Book Reviews

The Circle of Profit Book Review- Can Your Passion Make You $1 Million?

Can your passion make you $1 million? In “The Circle of Profit” book review you will uncover the truth behind the book and I’ll let you know what my own experience has been so far.

 

The Circle Of Profit- The Overview and Rankings

  • Name: The Circle of Profit
  • Author: Anik Singal- 99 out of 100
  • Originality: 85 out of 100
  • Practical methods: 90 out of 100
  • Enjoyability: 60 out of 100
  • Price: Kindle $10.46/ Paperback $16.97
  • Maketimeonline.com Rating: 83 out of 100

 

Learn About My #1 Recommendation Which Has Helped Me Quit My Full Time Job And Work Anywhere I Want

 

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Simple methods to start using affiliate marketing
  • Break down of the circle of profit and how you can start right now
  • How to start making money online as you go
  • How to create your own products using your own passion
  • How to use email marketing to connect and engage with your audience
  • Free videos to help explain each step
  • So many practical tips throughout the book.

Cons

  • Makes it sound TOO easy
  • Selling of a FREE Webinar- which turns into a $997 course- The Inbox Blueprint
  • Not a super enjoyable read as a lot of it is practical content instead of stories (there are some stories in there to balance it out- but it’s one of those books that you will need a pen and paper with you)

 

Who is “The Circle of Profit” For?

Anyone wanting to have a successful online business! It really does show you how to get started using email marketing and the 2-phase process that being an email marketer can make money online.

Phase 1 is using affiliate marketing to start earning an income through your online business. Phase 2 is how to create your own content to really expand your online business.

I have learnt a lot about creating an online business over the past few months. The more I have understood how online businesses work the more I have realised the importance of using email marketing (basically collecting email addresses and sending them regular emails).

Turn your Passion into Profit

Most people that make money online have an “email list” and I have heard from numerous people that wish they started collecting email addresses much sooner.

The reasoning behind this is that you have someones undivided attention in an email. If they read something on social media they can easily skim over it or not even see it due to the platform’s algorithms (techy stuff that each social media platform has to decide what you see on your timeline). You can build trust through emails and it will only be seen by people who have chosen to access it.

Anik suggests that a rough figure is $1 per month per email that you have. i.e. 10,000 email addresses equates to $10,000 per month (roughly).

It is 100% worth a read if you would like to understand how it is possible to make money online and it has helped me to learn so much!

 

So What Actually is “The Circle of Profit”?

It is an email marketing program. It shows you how to use affiliate marketing and eventually your own products to make money by emailing your audience. The main 2 things to do are collect email addresses and sell products.

THE 8-STEPS

1. Passion Product

Discover your passion! The idea is to find a niche that you are interested in. If you’d like more information on how to find this, I go into more detail in “how to find your niche” (the video on here can save hours of unnecessary work that I went through!)

2. Opt-in Page

Create an opt-in page with an offer of a free gift in return for the visitor’s email address. This is a standalone website that collects email addresses.

3. Autoresponders and Newsletters

An autoresponder is a programme that collects email addresses and automatically sends out emails. This is a crucial part of any online business and without email addresses (or an autoresponder) your online business won’t exist.

The 4 that he mentions are:

  • SendLane (his own autoresponder)
  • GetResponse (I am currently using this one)
  • Aweber
  • iContact

There are other free autoresponders such as Chimpmail or Mailerlite, but I have found both of these to block my account due to messages sent. They really notice affiliate marketing links and don’t allow these to be sent in an email, so they may not be the best ones to try with an affiliate marketing business (top tip- A workaround is to put your blog links into the emails and put the affiliate links in the blog posts, which seems to work fine on both free servers).

4. Get traffic

The fastest and easiest way to get traffic (visitors to your website- in this case, the opt-in page) is to buy it from the targeted sources. Traffic is the lifeline of every online business.

Anik mentions a variety of methods such as posting on forums or blogs (which appears to be outdated slightly/ are seen as spam on most blogs), Facebook advertising and email media (paying someone else that has an email base to send out an email for you).

5. Affiliates, Relationships, and Networking

Anik really knows his networking. He has built relationships with top-class entrepreneurs like Bob Proctor and Robert Kiyosaki.

He shows how having a good connection to other affiliate marketers can help you (and them) to build your own brands.

6. Passion Product

I thought this part of the book was amazing. Anik explains how to simply create a product within your niche that you can start selling.

This will be the long game and make the most profit in the long run but you don’t necessarily need it to start making money initially. His explanation of written, audio or video products and how you can outsource some or even all of it, means it doesn’t have to be a daunting task (obviously you pay for this with the money already made through affiliate sales!)

7. Sales Funnels- Frontend/ Backend

Anik talks about needing to know how to draft a proper sales message – written, audio, or video. Sales funnels are the key to multiplying your revenues.

I don’t disagree with him on that but I do know that getting upsells can be really annoying when you think you have just bought a product and it turns out the upsell is ACTUALLY the product you wanted. So make sure if you have upsells they are clearly different from the products you are originally promoting i.e. online course to personal coaching.

You have your leads and you have your sales. What do you do with them? Well, as with every other business – you sell them more stuff. This is the part that I found very hard to read when I first looked at it. However, Anik puts it in a way that makes it seem more honest and acceptable to me.

Selling is good and necessary. Have you ever found a great deal when out shopping? It may be a super cheap holiday or a bargain on a pair of trainers. Do you keep that info to yourself or do you tell all your friends about it? It’s the same online! If you find a great product that works, then tell your audience about it (equally tell them if you try a product and it was terrible)… they want to know!

8. Profit

Once you have everything down and connected – you launch your products. Either a full-blown time-sensitive launch or a rolling launch. You decide!

That’s when you make your money. And what do you do with the profit you make? You re-invest it into growing your business.

Make more products around your passions, drive more subscribers through your opt-in page, and create an authority in your niche.

 

Does this Actually Work?

There are so many success stories throughout the book. Anik mentions loads of “his” students that have been through the training and obviously they have all done amazing!

As with most salespeople, he forgets to mention the ones that don’t do so well. Reading between the lines on the huge success stories it is clear to see that most of these people had some experience of working online or a business already up and running. So it’s important to take these stories with a pinch of salt if you are brand new to working online.

What I must say is that I have spoken to a few people that have been through his inbox blueprint course (which he highly recommends throughout the book… so if you don’t like that sort of thing this is your warning about it!) All of these people seem to be very happy with the products and learning they have received from using it.

I’m yet to speak to anyone who is earning MEGA bucks or who have told me exactly the monetary results from the course, but I’m yet to speak to anyone who has hated it and found it a waste of time.

 

My own experience

So I read the book, I got super excited about it and thought I had found the answers to all the questions I was looking for. But (how did you know there was a but!!) it turns out it’s really hard to get people to give you their email addresses… Yes even though I was offering a FREE e-book!!

I set up my email list on Chimpmail.

I made an opt-in page and pretty much copied one that was in the book.

I spent time setting up my initial 10 emails to send out to all the subscribers I was about to get.

I spent a couple of days putting my free e-book together.

I used the Facebook advertising method and spent £20 to get about 3,000 relevant people to look at my advert.

I managed to get about 200 people to click on the link and view my opt-in page.

And I managed to get a big fat total of…. ZERO people subscribe to my email list!! (enter “throw the toys out of the pram” tantrum)

It was sooooo disheartening spending all that time creating the free e-book & email responses to have NOBODY even look at them!!! I then re-read the book (yes front to back). I realised I went wrong on step ONE!!!!! Step bleeding ONE!! I didn’t even clear the first hurdle (Muppet!) I realised I didn’t even check out if my “niche” was profitable. 

This is a huge reason as to why I’ve written an in-depth post about “how to find your online niche” and made a video to show you step-by-step what you SHOULD do to get started (and just in case you were thinking about starting a niche of “health, success and happiness”… DON’T!!! It is so broad that it’s not even close to being considered a niche and pretty much includes every human on earth that is interested in it… which is why that won’t work online- you have to be clear and specific in what you do!)

I also realised I didn’t know how to sell. I have since learned that people buy on emotion… not logic. They will often justify the purchase with logic after they have been swayed emotionally. So my logical and bullet point adverts did not get people emotionally involved at any stage. You literally have to spell the dream out to them or hit a specific problem that they already encountered.

It’s a learning curve and I learnt heaps! I keep finding the following quote to be so relevant to my life currently:

“I never lose. I either win or I learn.”

