Adventures Beyond the 9 to 5

Selling Your House

September 3rd, 2010 No Comments

1 Year and 1 month ago (approx) we sold our house. Nothing remarkable about that, lots of people sell houses everyday. The big difference was our house was “Sold By Owner”. Yup we took control of the sale of our own house and put it on the market, built a website, put the house details on it and sold it. Of course it wasn’t completely that straight forward, there were several steps along the way, disappointments and problems but on the whole you’d expect that sort of thing from a house sale and it was certainly far more rewarding than writing a cheque our for over £4000 + VAT to an Estate Agent.

Now I appreciate that sale by owner is not always possible, and that some people don;t mind paying for an Estate Agent to sell their house for them, that;s fine but let me tell you, it was certainly made a heck of a lot easier with the tools now available all over the Internet. reach potential buyer is a lot easier now. In fact I predict a time when Estate Agents will all but disappear from the high streets. Your Mann & Co, Foxtons, Gascoigne Pees, names that will exist only in memory or cyberspace. Right Move will be the place we all go to sell our houses. As soon as they open this up to the man in the street to use then it’s game over for Estate Agents. Of course at the moment they make too much money off the Estate Agents to allow us mere mortals into their house portal, but that will and has to change.

Why? Glad you asked…

Because there’s a whole generation coming along that are very net savvy and are used to doing things online, everything from finding a mate to buying shoes (ain’t anything more important than shoes! Ahh lovely shoes…) and they will expect to be able to do sell their own property online. If Right Move doesn’t offer it then another site will come along and start to offer this service at a very reasonable rate and suddenly, in ‘net parlance “boom goes the dynamite” game change and Right Move will compete or die. People will see selling their house online as the no.1 way to sell a house, Estate Agents will become property consultants helping people, probably mainly developers, list their properties and give best advice on how to get a sale, being paid to negotiate, which is sort of what they do now but they’ll get paid a lot less. Estate Agents will argue that an active, creative salesperson will help speed up the sale of your house but there’s a good reason that a survey found Estate Agents’ houses sell for, on average 10% more than comparible houses in the same area. And that reason is commission, they are in it to get as much commission as possible and if that emans selling your house for a few thousand less then so be it, they get their commission quickly.

Discounting a house is a quick way of selling it, discount any property enough and someone will buy it, the art is to get the sale price and creating a situation where that is possible. We sold out house, during the height of the peoprty slump for 97% of the pre-credit crunch price and had 2 people bidding for it. Why? well a couple of reasons but the main one was we controlled the sale and made the house desireable. End result it was not just another property that a bored salesperson was showingsomeone around. The daily household mess became a sales tool, our kids toys told a tale, our hastily tidied kitchen spoke of family meals and a gathering together at meal times. We didn’t sell a house we sold a lifestyle.

So if you have a house and you want to sell it then wait a few weeks and I’ll be spilling the beans with my eBook on how we sold our own house and saved over 4 grand in the process so if not actually making you money then saving you money is the next best thing right?

Sale by owner

Social media is it right for your business?

August 24th, 2010 No Comments

Word count 450 – read time approx 7 mins at a leisurely pace
Aim; Overview on why Social Media is important for business.

More and more companies are using social media to be in front of their customers. It makes sense, if you are in the “real world” it is crucial that more people can find you. However social media goes beyond merely being found, you actually enter into a dialogue with your customers. That dialogue should concentrate on adding value to the relationship and not just selling.

Social media is like a party, imagine if you turned up, walked in, went right up to one of the guests and started a conversation thus; “Hello, I run a business we sell widgets, would you like to buy a widget. In fact would you like to buy many widgets?”. Yes, you’d probably get a cocktail down that expensive dress or suit you’d probably be wearing.

To be present in social media networks gives you the opportunity and time to listen. You can keep an eye on what people are saying about your brand. This is commonly known as brand control and it allows you to make your brand and business more accessible to a wider audience.

