Post: #51

(03-17-2010 01:59 AM)dlmelvin86 Wrote:  what are you selling through your travel businesses?

Luxury travel/vacation memberships.

Post: #52

(01-20-2010 10:29 PM)kingkong Wrote:  Clocked up 8 years experience programming computers and embedded systems in various domains. Got some contacts. Rewrote a couple niche business applications and sold them.

Everybody wants to think there's some kind of angle or hustle. G manifesto wants you to read dozens of shitty books. Others want you to believe you can start some stupid website and pull in substantial money on autopilot.

Here's how you make money:

1) On someone else's dime (employer or contracts) get really good at something hard and unglamorous. Emphatically NOT trading, poker, writing, or anything like that. Too crowded. Think plumbing, agricultural products, whatever. Specialized niche software in my case.

2) If you're truly good and it's a skill of any value, business opportunities will almost automatically present themselves.

3) Pounce on opportunities where you will own rather than be paid by the owners.

This plan will take you six years at a minimum.

A legit and valuable perspective. I offer a variation:

1. Complete step 1.

2. Use your analytical ability to think of a new, more efficient and more profitable way to complete a process that is vital to your business. This could be something as simple as bookkeeping to something much more vital to the core business operation.

3. Register every variation of keywords (what people would search for when wanting to find out about the process) as domain names. Be sure you buy the .com, .net, .org and .info domains for each high quality domain that you purchase. Failure to do so may leave your business more vulnerable to competition, and dilute your brand.

4. Read the Four Hour Workweek to get an idea for all of the service provider options and management philosophy that you need when building your online business.

5. Write instructions / a book / produce videos, etc... Detailing your new process.

6. Write ten or more articles about the process. The more the better. You can also write articles that only pertain to the general industry. This content should not be pushing your product specifically, but should be written to only help the reader. This builds trust and enhances SEO. You also need a good sales page that sells your product specifically.

7. Build a website that showcases your helpful content as a first priority, and advertises your product as a second priority in the information hierarchy of the website. A clean design, prioritizing content, is more important than graphics. Complicated graphics can actually distract and otherwise turn some people off to what you are offering. Make graphics as professional as possible, but use only where necessary. The wordpress content management system is the obvious choice for most websites following this business model.

8. Release your product. Price it according to its value to customers, its quality, and the relative lack of competition.

9. Learn to use Google Analytics.

10. Learn PPC. Experiment with PPC as a supplement to your Search engine sales.

11. Start reading the classics on copywriting and marketing. Start with "Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins. Improve your offers and sales copy.

10. Repeat.

Information development project is easier in a lot of ways, I imagine, than if you were to develop a product for your industry. However, if you had a good product idea, that could prove to be a more long term profitable venture than information vending.

Post: #53

Solid advice Hydro. It is vital to learn proper online marketing and the various ways it's done. PPC, PPV, SEO, Video, Articles, etc are crucial. However, it's better to focus on and master one method of promotion than trying to get to thin on all of them. Specialization is key. However, as much as the online world is hugely profitable, from my experience, I found that the real money is in the offline world, that is media advertising such as classifieds and full page ads if you can afford them offer tremendous ROI if placed in a well researched and targeted magazine. I've done it successfully in my travel business. I'd say that about 3/4 of my sales have been coming from my offline efforts as opposed to my online efforts.

I agree that the real big bucks are in developing your own product/service, tough it's not an option specially in the beginning for most of us. Starting as an affiliate to promote a good product that offers real life value to people at a fraction of the cost of the "mainstream" way is the way to go IMHO. I'd strongly suggest not to bother with ebooks or anything that pays less than $500 bucks per sale at the bare minimum. I found this out the hard way and most marketing gurus and top dogs will tell you the same thing: it takes the same amount of effort in terms of money and time online to sell a crappy 20 bucks product/ebook than it does to sell a $3K product/service.