That really helped me put things in perspective after this painful ordeal!! Check out my advert compared to some random advert I just saw on FB. You can see the difference right!?

 

My advert doesn’t solve anybody’s problem. It doesn’t really sell any dream. To be honest, it just looks like it will be a waste of time to even read it, so why would anyone give up their private email address for this!?

This advert is clearly solving a problem… How to run a PROFITABLE online business from scratch.

It’s something that some people would REALLY want. If they already know they want to start this, and the video of the guy can attract them in then they will give up their email address for FREE to receive a shot at getting what they want (btw I literally just found this so can you see how powerful FB adverts can be, Facebook knows that I have an interest in making money online to free up my time and so it specifically sends me adverts related to this!!)

How I make passive income online

It wasn’t that long ago that I was still trying to figure out how it’s possible for people to make money online.

I wanted to find a passive income system that ticked a few boxes:

  1. I could work on part-time when I wanted (I was still in a full-time job)
  2. Therefore I needed it to not cost a fortune to start and maintain
  3. Didn’t need me to sell stuff to my friends and family

UPDATE- In September 2018 that I found Wealthy Affiliate. At the end of 2019 I quit my full-time job to dedicate more time to it.

I had no idea where to start with an online business a year before, but this has shown me step-by-step what to do.

The best thing about it is:

  • It’s free to start
  • Qualified traffic is brought to you for free (just think about how you found this review… there was no money or time spent from me promoting this!)
  • You get me as a personal coach to help you on your journey (someone that has been through the exact same process to help you avoid the mistakes I made, but not too far ahead to forget what it feels like)
  • You don’t need ANY technical skills to start

When you try out this program you will see why so many people recommend it.

Learn more about my #1 Recommendation

The Circle of Profit book review: The “MakeTimeOnline” Review Final Word

I think everyone should read this if they are interested in making money online as it has a step by step guide into setting up a profitable online system.

The information is all there in the book.

If you already have a business or some basic sales skills then this book would really compliment these skills with practical advice on how to use email marketing.

It really simplifies the process, which makes it easy to understand. However, it also means that it sounds really easy to do when, in fact, a lot of these things take time to learn or figure out. You still have to create content to get started such as a free gift and promotions to get people looking at your opt-in page.

Beware of the promotions for Anik’s courses such as the inbox blueprint. As I say I have only heard good things about this course but it does seem like it’s a product to get after you already have a clear niche and some understanding of how affiliate marketing works.

It comes at a steep price of $997 so you really need to be certain that creating an online business is for you.

Keep changing for the better,

Mike

P.S. Since you’re still here, I’m assuming you’re interested in making money online to free up your time. Click here to read my review of my #1 recommended program and join the form below to learn how to build an online business with no experience.

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    2019 Jaaxy Review- Best SEO Keyword Research Tool

    ‏Can you imagine getting FREE traffic to your website whilst sleeping? Well, finding the best SEO keyword research tool will certainly help you do this.
     

     

    Simply perform a search below to start your research.

     

    After you read this short article, you will feel a sense of relief that it’s possible to get this FREE traffic.

    So settle in amigo and read on to find out!

     

    best SEO keyword research tool

     

    Jaaxy- The Overview and Rankings

     

    First… What is a Keyword?

    A keyword is the word OR phrase typed into Google or another search engine (i.e. Bing or Yahoo etc.)

    So why does this matter to you?

    Because if you know what people are typing into Google you can create more content that people are searching for.

    Therefore people will naturally visit your website for free!

    Second… What is SEO?

    Search Engine Optimisation.

    Simply put it is making your website easier to find on search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo etc.

    Monkey simple… Next!

     

    Want to Write Like the Best Online Writers? Get the hypnotic cheatsheet and simile/ analogy book for FREE



     

     

     

     

     


     

    What is Keyword Research?

    Let me ask you this.

    What is the capital of Tuvalu?*

    Not sure… well go and work it out then come back and read some more.

    I bet if you actually did that you went into Google and found the answer within seconds.

    Did you see it on the Wikipedia page at the top? But if you were to scroll down you will probably see a load of random peoples websites.

    These websites have got onto page 1 on a Google search because of a number of reasons:

    1. The page has a keyword that matches what was typed into Google (i.e. “What is the capital of Tuvalu”)
    2. The web page has relevant content to what was typed in
    3. They provide valuable content to their audience regularly.

    However, the most important factor here is number 1.

    If you create specific content for a keyword that fits EXACTLY you’ve got a higher chance of being ranked on page one of Google!

     

    Here’s a fact for you:

    Google’s entire business model is built on MATCHING the right content to their users intent

    Now read that again.

     

    Now if you’re like me you’re probably thinking…

    “Will many people even be typing that into Google?”

    Well, does the Pope wear a funny hat?

    best SEO keyword tool

     

    181 people type this into Google PER MONTH! (see the screenshot above)

    The fact is that the websites on page one of Google will receive regular visitors to their website every month from people typing in the keyword “what is the capital of Tuvalu”…

    Now imagine you had 10 or 100 or 1,000 posts that are on the top page of Google.

     

    Are you beginning to see how you can get free traffic?

    Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could find certain keywords that people search for every month and have hardly any competition from other websites?

    Hence, the keywords you put onto your website’s pages you can increase the chance of receiving FREE traffic every month to your site.

     

    In Affiliate marketing, MORE traffic means MORE sales and more sales means more money.

    So if you can get traffic for free, it is effectively more money for free!

    This is a big step in the right direction for you to create more TIME, which is the whole purpose of this website!

    Little by little you begin to see why keyword research is pretty important…

     

    Who is Jaaxy for?

    Imagine what you could do if you could get free traffic to your website EVERY month.

    Are you still looking for the best SEO keyword research tool?

    And have you noticed yet that Jaaxy can help you to find keywords that have little competition, so it’s more likely that you can reach the desired page 1 of Google?

    This is what the online world calls SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). It is a method of bringing people to your website every month for free.

    It’s another great way to decide on a specific niche if you’re just starting out.

    Click here to read more about how to find your niche.

    If you are currently using affiliate marketing or thinking about starting to use affiliate marketing, then the best SEO keyword research tool is a must!

    Here is a list of people that may use Jaaxy:

    • Anyone with a business
    • Niche pursuers
    • Article marketers
    • Freelance writers
    • Professional bloggers
    • Domain flippers
    • Site flippers
    • Online / Pay Per Click advertisers
    • YouTube marketers
    • SEO companies
    • People who want to ‘spy’ on their competitors
    • Viral-news website owners looking for new trends to leverage
    • Internet marketers wanting to know how high their sites and posts are ranking on the SERPs
    • Local marketers
    • Local businesses
    • Affiliate marketers
    • Email marketers wanting to find hot topics to discuss with their subscribers.

    Click here

     

    Jaaxy- How to determine a “Quality” Keyword?

    Here are the MAIN features of using Jaaxy explained:

    best SEO keyword tool

    Monthly Searches (Avg)

    This is the total number of searches that the keyword produces on search engines each month.

    The HIGHER this number the more people will visit your website.

    So look for over 50!

     

    Traffic

    If you achieve 1st-page rankings this is the estimated amount of visitors you will receive to your account.

    Just think about it…

    Will you receive many visitors if you do not rank on the search engines first page? (think back to the earlier example of Tuvalu, did you even consider clicking onto page 2 of the results?)

    Again the HIGHER the number the better!

    And do you being to notice that the monthly searches column is more important because traffic is an estimation?

     

    Quoted Search Results (QSR)

    This is the BEST indicator for you to look at.

    This shows you the number of competing websites ranked on Google for the keyword.

    The lower the number the more chance you have to rank on Googles page-1.

    Ideally, the number should be below 100.

    Keyword Quality Index (KQI)

    Shows how likely it is you will reach page-one on Google.

    This is a quick way to determine whether the keyword will be a good marketing campaign for you to use.

    If it is green and says Great then it may be a good option

    If it says normal and is orange then you should probably look for another campaign to start.

    Red= don’t even bother

    SEO Power

    This is a score for the keyword based on traffic and how much competition.

    If your keyword has <10 monthly searches then you will not receive any traffic (as nobody cares!)

    If there are hundreds of competing websites then it’s less likely yours will feature on page 1 of a Google search!

    You want this number to be HIGH and ideally over 90.

    Alphabet Soup

    If you type in your keyword into Google it will pop up some common searches beneath.

