrections (fall by at least 10%) happen on average once a year since 1900
  • Less than 20% of corrections turn into a “Bear Market” (fall by over 20%)
  • Nobody can predict the market
  • The stock market rises over time despite many short-term setbacks
  • Bear markets have happened every 3-5 years, historically
  • Bear markets become bull markets (see chart below)
  • The greatest danger is being out of the market (see chart below)

Unless the current financial system drastically changes then inflation will carry on occurring. This is a big factor in the reason why stocks, bonds, property and all commodities keep going up in the long run.

 

Related content:

How our wealth is being stolen- the hidden power of inflation

 

Sources of Information

  1. Value Line Investment Survey- A Long-Term Perspective Chart 1920-2005 and Morningstar Performance Tracking of the S&P 500 from 2005-2016, www.morningstar.com
  2. Tony Robbins, “Unshakeable- Your Financial Freedom Playbook“, 2017
  3. David F Swenson, Unconventional Success, a Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment (New York: Free Press, 2005), 217.
  4. Robert D. Arnott, Andrew L. Berkin, and Jia Ye, “How Well Have Taxable Investors Been Served in the 1980s and 1990s?” The Journal of Portfolio Management 26, no. 4 (Summer 2000): 86.
  5. Mark Hulbert, “Index Funds Win Again”, February 2009, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/your-money/stocks-and-bonds/22stra.html?_r=0
  6. Andrew Hallam, “Millionaire Teacher- The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School“, 2017
  7. Grant Sabatier, “Financial Freedom”, 2019

ACTION

Watch how incredible compound interest really is!

 

 

This is why you need to get investing… immediately!

 

Now, you may be wondering how you are supposed to actually have enough money to invest in index funds. The first step is to get your own finances in check. My wife, Sarah, and I have used the below financial statement template for the past 4 years, which has helped us to save money and invest more money.

 

Related content:

How we Save £30,000 a year and travel as teachers

Summary

There are so many reasons to invest in index funds as so many financial experts say! But here are 7 big ones:

  1. Don’t Argue With the Facts
  2. Beware of Mutual Funds Managers & Financial Advisors!
  3. Avoid Paying HIGH Fees! (Your main job as an investor)
  4. It Saves so Much Time!
  5. It Forces you to Buy low and sell high
  6. You CANNOT go Bust
  7. Don’t Worry About the Next Crash, remember the 

To see these points in more detail check out this post.

If you enjoyed this podcast then please subscribe and leave a review on iTunes right here.

Keep changing for the better

Mike

P.S. What reason do you think is the most important to invest in index funds?

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Affiliate Marketing

11 Unusual Ways to Improve Your Copywriting Skills Quickly

There may be affiliate links in this article on how to improve your copywriting skills, read the full disclaimer here.

 

Rare thinking people like you already know that you need to improve your copywriting skills if you are producing content online. 

Most people will just keep staying busy and working hard rather than taking the time to improve these skills. I would like to tell you that if you just keep practising your writing you will get better in time. The truth is, it can actually just take a writing cheatsheet to see a huge improvement. 

This blog post will show you different ways to improve your copywriting skills quickly. 

 

#1 Imitate Writers you Admire

“Whoa! Are you saying that I should copy other people’s work?

I’m all for unusual ways but that’s just plagiarism!!”

 

No pumpkin! I’m just saying start looking out for great copy! If you read something and it makes you want to buy it then keep hold of it. 

Better yet, if you notice a family member or friend that has bought something due to an advert… KEEP THAT COPY!

Start a Copywriting Collection. 

  • Use a physical box for the stuff that you find physically (leaflets/ magazines/ newspapers etc.)
  • Use Evernote (your digital brain… and it’s free) to “clip” or save articles you find online. 

When you need some inspiration simply check out your collection and imitate your favourite copy. Books are a great way to learn more about copywriting and find some of the best copywriters that you would like to imitate.

 

#2 Write in the Morning 

That heading was almost “write when you are most productive”.

But do you know what? I am yet to hear someone say that they tried to be productive first thing in the morning but found that they couldn’t!

Yes, it’s hard to get out of bed earlier. 

Yes, you want to listen to your procrastination monkey. 

But speaking from experience (and other people that have tried this), I guarantee you will boost your productivity and write better. It may take a few days to get used to it if you like your lay-ins. However, these are the basic steps to write better and more efficiently:

  1. Set your alarm 1 hour earlier
  2. Go to bed 1 hour earlier
  3. Write the template for your post the night before (if you’ve already written it then re-read the template before going to sleep)
  4. Force yourself to wake up when the alarm goes off
  5. Get some water (and a coffee if you must!) 
  6. Write!

Now, there is some sort of magic that goes on overnight. I can’t explain the neuroscience behind it, but with practice, your brain will magically have formed what you want to write.

This is one of the simplest ways to improve your copywriting skills. 

 

CHEESE! Yes, that’s me writing this post early doors.

 

#3 Spend More Time Editing Than Writing

This is the author of Hypnotic Writing, Joe Vitale’s, secret!

