“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain.
“So.. what do you do?”
Every week I find it hard to answer this question without sounding like a lunatic or a liar. “I’m retired” I usually answer and get an unclear smile from the person in front of me. This article might change quite a bit of your current beliefs – but first we’ll have to define what ‘retirement’ practically is.
Retirement?
Alright,I’m not formally retired, but what’s the difference? My grandpa is retired. He had worked at the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology for dozens of years and gets a nice sum of a monthly passive retirement income from them, an income that’s well more than enough to cover all his expenses.
He spends quality time with his Israeli tribe-like family, including nerve-racking Rummikub games with grandma Evonne. His retirement income is not dependent on his time today = meaning he can do whatever the heck he wants to do and the money will keep flowing. Passive income – that’s what strive to reach, but right here and now and not when we turn 65. Life’s too short for their fruits to be enjoyed at old age.
Let me tell you a little bit about my unusual life.
In the past few years, the only time I woke up to the sound of an alarm clock was to catch up the sunrise in the famous Angkorian temples in Cambodia. I don’t like alarm clocks – not only do they mess up with the natural hormonal balance and sleep cycles of our body – they’re also despairing. Every morning I wake up to the sound of twittering birds and sit to read a book aside a king-size meal that fills the home with the stimulating aroma of organic French butter. That’s when I’m home.
When I’m not home? That’s when it gets interesting.
Between scuba-diving around tropical islands and trying new exotic foods – I enjoy reading, writing and collecting as many stories-to-tell-the-grandkids as I can. At the times of writing this, I just came back from the Philippines where I was renting an apartment on a beautiful beach named Panglao with my French pole-dancing ex-girlfriend. Only a few weeks earlier I had fulfilled a dream and went riding horses under the moonlight on the hills of Serbian Zlatibor, a journey I embarked on after trying some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Forro-dancing lessons in vibrant London.
I’ve been to dozens of countries in the past few years – but the road was not always easy.
Only a few years ago – I too was a part of the academic system, passing my days in the Technion (“The MIT of Israel”). 3 weeks took me to realize that this institute only inhibits my growth, and to the dismay of my friends and family – I chose to ‘leave everything’ so I can launch a business of my own.
It was quite easy to see that the Technion isn’t leading me anywhere close to my dreams and I was more interested to be filthy-rich when it comes to the real strong currency: TIME. I was very determined to create a passive income that’ll allow me to be completely free and do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it – be it traveling the world or seeing my future kids growing in front of my eyes, something that I feel many parents are unfortunate to fully experience.
I knew there’s a way to make money online from home through the internet but I didn’t know exactly how. It didn’t matter much though, I believed in myself to find that way and assumed that if other people are doing it – undoubtedly I can too. I just had to figure this all out.
Fast forward two years.
The decision to leave university ended up being the smartest thing I have ever done. While the rest of my peers are bitterly complaining about their ‘exams period’ – I find myself completely free and full of passion for life. Only in my mid-twenties I’ve already managed to write a book, launch a business, travel dozens of countries, hire Ph.Ds – and give myself the best gift one can ever give to oneself:
FREEDOM. Early retirement one may say.
Time is all we have in this world and I’m here to help you claim it back.
I’m not a millionaire yet but my business gives me enough cash every month to cover all my expenses no matter what country I’m in – and that’s the definition of financial freedom. I’m also not here to brag but to give you the confidence that you’re getting this information from someone who’s ‘been there done that’ and not from some anonymous guru that makes his money online by selling you a yet-another ‘how to make money online’ seminar.
I’ll tell you right now, you’re not gonna spend here any sum of money that’ll make your heart beat.
“Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein.
The way I see it, the average person ‘pays’ 5 days of labor for 2 days of perceived freedom each week. What’s the point of waking up depressed, frustrated and passionless 5 days a week for two days of cheap drinking to forget the tough week that’s passed?
Inspired by one of my earlier mentors, Mark Butler, Let me ask you a more-interesting question:
HOW EXPENSIVE IS YOUR JOB?
Most people assume that their boss pays them money for their time but don’t take into account that they also in fact pay him time for his money. Now let me ask you: for the time you’re paying – is it a good deal or a stupid purchase? Does the reward (the salary) exceed the headache, heartache, brain damage and lost hours?
I’m serious. Time and money are two sides of the same coin. If you’re really happy with your job and there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing – I absolutely salute you. Respect. This guide is probably not for you. However, if you’d wish to live a different life, keep on reading.
Let me also point out that your reality is not going to change mine as much my reality is not going to change yours. There will surely be some fellas who’ll react venomously to this article – but it’s not gonna affect my daily life one bit. I’m still gonna have fun. On the same token, your reality is not going to change as well as long as you don’t take action. Our life today is a direct result of the choices and actions we’ve made in the past and for that we must take responsibility.
Life becomes cruel for those who blame others.
But.. IS IT SAFE?