    For example, a common headline for articles starts with “how to become…”

    Beneath it brings up some ideas for what people search for on Google:

    best SEO keyword research tool

    If we go one step further and click on “how to become rich…” we end up with more results appearing below:

    best SEO keyword research tool

    In a moment, you’ll see how the alphabet soup function in Jaaxy really saves you TIME.

    Once you have your post idea you just type the letters of the alphabet one at a time to come up with hundreds of ideas that people are already searching for

    For example, type in “how to become rich a…” “how to become rich b…” “how to become rich c…” etc.

    best SEO keyword research tool best SEO keyword research tool

    If you are struggling for content ideas this is a super simple way of generating hundreds if not thousands of ideas.

    Have you noticed yet that you know other people are already searching for these ideas?

    The best thing about Jaaxy is that it does this all for you.

    And gives you the option to then do your own research in more detail or add to your brainstorm queue so you can see these keywords together.

    best seo keyword research

    Saved Lists

    Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could put all of your ideas in one place and then compare them against each other?

    Enter “saved lists”!

    Remember the main goal of keyword research is:

    Get as many monthly visits to your website by reaching the top page of a search engine for your keyword.

    This walkthrough for how to use Jaaxy shows you how I can find a good key phrase to write a blog post or YouTube video for.

    Top tip: Find your keyword before writing the post (this gives you the focus throughout!)

    Is it Worth it?

    Do you remember that my promise is to always be completely honest with you?

    Now, I can almost hear your mind saying “as a relative newbie to the affiliate marketing world, are there other things that I should be spending my time and money on?”

    100% YES!

    So here are 2 things that you will NEED to pay for before this:

    1. Hosting
    2. Affiliate marketing training

    If you are just starting out and are not creating useful and engaging content already, then spending $49 a month on a Keyword Research Tool would be more silly than electing Donald Trump as the US president!

    Related Articles

    Now, let me ask you this “Would you pay for a service that provides regular visitors to your website EVERY month?”

    If you would then getting the best SEO keyword research tool will help your website stand out like Shaquille O’Neil at a midgets convention!

    Are you beginning to see how important the best SEO keyword research tool is?

    As you read each word on this page you will see why people who upgrade their Jaaxy account say it is easily worth $99 per month to them.

    Imagine what it would be like if your research on one post helps you get an extra $99 each time… hence, it pays for itself and some!

    best SEO keyword research tool

    Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could get your SiteRank worked out for you and tracked?

    The Pro version tracks up to 2,000 websites and the Enterprise version tracks up to 10,000 websites for a specific search.

    Can you see how useful it would be to see how your website is progressing and improving over time?

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    My Recommendation

    Try it out for free!

    What do you have to lose?

    Type in a search below to start your keyword research

     

    Jaaxy Pro version is a no brainer if you already have your website going and you have had some affiliate marketing training (through a legitimate course!)

    Just picture this for a moment… You are already making some decent money each month and you are looking to scale your online business…

    Therefore, the enterprise version will help you do just that!

    STOP!!

    • Are you still relatively new to affiliate marketing?
    • Have you been trying to make money online for a while now but you’re NOT seeing the results you were hoping for?

    In the next 2 minutes, you’ll find out how I get to use Jaaxy.

    I don’t pay separately for average hosting.

    I don’t pay separately for my training.

    And I don’t pay additionally for Jaaxy.

    Because I get all of these things (and more) as part of my Wealthy Affiliate membership.

    Here are some things included in the Wealthy Affiliate membership:

    • Hosting (people pay over $200 per month just for this type of hosting- you can easily move your existing website here to benefit from this hosting)
    • Site Rubrix (helps build a great website in 30 seconds, then helps to track and add content to your website)
    • Community Support (hundreds of thousands of people- there is ALWAYS someone on there to help)
    • Affiliate marketing training (AMAZING CONTENT- constantly updated)

    You also get the “lite” version of Jaaxy, which has pretty much everything the pro version has (see video above).

    So you effectively get the best SEO keyword research tool for free!

    Click here to join Wealthy Affiliate for free!

    Make Time Online Summary- Best SEO Keyword Research Tool

    The closer and closer you get to the end of this article the more you realise that Jaaxy is the best SEO keyword research tool.

    And as you are thinking about using the alphabet soup function, you become excited at the idea of getting content ideas on tap!

    Earlier on, I asked you the question

    Have you been trying to make money online for a while now but you’re NOT seeing the results you were hoping for?

    If you want different results, do not do the same things.

    Albert Einstein

    You’ve got to wonder what you could do if you were able to receive FREE traffic so that your website can become more and more like a business instead of a job.

    Keep changing for the better,

    Mike

    p.s. If you have any questions and I mean ANY questions about Jaaxy, please leave them below. Also, if you have used Jaaxy or another keyword tool before then please also add your opinions below.

    p.p.s Are you serious about making money online to free up your time? I would advise you to check out my #1 recommended program here

    *The capital of Tuvalu is Funafuti (CONGRATS!)

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    Blogging for Beginners

    Get comfortable being uncomfortable

    It is impossible to make a change when we are comfortable. The fact is that growth only occurs in a state of discomfort.

    So our aim should be to “get comfortable being uncomfortable” (or seek discomfort in our lives). Let me give you an example to explain what I mean…

    Do you ever get uncomfortable when you have to walk to the fridge to get some food? Do you even notice that you walked there?

    However, when a baby learns to walk it will try to stand up and fall over. It will take a step and fall over again. The baby doesn’t fall over once and give up. They won’t just say, “Oh well I guess I will just crawl for the rest of my life!”

    The baby knows that it wants to walk! It has to walk! It doesn’t matter how many setbacks there are on the way to learning how to walk, they will get through them and they will learn!

    At the start, it is uncomfortable for them. But once we master it, it becomes something we don’t even realise any more. We become comfortable at something that used to be uncomfortable. 

     

    I have written about this before on the first blog that Sarah and I started. I always find it weird how the same idea comes up a few times in one week. I’ve never known if this was because I am aware of it so I notice the same thing popping up in conversations or if there is some weird magic going on.

    The three times it has popped up in my life over the past week:

     

    Strike 1- I was on a course about coaching

    This seems to be a popular term in business currently. I was in England last week and the keynote speaker told us a story:

     

    There were a couple of moose hunters in Russia, Slav and Nikita.

    They went out hunting and caught a huge moose just before Christmas. A small snow plane stopped near where they had killed their moose so they asked the pilot if he could give them a hand taking this monster back to the local village.

    The pilot said, “no, no, no the plane won’t take off if I tie this huge creature to the bottom of it!”

    Slav turns to Nikita and says, “that pilot last year did it without hesitation have you still got his number?”

    At this point, the pilot thought that if they have done this before it must be possible so he agreed to give it a go.

    The plane starts moving and takes off just before the big trees. It climbs higher and higher but it can’t avoid the huge tree behind the first big one… The plane comes hurtling back to the ground and everyone is thrown out of the plane.

    Nikita calls out “Slav!! Where are you?”….

    Slav replies, “about 100 yards further than where we got last year!!”

     

    The point of the story is that we can improve or we can change. Did Slav and Nikita improve from last year? Yes! Would it have been better if they had changed their plan to get the moose back to the village? Definitely!

    First, figure out what you need to do and then carry it out… But change is hard! Doing something differently to how we have always done it requires us to move out of our comfort zone.

    This is the same with everything we do in life.

     

     

    Strike 2- Youtube

    I look on youtube and the first video that pops up is a TedX talk about “Why comfort will ruin your life”.

    I thought the title was a bit extreme so naturally, I watched it!

    It turns out Bill Eckstrom is talking about the exact same thing. To grow we must become uncomfortable. The best thing that happened in his life was getting fired in the financial crash of 2008. He was forced to become uncomfortable and it helped him do things he never imagined he could do (including give a Ted Talk).

    He talks about the four growth rings:

    Stagnation- This is the zone where we will not grow. We are just going around in circles and there is no place for creativity or control.

    Order- This is a place where we repeat the same cycle but we are comfortable. It’s easy to do and we feel in control because it brings us regular rewards or some level of satisfaction. However, we do not grow and improve in this ring.

    Complexity- This is the zone where true growth happens. This is the place where we can become better and learn. To get here though, we must become uncomfortable.

    Chaos- In this ring, we are not learning, we are not growing, things are out of control and chaos unfolds around us.

     

    There are 3 ways we can get into the complexity ring.