I tried going the Clickbank route and didn't make a penny. Two years ago, I switched to promoting a high end product/membership with a product that I LOVE (Travel) that I do frequently indulge in myself. The product offers tremendous real life value to people by saving them upto 90% in their vacations to luxury resorts worldwide, for life. It allowed me, as a user/member, to experience Carnaval in Rio last year like the rich and famous but at hostels price. I stayed at the Rio Othon Palace, at an ocean front suite, right on the beach in Copacabana. During the week of Carnaval, that place charges $1K/night or about $5.5K for the week of Carnaval. With my membership, I was able to stay there that week for only $650 or a savings of almost $5K in 1 week. This is what I call phenomenal value. The product saves the member on average $1K-$2K per vacation. FOR LIFE. I mean, honestly, who wouldn't like to stay and vacation at a top 5 star resorts or hotel for the price of a cheap motel? The product is a no brainer to sell and with a $1K a pop commission per sale, it's the sweetest thing I've been involved with. And the whole process is very systematic. All I do is just promote the site and the system handles everything for me. It's very hands off, which I love.

So to recap, if you want to stand a chance of making some real money online, go for something that has the following:
a) Product/service that has a huge appeal.
b) Product/service that offers tremendous REAL LIFE value to people and at a FRACTION of the cost of retail.
c) Large commissions. At least $500 per sale with $1K+ being the ideal.
d) Automation. Systems. Hands off.
d) Your only job is to promote it and forget it.
e) Totally mobile. Can be done from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet connection.
f) Cash flow and liquidity: getting paid weekly with the money being wired automatically to your bank account.

The above is the surest, safest way to make some serious coin online to provide you with the means to live the dreamed and fantasized Internet Lifestyle. But you have to treat it like a REAL business and not a hobby. I learned that the hard way. And you'd better be able to invest some cash for your advertising/promotion.

Post: #54

(04-08-2010 09:13 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  ...However, as much as the online world is hugely profitable, from my experience, I found that the real money is in the offline world, that is media advertising such as classifieds and full page ads if you can afford them offer tremendous ROI if placed in a well researched and targeted magazine. I've done it successfully in my travel business. I'd say that about 3/4 of my sales have been coming from my offline efforts as opposed to my online efforts. *snip*

Interesting. If I were forced to give an opinion, I'd say most of your customers are primarily older (at least 35 years old - but the median probably skews much older).

Here's my real question. Are your offline results based on the product being targeted to older consumers or maybe showing that offline advertising is far from dead for even a young target audience?

Post: #55

(04-08-2010 09:13 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  Solid advice Hydro. It is vital to learn proper online marketing and the various ways it's done. PPC, PPV, SEO, Video, Articles, etc are crucial. However, it's better to focus on and master one method of promotion than trying to get to thin on all of them. Specialization is key. However, as much as the online world is hugely profitable, from my experience, I found that the real money is in the offline world, that is media advertising such as classifieds and full page ads if you can afford them offer tremendous ROI if placed in a well researched and targeted magazine. I've done it successfully in my travel business. I'd say that about 3/4 of my sales have been coming from my offline efforts as opposed to my online efforts.

I agree that the real big bucks are in developing your own product/service, tough it's not an option specially in the beginning for most of us. Starting as an affiliate to promote a good product that offers real life value to people at a fraction of the cost of the "mainstream" way is the way to go IMHO. I'd strongly suggest not to bother with ebooks or anything that pays less than $500 bucks per sale at the bare minimum. I found this out the hard way and most marketing gurus and top dogs will tell you the same thing: it takes the same amount of effort in terms of money and time online to sell a crappy 20 bucks product/ebook than it does to sell a $3K product/service.