 

Related Article:

Hypnotic Writing Review- How to Persuade and Seduce Customers with Only Your Words

 

He spends much more time editing and rewriting his work than he does actually writing it. 

There are 3 reasons for this:

  1. He researches and plans his work before writing it.
  2. When he writes he uses a blank page and lets his subconscious mind take over.
  3. Only after he’s finished writing does he go back through his work with his cheat sheet.

Note, he even admits that his cheat sheet is his secret weapon and crutch. 

 

Let’s see if we can write that sentence more hypnotically…

You don’t realise it yet, but the best copywriters admit that a cheat sheet is their secret weapon and crutch. 

 

Let’s see if we can make it more active now…

You don’t realise it yet, but Joe Vitale reveals, “my cheat sheet is my secret weapon and crutch.” 

 

Without this cheatsheet or some sort of swipe file, writing to persuade and influence people’s decisions would be so much harder. When you have the cheat sheet you just look for places to add in hypnotic phrases.

You probably know this already but using the Grammarly extension (free) helps to correct spelling and grammar mistakes as you write online. It’s a MUST HAVE!

You can find out some of the other resources that all digital marketers need to save time and make money.

 

Related content:

#4 Use a Hypnotic Writing Cheatsheet 

This is the easiest way to improve your copywriting skills. 

Have you ever read someone’s work and been amazed at how easily it flows? 

Did it make you wonder how you ended up scrolling through a super long web page for the past 10 minutes? Even though you knew it was clearly trying to sell you something!

Well, my amigo, that is hypnotic writing. 

It occurs in books that you can’t put down and it exists online. 

Are you beginning to realise that there are words and phrases that are scientifically proven to grab your readers attention and persuade them to buy something?

Drift back to a time when you bought something online. What was it that made you make the purchase? Chances are that the copy you read used hypnotic words and phrases whether the writer realised it or not.

Now, wouldn’t it be amazing if you could get a hypnotic cheatsheet for free right now? 

 

 

#5 Entertain! Use an Analogy or Simile Book

Going overboard with humour when you are trying to sell something is as welcome as a french kiss at a family reunion. 

But let’s face it… 

People want to be entertained. 

Plus if you can make your point through a metaphor or analogy people can come to the conclusion themselves! This is much more powerful than spelling something out to them.

Which sentence do you think is more effective?…

  1. Buy this course to get more traffic from Pinterest.
  2. Imagine what you could do if you could double your traffic by spending 1 hour a month on your marketing… 

#6 Tell Stories to Sell in Stealth Mode

Hey buddy! Why don’t you buy this top of the range course that I’m about to sell to you in just a moment?

I’ll tell you what it has…

  • How to drive traffic from SEO
  • Training that will smash other stuff out of the park
  • How to make a killing from Facebook ads
  • A ready-made website that will make you $3,789 a day for doing nothing!

Right, be honest now… How many times have you seen something like this before?

And what did you do after you read it?

Too right! You clicked that fat red cross in the top left and never went back to this spammy website!

NOBODY likes to be sold to! However, everyone likes to buy things 😉

This means it’s your job as a copywriter to persuade someone to make a decision that will help them, without forcing a sale down their throat. 

 

Three Feet From Gold

Let me tell you the story of Napolean Hill’s “Three feet from gold”…

R.U. Darby was caught by the gold fever in the gold-rush days. He spent weeks digging and using his pickaxe plus machinery to discover a shining ore. His family and some of his neighbours helped him dig along the gold vein thinking they were sure to find gold at the end of it. 

And then one day, they lost the vein. 

Darby panicked. They drilled hopelessly trying to find the vein again, but it was gone. 

Eventually, they quit.

They sold all the machinery they had bought to some junk man and set off back home. 

However, this junk man had also heard of the gold rush. So he hired a mining engineer to do a bit of calculating. The engineer told the junk man that he thought the tunnel already created was only 3 feet away from the vein.

The junk man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine.  

Well, let me tell you something else. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get blogging experts knowledge, some of whom are making over $100,000 per month from their blog?

These experts courses have been condensed into 11 days worth of knowledge that can be dripped into your inbox, with simple actionable steps each day. 

If you feel like you have been digging for gold for a long time, this may well be your engineer…

 

 

#7 Recommending Something Great… to the Right Person

This is a bit of a no brainer but you would be surprised how often this one gets overlooked!

Let me ask you this.

If you knew someone that loved football and you managed to get tickets to the World Cup final for £100 do you think they would be interested?

Well Duh!

Now, let me ask you this…

Do you think you could sell those tickets to an introverted music lover who can’t stand being in big crowds?

 

I think you get the point… NEXT!

 

#8 Get Out of Your Ego 

What you want doesn’t matter. You must write to your readers wants. 

Simply put:

Don’t write what you want them to do… write what will benefit them!

 

Personally, I find it really time-consuming marketing and getting my blog posts in front of people. So I’ve spent a lot of time researching how to use Pinterest to make my blog marketing more automated. I’ve managed to double my traffic within one month of using these Pinterest strategies.