No job or business is safe, it’s an illusion we must all as a society overcome. Our evolutionary need for safety is hardwired and is the main reason why people are so terrified of taking risks. This mechanism helped humans survive around lions in Africa – but is counterproductive today in our current ecosystem.
Do not expect too much support from your friends or family too. They’ll probably panic when you tell them you’re going to try something different and make a change. They’ll feel threatened since they’re not ready for this change. They’ll react negatively, doubt you arrogantly and give an impressive repertoire of ‘smart’ reasons why you’re gonna fail. They’ll try to convince you you’re doing a huge mistake. Realize and internalize that it’s only THEIR way of justifying their miserable life.
Fear helps people justify themselves. It blinds them. It’s evolutionary.
Now that we understand that, let’s move on to the nuts and bolts of transforming that seed of idea you have in your brain into a kickass rock-star reality everyone’s gonna be jealous of.
How to Make Money Online
“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Angela Monet.
I want you to hear the music well before you start dancing. I’ll give you all the knowledge you may need in order to dance well and avoid all the mistakes I’ve done on your way to make money online. It will save you plenty of time, headaches and plain cash. Whether you want to set up a startup, a blog or a smartphone app – here’s the main thing you should be aware of:
Wherever Eyeballs Go – Money Goes
In the offline world, the most profitable stores are the ones bringing in a hefty amount of eyeballs (customers). In the online world, we’re talking of course about web visitors.
In this article I’ll be touching my favorite method, a method that allows me to constantly explore new areas of knowledge and learn a lot while writing about those topics which I live and breath and have a great passion for. Just like the article you’re reading right now. I also believe this method to be the most relevant for the vast majority of people reading this. The monetary investment is almost non-existent and that’s what most people are looking for.
You’re going to set up a website (takes a few minutes these days), bring visitors and lead some of those visitors to take action and buy something. I haven’t touched one of my sites for quite a long time and it still brings income day after day, week after week, month after month. And why wouldn’t it? It still provides plenty of value. Which brings us to another point.
Providing Value to the World by Solving Problems
You’re going to provide value for people. You’re going to help and contribute to the world. The more you help people solve their problems – the more money you make. It’s true in any business venture. Millionaires are usually people who have touched many lives. Whether that’s selling a million pieces of iPod or selling thousands of apartments – they solved a problem for many people and have rightfully obtained their wealth.
Ironically, poor people (at least in the western world) are usually the greedy ones, those providing very little value to the world, complaining how cruel the world is and illegally downloading the great works of those rich people who helped the world by creating their works. Once you change your mindset from that of a consumer to that of a creator, life will start smiling at ya.
Back to our subject.
Types of Eyeballs
Websites/blogs that make loads of cash are websites that receive lots of eyeballs, and specifically lots of eyeballs of the right type. I’m talking of course about types of traffic, and these are the main ones:
Direct: Visitors who follow you or directly type your site address into their browser.
Search: Visitors who come through the search engines, mainly Google.
Social: Visitors who come from social networks – Facebook, Twitter etc..
Referral: Word of mouth, either people talking offline or a link from another site.
Paid: Visitors you buy from PayPerClick (PPC) networks such as Google Adwords or Facebook Ads.
Successful websites bring in a mixture these traffic types. The site will be so qualitative, so thorough and valuable, that people will naturally link, talk and share. The search engines will rank it so high for a variety of keywords and will send you plenty of organic traffic, resulting in more cash.
But it’s important to remember one thing: Humans are biologically ego-driven creatures. They don’t care what they can give you – only what you can give them. That’s exactly why they say nine out of ten business fail within the first few years. They don’t answer any need and don’t solve any problem. Or the demand disappear after a while. It’s also the reason why 99.9% of site owners don’t make a dime off their site. You want to answer a need and solve people’s problems.
How do we figure this out? Easy. If you’ll notice, every search in Google is actually a question, a problem one wishes to solve. You’ll be the one to solve it.
Luckily for us, Google created the Google Adwords Keyword Tool (Replaced by Google Keyword Planner in September 2013).
This tool is used by the advertisers on the Google Adwords network to determine the profitability of keywords they might want to use in their advertising campaigns. We can get a lot of value from this tool, mainly by determining the number of searches (=demand) for a certain subject.
Keyword Research: Every Business Begins With a Need Answered
I first want you to open the Google Keyword Planner and follow my steps. There are many advanced and expensive softwares for this process, but I truly believe this free Google tool is the only thing you need. Devoted readers know we’re all about simplicity and minimalism here – and this tool is king when it comes to simplicity. The main thing we want to examine is the number of searches the topic we want to write about gets each month.
This is not optional. If you fail to prepare – prepare to fail. If you don’t have a Google account, open one. Sign in to the Keyword Planner and do as follows:
- Choose “Search for keyword and ad group ideas” from the three initial options.
- On the left side, under ‘Targeting’, change ‘Google’ to ‘Google and search partners’. There are many search partners for Google that are operating independently but use the Google search engine. We definitely want to target them as well.