I tried going the Clickbank route and didn't make a penny. Two years ago, I switched to promoting a high end product/membership with a product that I LOVE (Travel) that I do frequently indulge in myself. The product offers tremendous real life value to people by saving them upto 90% in their vacations to luxury resorts worldwide, for life. It allowed me, as a user/member, to experience Carnaval in Rio last year like the rich and famous but at hostels price. I stayed at the Rio Othon Palace, at an ocean front suite, right on the beach in Copacabana. During the week of Carnaval, that place charges $1K/night or about $5.5K for the week of Carnaval. With my membership, I was able to stay there that week for only $650 or a savings of almost $5K in 1 week. This is what I call phenomenal value. The product saves the member on average $1K-$2K per vacation. FOR LIFE. I mean, honestly, who wouldn't like to stay and vacation at a top 5 star resorts or hotel for the price of a cheap motel? The product is a no brainer to sell and with a $1K a pop commission per sale, it's the sweetest thing I've been involved with. And the whole process is very systematic. All I do is just promote the site and the system handles everything for me. It's very hands off, which I love.

So to recap, if you want to stand a chance of making some real money online, go for something that has the following:
a) Product/service that has a huge appeal.
b) Product/service that offers tremendous REAL LIFE value to people and at a FRACTION of the cost of retail.
c) Large commissions. At least $500 per sale with $1K+ being the ideal.
d) Automation. Systems. Hands off.
d) Your only job is to promote it and forget it.
e) Totally mobile. Can be done from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet connection.
f) Cash flow and liquidity: getting paid weekly with the money being wired automatically to your bank account.

The above is the surest, safest way to make some serious coin online to provide you with the means to live the dreamed and fantasized Internet Lifestyle. But you have to treat it like a REAL business and not a hobby. I learned that the hard way. And you'd better be able to invest some cash for your advertising/promotion.

Awesome model. I fully concur. While I don't regret what I'm doing currently, as its taught me a lot, I would certainly be sure to promote a less labor intensive project, in terms of getting it off the ground, than I am now. Travel packages are great in that regard, especially with the baby boomer generation going into retirement. I'm sure there are other equally great opportunities out there.

The only thing that I would add is that its important to pick something with which you will have some type of competitive advantage in promoting (copyrights, patents, deep expertise, advertising capital / strategy, etc). The market is so relatively efficient these days, that strategies with low barriers to entry / little competitive advantage, and hence multiple competitors, tend to have their profits cut quickly. Offline advertising is a great idea, that is also covered in the 4HWW, that most online marketers don't explore. It immediately cuts out a lot of your competitors that only compete for PPC profits. I imagine the PPC arena is excessively competitive in your niche, and that you'd likely have to spend a lot of money for one sale.

Anyway, hats off to your success. Also, your story about Rio is about as good as sales copy as you generally would need, I think. It sounds like a great product to me, that I would be interested in as a consumer.

Post: #56

(04-09-2010 03:40 AM)Amish Wrote:  Interesting. If I were forced to give an opinion, I'd say most of your customers are primarily older (at least 35 years old - but the median probably skews much older).

Good observation Amish. While I do agree that a big part of my customers are older than 35, I also do get a fair amount of customers who are under 35, in their mid-late 20's to early 30's. I do not target mainly folks in the older age brackets, quite the opposite. Let me explain that:

What's important is not so much the age of the readership of the magazine/paper you're considering advertising in, but their ability and willingness to purchase what you have. In my case, the product I promote offers people unlimited and unrestricted access to over 5000 4&5 star resorts, worldwide, for life, at upto 90% discount. Now, who wouldn't be interested in taking their families to luxury resorts at a cheap motel's price?
The answer to that question is obvious that pretty much everyone would be interested in that. This product has a HUGE appeal for everyone from the mid 20's to old retired people.

Quote:Here's my real question. Are your offline results based on the product being targeted to older consumers or maybe showing that offline advertising is far from dead for even a young target audience?

Again, I do not target by age, but rather by income bracket. There is a very famous yet sad stat going that about 80 or 90% of those over 65 are either dead or dead broke living on social security. That's a truly sad state of affairs.