Third party sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube can create a profile for your business and let you put media rich web 2.0 type content onloine for your audience to partake of. By entering social media networks you acquire your brand profile and help shape it informed exactly by what your customers want. An example: I have a client who is a lawyer, when a search is done on Google for his name, we find his profiles on different social media sites. He has to create a profile on those sites and “owns” those profiles and that allows him to be notified of comments and interactions with his profile but it also allows him to dominate any searches on that social network for his brand, name and service, or if not fully dominate at least be present for keyword searches.

According to the Social Media Marketing report, this year, businesses are seeing a significant increase of traffic with just a few hours of their time per week invested. They also have a large increase of positioning on search engines and are capable of tracking offers because of their involvement in Social Media sites. Business to consumer companies tend to participate more on Facebook or other social media sites that are more scoial and business to business companies are more focused on sites like LinkedIn which are more professionally minded.

Therefore, Social media can be used to control, own and grow brand recognition. All of these with the final goal to obtain the most qualified buyers for your product or service.

So… What´s stopping you from entering the world of social media?

Social media is it right for your business?

How a Mailing List Makes You Money

August 18th, 2010 No Comments

Word count 1450 – read time approx 17 mins at a leisurely pace
Aim; How to start earning online – build a product and build an email list.

OK, before long if you’re on the ‘net you’re gonna come across big get rich quick schemes. There’s loads of ‘em and some of ‘em might even contain excellent info but let me tell you this, and explain it slowly. THERE ARE NO GET RICH QUICK SCHEMES. You can throw your money away very quickly on courses, and methods, sites and products but the bottom line is the only one getting rich is the person selling the product.

Rule no. 1 – There’s no such thing as getting rich overnight unless you win the lottery

So what you need is a method, let me spell this out. A method is a way in which you create a process, planned from start to end which generates a profit. If you can then scale that, you will make money. By scale I mean if you can do it 1 time, and then 10 times you will make 10 times more money. Simple. The best methods are scalable hundreds of times, sometimes thousands, and millions. All business is based on this concept. Cars, washing machines, houses, books, TV programmes, space shuttles, all start with a single simple idea and then replicate it many times. All of these items were products and were sold, sometimes more than once at some point in their life cycle.

Rule no. 2 – You will need something to sell to make money online

The thing you can actually sell online can be diverse, information, ebooks, software or products you deliver. You can earn money (not much) clicking and taking tests, giving your feedback and offering opinions, these are all good but require you to use your time and time is the one thing you cannot make. However you can sell 10 items, then 20 then 40 of the same thing over and over and do it whilst doing something else.

Rule no. 3 – Automating the process makes you more money

So you are now probably thinking I can;t possibly make any money coz I don’t have a product and can’t think of anything to sell. OK, here’s the deal you either write an eBook on the 1 thing you know better than anything esle, can be ironing, cooking, recipes, taking tests or ripping the head of a 63 Chevy. You may have done something extra-ordinary like climb a mountain, survive cancer, breed dogs, whatever it’s all great info to go into an eBook. Now before you do the whole book or create some software (more on this another time) or invest in something else to sell (again more another time) you need to find out if you can actually sell what it is you are going to make. This is the same for Apps and anything electronic, a bit of market research can save you time, effort and more importantly money nothing worse than spending hundred, thousands even on a prodict there is no market for. Hey, look I’ve done it so take a tip from me and save yourself the hassle by doing your research first.

Rule no. 4 – Try before you make

So how do you do that? Market testing is the key to it and thankfully there are tons of ways to do this online. I use a very fancy piece of software but you can do it yourself using a handy thing Google provides called Google Keyword Tool go there and type in what your subject matter is. The google shows you how many searches in the last month for that search term there were. The higher the number the better. So you might decide to do a book on Being Made Redundant, but on searching for that phrase you only get 1000 hits, a nice number but not enough to sell many books. So try typing in Finding Work, you might then find 1000000 searches for that term. Infinitely better. That’s then how you decide upon your subject, something you know, written from a viewpoint that people are searching for.

Rule no. 5 – Write for an existing audience

So now write your material – big tip – make the book inforamtive, with lots of references to real-world resources, where you go to sort your problems in this area out, so if it was job searching then you might use Monster.co.uk or a similar job search site, you might even use one in your field of expertise which is you giving insider info.