- You may also want to change the Language and/or Location according to your local needs. If you’re targeting American expats looking to buy second hand motorbikes in Romania – you’d change the location to ‘Romania’ so you get the proper numbers.
Right before I joined university I had come back from a bicycle trip that begun in Sweden. We were absolutely broke back in those days and managed to survive with a budget that would make an homeless feel mercy. I’m very proud of that journey and say I’d like to write an article about it. I decided to type ‘travel europe cheap’ and ‘cheapest way to travel europe’ into Google’s Keyword Planner:
Bingo. Exactly what i’m looking for.
What we want to find is a bunch of keywords that are closely related for which I can create a qualitative resource that will attract plenty of happy visitors. The results (there are much more when scrolled down) show me there are plenty of searches every month which means plenty of eyeballs and some money to be made.
The CPC is the average Cost Per Click that advertisers are willing to pay. It is usually a good indicator of the commercial business potential of the keyword. The higher the CPC – the more commercial activity the keyword usually has. That being said, there are plenty of times where I target keywords with CPC lower than $1 if I have enough passion for the subject.
Speaking of passion,
I highly recommend that you write about topics that thrill, entice and interest you. Subjects that you’re passionate about or have a lot of personal experience with. Subjects that you live and breath. The reasons?
Interest and fun will motivate and prevent you from quitting. Passion for your topic is easily felt on the text and will dramatically increase its quality and make it more ‘sticky’, emotional and awesome to the reader. Always remember – a good product is its own marketing. People will talk about it, spread the word and do the hard promotional work for you.
Write out of interest and passion. Invest in your content. You want to build such a site that both the visitors and Google will admire, and not one that is just there to get some quick cash and will disappear from the search results whenever Google penalize you.
Here is the final result for the keywords we’ve found. Even though I invested many hours writing it, I’m confident I won’t have to do any intensive promotion work – people will share and link to it because the content is so good. I took a great care making sure it will ‘Wow!’ the reader. Over time, I have no doubt it will get plenty of search traffic.
General Guidelines for Keyword Research: Things You Should Consider
- Always be thinking about the searcher’s intent. Try to go inside his mind. Somebody typing ‘business watch’ is probably looking for the worldwide organization ‘Business Watch’ and not for a business-style watch. Somebody typing ‘math calculator’ is not looking for text about math calculators but for a calculator he can use to solve his math issues.
- Low CPC (less than $1) and low competition are usually indicators of a low profit potential, though it’s not always the case. Gems exist. Feel free to write about those topics if you have lots of interest or expertise in them. With a little bit of creativity – you’ll find a way to milk those keywords and make them profitable.
- Is the keyword or group of keywords relevant to your site?
- Can you give the searcher the information he’s looking for in a way that will make him thank god he found your website?
- Is the competition too strong? Keywords with more than 10,000 monthly searches are usually quite hard to rank for because of fierce competition. It will take significantly more time to rank high for them than it’d take for keywords with lower search numbers. For beginners, I recommend shooting for keywords with search numbers varying from a few hundreds to a few thousands.
I want you to pick a few groups of keywords according to the guidelines and save them somewhere so you can use them later. Congratulations, you’re one step closer to make money online blogging.
(Related: How to Find Your Niche?)
Setting-up a WordPress Site
We’ll now need an online space where we can publish our amazing content. We’ll need a hosting service and a domain registrar, and to keep things simple – we’ll get both from the same place – and for that I highly recommend InMotion Hosting. InMotion gives you a free domain for one year when you buy hosting through them, so use it.
The main reasons I recommend InMotion are their lightning-fast speeds, their reliable hardware, their responsive 24/7 support, and their affordable pricing. Every time I have an emergency – I simply pop up on the live chat and the issue is resolved in minutes. I do believe they’re the best web hosting for new WordPress sites.
So:
- Go to InMotion.
- Click on ‘WEB HOSTING’ –> ‘BUSINESS HOSTING’
- Order Launch if you’re not going to have more than 2 sites, Power if not more than 6, and Pro for unlimited. You can always upgrade, so begin with the minimum.
What Domain Should I Choose?
It doesn’t seriously matter.
Choose something that will be easy for people to remember and share through word of mouth when they talk about your amazing content on the street. If you’re going to write about your great journey from being broke to being a millionaire – something like TrampyMillionaire.com or Becoming FilthyRich.com is perfectly alright. Oh, and stick to .com or .net, they sound more professional.
Yourname.com/net is also great (Like RegevElya.com). It gives your site a personal feel and lets you write about a broad range of topics without feeling strange (Imagine reading about travel in a site like cheapcomputers.com).
Setting-up The Site Itself Using WordPress
InMotion Hosting accounts come with a cPanel that lets you have a 1-click WordPress installation through Fantastico Deluxe. The installation is very simple and straightforward. Just log in to your cPanel and use Fantastico Deluxe. If you find it difficult, pop their live chat and they’ll do it for you.
Voila! You’ve got a website. Congratulations. WordPress is a very fast, simple, intuitive and efficient system to organize content and run a website. You’ve got plenty for information on the internet if you ever need anything.