    1. It can be forced- We are thrown into the complexity ring by an external force.
    2. Someone can help you get there- This is often the role of parents, teachers and coaches to help people we want to succeed get there. It is too easy to stay in your comfort zone, so we often need someone to help us get there. This is why so many people have personal trainers or why sports teams have multiple coaches.
    3. Trigger it yourself- This is, of course, possible but it is far too easy to stay put. If you don’t want to pay for a coach or you would rather not have something forced upon you, you HAVE to trigger this yourself.

    Take, for example, our health. If you never exercise and only eat Big Macs you WILL become ill. Your lifestyle will be forced to change either because you end up in a hospital or because your doctor or loved ones help you to change.

    However, if you can be proactive and make sure you exercise and mainly eat healthy meals, there is a good chance you will remain in good health.

     

    Strike 3- Instagram

    I put a quote on Instagram saying

    “action is the antidote to fear”

    Someone replied telling me to get used to being uncomfortable. I thought that was just weird, but like I say maybe I was looking for it!

     

    Make Time Online Summary

    If we truly want to see growth within our lives then we have to start triggering discomfort ourselves. We need to find a way to move into the complexity ring by ourselves without having to rely on other people to put us there.

    If we don’t do this with our financial life, sooner or later, we will be forced into this ring and there’s a good chance we’ll end up in chaos (just like with our health when eating Big Macs all the time!)

    The more I learn, the more I realise the internet is sure to be the future of businesses. It’s never been easier to start an online business, yet there are still so few people, in comparison to the masses, that have realised this!

    If you want to see how I’ve started my online business, then check out my #1 recommendation here.

     

    Keep changing for the better,

    Mike

     

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    Blogging for Beginners

    Do Most People Hate Their Jobs?… Research says YES!

    Since 2000, Gallup has polled millions of employees from over 200 countries to work out the answer to “do most people hate their jobs?”. They reported that 85% of all people hate their jobs.  

    Work has been reported more often a source of frustration than fulfilment for 90% of employees. Employees that don’t enjoy their jobs typically are “emotionally disconnected” and “disengaged”. Some countries in Asia and Africa have a much higher rate of “disengagement” but even more developed countries, such as the United States, has 70% of employees that hate their job.

    The question begs to be asked. Why do so many people hate their jobs?

     

    5 Things Forcing Employees to Resent Their Jobs

    Longer Hours

    Employees are expected to work longer and longer. Working weeks of over 50 hours (don’t forget to include travel time!!) is very typical for a lot of jobs. Due to the high competition for each job people feel they have to justify why they have this position and therefore work longer!

    Trivial Work- Low Self Gratification

    More and more “service jobs” (McJobs) are being filled by overqualified people. Technical positions are being shipped overseas to cheaper areas. This means employees are left with a gap not being filled. They do not feel like they are contributing what they can to society and are left with that empty feeling.

    Not Rewarded for Hard Work

    The majority of jobs still pay people based on how many hours they work. Employees sign a contract that says something like “I will work 45 hours a week, with an expectation to do more on some weekends”. The employee gets paid the same amount every month no matter how well they do they job.

    Our Wages seem to be Going Down

    “Each year my pay goes up (slightly) but every year it feels harder to do the same things I did last year”. I remember a colleague telling me this when I first started teaching.

    This was around the same time that was reading and learning a lot about the world economy (because it never made any sense to me!) The short answer to this concern is that it is true… 100% true. Inflation means that our money doesn’t go as far each year, unless your employer hands out 10% pay rises (I’m not even joking about the amount – stay tuned for a future post about inflation… it’s frightening!)

    Does Job Security Even Exist Anymore?

    Remember employees don’t get paid extra for doing great work… well they may get fired if they don’t do their job well enough! I remember hearing Ross on friends saying that he got “tenure” at his job. I had no idea what this meant at the time, but it has historically been possible for people to get a job for life. People under 30 are probably not even aware this is (was) a thing!

    So What Can You Do?

    To be honest, there is a way out. The Internet has literally created a new era for human beings and it’s called “the information age”. Knowledge becomes information and information is money in today’s world. Therefore, all you need to get started is some knowledge about anything… and not even a lot because you can (and will) learn as you go.

    If you were to work as hard on the Internet as you were at your job you would 100% be more successful (in terms of value you provide, self-gratification and money that you earn). There are lots of reasons for this but here are a few (to read more click here):

    • It’s easy to build an online presence (Click here to build a website in the next 5 minutes)
    • There are fewer barriers to starting your own online business compared to most businesses (you just need a laptop, or phone and internet connection)
    • There are more people online every day = More money being spent online every day
    • Make money by the second, not by the month.

    One of the worst relationships we have is… using time to earn money. It has been ingrained into us that the best way to earn more money is to work harder and longer. It’s important to remember that if you have grown up with “formal education” you have been taught how to become an employee.

    The information age creates so many NEW opportunities that our teachers, parents and their parents won’t even be aware of. It’s important to think carefully about where we receive our information from.

     

    Are You Too Comfortable?

    Do you really HATE your job? If you do that’s great! It’s so much easier to change something when we reeeeaaaaallllllly HATE it.

    If you are one of those people (like me!) who actually quite enjoys their job but you feel like there is more to life than doing it for the next 20-50 years, then, unfortunately, your situation is harder. You are too comfortable right now so it makes changing very hard as you have to visualise your future self. EURGH I KNOW!

    What a lot of people will do when they really hate their job is quit… and then find another one. The problem is that a few months or years down the line they are back in that same position. So they quit and find another one. I’m sure you get the idea.

    So the bad news is you are likely to be unhappy with your current job situation (like 85% of people). The good news is there is a way out of the day to day grind, and no experience is necessary!

    My current working space

    Do you Want to Change?

    If you are ready to make a change you have to know that it will require more work of you right now. The key here is the words RIGHT NOW. It doesn’t mean you will have to work harder or longer forever (or even for too long).

    The plan is to stop NEEDING to work full time. When this happens you will actually work a lot less. To get to this stage without giving your whole lifestyle up right now you will have to work harder initially.

    I am currently putting in an extra 2 hours every day (Sarah keeps telling me off when I spend more- like right now… Coming Dear!!!), so note it doesn’t have to be a huge commitment. I have spoken to people that started with 5 hours a week and some that stayed up late each night to commit more time to their online business.

    Just remember we want to separate ourselves from the time and money relationship. What you DO with that time is far more important. Unfortunately, when starting out it can seem overwhelming and hard to know what to actually do.

    This is why I’ve started using Wealthy Affiliate. There is step-by-step training to help you get your online business up and running… no matter what you’re interested in! The support is amazing, any question will get answered quickly as there will be someone else that had the exact same thought before. You will 100% have support from at least one person too (me!)

    If you have any questions or want to vent about something at work please leave them below. I’m sure that I can personally help you out as I have been there and done that!

     

    Keep changing for the better,

    Mike

     

    If you are interested in seeing how I started my online business and the current training I am using then check out my #1 recommended program here.

    Read More
    Book Reviews

    Millionaire Fastlane Review in PDF – Do What Makes Financial CENTS!

    “The Millionaire Fastlane” review in PDF will show you how it is one of the most straight-talking, to the point, eye-opening books that I have ever read.

    BEWARE of this disclaimer straight away: This is not for everyone! MJ De Marco is very blunt, there’s definitely a bit of over exaggeration and he will say something that you probably won’t like.

    A lot of the ideas in his book are about making some big money (over $200,000 per month according to MJ). If this is not something you are interested in learning then this book may not be for you.

    However, with the way the world’s financial system currently is, you are either on the Fastlane or you’re going backwards.

     

    The Millionaire Fastlane – The Overview and Rankings

    • Name: The Millionaire Fastlane
    • Author: MJ De Marco – 89 out of 100
    • Originality: 98 out of 100
    • Practical methods: 78 out of 100
    • Enjoyability: 95 out of 100
    • Price: Audible $24.95/ Kindle $5.81/ Hardcover $12.49
    • Maketimeonline.com Rating: 89 out of 100

     

    Pros and Cons

    Pros

    • Gives you one massive kick up the butt!
    • Practical advice into what business to start to get on the fastlane
    • Helps to question the status quo- does living in the rat race really have to be normal?
    • Makes you want to stop wasting your time! Is playing fortnite or watching strictly come dancing really enjoyable or are you escaping?
    • Shows you why your most important asset is TIME (I’m sure you know I agree with this one!)
    • Become a producer rather than a consumer
    • Working for money makes no sense!

    Cons

    • Does a bit of author bashing- even though I completely agree the name dropping is not needed- he even criticises Robert Kiyosaki, who I actually think is promoting the same thing as him!
    •  Can be overwhelming to hear so much of what we know is apparently so “wrong”!