Rule no. 6 – Be the expert

So you may not think you are an expert but you probably are in some field, even being a mother is something of a specialist field, but what if you are totally stumped? You might be thinking I really have no knowledge of any worth (hard for me to believe!) so what then Stuart? Well you rent the expert, find someone you know, interview them, ask there permission to publish the result. Biographies sell really well! Get them to give you all their insider knowledge and put that in the book.

Rule no. 7 – Rent-an-expert if you’re not

So you now have your book and it’s ok, you like it, you have had it read for errors and you want to try selling it so then what? Well this is where the first rule of online marketing and the whole purpose of this post comes in. You need a list. A what? A list of email addresses from people who want to hear from you and who might buy your product. Well you just started so where is that list going to come from? Well there are a number of ways around this, approach someone with a list and offer them a slice for sending a review out to their customers, obviously you need to choose your partner carefully and make sure there list wants to receive your eBook and that it’ll be right for them. A little research online should help. You could approach a specialist, a business, or individual and get them to put it on their website as well. There’s also affiliate sales (more another time) which can set up an account where your product is promoted by totally unknown people who think your book would be just what their list would want to buy. iTunes, yup, Apple, good ol’ Apple now sell eBooks as do Amazon and a lot of other places. You can maybe do a precis of the book, publish that to articles sites and then link back to where your book can be downloaded and bought. There are a lot of possibilities you just need to look and search on Google.

Rule no. 8 – Start to build your own list but rent one until you have one

So how do you get a list, start one and use it? There are great sites like aweber, constant contact and mailchimp who specialise in mail list building. Take out an account (the more commercial you are the more you pay) and these will securely hold your list and give you the tools to build it. Make sure you do not spam anyone, use double opt-in, that’s where someone signs up and gets a confirmation email and clicks a link in it to confirm that they do indeed want to subscribe. Much like I use, it really is best practice.

Rule No. 9 – Build your list securely with a reputable email list company

Build your list around your niche, don’t be tempted to add anyone or go inviting people outside those that would not be interested, create your list and get it built right and you will not regret starting. A mailing list and how you use it will make you money, not overnight, not quickly but it will work for you and you will earn off of it. Be your own expert or rent one and use your list to promote the products. The money will build as your list does, giving you that scalable, repeatable business I spoke about way back at the beginning.

Rule no. 10 – Learn from an expert and replicate their success

Heres a good product to help you get started and build a niche list called List Building Bullet, the techniques I touch upon above are fully explained and expanded upon with a few secret weapons thrown in for good measure. Steve’s product is real a powerhouse of info and will start you out the right way and give you a head start. Go over today and have a look and it’s slahsed down to just $27 dollars (about £18) right now. CLICK THIS LINK RIGHT HERE: List Building Bullet – Mailing List Building Secrets and grab your copy today before the price rises.

How a Mailing List Makes You Money

An Apptitude for Apple Apps Pt3

August 9th, 2010 No Comments

Word count 1110 – read time approx 10 mins at a leisurely pace
Aim; Overview of app submission and marketing.

Final part of the app creation and submission, hope you have enjoyed it.

Submitting the App for review, is like getting your homework marked!

So you got came up with a killer app idea, bought an “Intel” Mac, joined the Apple Developer Programme, ound a programmer, maybe also a designer to make it look good (although lots of prgrammers can also style the look of your app too), have “code signed” it and made the whole package into a zipfile ready to upload to iTunesconnect. Pheww been a busy few days/weeks/months!

OK, before you upload make sure you have an icon in two sizes; Small one at 57X57px, and a large icon 512X512px (pixels) plus the right code that works on an iPhone/iTunes/iPad before you go submitting to Apple. AT THIS POINT IT IS WORTH DOUBLE CHECKING EVERYTHING. It takes between 7 and 14 days to get most apps approved, but bigger Apps may take a lot longer and into the app store, depending on the complexity and issues surrounding your app and even longer if your App is faulty, doesn’t have the right artwork with it or contravenes Apples design, programming and “moral” rules n regs.