Warning: Don’t waste too much time trying to perfectly design the site now. It’s addictive and non-productive. You’ll have enough time to deal with it when your site grows and becomes popular. Right now nobody’s seeing it anyway and the default WordPress theme is great.
Publishing Your Content
At this point you should already have a few groups of profitable keywords for which you have a great interest or expertise in. You’re going to add a lot of value to the online world and now all that’s left is publishing that awesome content of yours.
There’s a good reason why I don’t mention anything like Search Engine Optimization or SEO. The traditional ‘SEO’ world involves manipulative techniques that I don’t want you to take a part of, mainly because I want this business to be free of unnecessary risks for you and for the work involved to be fun and inspiring. Follow my steps and your site will be SEO’d the way Google loves. You’ll get lots of happy visitors.
The basic rules of thumb for the content on your site:
- Try to incorporate each relevant keyword variation (‘travel europe cheap’, ‘cheap travel to europe’) in your post, but only if it flows naturally and doesn’t hurt the user’s experience. It’s great if you find a way to include each one – but never at the cost of readability. Google will anyway pull plenty of visitors to your site based on the topic and overall relevancy through many keywords you didn’t even plan for. It’s the overall mass of in-demand content that matters, not a specific keyword or two. That being said, make your best effort to try to include them at least once.
- SERVE THE READER. Your goal is to present a solution to his or her problem in an interesting and intriguing way that will make him or her thank the lord for coming across your site. The more it stirs the readers emotions – the better the chances for them to share it on Facebook, drop a link, talk about it in some forum – and just doing the promotional work for ya.
- Try to include as many angles in the post title as you naturally can. Even though ‘Travel Europe Cheap’ is my main keyword for the post, I also incorporated ‘Best Ways’, ‘Bicycle Trip’ and ‘Shoestring Budget’. Not only do I compete for ‘Best Ways to Travel Europe Cheap’ now – but I can also get more traffic from long-tail terms such as ‘How to Travel Europe on a Shoestring Budget’, ‘Europe on Bicycle’ or anything else that relates to those angles. Remember that a high percentage of the searches happen for the first time and the larger your net – the more fish you’ll catch.
- Try to make the post title interesting and eye-catching for the person behind the keyboard searching Google. You want him to choose YOUR article and not any of the rest of the search results. Try to go inside his head. But don’t get stuck on this, you can always easily change posts’ titles later.
- Link between relevant articles on your site to add more depth and help the visitors navigate. This will also boost your Google rankings.
- NEVER copy other content. People worked hard for it. It’s not only unethical but also illegal.
- Invest a great amount of effort and energy in your posts – but fight perfectionism. Listen to me well – this method certainly require an element of quality for long term success – but quantity and the overall mass is even more important.
Start writing now. NOW. Develop that habit and gradually build your ‘writing muscle’. With time your muscle will grow and be accustomed to a greater work quality and volume. It’s inevitable. See it as a money tree – you give it water and sun for a certain period – and then it gives you fruits by itself month after month. Then, my friend – you may call yourself retired.
Promotion: Bringing Eyeballs to Your Content
No matter how good your product or content is, you will still need some sort of an initial promotion, something that will push the snowball to start rolling down the hill. Thanks to the quality of your content – this snowball will keep getting bigger and bigger by itself and won’t need much additional work. That’s the beauty when your product (in our case, our content) is really awesome. People will recommend it. Webmasters will link to it.
Here are three simple ways to promote your content. Over time, you’ll have less and less of this work when your site becomes popular. If you were the common internet marketer – you’d probably create some uninspiring content for the sake of getting some quick cash and promote the heck out of it until Google decides to penalize you one day. We don’t want that. If your content is as awesome as it should be – those alone will be well more than enough to push it forward.
Guest Posts
If you really live and breath the subjects you write about, want it or not – you’ll build relationships with people in your specific niche and many writing opportunities will fall into your hands. Some of the people you’ll network with will naturally be webmasters or bloggers, and they might help you build your reputation and allow you to post content on their site to show your expertise.
Invest in those posts just as if they were on your site– you want to be catching fresh eyeballs and that’s a great way. Always be sure to include a link back to your site so people can see more of your content. This will also increase your rankings in Google.
I also greatly recommend paying for Postrunner. There are loads of great blogs and websites there to post your guest posts to. Just make sure you post your content to REAL websites and not some crappy spammy ones. That way you can stay safe, Google doesn’t want you to spam the web with links pointing back to your site, so always make it a legit effort to contribute to the web, on legit websites run by legit owners.
Forums
Participate in discussions by setting up a profile and building your reputation in popular forums related to your niche. In your signature, put a link back to your site. That will allow every person that reads your comments to move directly to your site and be amazed by the masterpieces on your site.
Social Networks
Set up a Facebook page or whatever social networks you’re using. Make sure you share each new post among people you think will be interested in them. If what you’re writing is beyond amazing, you’re going to discover the unstoppable force of viral media.