     

    Sidewalk, Slowlane and Fastlane

    Sidewalk

    MJ claims the “Sidewalker” has no financial plan and spends surplus money immediately on new gadgets, a new car or trip.

    They believe they need to use time and money right now as they don’t know what tomorrow will bring. They will gamble and buy lottery tickets in the hope it brings them the big bucks!

    Slowlane

    The “Slowlaner” knows that if they save their money now they can invest it in the stock market and in 50 years their $10,000 will become $4 squidrillion due to compound interest.

    They believe their job is their sole source of income.

    The issue for the slowlaner is that it takes their whole life to get their hands on this money and due to changes in the financial system or their pension scheme, they may never see this money or it isn’t worth as much due to inflation and taxes.

    Fastlane

    The “Fastlaner” knows about another way.

    A way where the more they help others, the richer they become in time, money and personal fulfilment.

    They don’t have to wait 50 years to start living this life it can be in 5 or 7 years time. They know that it won’t be easy but every time they fail, they learn, which helps for the next time.

     

    Who is this book for?

    This book is for people that really want to change their lifestyle and be able to own time so they can choose ANYTHING they want to do.

    MJ will literally question everything you currently know about money and how to earn it, even though most of his financial ideas are nothing new… he makes them sound new!

    However, I can almost guarantee that some people will stop reading half-way through or they won’t even pick up the book because he is too direct and comes across as pretty arrogant. This doesn’t take away from the fact that this guy talks sense and knows his stuff.

    So it is my job in this blog post to ensure you get the main points from his book because I feel like they are too important to not be known!

    The main question that can really help you decide how to start a business is this simple question…

    Does it make financial CENTS?

    Here are the 5 most important commandments to ensure your business is on the Millionaire Fastlane.

     

    Control

    “You are either in control of your own financial plan or you aren’t, there is no in between.” MJ DeMarco

    This is a very important commandment but most people will not even realise whether they are in control or not until further down the line. A great example is network marketing. You will hear about some network marketers that will do very well for themselves, or you may even be one.

    However, if something was to change in that company tomorrow that meant you couldn’t sell their products anymore, all your income would disappear overnight.

    That is because you do not control the company. You own a job managing and creating a sales organisation.

    Obviously choosing the right company in the first place could offset this risk and I’m not saying you can’t earn some good money (over $20,000 per month) from network marketing. You will just never earn “big” (over $200,000 a month) or “legendary” (over $1 million per month) money from this… unless you own the network marketing company!

    What should I do then?

    Start creating your own brand or business.

    Even as an affiliate marketer (promoting other people’s products online for a commission) this is something you can do. You can start selling other people’s products but create your own brand at the same time. Eventually, you can create your own products for this brand and really take control.

    So would you rather be a driver or a hitchhiker? In General:

    • Drivers create network marketing companies; they don’t join them.
    • Drivers sell franchises; they don’t buy them.
    • Drivers offer affiliate programs; they don’t buy them
    • Drivers offer employment; they don’t get employed
    • Drivers accept rents and royalties; they don’t pay rent and royalties

    Some questions to ask yourself:

    • Do I own the company?
    • Am I reliant on another platform or someone else to make money?
    • Do I have a diversified income stream or am I reliant on one income source?

     

    Entry

    Is it easy to start?

    If it is… it won’t be on the Fastlane!

    Working a JOB, Investing in stocks, starting network marketing, buying a special kit that has a website made for you for $40 are all examples of things that are super easy to enter into.

    If it’s something that everyone is doing, then you will become just like everyone… and everyone isn’t wealthy!

    It’s actually quite a well-known investing technique (which hardly anybody does due to fear and greed) that if everyone is buying something you should be selling it. It was the same with the dot-com bubble in 2000, the property bubble in 2008 and the crypto bubble just at the end of last year in 2017.

    Just afterwards when people want rid of their “terrible” investments would have been a perfect time to buy these investments whilst they were on sale… time will tell if that’s the case for certain cryptocurrencies.

    What stops everyone from doing it?

    If there is something that stops everyone from doing it then there will always be a level of difficulty and therefore it can be a better opportunity.

    It’s important you figure out what this is and are prepared for this.

    For example, consistency of working on your business is a big reason why everyone is not an affiliate marketer. It is relatively easy to set up a website.

    But it is not easy to set up an autoresponder, be present on social media platforms, have an email list, create quality content and consistently add value to your audience.

    You must be prepared to be consistent.

    The only way to beat the masses if everyone is doing something is to be exceptional. You do not have to always reinvent the wheel but you do need to be prepared to put the effort in.

     

    Need- possibly the most important Commandment

    Does it solve someone’s problems?

    People will ONLY care about what your business can do for THEM!

    Do not ever believe anything else.

    You may have found something completely unique and something that you think you would love to have. However, you have to surrender your own wants and address the wants of others (people are innately selfish according to MJ!)

    Chase Needs, Not Money!

    Are you doing something to solve problems or are you doing it to make money (Wantrepreneurs)?

    A lot of people will make this mistake.

    They will think about something that they are an “expert in” or something that they think can make them money. This is the WRONG way to think!

    I think this is why business people typically have such a bad name for themselves. People associate business owners with chasing money.

    However, the best business owners will actually chase needs e.g. Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

    The niche is so important

    I didn’t start my affiliate marketing business for ages.

    I thought about it for a long time before acting on it (it’s been something I considered when Sarah and I started our first blog in mid-2017). This is because I knew the niche was very important (thanks to MJ).

    I thought about some type of fitness, self-development, food, happiness niches just to name a few. However, I decided on my “making money online” niche because I could see there was a demand for it. For one… I wanted it!

    I was no expert in this niche!

    I didn’t just dive into starting a business when I read Rich Dad Poor Dad in 2012. I ensured my business idea made financial CENTS and I checked to see if people needed it. The more I work on it, the more of an “expert” I am becoming.

    Click here to read more about how to find your niche.

    Is your business different?

    Something I realised about financial advice gurus was that they nearly all focus on SAVING money and living BELOW your means (frugal has become this cool word thrown around on Twitter).

    Even really successful financial gurus such as Dave Ramsey, Tony Robbins and Andrew Hallam focus on these things.

    I get why they do this and I understand so many people need to do this more, after all, it is the foundation of getting our finances in check.

    However, what people really need to do more of is increase their financial intelligence.

    Doing this will help to find ways to make more money and expand their means (or solve other peoples needs)! Plus it’s much easier to be passionate or get excited about living a lifestyle that you really want rather than cutting back on things.

    Some examples of fastlane thinking:

    • Make them look better (nutrition, exercise, clothing, makeup).
    • Raise a positive emotion (love, happiness, laughter etc.)
    • Educate them.
    • Make things easier.
    • Enhance their dreams and provide hope.
    • Give them security (housing, safety, health).

    Only follow your “love” if the market wants it

    This has to be the most common mistake! You will hear a lot of affiliate marketers who claim “do what you love to make more money” (Wealthy Affiliate‘s training can even be interpreted like this).

    However, it’s crucial to realise there are niches that do NOT solve needs as an affiliate marketing e.g. being an affiliate of underwear will never be profitable!

    Remember:

    Choose a profitable niche that you are interested in… make money… you will then develop a passion for this niche (note that a passion and a love for something are two very different things)

    Still on the search for a business idea?

    Start listening out for pain points of people and what people want. These are some common phrases to look out for in daily life:

    • I hate…
    • I don’t like…
    • This frustrates me…
    • Why is this like this?
    • Do I have to… ?
    • I wish there was…
    • I’m tired of…
    • This sucks…

     

    Time

    Can the product exist in time and standalone without your connection to it?

    This is an area where people starting a “business” get confused. If you need to work to earn money, you have created a job, not a business!

    Your business should be able to bring money in at any time of the day… including when you sleep!!

    Does it serve while you are away?

    One of the most important things to do with a business is to automate it. If you need to do everything in the business it will be impossible to grow. The more value you provide, the more time you will need to give.

    The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you can use systems and hire people (on an hourly basis or part-time) to help grow and improve your business.

    The goal is to get away from the worst relationship ever created… your time for money.