 

Related content:

The Top 4 Secret Pinterest Hacks

How to Use Pinterest for Beginners

 

That previous paragraph is irrelevant!! You don’t care!! Let’s see if we can rewrite that paragraph by getting out of my ego…

 

Of course, you’ve heard that Pinterest is by far the best social media platform to drive traffic to your website. But do you know why?

People use Pinterest to find information in a similar way as to how they use Google. You can use keywords in your titles and descriptions of your pins. Plus, it’s possible for people to find a pin from a couple of years ago, unlike a tweet. Other forms of social media are primarily to interact or see what other people are up to. Simply put:

  • Google = User to content
  • Pinterest = User to content
  • Facebook = User to user
  • Twitter = User to user

Are you beginning to see how Pinterest can help you to get a constant stream of traffic to your blog posts?

STOP and picture what you could do if you could automate this traffic from Pinterest.

 

 

#9 Use Short Sentences & Paragraphs

Why?

They are easier to read of course. 

It helps to keep your readers attention. 

The more they read, the more engaged they are in your writing!

Plus, it’s a proven fact that people skim a lot more when reading things online…

 

 

So you want to make it easy to read… but don’t overdo it! It can make the text look too choppy and even make it harder to get a sense of the flow of ideas.

If you want to see some excellent use of short paragraphs and sentences online then check out the book review of Kelvin Dorsey’s book below. 

 

Related Article:

Book Review 81 Days to Becoming on Online Sales Machine

 

#10 Create Excitement and Curiosity 

Here’s a fact for you:

You can create excitement and curiosity by placing mental images into peoples heads. 

Here are some ways to inflame curiosity:

  1. Questions
  2. Riddles
  3. Unknown resolutions
  4. Violated expectations
  5. Access to information known by others
  6. Weird and wacky

If you can do any of these things you’re much more likely to get clicks on your links.

 

Related content:

Experts explain how to persuade and seduce customers with only your words.

 

#11 Write Damn Good Headlines! 

You probably know that the title is more important than the post itself. 

If you can’t get people to start reading your copy then is there any point in writing it?! That is why you want your headline to grab attention and push peoples emotions so that they want to read your writing.

The one job of your headline is to get people reading the first line. 

The only job of the first sentence is to make people read the second sentence. I think you see where this is going…

There are so many proven headline templates that you could use. It would be too much to write about in this post, but here are a few examples:

  • Promise a benefit i.e. Free from backache in 10 minutes!
  • Offer something free i.e. Free Book on Car Repairs
  • Use how-to headlines i.e. How to Win Friends and Influence People

You can find 13 headline templates plus the best emotional and eye-grabbing words to use within your headlines in the Hypnotic Cheatsheet freebie above.

Once you have thought of a few different headlines, run them through these 2 headline tools:

  1. Coscheduler– Great to get a quick rough idea
  2. Aminstitute– More accurate at giving an emotional score

 

If you are writing copy online and you want it to be found on search engines then the keyword you use is so important. That’s why using a keyword research tool can help to show you what keywords get the most searches per month and what keywords have the least competition (other websites using the keyword). 

It’s a great way to reach the low hanging fruit that exists!

 

Related content:

 

#12 BONUS- Use the Word “Secret” 

Why does the word “secret” entice people in so much?

  • People are innately fat and lazy! “Secret” implies doing less work
  • People are curious creatures
  • Most people feel like everyone else is in on something that they aren’t
  • People are competitive (have you ever looked for a car park space in a full car park?…)
  • “Secret” implies you’ll gain an advantage over others

If you want to get more clicks on your work, then use this secret!

 

Improve Your Copywriting Skills Summary

So there you have it! 

It doesn’t have to be a really long and tedious task to learn how to improve your copywriting skills. Have you noticed yet that there are so many ways to see an improvement quickly?

Imagine what it would be like if you could help reach more people to live a life that they dream of. 

Your copywriting skills may just be the one thing that will help you to be able to help them. 

 

Keep changing for the better,

 

Mike

 

P.S. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here

 

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    Podcast, Blogging for Beginners

    MTO5 w/ Pete McPherson – The Future of Digital Marketing is Going to be…

    The future of digital marketing… Seriously?

    Yep, it’s revealed in this podcast. And if you don’t believe me, decide for yourself.

    About Pete

    2 mins
    the future of digital marketing

    Pete is a normal guy. 

    Band Nerd. 

    Majored in music… and then decided to quit before finishing. 

    He did the odd job, then tried more college degrees. 

    And finished in the most exciting career path known to man…

    No not astronauting…

    Accounting!

    He found the American dream and jumped straight into the script, only to find he was miserable 🙁

    And so he did what everyone else does (or do they?)… 

    Blogged.

    Why do Some Projects not Work? 

    14 mins

     

    Pete tried loads of blogs/ business ideas (around 50 in 10 years!) So he has a good idea of what does and more importantly for us… what does not work.