Advanced: PPC
Once you’re experienced and a little established – you can experiment with PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing. You’ll sign up to Google Adwords or Facebook Ads or any similar service and pay to get people coming to your site through advertising. This is pretty advanced and I only recommend it to people with a good amount of experience under their belt. Wait at least a year or two.
Monetization: How Do I Make Money Online Out of This?
The part we’ve been all waiting for.
Once you have enough daily eyeballs on your site, you’ll have to start thinking about ways to make money off them. The ones that immediately pop in my head:
Ads
Least profitable but easiest to implement. You basically just register to Google AdSense or any similar service – copy a piece of code, paste it on your site – and see those advertisements on your site convert into dollars with each click.
For example: You get 1,000 visitors every day to your dog-training website – 5% of them click an ad that gives you a dollar each.
Affiliate Products
You basically promote other people’s products and get a commission from each sale. The benefits: you don’t have any production, shipping or handling fees and no customer service. You just bring the customers and see those $’s rolling in. The drawback? you don’t get to keep the customers as if the product was yours, and you get a lower cut of course.
For example: You get 1,000 visitors every day to your dog-training website – 5% of them buy a dog-training digital ebook that costs the customer $30 and gets you a 50% commission – $15 each.
Your Own Digital Product (My Favorite)
That’s how you turn your site into a real business with a real product and real customers. The benefits are double: You get a full share of the revenue and a very valuable experience in managing a business and supporting customers. You have a complete control over the product (and its price) and can build an army of affiliates that will promote the product for you for a commission.
For example: You get 1,000 visitors every day to your site – 5% of them buy your dog-training digital ebook that costs them $30 each. You get to keep the customers so you can mail them other products to buy in the future.
(You can also offer your own physical products of course)
Online Workshop/Seminar
Just like digital products, online seminars are cheap to produce (no expensive rent) and can be leveraged unlimitedly (no physical limits so you can host thousands of attendees easily). If you do want to rent a place, go ahead! it’s a nice way to get this online business thingie a bit more traditionally offline and social.
For example: You get 1,000 visitors to your site every day – 5% of them come along with their dogs to your dog-training seminar. You rent a place and invite all of them at the same time. Each one pays $100. You made some nice cash and might have even been rewarded with rabies.
Membership
The membership model is a very nice way to scale a steadily growing monthly income.
For example: You get 1,000 visitors to your site every day – 5% of them sign up to your online program where you help them train their dog through weekly webinars that they’ll get directly to their mail. They’ll pay you $30 each every month as long as they are signed up to the program.
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Note: of course you’re not limited to one monetization method per site. For example – in your dog training site you can perfecly sell ad space, offer a digital ebook and recruit monthly subscribers (membership) that gets unique content and a webinar (online seminar) once every two weeks or so.
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But whatever you do, make sure you collect email addresses from your site visitors. Most of my fellow online business owners – including myself – regret not having done that from the beginning. Using an email marketing service will allow your readers to give you their emails and be sent future offers and mails from you. You may also mail them surveys and questions to examine demand for new topics to write about.
Tip: I recommend AWeber. I’ve been using them for ages and they are the best when it comes to actually delivering your emails to the recipients.
Work From Home on a Tropical Paradise
How would you like to live in a tropical paradise while putting and saving thousands of bucks in your bank account each month? That’s the beauty of making money online, it eliminates any geographic limitation. Lo and behold:
Exotic tropical locations, the wild dream of many ambitious humans – are significantly cheaper than the western world.
Can you guess the rent of my apartment on the time in Panglao? $700 a month, and that was a private high-class resort. You can easily find beautiful furnished homes close to the water for $150-350 in Panglao – and even less in less touristic areas or cheaper countries.
My ex-girlfriend and I spent the days motorbiking, diving and dining freshly buttered lobsters and gourmet-like Sashimi in Korean buffets. The beauty? I haven’t touched my business for a few months during that time and it kept making money. Even when I was sleeping. Even when I was sitting on the toilet each morning. Even when I was 30 meters deep underwater diving with Barracudas.
The goal is taming the money to work for you and detach its dependency on your precious time. Life is too short to be spent on nonsense – and the amount of money you can make is infinite unlike the amount of time you have on planet earth.
Thinking You’re Not Talented Enough?
If I could give you only one message from this article – it would be this: Talent is overrated. If you’ll think about it – talent is merely a condition where mistakes are eliminated. You do enough mistakes until you become ‘talented’. Too many persons see talent as something you’re born with, and sure there’s a genetic potential – but everyone can get good at almost anything – given enough practice and mistakes. Think I knew something when I just started? I was totally clueless.
The question is: how can you eliminate mistakes if you’re afraid to do them in first place? That’s exactly the reason why i’m encouraging you to do them. You have my permissions to do as many mistakes as you want, just make sure you take away a lesson from them. Slowly slowly without noticing you’ll find yourself talented in your field. Doing things wrong is the best way to get them eventually right.