I totally agree that offline advertising, specially full page ads, are far far from being dead. Offline advertising can also be a great medium to reach younger audience if the right product/service is advertised in a good targeted mag. All in all, I'd say that offline advertising/marketing is and can be a goldmine if used properly with proper research first. Hope this helps.

Post: #57

So what's the product and website? Would be interested in checking it out. Perhaps some people on this forum will turn into customers!

Post: #58

Hdyrogonian Wrote:Awesome model. I fully concur. While I don't regret what I'm doing currently, as its taught me a lot, I would certainly be sure to promote a less labor intensive project, in terms of getting it off the ground, than I am now.

Thanks man.
I agree with you that it's great doing your own thing as you can learn a ton from the experience itself which is your best teacher for you to go on and replicate that in another business where because of what you learned the first time, things will be much easier for you to succeed. How's your venture going Hydro? I wish you all the best man.

Quote:Travel packages are great in that regard, especially with the baby boomer generation going into retirement.

You bring some good points as usual about the baby boomers generation going into retirement and looking to enjoy their golden years. However, as I mentioned in my previous post to Amish, it's not just the baby boomers that are interested in this type of membership, but rather everyone. I mean, everyone loves and wants to travel. Even more so if they can go to awesome places, stay at fabulous resorts and pay the same they would if they were to stay at a cheap motel. Everyone does, I do, you do, everyone does. Travel is the one thing that over 95% of the population loves to do and would be willing to do more if they could do it in an economical way without sacrificing quality. That's what this membership brings to the table. Unlimited, unrestricted access to over 5000 4&5 star resorts worldwide, for life and at up to 90% discount. Meaning you can vacation 52 weeks per year for life for up to 99 years, staying at top resorts for as low as $298 per week for the entire family (up to 6 people) while saving on average $1K-$2K+ PER WEEK of vacation for life!

Since I travel frequently to Brasil, the value in Rio is simply outstanding. Take the Rio Othon Palace, even during low season, charges about $2,500 per week and I can stay there for $650 anytime of the year (that's 74% less than Expedia during low season; during high season, Carnaval/Reveillon (New Year's): $5,500/week VS $650 or a savings of 89%!!!). Good luck finding a good accommodation in a nice hotel in Rio during New Years or Carnaval without breaking the bank. Since I never stayed in a hostel and do not intend on doing so anytime soon, this is a perfect solution to my traveling needs where I'll be able to stay at top hotels/resorts at a fraction of the cost.

With only 1 or 2 vacations, people have made their money back in savings. I did and some more. Saved close to 5K in 1 week for a week at a place I truly enjoyed during an event I'd always dreamed of attending and without breaking the bank. In a lifetime, if someone uses their membership only once a year, the savings can easily approach the 6 figure range. Talk about phenomenal and real life value. This is why this is such a sweet opportunity because when people understand and realize the value of this product, they're floored and buy and at 1K a pop, it adds up really nicely.

Post: #59

(04-09-2010 05:54 PM)lilseezie Wrote:  So what's the product and website? Would be interested in checking it out. Perhaps some people on this forum will turn into customers!

Sure.
http://www.luxurytravelsforlife.com
Watch the short video, then fill the short form and you'll be taken to the site with all the info about the membership. Any questions, let me know.
Check also: http://www.4-5starvacations4life.com Watch the video on it.

I sincerely believe that people on this site as well could benefit from it by living it up and balling for the same prices they're currently paying in their travels at cheap hotels/motels. This can very well be the missing ingredient to living the true International Playboy lifestyle. Have a passport, make good cash online and stay at top hotels/resorts for pennies on the dollar. If I can help some brothers and sisters on this site achieve that, I'd feel truly priviliged.

Post: #60

Right now my cost of living and minor investments is from importing High Grade Surgical, but this isnt a long term business. The business model here is totally whacked up, with China set to join the WTO next year, i seriously doubt they are going to drop the 68% in tax i pay on everything that comes in.