The Keywords are the things people will find you for

Submitting an App for review is a fairly straightforward process when compared to what you have just achieved but make sure your keywords, the search terms you will be found for on iTunes don’t contravene others trademarks, copyright or brands. We had our App rejected as we had “Premier League” & “World Cup” as key words. Apple’s review feltthis contravened copyright so we removed it. However they seemed happy with “South Africa World Cup 2010″ in the product description. Which may seem strange but I can see why it happened as the keywords are the thing people are going to find you for, the desciption plays no part in that and may, out of necessity, need to include brands and trademarks.

Once you have the App in the review process you can revisit the submission to see progress not that it is in anyway exciting. Although you will be very nervous awaiting Apple’s judegement. Then at some point in the future you get an email saying either yes or no. If he decision is no then the Apple reviewer will explain why. We removed the offending keywords, resubmitted and 5 days later we got the green light, that seems a long time just to see if two words have been removed but they have a huge volume of work and you have to go to the back of the queue, which should make you focus on getting it right first time.

We now have done the process a few times and although initially it seems very complicated as with anything it gets easier the more you do. I would suggest reading the documentation as this really is very comprehensive and Apple has spent a long time trying to provide designers and programmers with really in depth info about what end users will expect and what Apple wants you to do to uphold the Apple brand ethos and experience.

Does your app do things better, faster, with more control? Then maybe charge a little more?

When submitting the App you will also be asked for the price you wish to sell at. You may think that is difficult but go and look at the best sellers and Apps that do similar things to yours and see what the price point is of the best selling app in the category you will be submitted into. That will give you a good baseline, but does your app do things better, faster, with more control? Then maybe charge a little more? Personally if I have a better App I would undercut the competition and try and outsell them on price AND function then iot’s a “no brainer”. Give the end user no excuse to buy the others guy’s App. THe secret to App success is volume. Sell loads and sell often, go viral – in other words everyone wants to download your app. So set your price accordingly, you can change it at a later date.

Interstingly a free, giveaway app may make you more. You can put “In App Adverts” into your App, served up by Apple and the thing is that if people buy an Ap they won;t want to see Ads blaring a them so you only get to sell to them once, but having a free app means that everytime they open the app you get a chance to make a little for the click through refferal if the end user taps that In App ad. So consider making a free version of your App too. Apple’s guidelines say that free Apps should not be cut down versions of your paid for version but in reality everyone does just that, removes features and slims down the capabilities. What I think Apple really frowns on is the promise of features that are disabled, greyed out or when clicked on you get a op up saying “Upgrade”. If you do a free version include the ads you’ll be surprised, it may make more money than your paid for version.

Once you get the green light then your work is just beginning. You now need to get your App out there and market it like crazy. We hit all the review sites, you get 50 free download codes, you have to request them but they are generated when you ask so are available for immediate download. Giving away free copies to reviewers is a good idea as they are more liekly to review an app they haven’t had to pay for. Hit the review sites, but don’t ignore traditional media, magazines are good as an App fills a small corner of their pages easily, however magazines are often working 2 copies ahead of the current newstand one, so try to get them info ahead of when it is going to be actually needed. Also developing realtionships with Journalists is never a bad thing when you are trying to get some editorial of your product. I always like to chose niche publications, advertising a Fishing App in GQ, Loadad and/or FHM may be great but far better to get it into Carp Catchers Weekly, and you probably have a better chance, maybe even be featured or you could offer to judge a competition and give away a few apps as a prize?

The marketing of apps will be covered again at a later date but whenever I am seling something I find it best to make a plan and then as I am implementing that plan to try and also improve it as I go. Remember; A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow but always try to improve your plan!

Good luck and feel free to ask me any questions I’ll try to answer them all!

And if you still have app code signing problems click here and buy iClue and solve them NOW!

An Apptitude for Apple Apps Pt3

An Apptitude for Apple Apps Pt2

July 28th, 2010 No Comments

Word count 883 – read time approx 7 mins at a leisurely pace
Aim; To show you how get your app built.

From Drawing Board to Being Bought

In my last post I covered coming up with an idea for an app and trying to make an income stream from it. So now you have a great idea but so what? You need to prgramme it and get it into the app store to make any income from it.