Last Words
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
Many people will try to discourage you and get the wind out of your sails. There are many losers around and they’ll try to talk you out of it and sink you down with them. They fear like death that new reality you’re bringing. They’re not ready for it. They’d rather not try and lose than take the risk. That’s why they’re throw all those self-doubts and fears upon you. Be aware of that and keep your distance. They can be poisonous to your success.
To succeed, it’s very important for you to be around people with the right mentality and attitude. Winners in their blood. Their good energy is contagious and will help you get forward. Try to be around those who can help your grow as a person and not around those who suck every bit of energy and creative force out of you.
I’d like to finish with a good word for Court Tuttle, Mark Butler and all the awesome fellas at The Keyword Academy. I owe you guys a lot. Much of what I know I learned from these generous and warm hearted people. They gave me a lot of motivation and I will forever stay grateful for the two years I’ve been a member there.
And.. don’t forget –
Reading this guide, your organic body had oxidized a bi more and you’re closer to your death by a few moments. Don’t you have some dream or two to fulfill? Time is short and the work is plentiful. B!tchslap your boss and hit the road to financial freedom and success. You have my best wishes.
Regev.
This is a great article, I read it earlier today when you first posted it, Im really impressed you wrote this knowing how much you hate english. where in the world are you now?
Christopher check your mailbox
Hey this article isn’t bad! I’m impressed with the like-minded philosophy of working to live and not living (slaving, really) to work.
Hi Regev – I really enjoy your blog and your approach to the simple life. I hope some day i can also live like you. Thanks for the inspiration. and keep on doing your thing and living your dream.
WOW! GREAT!
Awesome awesome post! I think that making money online is a great way to follow your dreams. It’s all about finding out the secret to this success! After that, it’s easy to live the life you want to live!
Nice.
EPIC
Fucking amazing article! Where are you traveling now? Sarah x
Always keep that beautiful, smart and full of wonder outlook on life. You inspire so many people and I hope you continue to do that
Tks for sharing Rege, this is the firt article i read. But as i promise, Ill be studing your site and let you know my opinnion later. Smart and interesting. See you in Chile, x
Hi, Regev!
Great what u r doin! The world needs doees and creators to renew!
We left Bulgaria two years ago, now livin i n Thailand…
Will be hally tokeep in touch
Don’t use, create!
Don’t believe in luck, make your luck!
Don’t let things happen to u, make things happen…
Simplification to BALANCE
We leave now in Thailand with one motorbike, Much smaller house compared to the one we were renting in Bulgaria, living with less money, no nerves and freely
Just one more step to independence – web based income…
By the way I’m a doctor with the dental practice and six people work for me in my country but not going to good at all, So, I’m working at the beach freelancer, doing what you do but at the local level
We need something so we can travel anywhere
By the way I built by myself the best dental website in Bulgaria; still number 1
I know this but I’m lazy And you can understand me because I was a dentist and now I want to be a holistic, one I found you when I was looking for local cheap flights around thai
Usually “I use it itasoftware, then I go to the airline website I also use airtickets24.com Also my favorite is something that you posted as stitches You want to be friends on Facebook? I use it only for postin interesting provoking things for people
Hello pilipino ako brother! how are you? i am here now in Seattle….doing the best i can to start living a life with my kids and searching on how i can do that as early as 1year sounds so optimistic and postivie maybe? sorry i’ve been so busy with life and ideas, since i do not plan things but my mind is playing with different ideas…ideas that i gathered from friends i met around the world thru true manila and the first Israeli Brother ( if you will allow me :) that i invited at home to experience life in a different perspective…one of the idea is to live a life where money is working for me…and now i am trying to figure out everything form here…why? because here i can concentrate and think freely and put more ideas and turn it into a big move forward that will help me get out of that life that you experienced when you were there in manila. Well i am starting to move forward…not fast and there are some fails…but still moving forward and not staying in one place. For me rules is not on my system, there is no fixed plan ( it will make me crazy if i do that ) i will only do it when the money is flowing and reaching a lot of street kids that i can help in the near future ( that one is plan some people told me i can do a lot of things because of true manila, i told them i can do better if i can find the solution to end poverty in my family…it should begin soon…very soon and one reason why i am here. Well my life is trying to go to different directions…some says i’m crazy but the next words are how did you do that? and they are wishing that they can do the same…then i told them, then make your first step…put ideas into actions and etc….Anyways bro, i hope you are fine…one day i will be needing your great advice because i remember one day we were talking about the business online…or whatever i can do to start something online and create an income that can support all my ideas not only for my self, family and relatives to help…but another best idea is to share it to all the street kids that we can reach out at true manila. Finally now i have time and far from problems…here i have all the time in the world to start making things happen and go back to manila with a strong positive mind that i can do in the near future Hope you are fine bro ( as always :)
whoah this blog is fantastic i love studying your posts. Stay up the great work!
What materials did you use to educate yourself for creating online businesses?
WHAT DO YOU WORK WITH?? i find it very funny you dont write a bit of history of yourself, for all we know you are a con man who took the money of other people to make your own..