My personal side project is a chinese version of second life me and a group of programmers have been working on together for the last few years, as well as a chinese brand of computers completle with our own linux OS. High risk high rewards. The green has finally started to trickle in, through various lisenced uses of our IP rights, but its still a long way to full blown sucess.

Post: #61

The problem with internet biz is the extreme dependency on the consumer economy.

You should check for industrial products, for newcomers like China and India.

Post: #62

I am with L'Etranger on the point about B2C in relation to internet businesses.

I am 23 and about to finish a dual-masters degree program that has taught me the technical and business aspects of mining/metals, water treatment technologies, renewable energy, and the offshore oil industry. I also learned about carbon finance, which I don't like for various reasons but also has massive loopholes that can be exploited. China in particular is using the carbon markets to rip other nations off, but that's another story.

I speak two Asian languages too. From all this I think I can figure out a way to get my hustle on.

My idea right now is to find one or several smaller streams of income like vacancier permanent did. His situation is ideal for my lifestyle because of all the traveling I will be doing between Asia and the US.

I would like to use this mobile source of income to cover my basic living expenses in Asia. 2000 euros a month would be ideal (not including airfare costs). Once I have my personal living income figured out, I would source projects in Asia and elsewhere and connect them with investors that I know of who are interested in these types of projects (cleantech, water, mining).

The idea is to make a huge commission from these gigantic projects, which range around 50-100 mil a pop. Even at 1 percent commission I'd be sitting pretty. Regardless, I'd keep my living expenses low. I don't need much - I want to be loaded so that I can buy my family cool shit.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can turn this into a hustle?

Alternatively, if anyone is interested in learning more about the industries I listed above in a European, American, or Asian context I can definitely discuss it with you.

Post: #63

Yeah, I've got some ideas. You'd have to pitch people similar to the way people pitch angel investors and vc's. You may want to look into a syndicate type of arrangement, where your investors are basically passive partners, with you as the active manager. If not working as a manager, but as a broker, you'd have to assure somehow that you'd get your cut, which is harder than it seems, especially when working internationally. Also, theres a lot to consider in terms of legally / financially covering the ass of your investors and yourself. If your selling securities, you've got to have the legal ability to do so. Also, I'm not clear as to what type of ownership you'd be selling to investors. That makes a large difference into how you'd go about all of this.

The better way might be to gain some type of in-house position with the companies undertaking these projects, or with a large investment group. You gain a lot in the way of intrinsic trust or stability in either of these positions. Depending on which end your working on, your job would then to make high trust contacts with the project companies or investors.

Post: #64

(05-09-2010 01:59 PM)hydrogonian Wrote:  The better way might be to gain some type of in-house position with the companies undertaking these projects, or with a large investment group. You gain a lot in the way of intrinsic trust or stability in either of these positions. Depending on which end your working on, your job would then to make high trust contacts with the project companies or investors.

Actually I am involved with a Swiss investment management company that is just starting up and is about to get funding.

They want to have a rep office in Asia and they want me to basically be stationed out here and handle business development, marketing, and fund raising in the area. I would launch the Asia operations from scratch, as they do not have anyone here yet.

As they have not secured first round funding yet, it is possible that I will have to support myself financially in exchange for equity.

When I was asking about help for the hustle, I was thinking more along the lines of "how do I make this 2-3K of low-maintenance income to support my lifestyle." Instead of "how do I find these gigantic deals."

I figure both the gigantic deals and the lifestyle hustle can be based on the industries I mentioned earlier. Ironically, I have a better idea of how I am going to chase these big deals than how I am going to find this low-maintenance source of lifestyle income.

Post: #65

(05-09-2010 02:17 PM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  Actually I am involved with a Swiss investment management company that is just starting up and is about to get funding.

They want to have a rep office in Asia and they want me to basically be stationed out here and handle business development, marketing, and fund raising in the area. I would launch the Asia operations from scratch, as they do not have anyone here yet.