     

    Scale

    Scale is about leverage

    There are 6 business habitats (plus real business examples):

    1. Local community (pool)- Tanning salon
    2. City (pond)- Upscale Restaurant
    3. State/ county (lagoon)- A fitness business
    4. Regional (lake)- A property developer
    5. National (sea)- A big bank
    6. Worldwide (ocean)- Internet company

    The 2 ways to scale

    Net Profit= Units Sold x Unit Profit

    Imagine you were selling sandwiches at a local store. How many can you sell in one day? Fifty? A hundred? How many hours are there in a day? Can you see how scale is limited here?

    This guy could scale his business by making more stores across the country and increasing his reach but his unit profit will always be limited (max $10?). He can only ever sell to people physically coming into the store and during certain hours of the day.

    The best thing about starting an online business is that your products scale but your work doesn’t. You literally can reach the whole world and unit profit can easily change (depending on what you are selling or promoting).


     

    Millionaire Fastlane: MakeTimeOnline Summary

    If you are not in the fastlane you will be going backwards in today’s financial world!

    The world has really changed since the internet was invented and the gap between people using it to help them and those that are not will only get bigger.

    Making money online meets all five of the commandments.

    It is one of the few types of businesses that does this.

    It’s clearly written in MJ De Marco’s book but it’s up to you how you use the information.

    To be on the fastlane you need to make financial CENTS. Possibly the most important lesson is that when you chase people’s needs, money will flow to you. So figure out what people want and need and help them solve this problem. Stop chasing money!

    Keep changing for the better,

    Mike

     

    If you are interested in seeing how I started my online business and the current training I am using then check out my #1 recommended program here.

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    Affiliate Marketing, Blogging for Beginners

    Why You Should Make Money Online Part Time

    Is it really hard to make money online part time? It certainly is not going to be really easy, but is anything worthwhile really easy?

     

     

    Here’s a list of things that are very easy to do vs something that requires more effort:

    • Ordering a takeaway pizza vs cooking a tasty healthy meal
    • Watching football on the TV vs working out
    • Reading a novel vs writing a book
    • Playing computer games vs creating a computer game
    • Browsing Facebook vs making real connections with people that are “crushing it” on Facebook

    I’m going to let you decide which ones are worthwhile and which ones suck time away from us.

     

    How Can I Make Money Online?

    A quick Google search of this sub-heading will bring up hundreds of blogs with people telling you hundreds of ways you can make money online. From filling out surveys to selling domain names to selling your services on platforms such as Fiverr and Peopleperhour.

    These are all legitimate ways of making money online and they may be a great way to earn some side income whilst you are getting started online (providing you have the time to do this).

    However, what I am mainly talking about in this blog is affiliate marketing and creating your own online business.

    Primarily through writing useful content and providing links to other peoples products or services through “affiliate links” (click here to read more about how to use affiliate links). The goal is to eventually create your own products or services and set up an online business that provides an income without you having trade your time for money.

     

    What are the Benefits of Making Money Online?

    Make money while you sleep

    Without a doubt, the biggest benefit of making money online is that we can spend time today to pay us over and over again in the future. Jobs require us to trade our time for money. If we have a long-term sickness or do not turn up to work, we cannot make money.

    The internet has changed this old fashioned way of thinking about work. We can work in the day and get paid whilst we sleep at night.

    Most people get paid based on the number of hours they work each day. Making money online allows you to get paid by the second for 365 days of the year. 

    Unlimited potential

    Therefore, there is unlimited potential to how much money you can earn online. There are no pay scales and no promotions on the internet. There are just billions of people online with unlimited amounts of money to spend (if you understand the financial system today with quantitative easing [printing money] you will know how true this is).

    Small upfront costs compared to most businesses

    Making money online should be treated just like starting a business. Most businesses require you to put up a lot of cash to get started, such as renting office space, hiring staff, purchasing goods and stock etc.

    Getting started with your online business can be completely free.

    There are some things that you will need to put in place if you are serious such as website hosting, a domain name (your website URL- e.g. maketimeonline.com) or an autoresponder (a website that collects email addresses and automatically sends emails out for you). However, the costs of these are very minimal compared to most businesses.

    No staff required

    You literally do not need to rely on hiring, paying and managing staff. This is quite often what businesses will rely on to make them work effectively. You may have a super idea, a great product and vision, but you will always be relying on staff to carry your vision out for you in the majority of businesses (as you can’t be everywhere all the time).

    Getting started online requires only one person. YOURSELF.

    You literally get all of the benefits of the work that you put in and you don’t need to worry about training, providing benefits or managing staff. 

    Start Part Time

    You can start part-time by putting in an hour a day or a few hours a week.

    You don’t have to quit your job to start an online business.

    You can work on it at any time as you don’t need to wait for opening hours and you can write on a word document if you haven’t got an internet connection.

    Easy to scale

    This is a huge benefit of an online business! There are systems and things that you can do online to make your business go from reaching a handful of people to reaching hundreds of thousands, without changing what you do. Over 3 billion people all over the world currently use the internet.

    Autoresponders can send an email to 2 people or 2 million people.

    There is nothing you need to change to do this, you still just write one email and the autoresponder does the rest for you.

    Even though you do not need to hire staff, you can still outsource work that you do. For example, I am currently writing all of my own content, responding to all comments and advertising my own work all by myself. However, using websites such as Fiverr and Peopleperhour these tasks can be easily outsourced to professionals on an hourly paid bases. 

     

    The above screenshot is the outline of my post, which I do before writing anything. This could be sent to a virtual assistant to expand and write the content for me.

    You can pay people to reply to comments that you receive and you can pay for adverts to promote your website and “drive traffic” (bring visitors) to your website.

    This is when you know you have created a business and not only created another job.

    There is a big difference and being aware of this difference is what separates the most successful business people to someone that tried and gave up (I bet you’ve heard that 7 out of 10 businesses fail within the first 10 years before… this is a big reason why)

     

    Why Isn’t Everyone Doing This?

    It is not taught in schools

    Our current education system teaches very little about starting businesses.

    There is pretty much zero good financial education within our schools. 

    However, the internet has really changed the business game. Teenagers can start an online business due to it requiring such little funds. You don’t have to be an expert in anything, anyone can write/ record whatever they like and publish it online.

    The challenge is getting visitors to look at your work. This is a big reason why so many people try to “become famous” or use TV shows to “put their face on the map” (those people that go on Love Island [a British reality TV show in case you didn’t know] each year are not as stupid as you may think!!)

    Most people don’t know it’s possible

    Most people finish their education without knowing what they really want to do. The vast majority of these people are completely unaware that they have permission to create a business let alone actually try to create one.

    Making money online is still seen as a “strange thing to do”. Older generations generally have no idea this is even possible so why would they want their children or grandchildren to pass up on their education or “secure job” to spend time on something they do not understand?

    It’s easy to get disheartened

    The results are not instant. There are programs offering amazing results overnight. They will promote their success stories of someone who earnt $10,000 in their first month of an online business. What they won’t tell you is that this person already had 100,000 active followers on Twitter, a bank full of money to advertise and they worked on it for 14 hours a day solid for a month.

    So when the normal working mum with 3 kids puts in an hour a day for a month without paying for any adverts and doesn’t earn a penny she thinks, “Why should I bother!?”

    Actually, an hour a day for a month is 30 hours, which is not even one full working week. Yet people expect to replace their full-time income straight away. To be in this game we need realistic expectations.

     

    But It Sounds Too Hard

    What is your Why?

    I want to tell you a quick story about what I have seen since moving abroad in 2015.

    In the first summer holidays when we started teaching in Qatar, Sarah and I went back to England and I dragged her to a free property investment seminar. I sold it to her on the basis that we are starting to earn more money and we should start thinking about what we are going to do with it. I’d read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” a few years before and I had become more and more obsessed with property.

    It was during the three day course that we ended up signing up to that I came across this question for the first time. What is your why?… strike 1. I had never even thought about this before.

    I had never even considered why I get up in the morning and go to work. What was my motivation?

    We were told to really think about it that night and we ended up writing something vague such as for our future selves (LAME!!!!)

    Anyway, the next year I went on a course with work and the PE team in Bangkok. When we walked into the first workshop, the screen on the slideshow said:

    A man with a why can cope with any how.

    The underlying theme throughout the 3-day workshop was to think about your story and what your WHY was… Strike 2.

    We then went back to work in our next year and the whole staff training was based on thinking about your WHY using your passion and bringing out the children’s passions… strike 3!

    Finding a “why” is so important in anything that we do because when it gets hard, it helps us to continue. It helps us to know that what we are doing has a purpose and there is a reason for doing it.