They are usually located somewhere where the cost of living is much cheaper

Well once you have that idea all you need do is look for an offshore programmer? Huh? You may say but off shoring is taking your idea and finding a programmer to do it who lives overseas. The crucial part is that they are usually located somewhere where the cost of living is much cheaper and so can afford to charge less. What does it matter if they are located in New Delhi or Delaware? Big businesses offshore their programming work everyday so should you.

I can now hear the question “SO… How do I find the necessary, reliable talent to programme my app?”. Well, drumm roll, brrrrrr, introducing http://www.freelance.com others are available such as scriptlance.com. I use eLance. Mainly because I found them first , they seem top have the largest number of users but also they have great controls to make sure you don’t get scammed.

You do not want to be getting up at 3am to send an email

So you come up with your idea, write it out as best you can, maybe add a few drawings, using Illustrator, or the free inkscape (Google is your friend) and create a layout to match your description. Also add “We are looking for someone with Apple HIG – Human Interface Guide experience.” This means you want someone who makes sure your app doesn’t fall foul of the iTunes appstore user interface rules, Apple provides a guide. Also ask any bidders for links to apps in the appstore, other businesses they have worke3d for and if they are available during UK/US or whevere you are located working hours you do not want to be getting up at 3am to send an email!

Download the software required to make/edit and save an app for free

So you find your programmer, you get your idea over to them, you agree a price and all is good. They understand the brief and they make you your very first app and send it to you. What could go wrong from here on in?

Well hang on, you will need to have joined the Apple Developers Programe; $99 for individuals and $299 for companies although companies do get a bit more attention for their m0ney, see apples website - http://developer.apple.com/programs/iphone/ you can download the software (SDK, software developer kit) required to make/edit and save an app for free but you will need to register to get the app to work and be subitted into the App iStore.

I’m going to quickly skip through the process of making your App, I will come back to off shore assistance in a later post but for now we’ll assume all went well and you now have your App, you have a Developers License, have code signed your App (all explained in Apple’s guides and you have designed your icon, you are ready to sell.

Don’t forget who foots the bill

When working with your offshore developer make sure you communicate regularly, use Skype, email, MSN, elance workrooms or whatevre you both agree on but make sure you stay in touch and keep up to date with their progress and development. DO NOT FORGET WHO FOOTS THE BILL and who makes money and lives/dies by the app in the app store. Spend time getting the right programmer, cheapest does not equal best. We recently gave one of our apps to someone who was on the face of it 3 times more expensive than the cheapest quote but he was a US citizen but he spoke English and understood syntax and context extremely well and therefore “got” the gags we were trying to do, essential in a silly, comedy based app.

Basically a good offshore developer will tell you quite openly how much an hour they charge, it will generally be 1/5th the UK based developer rate. Interested now? We can provide anyone with App development using out tried and tested team at a fraction of the cost of other UK based developers, we do use offshore programmers but we work to excating standards and make sure they do too. (and speak English well and communicate well and frequently). So you get the benefit of UK based control, design and contact with a lower cost of investment, lower risk and fast turn around.

So there you are, chosing your developer is easier than you thought and make sure you sommunicate well with them too, send you files, designs, text of the spec and get them to agree to it before putting money into escrow. I am sure you can do this, go create an eLance account now and get yourself on the road to being an app owner today!

Coming Soon PT 3, Finshing Off

My first iPhone Apple iTunes App Store App is here http://www.tinyurl.com/footballremote go take a look, let me know what you think.

Got code signing issues? XCode being a pain? iTunes store not letting you upload your app? Getting certificate problems? Provisioning a pain? Yes to all of these? You need… iClue Apple iPhone App code signing simplified

An Apptitude for Apple Apps Pt2

An Apptitude for Apple Apps Pt1

July 15th, 2010 No Comments

Word count 1041 – read time approx 10 mins at a leisurely pace
Aim; To show you how to come up with an idea for an App.