As they have not secured first round funding yet, it is possible that I will have to support myself financially in exchange for equity.

When I was asking about help for the hustle, I was thinking more along the lines of "how do I make this 2-3K of low-maintenance income to support my lifestyle." Instead of "how do I find these gigantic deals."

I figure both the gigantic deals and the lifestyle hustle can be based on the industries I mentioned earlier. Ironically, I have a better idea of how I am going to chase these big deals than how I am going to find this low-maintenance source of lifestyle income.

I other words, there are some guys who want to get into finance but they don't even have the money to get started yet. But they want you to foot the bill to develop business for them.

If you were going to get involved with a group like this, at this level, you'd definitely want partnership level participation. Anything less, and your getting hustled. Don't fall for big titles like "Swiss Investment Group". They aren't shit yet. And its still a huge risk. Hell, I'm still looking for first round funding as well. Want to work for me? I'm being facetious to illustrate a point, of course.

If you can find the deals, and they are real deals, then finding the money or investment partners will not be a problem. This holds true throughout the business and investment world. Finding real deals is the obstacle. Therefore, unless they are offering you something substantial, than allegiance to them isn't warranted. There is zero reason not to sell your deals and services to more established companies / groups who are less likely to backdoor you, go under, are more experienced and professional, and who may actually offer you some type of salary and support for your time and effort. There are a lot of established investment groups, even ones that specialize in your field, who need bilingual analysts and business developers on the ground. Market your services to them.

As for the "how do I make this 2-3K of low-maintenance income to support my lifestyle" question. I'll offer you a polite laugh, because every guy on this board, not to mention the planet, desires the same thing. The rub is that profits like this are based purely upon the level of competition people face, and therefore, if anyone here knew or knows how to accomplish this, they wouldn't give up their cash flow method here, as it would directly increase their competition and reduce their profits. Its for you to figure out, my friend. I've written a couple of posts on how I approach going about this, if you want to dig through them to find the information. Although, I'm not there yet. Basically, become an expert on something that other people would profit to know about. Then sell the information. But it should be real. Don't be an unethical person who sells fake / unsubstantial info. Not that I'm assuming that you would.

Or you can do what vacancier does and sell a high margin product. He markets to people with money. While he doesnt have the distribution cornered, his edge comes from his marketing budget and tactics. He can correct me on any point that I'm wrong here.

Develop an edge and sell.

Post: #66

Thanks, that is all actually really useful advice.

I regards to your response about 2-3K of low maintenance income, I know that there is no easy path or answer, but at the same time that is not really what I was trying to ask.

I meant, in the context of my particular background in cleantech/water/energy, there must be a way to take something that someone else has done and apply it to my field of expertise.

An example would be a business model similar to the thing that vacancier is doing, but focusing on the niche of eco tourists instead of overall luxury travelers. Same idea, same model, but focusing on my specific area of expertise.

Does this make sense yet? Maybe I haven't posed my question correctly.

I'll dig through your posts to see what you wrote, as everything you've said to me in this thread so far has been solid.

Post: #67

(05-09-2010 03:09 PM)hydrogonian Wrote:  [quote='youngmobileglobal' pid='17943' dateline='1273432632']
As for the "how do I make this 2-3K of low-maintenance income to support my lifestyle" question. I'll offer you a polite laugh, because every guy on this board, not to mention the planet, desires the same thing. The rub is that profits like this are based purely upon the level of competition people face, and therefore, if anyone here knew or knows how to accomplish this, they wouldn't give up their cash flow method here, as it would directly increase their competition and reduce their profits.

I am one of those guys who has achieved that lifestyle with a career consulting business and an online retail store. I make considerably more than the 2-3k you mentioned but also work considerably more. But if I were to advertise less than I could achieve that goal working no more than 20 hours per week.