    Main lesson:

    He found that he didn’t give his blogs the time to grow. 

    It takes more time than you think.

    As a general rule, you should plan what you expect to happen and times it by 3!

    Breaking the $10k per month barrier!

    20 mins

    14 months into Pete’s current website, Do You Even Blog, he made over $10K in one month (November 2018). Here is his $9,663 July 2018 report.

    He’s now working on funnels to be more personalised and automated to create more passive income. This just so happens to be a sneak peek into what WILL help you stand out like Shaquille O’Neil at a midgets convention. 

    Related Articles:

    Start Monetising Your Blog

    23 mins

     

    Pete is a big fan of creating his own products.

    However, if you are just starting out then creating paid products is not the way to go.

    With the right audience you can do anything

    Your focus should be on growing your audience. 

    To do this you need to tell the same story on everything!

    To monetise a website early on you can use advertising (this is not recommended for some niches i.e. digital marketing can detract trust) and affiliate marketing.

    But one of Pete’s regrets is focusing on monetising his website(s) too soon. 

    Related articles:

    How to Optimise Your Time!

    31 mins

     

    So let’s just reel these off:

    1. Get fast internet
    2. Turn the sensitivity on your trackpad/ mouse to the max! 100% DO THIS!!
    3. Type faster- if your typing speed is under 75 then improve this (Pete’s is over 100… mine is 48 aka new challenge for me this week!) click here to test yourself
    4. Make your content hyper personalised and timely (check out Brennan Dunn’s stuff doubleyourfreelancing.com)

    Main takeaway:

    The future of digital marketing is going to be HYPER personalised and timely.

    You heard it here first! (well I did anyway)

    Related article:

    Confronting Self Doubt

    46 mins

    There’s no easy answer here but I think Pete did a great job:

    1. Receive real feedback- although you can’t plan for this!
    2. A close group of people that are doing what you’re doing i.e. a mastermind group

    Finding people that are doing what you are doing is SOOOO important. Because it’s unlikely that many people you know will be doing something exactly like you. 

    It helps for motivation, accountability and sanity!

    Find them, engage, stay in contact. 

    ACTION & Links

    60 mins

    Do You Even Blog– Pete’s homepage is so well designed and so easy to navigate to a section that suits you! (Do you notice how it’s personalised?)

    Twitter- @doyouevenblog

    Podcast- Do You Even Blog

     

    Make sure you do these 4 things, they can change your life!

    Action!…

    • Increase mouse sensitivity
    • Get fast internet
    • Type faster
    • Start a blog

    If you’re interested in learning tips for how to get traffic using Pinterest then sign up below for a free email course.

    The Future of Digital Marketing Summary

    There are so many little gems in this chat with Pete. I highly recommend listening to the section on optimising your time from 31-46 minutes if you’re looking for some game-changing results with your digital marketing. 

    Here are my top 5 takeaways from this chat:

    1. Optimise your job- you don’t have to quit straight away you can have a side hustle and security. 
    2. Build a community- it doesn’t have to be massive even a few people that you really help!
    3. Mastermind group- find like-minded people doing the SAME thing
    4. Make content personalised and timely- This is the FUTURE!
    5. Don’t do what everyone else is doing

    And are you beginning to see that the future of digital marketing is going to be personalised and timely?

    If you have any questions or thoughts drop a comment below.

    Keep changing for the better,

    Mike

    P.S. If you are still doubting whether you should give blogging a try then I dare you to click this and not want to give it a shot… I believe in blogging

    Seriously… I dare you!

    Oh and don’t forget to pin this!

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      Blogging for Beginners

      5 Top Ad Networks for Bloggers to Make Money Quickly

      There may be affiliate links in this article on the best ad networks for bloggers, read the full disclaimer here.

      So I heard an awesome podcast the other day with a really cool study.

      best ad networks for bloggers to make money

      It was so good in fact that I’ve linked to it right here:

      How do Bloggers Make Money – The Blogging Millionaire

      The biggest takeaway was that bloggers who earn $2,000-$7,500 per month make up their income with 35% of their income from Ads on average.

      That is massive!! Over a third of their income comes from adverts… on average!

      Once bloggers start earning more than $7,500 per month they are not so reliant on ads and spend more time focusing on affiliate marketing and creating courses.

      But this made me realize… I’m almost 6 months in and I don’t have any ads!

      And if you want to make more than $2,000 per month from your blog… you’re gonna need them!

      Check this out…

      the best ad networks for bloggers

      With that, shall we?

       

      How do Websites Make Money Using Adverts?

      That is the right question amigo!

      You generally get paid in one of 2 ways:

      1. Revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) i.e. $4 for every 1,000 views
      2. Pay per click (PPC)

      Different networks will pay your website in different ways so it’s important to work out how much you will get paid i.e. Adsense will pay roughly $2 RPM. This means if you have 10,000 page views a month you will receive $20.

      This begs the question…

      Should You Even Bother With Adverts? 