Regev, just read your About page and I seriously have no words.
I now understand how amazing you are.
This article is INCREDIBLE. Your writing is so genuine, simplistic and yet so passionate and real. You couldn’t have described anything better.
You truly make me so proud to be your cousin and I swear to you Saba and Savta (after you’ve brewed some fresh coffee, blasted some arabic music in the background, translated this article and explained it to them) they would be just as proud as I am feeling right now.
You. Are. Freaking. Awesome.
I love you
I’ve recently read “The 4-hour work week” and stumbled upon your blog.
I was wondering if you could share *roughly* how much money you make passively online per month.
And if you could show me a link to one of your other websites.
If not, that’s also cool :)
Have fun!
Oren.
Great post I call it the internet life its true and I believe one can retire and live this kind of life but the honest truth is it takes time it takes a lot of hard work but one you balance it with passion everyday is filled with expectations and I love that part about solving a problem that’s what makes any one stand out great post ones again thank you keep it up
Hi Regev, I’ve recently found your site. I’ve just signed up with Hostgator after being inspired by reading this article, but need some help as having problems with installing WordPress as they no longer use Fantastico Deluxe. I also have a separate WordPress blog on a specific topic, can I link them? Do you still use WordPress to blog through this site? Do you have any other websites?
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to create digitized products and explore my possibilities of earning more money online. My vision is to spread Good Energy and the Light of the Jewish Faith all Over the World & Help kids Develop a Positive Attitude toward Learning. My biggest challenge is to become an International Brand for Unique Digital Art, Inspirational Quotes, Judaica and kids Printables & sell 50k sales a month Online Worldwide. My dream is to lay down in the sun in the Maldives and hear the PayPal cashier sound Every five minutes :) Any tips for making my dream come true?
Thank you.
Peace & Love,
Hello Regev,
First I want to thank you for the inspiring articles on your site, and the work you’ve put into it, I’m sure it wasn’t as easy as it sounds! I’m currently in a bit of a soul-searching moment of my life, having worked the same job for 10 years and been driven to depression by the thought of doing it forever. I’d pigeon-holed myself into thinking it was all I could really do well, and my financial commitments etc meant that I simply had to fall in line and ignore what other dreams I had, so I could have a ‘secure’ future. Recently though, I’ve found some clarity of mind and purpose, or at least the will to let things go and find something else, which brought me to the idea of travel. I came across your story here while searching for lightweight travel tips, but its this online business article that really got my attention. I’m going to try putting in the time on the side to start up my own site, and I’ll most likely sign up through your own referral sites as you’ve clearly put the work in. I’d just like to know, now that you’ve reached this point and are comfortably supporting yourself, are there any things (apart from the email database) that you would warn against or recommend, that you hadn’t experienced when you wrote the initial article?
Thanks again for the inspiration and insight.
Cheers,
John
Hi Regev,
I really enjoyed reading mostly of your content here today. Many compliments on your choices, accomplishments and thank you for sharing your journey in a fun and humble way!
I did moved from Italy to the US six years ago. With lots of effort I realized some of my biggest life and professional dreams, but I am at a new turn…With the feeling that I could move in many directions, but unsure of which one. I know there is so much potential in me to make a difference in people’s life, but I am not channeling my energy properly yet…Maybe I need some coaching?!
Thank you,
Anastasia
Regev,
I found this post through a search about Stevia. Just goes to show how one good thing leads to another!
I’m a bit past mid-life and recovering from a long illness. And it took everything – plus some.
I love to travel, and even more love the people I meet when traveling. A two day trip, then a week in Death Valley NP for Christmas, has convinced me that I can solve problems as they come up on the road. So to provide myself some hope – I got my passport.
(Which left me COMPLETELY BROKE!)
Then the prayer “How am I going to finance this trek into life?” I know I want to write, and oh my, what a story to tell! Your site gives me great ideas as well as hope that I will succeed, even if I end up resting on a beach somewhere. I knew keywords were the ticket to traffic but I have been focused on finding answers to live. Now they can pay my way while living. I want to share my hope, and success, with others.
Thank-you so much!
Brilliant read! Making cool things is just something I love doing, and not having someone tell me what to do or a timeframe in which to do it is the luxury I am looking for in my life.
Hi Reggie,
maybe you can remember me;) we met us in el salvador at the surf beach you offered me 10 000 $ for my US Van i was travelling with :D Now i selled the Van in Germany ;) I want to ask how are you doing? I see you still travelling the World!
I have a question to you. I turned into a really nature guy and now i live on a yard outside the city on my own. last week i quitted my job again and i go to iran by my new mercedes oldschool camping van. now i want to start the stuff you telled and more i want to earn a littlebit extra money from my travel blog (www.draudi.de) and also with some similar stuff… now i ask the proffesional? what you think i should do? my travel blog was dead now for about one year now i start again to realive it with travel reports some guids and i want to make a second section about living in the nature and projekt like building a kompost toilet or stuff like this.
what is important for me to earn money with it? adsense, adwords? advertise links, advertise partner? payd reports? i have no idea about the tactics to use all these tools :/ maybe you can tell something to me…
best greetings from germany, bavaria
stefan
Totally impressed!. I wish I could do same. This article is very reached with unthinkable ideas especially to newbies. I have read bunch of articles but this one is perfectly spelled out. Nice one.