    Be realistic

    Starting any business is hard. There is no way around this fact. If we can only dedicate half an hour a day to it when the kids go to bed then that’s what it will have to be to start with. However, doing this for 3 months is the equivalent of one week of full-time work. So we should expect to see one weeks worth of results, not 3 months worth!!

    Make it a habit

    The most important thing here is doing it every day because momentum is so important. If we want to do 7 hours a week, it is much better to do an hour a day (at the same time) than to do 7 hours on a Saturday and nothing for the rest of the week.

    If we have 6 days away from it we will forget what we were doing previously. We will not be productive for all 7 hours as that is too long to work for in one go. So that 7 hours will probably be the same as about 4-5 hours of productive work. 

    There’s always something that comes up! So making it a habit means you can choose a time when you know you haven’t got anything else going on each day and it makes the workload more manageable.

    Set small targets that are not financial

    Rather than focusing on how much money you want to come in, you can set goals such as a number of words to write in a month or visitors to get to your website. You have more control of this and this can help you to ensure you are doing the key tasks each day instead of fretting about the big fat $0 in your affiliate account.

    Use support

    It can be a lonely process starting an online business. Whilst one of the benefits is that you don’t have to manage anybody else, you also don’t get to bounce ideas off your colleagues or employees like you would in most businesses.

    This is the main reason that I would recommend starting with a program such as Wealthy Affiliates. You can speak to like-minded people and get insights into what works for others doing the same thing. 

    And as the saying goes…

     

    “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it”

     

    But I Don’t Have a Passion

    I have written a post all about how to choose a profitable online niche. The most important part to remember here is that if you don’t have a really strong passion for ONE thing in life, just choose one that works for you.

    You do have to be interested in it as you will have to spend time thinking about it and learning more about it. However, an interest is enough to get started.

    It will actually work more like this…

    Find a profitable interest… make money online… it becomes a passion.

    Don’t worry if it’s not a passion right now, get started and it’s almost guaranteed to become one.

    You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Choose something that you can see working online and maybe choose a sub-niche that you can start writing about.

    You don’t have to be an expert right now. Let the internet follow your journey and if you stay consistent with it, you will become an expert.

     

    MakeTimeOnline Summary

    To sum up, it’s important to remember that making money through affiliate marketing is still a business. It’s not going to be super easy, but as long as you have a reason why you are doing it, then it will be easier to keep going when it becomes hard.

    You will never “find the time” to do anything, you have to make time. Set a time each day where you know you will be able to work on your online business. Maybe you can get up an hour earlier, or maybe when you get home from work. It doesn’t matter when as long as you can be productive during this time.

    Look at the benefits again for creating an online business. Making money when you sleep, the small upfront costs and the unlimited potential outweigh any negatives of an online business for me.

    Remember, that if you are not sure what your niche should be, choose one and start. You can always change or retweak what you are doing to work better for you in the future.

    Keep changing for the better

    Mike

     

    If you would like to see how I started my online business and what training I am currently using to grow it click here.

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    Affiliate Marketing

    The Best Affiliate Marketing Products To Sell

    Now you may already be using affiliate marketing or you may be interested in starting. But what are the best affiliate marketing products to sell?

    There are lots of different ways to do this but this blog is only going to focus on what products are the best to sell online.

    Follow Your Passion- The Sure Way To Get Mediocre Results

    I have read a lot of different self-development books. A lot of them will say something like follow your passion… or do what you love and the money will follow, or some fluffy thing around that.

    Now I’m not being funny but sitting on the beach, doing water sports and watching Game Of Thrones has not made me any money yet, so I’m fairly sure this is not completely true!

    Even affiliate marketing books that I think are very good such as Anik Singal’s “The Circle of Profit” suggests you can make millions of dollars from your passion. He does talk about it needing to fit certain criteria but the fact is… not all passions are profitable (If you’re looking to get started in affiliate marketing I’d highly recommend this book though! Harsh Agrawal also has a good book for beginners.)

    There have only been two authors that I think are straight talking and completely honest about this. Their books are not about affiliate marketing directly but they basically imply that if you want to scale and make a big business… it has to be online.

    MJ DeMarco- Fastlane Millionaire

    Dan Lok- FU Money

    The point that both of these financial giants make is that when your business starts making money, you will find your passion for that business. It becomes easier to do what you need to do as it becomes profitable and you see the results.

     

    So Where Do I Start?

    In recent months I have found myself going around in circles… big circles that takes up a lot of time and I end back in the same place… doing nothing!

    Some people have a niche that is perfect for affiliate marketing. It’s their thing and they do it all day every day and will never get bored with it. For example weight loss, bodybuilding, investing, dating advice, electronics or pets.

    Some people may love to read about new nutrition advice and what methods of training are most effective to reduce fat and build muscle. They may be doing this all the time and there certainly is a big market for this online.

    However, for most people, we may dabble in a bit of all of this at certain times in our life but it’s not really a “passion”.

    So how to do we choose that one thing?

    I’m going to show you what I did, but I’ll show you the direct route rather than what I actually did (because that was stupid!)

    Use Clickbank- It’s Free to Join So Sign Up Right Now

    I mean it! This is probably 101 to the worst way to keep people reading your work but… Stop what you’re doing click this link and sign up right now (this is not an affiliate link as it’s free!)

    On ClickBank, you basically get to become an affiliate for up to 75% commissions (yes you can get more than the person who created the product) on any products.

    That part is very easy to do, however, the hard part is deciding the product to choose!

    So all I did (eventually) is click the tabs on the left side and see which “niches” had the best variety and products that I personally would be interested in trying out.

    Top tip is to click to sort by gravity (this simply means what has sold well in the last month). If you’d like to learn more click here to see what the ClickBank University can offer.

    Use Amazon Associates- Also Free to Join!

    I literally just worked this one out yesterday! I’ve seen people promoting products etc. online before but didn’t really understand why or how. When you click the link you just go to Amazon and buy a product from there. Surely the person leaving the review didn’t even get any of the benefits?!

    How wrong was I?

    So Amazon has an affiliate website called Amazon Associates. This means you can get a commission for millions of products on Amazon. So this is why you hear some people saying follow your passion no matter what it is?

     

    Well, maybe but the commission rate is relatively low compared to other affiliate programs. If you sell 6 or fewer items a month, your rate is 4%. You can earn up to 8.5%, but that’s achieved by selling more than 3,131 products.

    So depending on what you are promoting you won’t be earning too much from it.

    The other good thing about it is that even if the person who clicked your link buys something on that visit, you earn a commission. So you could refer a $10 book and they end up buying a $1,000 TV and you receive the commission on the TV.

     

    Digital or Physical?

    The virtual world wins this one. People use the internet mainly for information.

    Plus, Amazon Affiliates is a great way to avoid the hassle of having to post, package and deliver the physical products if there is something that you’d really like to promote.

    However, if you are eventually going to be creating products it is 100% better if it is digital.

    We live in the information age now so if you can create something digitally you will eventually be the one with the products on Click Bank, Udemy and Amazon.

    Do We Need Just One Thing?

    Obviously, you won’t just be an affiliate of one product for the whole time. There will be different products and ideas you’ll have to be an affiliate of.

    However, from what I understand it is better to stick to the same niche. If my next post was about the yoga retreat I did in Bali over the summer it wouldn’t really follow the niche path that I am going down with creating an income online.

    This confuses your audience and can be harder to keep the website traffic up.

    My wife, Sarah and I created our first blog a bit like this. It was literally anything we did or thought of that week. It has been great to get experience in the online world but if you’re being an affiliate marketer you need to have a path that you follow.

     

    You Certainly Can Make a Profit From Your Passion… But

    I went into more detail about Anik Singal’s five key components to making sure your niche is profitable here. I think it is very important to read these 5 steps carefully as it can affect your whole online business.

    Something that I found very insightful was that if you can’t find any competition online then you must have found a golden nugget right?! The million dollar idea?

    Well actually if there is no competition online, then your idea for affiliate marketing sucks! Yep, you read that right it sucks, throw it away and start again. Check Udemy, Clickbank and even Google it. If you can’t find any online courses then it won’t work online.

    So to find a niche and products that sell well you need to find someone else already doing it. But on the flip side you don’t want too many otherwise how will you stand out (not so easy is it?!)

    There are some very profitable and proven markets such as:

    • Weight Loss
    • Healthy Eating
    • Relationship advice
    • Finding a job
    • Investing

    However, if you just use these words as your niche it will be too big to compete. It has to be narrowed down (or sub niched) such as weight loss for middle-aged women, or investing in property in the UK, or making money online using affiliate.