      Now, I can almost hear your mind saying…

      “But adverts will make my website look tacky, is it really worth it for a few dollars?!”

      You may have a point but here are 4 BIG reasons why you should use adverts ASAP:

      1. Your readers will become used to seeing ads on your website… so it won’t be a big shock when you add them!
      2. You could miss out on a post going viral.
      3. Something is better than nothing, it can offset other costs such as automatically pinning on Pinterest with Tailwind
      4. People are used to seeing ads everywhere, so it won’t look as strange as you may think (Youtube, TV, Podcasts, Newspaper etc.)

      You can also help to connect people with a great product! As long as the ads you have are related to what you write about and useful.

      The main thing to remember is that if you are providing quality content consistently your readers generally won’t mind having some ads on the page. In fact, a lot of them will be happy that you are getting paid if it means you can spend more time giving them quality content!

      Related Articles:

      Advertising Networks

      We will look at the pros and cons of using different advertising networks in this article.

      And since the majority of income from ads comes from 4 networks we will look at ONLY these 4 (note there are others):

      • Google AdSense
      • Media.net
      • Monumetric
      • MediaVine
      • AdThrive

      best ad networks for bloggers

      Adsense

      Requirements

      Content must comply with Adsense policies ideally a blog over 6 months old

       

      Earnings range

      $1-$4 RPM

      Pros

      • Most bloggers will be able to get approved on Adsense and
      • The best option for bloggers that get less than 10,000 monthly page views.

       

      Cons

      • They do not allow ads in a sticky sidebar
      • Don’t allow ads on mobile devices.
      • Low earnings

      Media.net

      Requirements

      No offensive or negative content

       

      Earnings range

      Not much!

       

      Pros

      • If you can’t get approved on Adsense then it’s worth giving this a shot.
      • You can place ads on the sticky sidebar (increases the impressions aka views).

       

      Cons

      • Low earnings

      Monumetric

      Requirements

      10,000 page views per month

       

      Earnings range

      $2-$5 RPM

       

      Pros

      • 10,000 page views per month is not as much as some other networks
      • Monumetric will generally pay you more than Adsense.

       

      Cons

      • They require at least 6 ad slots per page, which is a lot if you don’t have posts over 2,000 words!
      • Still quite a low RPM.

      MediaVine

      Requirements

      25,000 page views per month

       

      Earnings range

      $6.67-$13.58 RPM

       

      Pros

      • They accept bloggers across all the major blogging niches.
      • Can double or triple your income for ads compared to Adsense

       

      Cons

      • The reason they tend to pay more than Adsense is because their ads “stick” to the sidebar. This means when users scroll down the ad still stays on screen (could be seen as a pro depending on how you look at it)

      AdThrive

      Requirements

      100,000 page views per month

      Must have U.S. based majority

       

      Earnings range

      $8.77-$19.89 RPM

       

      Pros

      • The highest RPM ad network
      • They are willing to pay a higher premium as their ads ONLY show up on high quality and specific websites.

       

      Cons

      • But it’s the most “picky”.
      • It is estimated that 75% of applications are rejected, as they prefer specific niches:

      1. Food

      2. Parenting

      3. Home-related

      Create a Money Making Website in 9 days

      Find out how you can design a website to make money. Use the step by step approach to set your website up for success

      Powered By ConvertKit

      So What Does This Mean? 

      There’s a couple of charts that pretty much sums this all up…

      best ad networks for bloggers

      best ad networks for bloggers

      As you can see, over 1 in 5 bloggers making over $2k+ per month use Adsense. But only 2% of the overall income from adverts is paid from Adsense.

      The point is…

      When you qualify to apply to other networks, do it!!

      You will just be leaving money on the table otherwise and you can easily see a 2-3 times increase in your advertising income! Plus you will provide better quality adverts that may actually help your audience.

      Best Ad Networks for Bloggers Summary

      Are you beginning to see how important it is to monetise your website with adverts?

      The 5 best ad networks for bloggers are:

      • Google AdSense
      • Media.net
      • Monumetric
      • MediaVine
      • AdThrive

      Bloggers starting out should use Adsense ASAP.

      Once you hit the requirements of MediaVine you should change to this network as soon as possible.

      If you are in the “food” or “mummy” niche you should focus on getting over 100,000 page views per month to really benefit from using AdThrive.

      And do you begin to notice that content is ALWAYS king?

      If you write posts that help your readers it will increase your page views per month and they will not mind putting up with a couple of ads at the side.

      Keep changing for the better

      Mike

      P.S. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, have a look at my #1 recommended program here, which I am currently using.

      P.P.S. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here

      Pin this if you think this should be shared!

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      Blogging for Beginners

      Discover the Best Niche to Make Money Online

      There may be affiliate links in this article on the best niche to make money online, read the full disclaimer here.

       

      Imagine what it would be like if you knew what was the best niche to make money online.

       

      THE BEST NICHE TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

       

      Now let me ask you this…

      “What are you passionate about?”