What you need for success in the iTunes App Store

An apple a day keeps the Doctor away, or so the saying goes. But an Apple App a day will not only keep the Doctor away but will also make your Bank Manager happy too. If, and here’s the catch, if you get the recipe right. So the big question is what do you need to do to have a success in the iTunes App Store?

Recently I’ve had a foray into the world, philosophy and mind of one Steve Jobs and his ingenious work force. Apple, as they say is designed in California but if you get it right they’ll be putting money in your pocket wherever you are 24/7 and that is an opportunity that can’t be overlooked, and “apportunity” if you will?

As this is a rather large topic, I am confining this post(s) to the project management side of building an App, what you will need and what is required. Much is written on the technical side of the subject in considerable depth elsewhere, especially on Apple’s own website. But what I thought I would do is list all the problems and what we did to overcome them.

Before we get going I have to say you will need an Intel Mac, and and iPhone or iPod Touch, or if you are feeling flush an iPad. Whether you buy or borrow is up to you, your budget and your intent as to whether this is to be more than a one off or if you want to earn a stream of income from apps and the app store. I know because I tried to do it without and came to a dead end. I tried to make a “Hackintosh”, a PC with the Mac Operating System running on it but had quite a few hurdles to clear and decided to spend my time creating my app rather than solving operqating system and hardware conflicts. So I borrowed the hardware with a view to owning it should my ideas bear fruit. (Thanks to my Wife (iPhone) and my mate Howard (Macbook Pro) literally couldn’t have done it without you!)

I hope this gives you a guide to the steps required, a practical overview of how to take your initial thoughts and monetise your idea. And that’s where I’m going to start;

The big idea.
Even if you feel you’re not “creative” you can still come up with an app that will sell all you have to do is solve a problem that you yourself have. Like?… Ok, well I’m writing this on the fly so you are going to see something in “real time”. OK here’s a list of problems I’ve had recently;

My Mercedes’ head gasket went
Weeds in the garden
Went shopping without a shopping list

OK, so maybe a catalogue of problems you might get when buying a classic Mercedes? Kind of limted niche, don’t overlook micro niches but for an app wide appeal is best as you want to have you app on lots of devices. So maybe the weeds in the garden is the way to go, lots of gardeners out there, but how many with iPhones? And maybe an iPhone in the garden with dirty hands isn’t best? A reference for common garden weeds might be an idea? But with the global reach of apps it’s difficult to gather all the relevant botanical info that’s going to be accurate. And if you can’t give the very best advice then forget it, and Apple may stop the app being sold if not at the start then low ratings may mean they pull it in time. So that just leaves the shopping list. Hmmm. Bit of a non starter, but hang on. Lots of people shop, food shopping is done by most households at least once a month of not once a week. So let’s look at the possibility of some kind of shopping list.

Solving a problem is just writing a wishlist of answers to a problem you have.

Features could include, repeat listing of items, maybe you can specify how frequently items get added to the list. So you may know you use 1 jar of beans a week so the app will know how many weeks since you last shopped (you input the total of your last shop and it knows from that input you went shopping) It then starts to age the various items on your list. Maybe the list could be divided into different sections, as per your local supermarket/shop/mall? Maybe the list could automatically warn you that you should go shopping with a reminder if it thinks you may have run out? You might be able to integrate it with the camera to photograph barcodes to autopopulate the list? Maybe this could then read out the item to sight impared people? And it could all be designed to look like an old reporters spiral bound notepad?

Even if you have a mundane problem it can be monetised with the right app!

Now, there are many technical issues raised by those ideas, some of the above may not even be possible. But what I want to show was that even if you have a mundane silly problem it can be monetised with the right app and the right attitutde towards solving the problem. Solving a problem with an app is just writing a wishlist of answers to a problem you have. It’s really that simple. Creativity not really needed just the desire to get rid of a problem, which is how most inventions get born.

So you are now going to ask, right I have the idea, I want to create my app but I can barely send an email Stuart, I have no idea of how to make an app and frankly I don’t want to! Well wait until you read my next post and I will show you how you can get someone else to do the heavy lifting int he brainwork department for you. It’s going to cost, sure, but not as much as you think and you have to speculate to accumulate and once the app is built and in the iTunes App Store you will earn of it indefinitely, making you money as you sleep. I’m off to bed now and whislt I’m there my first app will be ticking over and who knows how many it will sell, it’s early days but wouldn’t you like to earn whilst you sleep?