But now for the helpful advice you asked about I will link you to an article I wrote. It's not specifically geared towards your situation but at least its written by someone who has exceeded your ultimate goal.

http://www.travelblogs.com/articles/crea...ctical-way

Post: #68

(05-09-2010 05:35 PM)jmb Wrote:  

(05-09-2010 03:09 PM)hydrogonian Wrote:  [quote='youngmobileglobal' pid='17943' dateline='1273432632']
As for the "how do I make this 2-3K of low-maintenance income to support my lifestyle" question. I'll offer you a polite laugh, because every guy on this board, not to mention the planet, desires the same thing. The rub is that profits like this are based purely upon the level of competition people face, and therefore, if anyone here knew or knows how to accomplish this, they wouldn't give up their cash flow method here, as it would directly increase their competition and reduce their profits.

I am one of those guys who has achieved that lifestyle with a career consulting business and an online retail store. I make considerably more than the 2-3k you mentioned but also work considerably more. But if I were to advertise less than I could achieve that goal working no more than 20 hours per week.

But now for the helpful advice you asked about I will link you to an article I wrote. It's not specifically geared towards your situation but at least its written by someone who has exceeded your ultimate goal.

http://www.travelblogs.com/articles/crea...ctical-way

Thats right, I forgot about a service model.

I've envied your success for a while Jason, following your old blog as well as your new one, and various posts here. Keep it up. Your an inspiration as to what can be accomplished with some common business sense and tenacity.

Can you foresee yourself providing your consulting services as a lifelong business? If so, then you've hit your mark plenty early.

Post: #69

Wow, you guys are into some tycoon shit and making big moves. It almost makes me embarrassed to say what I do. I work for a IT consulting corp that does a lot of work for the Govt. I work out on the field most of the time and get tons of time off. Now that I work with a lot of Gov't workers I realized that's where the money is at. If I were to do it all over again I would have joined the Police or Fire Dept. These guys at least in NYC tri state area make on average 100K a year. Firefighters work around 6 days a month(they can work 6 straight 24hr paid hours). And to top it off you can retired at half pay after 20 years. Also, there are a Plethora of State and Federal agencies out there that nobody even knows what they do whose workers are killing on Overtime.

Post: #70

(05-24-2010 12:04 PM)playa_with_a_passport Wrote:  Wow, you guys are into some tycoon shit and making big moves. It almost makes me embarrassed to say what I do. I work for a IT consulting corp that does a lot of work for the Govt. I work out on the field most of the time and get tons of time off. Now that I work with a lot of Gov't workers I realized that's where the money is at. If I were to do it all over again I would have joined the Police or Fire Dept. These guys at least in NYC tri state area make on average 100K a year. Firefighters work around 6 days a month(they can work 6 straight 24hr paid hours). And to top it off you can retired at half pay after 20 years. Also, there are a Plethora of State and Federal agencies out there that nobody even knows what they do whose workers are killing on Overtime.

You can get a similar retirement package with most federal jobs, as well. Also, its near impossible to get laid off / fired and you probably have the most solid health and insurance benefits in the USA.

http://www.usajobs.gov/

Post: #71

Right now, I'm making a humble 8% on average every year off my investment capital, sitting in a balanced portfolio with even stakes in all regions and a bit of spicy emphasis on the flavour of the year (right now i think korea or europe is a steal). dollar cost averaging and annual portfolio re-balancing are all the tricks i got up my sleeve, pretty vanilla textbook stuff.

EDIT: holysh- i only just read the rest of this page and realised how epic all the other posts are ZZ

Post: #72

I have an technical degree + was in a good engineering university but recently left in the middle to dedicace myself to trading (stocks but now mainly foreign currencies). I am living on it, but I want to have a good cushion before touring the world, wich I plan to be a pretty much 2-3 years non-stop extravaganza. Thus why I currently don't post much in the Travel section. But wait for me guys, won't be long.

Post: #73

This is a good game plan. If you want more information about what he's outlined, I just did a free course that explains what Hydro outlined in more detail. Here's the link to access the site which is no longer be promoted.
30 Day Challenge Review

The key to making money is market research. Most niches are not profitable and you have to be able to test a market before you spend a lot of time on it.