      If you’re like me then this is a question that you have often asked yourself.

      But there is a slight issue to this question with making money online…

       

      The playing field is not always equal depending on what niche you choose.

      As you absorb this information, you’ll realise these differences and find out what the best niche to make money online is.

      If you are wondering whether your niche is profitable, about to start a blog or thinking of starting within a new niche, then read on to see these findings…

       

      But I’m Not Interested in Just Making Money I Want to Enjoy What I do!

      Yes!!!

      That’s the response I was hoping for!

       

      So it’s important that I start with this disclaimer:

      Any online niche can make money. And they have a much greater chance of succeeding if you are passionate about what you do! Passion will show in every blog post that you write and it will never feel like work. This will allow you to reach higher levels of income than you could in a niche that you weren’t interested in.

       

      However, this article is using facts from a study by the Millionaire Blogger to help you see the best niche to make money online.

      Read the Blog Income Report Research Study

       

      What are the BIG 6 Niches? 

      Brandon Gaille found that the most profitable blogs that he studied fell into 6 niches:

      1. Food
      2. Personal Finance
      3. Mommy
      4. Travel
      5. Marketing
      6. Lifestyle

      The lifestyle niche included a variety of interests that made up their everyday lives such as fitness, fashion, journaling and sewing.

      The Mommy blogs could have fallen into this niche. But he found there were enough that had a clear focus on motherhood and used the word “mommy” or “mom within the title.

      If the blogger wrote about SEO, blogging, social media marketing and small business then they fell into the marketing niche.

      Personal finance, food and travel are pretty self-explanatory!

       

      This study uncovered 2 main findings:

      1. Which niche had the most bloggers making $2k+ per month?
      2. Which niche had the highest median monthly income?

       

      This then resulted in the best niche to make money online. 

       

      Related Articles:

       

      #1 How Many Bloggers Make $2,000+ Per Month? 

      There seems to be a pretty clear cut off point from blogging being a hobby to becoming a more serious business.

      What is that cut off point?

      When it starts earning more than $2,000 per month!

      So Brandon worked out the percentage of bloggers earning more than $2k per month for each niche.

      Here are his findings…

       

      the best niche to make money online

       

      As you can see the top three niches make up 62% of the bloggers in this study who were making $2k+ each month:

      1. Personal finance- 24%
      2. Marketing- 21%
      3. Food- 17%

       

      #2 Which Niche had the Highest Median Monthly Income? 

      Wow, these findings are eye-opening!

       

      the best niche to make money online

      As you can see the personal finance and food niches stand out like Vince Vaughn at a midgets convention.

       

       

      The BIG 3 Findings

      Now, there are 3 huge takeaways from the study. 

       

      #1 Personal finance is the best niche to make money online. The food niche is not too far behind.

      Brandon even made an equation to leave him with a score out of 100 to answer this question…

      What is the best niche to make money online?

      The closer the score to 100, the easier it is to make money in this niche:

       

      the best niche to make money online

       

      #2 The marketing niche has an easy path to reach $2k per month

      Even though the marketing niche has the lowest median income out of the 6 niches it still ranked 3rd overall.

      This is because it seems like it’s much easier to reach $2k per month.

      It’s possible to sell online courses that people would pay a high price tag for (unlike in the food niche) and there are heaps of affiliate marketing opportunities.

      However, the marketing niche is much more saturated than other niches such as personal finance. This competition makes it hard to really grow your traffic or build your email list.

       

       

      As you can see there is over 3.5 times the number of marketing blogs that appear on a Google search compared to personal finance blogs. 

       

      #3 The food blogging niche has a different income distribution to most. 42% of their income comes from ads!

      Food blogs tend to get higher monthly engagement than other blogs… This is because people eat every day! So they will often click onto a recipe that they are looking for that night.

      Look at it this way… It’s not every day you are looking for a new credit card of a budget sheet!

       

       

      This means food blogs tend to make higher monthly impressions and AdThrive (the highest paying ad network) is specifically targeted for food bloggers. AdThrive provides great ads for food blogs, which means visitors will be more likely to click on an ad as it is relevant for why they are on that website anyway!

       

      Related articles:

       

      Further Questions That Need Answering

      Now, there are some clear results from these findings but it does leave us needing some more information to determine how conclusive the research is.

       

      Here are some questions that would be great if Brandon could answer:

      1. How were these blogs selected for this study?
      2. How many blogs were in each niche? (there are a lot more marketing blogs that exist compared to something like the personal finance niche)
      3. Does this mean there are some biases to finding better know blogs in certain niches?
      4. What are the personal finance and marketing distribution of income?

       

      The Best Niche to Make Money Online Summary

      Unlike most articles you may find about what the best niche to make money online say, this shows a clear winner!

       

      So the personal finance and food niches stand out as the most lucrative of the blogging niches. However, do you remember reading the disclaimer earlier?…

      Any online niche can make money. And they have a much greater chance of succeeding if you are passionate about what you do! Passion will show in every blog post that you write and it will never feel like work. This will allow you to reach higher levels of income than you could in a niche that you weren’t interested in.