Thank you so much for the article. It’s so refreshing to read an article about making money on the internet that has so much value. You see so many articles about “make tons of money on the Internet fast!” They just want your email and traffic but are not helpful. This is such a life changing perspective. THANK YOU!
Best,
kyle
Great article! I just discovered and bookmarked your site!
I’m building my business on the side to retire early and travel the world!
Congratulations on your success. Keep up the good work.
-Hoz
Hello Regevelya. You’ve inspired me so much.I’m 20. I’m currently doing a bachelors degree in software engineering but I don’t like university. I work part time on fiverr and make around $300/month.
I regularly use your ticket purchasing techniques to find many cheap flights.
My ultimate goal is to travel around the world and make money off my online business. I need some help and guidance. Can I please have your skype?
THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!
Digging your posts.
This is a really good blog posts with lots of good information. I really agree with the part about passion or being interested in what you do. This is for the long haul, so it is necessary to have something you want to do long term. Internet marketing, at least to me, is not like temporary job that will come and go. Whatever you do will require traffic, links, and writing, so do it once, and do it right in a field you like.
Worth reading.
I started a new blog 6 months back and was always confused if i would ever be able to monetize it or not. Now, my search rankings have boosted and I’m getting lots of clicks but only a few conversions. Would be helpful if you let me know where I’m going wrong.
Great post. Hard work. Thanks
Hey Regev,
Great article man. I’m trying to implement the advice on my own site right now that I just started. I got a few articles up, but I’m struggling to get those first few visitors. I’ll keep following your advice. Thanks!
Great article, thank you!
I tried all kinds of ways to make money online
What works best for me is Koocam.
I teach my hobbies, and sells my knowledge in every field
It’s great
“Deliberately seek the company of people who influence you to think and act on building the life you desire”
I come to you for your help, advice and mentorship to reach my goal because I look to you as inspiration. I am 17 years old most of my peers do not even have the mentality of wealth building yet because they are mostly focused on girls and parties yet I want to be the difference, the person who through your mentorship can then mentor them and millions of other people. I start each paragraph with a quote by Napoleon Hill, whom I am more the certain you know who because it was from his book “Think and grow rich” which changed my entire mentality and philosophy about life.
Hence, I come to you with all adversities and struggles I have overcome in order to reach my goal with the hope that you can be the one to help me achieve my goal.
.”Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” – This quote resonates with me because I have had many failures and many adversities in my life. I first saw a dead body when I was just 10 years old. I have been beaten with a belt. I have been beaten up to the point where I could not breathe properly and my eye was red for three months. My grandma died of Cancer within two months of her being diagnosed with cancer. One of my current close female best friends also has cancer. My mother has a tumor which requires operation. In the area I grew up in, Thornton Heath Beulah Road, there has been numerous stabbings and shoot outs between gangs. My close male friend was stabbed last month. I have been robbed off my phone in school and I have been approached by gang members to sell drugs and do many other illegal activities yet I have always resisted.
“Most great people have achieved their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure”. If this notion is to be true, my greatest success is near because I just endured my greatest failure of going from achieving 7A*s in GCSE to 4U grades at A level. Although I did go through some adversity and stress this year such as being beaten up as I mentioned before, the death of a close family relative and moving to a new house during the exam period, I do not believe in excuses and I take full responsibility for everything I have done in my life to end up in this position. However, I see great opportunity in the midst of great adversity.
“Set your mind on a definite goal and observe how quickly the world stands aside to let you pass” December 6th was the day I was beaten up. Therefore, I have created a goal of earning 6 figures per month through passive income (selling eBooks and courses, Blogging, App creating, drop shipping) by December 6th next year to prove to myself that whatever the mind believes it can achieve and to also be an example and inspiration to all other people who have been through a failure and adversity that they can overcome without the help of substances and other negative coping mechanisms. Also I would like to have the time to do different activities with friends and family to truly experience the world, so this may include travelling or adrenaline-filed activites such as sky diving or bungee jumping.
“
Thank you for your precious time reading my letter and I really hope to receive a response from you.
Yours gratefully, Benjamin
Hey Reggie,
I wanted to reach out and thank you for making this site. You have inspired me to do the same thing with the ultimate goal of breaking free from my current 9-5 job. I just started my site this week and I’m brimming with ideas. I already had a burning desire for freedom but you have stoked the flames and showed me a way I can work towards independence RIGHT NOW. I wanted to hear from you, where do your travels find you now? Do you see yourself ‘settling down’ any time soon? Have you read Dale Carnegie’s book ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People?’ I am reading it right now and it is simply incredible.
Yours in resistance to being a drone, Hunter