(04-07-2010 11:22 AM)hydrogonian Wrote:  Clocked up 8 years experience programming computers and embedded systems in various domains. Got some contacts. Rewrote a couple niche business applications and sold them.

Everybody wants to think there's some kind of angle or hustle. G manifesto wants you to read dozens of shitty books. Others want you to believe you can start some stupid website and pull in substantial money on autopilot.

Here's how you make money:

1) On someone else's dime (employer or contracts) get really good at something hard and unglamorous. Emphatically NOT trading, poker, writing, or anything like that. Too crowded. Think plumbing, agricultural products, whatever. Specialized niche software in my case.

2) If you're truly good and it's a skill of any value, business opportunities will almost automatically present themselves.

3) Pounce on opportunities where you will own rather than be paid by the owners.

This plan will take you six years at a minimum.

A legit and valuable perspective. I offer a variation:

1. Complete step 1.

2. Use your analytical ability to think of a new, more efficient and more profitable way to complete a process that is vital to your business. This could be something as simple as bookkeeping to something much more vital to the core business operation.

3. Register every variation of keywords (what people would search for when wanting to find out about the process) as domain names. Be sure you buy the .com, .net, .org and .info domains for each high quality domain that you purchase. Failure to do so may leave your business more vulnerable to competition, and dilute your brand.

4. Read the Four Hour Workweek to get an idea for all of the service provider options and management philosophy that you need when building your online business.

5. Write instructions / a book / produce videos, etc... Detailing your new process.

6. Write ten or more articles about the process. The more the better. You can also write articles that only pertain to the general industry. This content should not be pushing your product specifically, but should be written to only help the reader. This builds trust and enhances SEO. You also need a good sales page that sells your product specifically.

7. Build a website that showcases your helpful content as a first priority, and advertises your product as a second priority in the information hierarchy of the website. A clean design, prioritizing content, is more important than graphics. Complicated graphics can actually distract and otherwise turn some people off to what you are offering. Make graphics as professional as possible, but use only where necessary. The wordpress content management system is the obvious choice for most websites following this business model.

8. Release your product. Price it according to its value to customers, its quality, and the relative lack of competition.

9. Learn to use Google Analytics.

10. Learn PPC. Experiment with PPC as a supplement to your Search engine sales.

11. Start reading the classics on copywriting and marketing. Start with "Scientific Advertising" by Claude Hopkins. Improve your offers and sales copy.

10. Repeat.

Information development project is easier in a lot of ways, I imagine, than if you were to develop a product for your industry. However, if you had a good product idea, that could prove to be a more long term profitable venture than information vending.
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Post: #74

I am surprised that only a few people mentioned the most plausible way (IMHO) of pulling this off.
Now, you can't have it all as an 18-yo kid - you have to pay in your dues. Here's the best way:
- get a college degree
- get a good-paying job, you would probably start at $50k and move up to $100k in 5-6 years
- don't be a big spender in the meantime, don't aim to impress girls with you new ride or fabulous penthouse that would take up all your income. live with roommates, party like in college.

After 5-6 years of this, you should have upwards of $100k saved up, perhaps $200k if you've invested it well. Then would be the time to set up an investment strategy that delivers 10% or so consistently. This would be harder in the US, since you are taxed heavily on your short-term capital gains; I, for example, have an account in the name of my mom, who is a non-US resident (= no capital gains tax!). Then you can sell covered call options, rebalance your portfolio aggressively, and generally enhance your return way more efficiently than if you were locked into only taking long-term capital gains.

Put 200k in this and it should easily provide the 2k/mo. that people above mentioned wanting. This should allow for a comfortable, if not luxury, travel lifestyle. If you want more, then you'd have to put in 5 or 10 years more of busting your ass.

Post: #75

Etf's+part time jobs+selling salvia
I'm a student, not much options