      STOP! 

      Now read that again.

       

      On the other hand, you may be interested in 2 niches i.e. Travel or food. Now you have a clear road map about which one will be more lucrative and it would be worth pursuing your interest in food if you were on the fence!

      The more you keep reading this article, the more you will understand what the best niche to make money online is.

       

      Keep changing for the better

       

      Mike

       

      P.S. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, have a look at my #1 recommended program here, which I am currently using.

       

      P.P.S. Remember to pin this post and if you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here

       

       

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      Podcast

      How to Make Money Online- Revealed!

      MTO4- There may be affiliate links in this article on how to make money online, read the full disclaimer here.

      This Podcast will show you how to make money online.

      how to make money online

      There are 3 main ways that bloggers make money online:

      Advertising

      This can be broken down into 2 main methods:

      1. Advertising Networks
      2. Direct advertising

      Related content:

      How does Blogging Make Money

      Affiliate Marketing

      This is simply connecting people online to what they are searching for. 

      Making good recommendations is vital to be successful here. Also, the great news is it can be relatively passive income as one post can pay you in years to come.

      Related Articles:

      Creating and Selling Own Courses/ Products

      This is how to make the big bucks online.

      And do you remember, it’s important to create a course that people want? Therefore, the most successful people find what their audience would like and make it for them!

      Action

      Check out these Income reports from Michelle Schroeder-Gardner:

      1. Stage 1 $0-$2k – $672 in May 2012 (a bit of this and a bit of that!)
      2. Stage 2 $2-$7.5k – $6,523 in January 2013 (mainly income from ads and freelance work)
      3. Stage 3 $7.5-$25k – $320k in 2015 (notice the increase in affiliate income!)
      4. Stage 4 $25k+ – $979k in 2016 (her first online course was released)

      You MUST check this study out because it’s incredible!!…

      Blog income report study- Brandon Gaille 

      It shows you a road map as to how bloggers can make money and how it can scale!

      How to Make Money Online Summary

      The more you listen to this podcast the more you will realise how to make money online. And do you begin to notice how it’s possible for anyone?

      Keep changing for the better

      Mike

      P.S. If you are interested in making money online to free up your time, have a look at my #1 recommended program here, which I am currently using.

      P.P.S. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to drop a comment below… or send me a message on WA here

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      Make Money, Blogging for Beginners

      How does Blogging Make Money?

      There may be affiliate links in this article about “how does blogging make money?” read the full disclaimer here.

       

      After you read this article you will have learnt the answer to the question “how does blogging make money?” 

       

       

      I don’t want to faff around so let’s get into it!

      There are 3 main ways to monetise a blog.

      1. Advertising
      2. Affiliate Marketing
      3. Creating and selling your own products or courses

       

      1. Adverts

      You probably know there are 2 different ways to make money from advertising:

      1. Advertising Networks
      2. Direct advertising/ sponsored posts

       

      Advertising networks

      This is probably what most people will think of when they think of making money from adverts.

      There are a few different networks that bloggers can use but here are the main ones:

       

      • Google AdSense- Little requirements, I’ve heard it helps to have a website for 6 months
      • Monumetric- need 10,000 page views a month
      • Mediavine- need 25,000 page views a month
      • Ad Thrive- need 100,000 page views per month

       

      As you can see there are different requirements to work with each network but the ads generally pay more the harder the requirements are.

       

      So how do you get paid from having adverts on your website?

      That is the right question!

      You generally get paid in one of 2 ways:

      1. Cost per thousand (CPM) i.e. $4 for every 1,000 views 
      2. Pay per click (PPC)

       

      If you are a new blogger it’s best to start with Google AdSense even though the pay will be the lowest.

      It will probably pay around $2 per thousand “impressions” (how many people see the ad i.e. view your website) i.e. 10,000 views in a month pays $20 (so it’s not much!)

       

      Now, I can almost hear your mind saying…

      “But that will make my website look tacky!” 

      You may have a point but here are 4 BIG reasons why you should use adverts ASAP:

      1. Your readers will be used to seeing ads… so it won’t be a big shock when you add them!
      2. If you have a post that does go viral you will be thankful you had them on there.
      3. Something is better than nothing, it can offset other costs such as automatically pinning on Pinterest with tailwind 
      4. People are used to seeing ads everywhere (Youtube, TV, Podcasts, Newspaper etc.)

       

      Not only that, you can actually help connect people with products that may help them if you choose good and relevant adverts to what you write about.

       

      Starting with AdSense helps to learn the process.

      It will make the future switches much easier to know where to place the ads and how to work with the network etc.

       

      Related Article:

      Bloggers! How to make money with Adverts

       

      Direct Advertising/ Sponsored Posts

      Now, this way is slightly less well known but it can be more lucrative for beginner bloggers.

      Direct advertising is when a company reaches out to you to either publish a post on their behalf or ask you write a post for them. It may be a review of a product or simply a post about their industry.