     

    Conclusion

    I wouldn’t say there a certain type of product that is the best, but there certainly are things to know before diving in.

    If you have an idea and you can tell it’s profitable then get started.

    Action is the antidote to fear.

    So if you are still worried you have the wrong products to sell. Try it!

    You can find out how I started here.

    Keep changing for the better

     

    Mike

     

     

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    Blogging for Beginners, Make Money

    Can I Make Money Online?

    I read an article recently all about the drinking culture in the UK. It’s a bit off point to “Can I Make Money Online?” but bear with me…

    It started with a guy in the US saying the British people drink like they don’t want to live. The response from Gavin Shipman was one of the most accurate descriptions of the British culture that I’ve ever read. It was almost like hearing about my life up until this point.

    It is quite long so let me paraphrase for you…

     

    British Drinking Culture

    At a young age: You get a sip of your Dad’s beer at the footy and maybe a glass of wine at a fancy meal (you are allowed to drink in pubs/ restaurants as long as you are with an adult and food- if you’ve ever watched the Inbetweeners you’ll know what I mean!!)

    Screen Shot 2018-09-07 at 11.50.25 PM.png
    Not quite this young!

    As a teenager: You and your mates find the local dodgy corner shop that serves you alcohol without ID. You get drunk in the park and the rebel in you gets a “buzz” from this.

    Screen Shot 2018-09-07 at 11.49.42 PM
    Eugh! If you’ve tasted this you’ll know

    At Uni: It’s finally legal for you to drink in bars and clubs even though you’ve been going to them for the last 2 years with a fake ID. It becomes the biggest sport going to see how much you can pre-drink before you go out to drink some more. Don’t forget the nightcap/ after party when the clubs close. Your education becomes a distant second in your priorities in your first year (and only becomes a closer second as you move through).

    Screen Shot 2018-09-07 at 11.49.15 PM

    As a young adult: You need a job so you go to London (or any other city). The money is good but the price of everything is extortionate. If you don’t go to the pub you don’t see your friends. You always go out for just one drink… but there is no such thing as “just one drink”. Next thing you know you wake up on the train in a town you’ve never heard of.

    Drinking at the weekend seems like the only escape from the monotony of city life and the horrendous rush hour commute. You’re considered a recluse if you don’t go to the pub.

    Screen Shot 2018-09-07 at 11.53.37 PM
    Maybe it’s not just Britain?!

    As a “Grown Up”: You move out of the city and have kids. Your life still revolves around work and the escape of having a beer at the weekend. It won’t be long until you take your son to watch the footy… and the cycle begins again.

     

    What Has This Got To Do With Making Money Online?

    Funnily enough in my head… it has everything to do with it.

    When I logically think about this culture, it makes no sense. Why would people willingly (and continually) put poison into their body to lose self-control and feel dreadful the next day?

    The reason there is such a binge drinking culture in Britain is simply because that’s “normal”. It is exactly the same reason that everyone goes to work from 9-5, often in jobs they can’t stand.

    Screen Shot 2018-09-07 at 11.59.59 PM
    There’s definitely more…

    Does This Need to be “Normal”

    NO! Absolutely not.

    You may have heard the quote, “you are the average of the 5 closest people to you”.

    Imagine if your 5 closest friends or family members all made their income online. Do you think it would still seem “weird” or “too hard”?

    This is another reason why having a strong community of people around you that are doing exactly the same thing is so important. Wealthy Affiliates offers this support. Unfortunately, this is not something we learn at school or from any “formal education”. If you want to have a change in the way you go about daily life, you’re going to have to change something yourself.

    “The definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” Albert Einstein

    Screen Shot 2018-09-08 at 12.00.35 AM.png

     

    What Can We Do?

    Something that I have learnt in recent years is that there are lots of things that aren’t quite right in the world. War, crime, poverty, the financial system, the impact on the environment (I could go on…)

    However, what I have realised is that is so much easier to change myself than change any of these things or change anyone else (I can feel a Michael Jackson song coming on here…)

    We can learn pretty much anything we want by using that magic Google button or even just asking Alexa. Yet unless our thinking changes, nothing else will.

    If you want to find out more about what I’m up doing online click here.

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    Affiliate Marketing

    About Mike

    “To help others live the life they want by showing them it is possible”   

    Mike, Make Time Online

     

    Hi, welcome to Make Time Online!

    This is a place where you can follow my online journey into finding a way to make money online to create more time in my life. The journey will include different programs that I try out and tips or training that I find most useful.

     

    My Story

    I have been living a life following “the script”. I grew up in England, went to school, university and then got a job as a teacher. I bought a house and got married (obviously the best decision of my life as my wife, Sarah, is possibly the greatest human being on the planet and a big reason as to why I’m starting this!)

    But I’ve always felt like there is more to life than just waking up and going to work for someone else.

     

    Me and Sarah on our wedding day!

     

    We were sitting in my parents living room in August 2017 when I said to Sarah, “do you fancy writing a blog with me?”

    I didn’t realise what the impact of those few minutes on that sofa would have…

     

    Finding Success

    We have always loved adventures and exploring the world, so we decided to teach internationally… We now live in Qatar, with summer all year round and South East Asia a short flight away.

    This has created soooo many opportunities for us in our personal lives but also in our financial lives.

    We now own a property investment company in the UK and have met some people who are literally “crushing it” (stealing the words of Gary V).

    The thing we have noticed about all of these successful people is that they are completely normal.

    No different to you and me.

    No SUPERPOWERS.

    Nobody comes from a family of MILLIONAIRES or can do extraordinary things.

    They are just ordinary people who use their TIME much better than I have ever done.

     

    Us in Bali – 2018 Summer – Man this place is cool!

     

    Lightbulb!! (in the voice of Gru from Despicable Me…)

    There was something else in common about these successful people we started to meet and spend time with…

    They all earnt passive income.

    To me, passive income means spending time today that pays you over and over again… even when you sleep… or sit on the loo!

    The two main ways that I have seen to make PASSIVE income are:

    1. Property (mainly because we went on property investment courses… go figure!)
    2. Making Money Online (or an online business).

     

    So back to that day sitting in the sun on the sofa in Essex, the day before we flew back to Qatar…

    I spent 10 minutes searching for how to create a blog.

    PING!!

    WordPress jumped out at me, so I set up an account.

    A few minutes later… 

    Voilà!!

    We hopped into this mysterious world of “blogging”. I have since “met” (online) some amazing people who are not only doing this full time… but are earning MILLIONS of dollars a year.

     

    If you’re anything like me, you’re probably thinking “Yo bro… I don’t want to sit in front of a computer screen all day!” or “I don’t even know how to change a lightbulb, let alone do techie stuff!”

    The fact is you don’t NEED to do this to make money online.

    I have learnt so far that you definitely do NEED to put in TIME and EFFORT… but there are systems that you can put in place or people that can do things that you don’t want to.

    Plus… are you telling me that you’ve never put TIME and EFFORT into your job?

    Without a doubt, the Internet is the best place to put in TIME if you’d like to get paid over and over again.

     

    Yes, I’m in!! Get exclusive emails with tips and tricks on how to save more and earn more!





     

    Why I Want to Help

    I have become aware of how many people have problems that could be solved by 2 things:

    TIME and MONEY.

     

    Going to school was always a bit of a nuisance growing up… It got in the way of playing sports and seeing my friends!!

    Seeing education as a teacher has made me realise what a disservice it does for children in today’s information age.

     

    Knowledge is money today.

     

    Yet schools channel people into getting a full-time job.

    Full-time jobs take away your TIME… and it’s pretty hard to increase your MONEY.

    The worst lesson we pick up from school is trading our time for money i.e. go to work and get paid for the amount of time we put in instead of the quality of our work or value we add.

     

     

    I told some colleagues a few years ago that I wanted to change the WHOLE education system. After the mocking that you would expect from a bunch of PE teacher’s someone asked, “but how?”

    … well, this website is “the how”.

    Our learning doesn’t stop when we leave school… Remember guys every day’s a school day!

     

    Make Time Online’s Mission

    The number one goal of this website is to show you a way that you can make money online.

    It is possible and it is being done by normal people all over the world. It does not require ridiculous amounts of money to be able to do it… and no you don’t need to code!!

    I’d love to hear from you and what your story is.

    Keep changing for the better,

    Mike Beatty

     

    p.s. Find out more about the program I am using and would HIGHLY recommend to anyone interested in making money online.

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