Coming Soon PT 2, From Drawing Board to Being Bought

My first iPhone Apple iTunes App Store App is here http://www.tinyurl.com/footballremote go take a look, let me know what you think or if you’re having code-signing problems then why not take a look at iClue my eBook on Apple iPhone app code signing and code signing problems read below and click the link to pay and get an instant download.

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An Apptitude for Apple Apps Pt1

iClue App Code Signing Errors Solved

July 14th, 2010 No Comments

iClue – App Code Signing Problems Solved

I’ve made a promo video for iClue the eBook on code signing issues and their solutions have a look and let me know what you think.

iClue App Code Signing Errors Solved

What’s my Blog/Website/Life all about?

July 13th, 2010 No Comments

So what’s this all about and who the heck am I? OK, well the “Who am I?” bit is easy, I’m Stuart and I’m a Father of two lovely kids with a great wife and a lovely life.

The “What’s this blog all about?” bit is a little harder, right up there (for me) with the classic “What do you do for a living?”. As this blog has changed so has the answer to the question “What do you do for a living?” it’s evolved over the years from “Ummm, this sort of Internet thing” to “Ummm, err, a Designer” to “Errr, a lookalike/comedian” and finally “A sort of marketing, communications consultant, Internet, Apps designer and ideas guy.”

None of which describes what I do do, or have done exactly, or satisfactorily. The answer is a bit longer, actually a lot longer, hence this blog. It was a recent conversation with a potential client that I realised I lacked an “Elevator pitch” and really I thought I should have one, to tell people in a succinct way what it is I actually do. I didn’t get the client but I did get my elevator pitch, so here it is…

“My forte is not having a 9 to 5 job, which means I am hugely experienced at creatively generating income. Working, earning a living, and making money through the Internet using tools and techniques to generate “real world” clients, customers and profit for myself from a diverse range of opportunities.”

I’m always being told “you should write a blog” and so I have decided to share my experiences and insights into how to earn money in the 21st century. I hope that I can offer you a different perspective, a devil’s advocate and a partisan approach in a button downed, corporate world. It’s like Fight Club only without the fighting, more laughing and no Brad Pitt (sorry ladies) and the first rule of my Insight Club is you can talk about Insight Club, in fact please do talk to me about what you want to see here.

I want you to be inspired, to be motivated and to think about ways of increasing your businesses, personal and family income all of it to fit in round your work. It’s not a get rich quick scheme and maybe you’ll quit your job? Or maybe you’ll find a niche to add some extra income to pay for a new car, move house or go on a holiday. It’s all there for the taking and, as the cliché goes; unless you’re in it, you can’t win it. However in this case luck has nothing to do with your success just a bit of extra curricular work and some dedication. Passive income, online income, income streams or plain ol’ making money online or whatever you call it I just hopefully something here will inspire you to start to earn online, keep going at making some moneyor try something different to earn a useful extra stream of income. I personally know several people who earn their income exculsively from their online marketing efforts and I am one them!

I’ll leave you with two of my favourite sayings;
“It’s not that we do things exceptionally but that we do them consistently that have the biggest impact”.
and
“Better to have a good plan today than a perfect plan tomorrow”

Both those statements sum up earning and making money online, a little bit every day can soon build up and it’s that you do it, now that you do it perfectly. If you start today I can guarantee you that you can and will start to earn and make money and there is nothing sweeter than waking up and seeing your online earnings accounts have increased and you have made money whilst you slept.

This is my adventure I hope I can help inspire you on your own journey, have some fun and show you that there is life beyond the 9 to 5. Join me and let’s have some fun earning online, offline, anytime!

What’s my Blog/Website/Life all about?

New idea

June 16th, 2010 No Comments

It’s a simple idea just requires a venue & fun loving people to get involved. You up for joining a killer app idea? Wanna make some cashish? Facebook or Twitter me, pls retweet/temsg!

- posted on the go!