      The idea is that they would want a link to their product or their own website and your blog will send targeted traffic there!

      The price of this can vary greatly but will typically be over $150 and can go into the $1,000’s depending on how relevant and big your website is.

       

      So let’s move onto the next monetisation method…

       

      Related Articles:

       

      2. Affiliate Marketing

      Affiliate marketing is the best thing for bloggers since sliced bacon!

      A big reason some people never start (or quit too soon) is because they don’t know what product to create… YET!

      The best thing about affiliate marketing is that you can start earning a decent income without even having your own product! It’s not uncommon for bloggers to earn $6,000+ per month from promoting other people’s products. 

       

      Now, I used to get a bit funny about “selling” stuff to people. Especially when it isn’t even my own product!

      However, let me ask you this…

      Have you ever watched a film that you recommend a friend go and see at the cinema? Or have you ever told a friend about an amazing deal after you found one in H&M? 

      Of course you have!

       

      That’s why as long as you only recommend great products that will help other people, you’ll actually be providing a service. If they buy it and it helps them then they will thank you for it!

      Affiliate marketing is all about connecting people that are already looking for a product.

      The important thing is to be honest.

      I mean think about it… If you’ve tried the product out you are much more likely to know some of the things that other people will be concerned about or looking for.

       

      Related articles:

       

      There are loads of other programs or products you can become an affiliate of and a whole range of different “niches” (topics) you can choose to write about.

       

      Examples:

       

      And here are some popular blogging affiliate links:

      • Leadpages- Online marketing tool
      • StudioPress- WordPress themes
      • ConvertKit– Autoresponder
      • Bluehost– Hosting service
      • Tailwind– Pinterest scheduler
      • Wealthy Affiliate– Affiliate marketing training, support and hosting service.

       

      If you are interested in learning more about how you can monetise your website and particularly how you can get the most success from affiliate marketing then try out this free email course. 

      Some of what it covers:

      • What do you NEED to get started (that most people don’t know)
      • How to write quality content
      • Optimise the 2 most important pages on your website
      • The secrets to email marketing 
      • What is the future of digital marketing?
      • Get traffic on tap

       

       

      So this leads us onto the third and last way (or is it the last way?) of monetising a website…

       

      3. Creating and selling your own products 

      So this is where the big boys and girls make the BIG money!

       

      Check out Brand Gaille’s Income Report Study. This shows how bloggers earning over $25k per month make 80% of their income from their own courses. 

       

      However, you don’t have to be an experienced blogger to start creating some of your own products.

      For example, you could create a free 7-day Pinterest course, that you’d send out with your autoresponder, and a $7 Workbook that compliments this course nicely so you can get the most out of it!

      Try out this free course if you want to instantly get more eyes on your website (FYI there is not an upsell for a $7 workbook!!)

       

       

      There is one thing to bear in mind though…

      Make sure people actually want what you are offering.

       

      This is a common mistake that some businesses make early on. They may create an amazing product but they have not tested to see who their target market is or IF anyone wants it!

      The beauty of blogging (if you do offer good content) is that you will begin to have subscribers and people that are interested in what you are doing.

      You can then just ask them what they want or what they find the most interesting and create products related to this!

      So as I hinted earlier there is another way to make money online.

      It’s great to get some income early on, and it’s great to learn more… 

       

      BONUS- Consulting or Services 

      So this is not necessarily a way to make money from your blog. However, it is so closely linked that I think it should be included in this post on how does blogging make money.

      You can write/ proofread/ advertise for other businesses or bloggers for an agreed upon rate.

      Some people may start writing posts for less than $0.10 per word but some freelance writers will earn $1,000’s per post that they write for someone else.

      It’s a great way to supplement your income when starting out in the blogging world.

      This will require hustle to find people or companies willing to do this, and you may have to offer a lower price than what you are worth to get started and learn the ropes. 

      Grant Sabatier speaks about how overdelivering early on can have huge benefits to create a system that other people want and are willing to pay more for.

      Check out the podcast for more details:

      How to make $50,000 in 4 days and Reach Financial Freedom with Grant Sabatier.

       

      Feel free to contact me here if this is something you are looking for:

      mike@maketimeonline.com

       

      Related articles:

      How to Make Money at Home

       

      Another way some bloggers will make money is by consulting or coaching other bloggers.

      This can really vary from specific feedback, goal setting, deciding on a niche etc.

       

      Remember to pin this post on “how does blogging make money”…

       

      How does Blogging Make Money Summary 

      As you get closer to the end of this article you begin to realise the answer to the question, how does blogging make money.

       

      There are the main 3 ways to monetise a blog:

      1. Advertising 
      2. Affiliate marketing
      3. Creating and selling your own products

      But remember, consulting or offering services is the most common way for bloggers to start making money early on. It helps to learn and develop these skills, whilst making money from doing so. 

       

      And do you begin to realise the importance of starting a website and continuing to learn? 

       

      Keep changing for the better

       

      Mike

       

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