Building Wealth - Cutting Costs

One of my people who knows me as the true author of this blog absoultely hates the “Mandigo Theme” I have on this blog as of right now.

[If you don’t see a blue swirl like mark in the header that means I changed it since this post.]

I honestly have been using it for one main reason and that is a feature it has that I have yet to find another theme that had it built in. That feature is the ability to not display some of the pages in the navigation of the blog.

What I mean is like this, say I want a nice page that says “Thank You for Subscribing to my Blog” after an email opt in. Right now if I use the “Pages Feature” in Word Press and publish it then it shows up in my page navigation. Now I really don’t want a link that says “Thank You for Subscribing to my Blog” across the top of my blog do I? It wouldn’t make sense to a visitor if they clicked on it.

Also perhaps in a given post I want to promote a product and have a sales page for it. May be I just want to create that page in Word Press rather then with software and then upload it. May be it is a “landing page” to be used with PPC or for any one of many reasons I just want a page that is not displayed in the navigation of my site for every visitor. With Word Press I just can’t do it.

So when I found Mandigo despite not really liking the look of it (compared to some other themes) I compromised and used it because it has a tab called “Theme Options” where you can hide or show pages.

Now I have found a much better solution! It is called Page Links Manager, and it is a simple to install plug in that ads a tab to the “Manage” Tab in word press. This plugin takes blogging with word press to a new level creating what ammounts to a real website content management system. With it all you do is deselect the pages you don’t want to display and they don’t show up in the navigation. I put a simple sample page on this blog to show you what I mean, you can see that page here, Page Link Manager Example.

Here is a screen shot of the control panel as you can see it is very easy to use. There are also some folders in the download zip that are for MACOS, just ignore those and upload only the simple .php file and activate and after that it could not be any easier. Great plug in and very big Kudos to the author.

I am not a big golfer but being active in the business world I know just how many people are totally addicted to the sport. One of my partners is a positive fanatic and would rather golf then even say enjoy a very cold martini (some folks?). So when I was asked to have a look at a web site that provides very cost effective golf tournament software it seemed like something that some of my readers might enjoy.

This site is called, NetHandiCap.com and they offer  really cool software product that keeps track of players statistics and handicaps etc.  It is designed to be used by anyone from say people that own a Golf Course and run tournaments to amateur golfers that small run individual clubs competitions and play where and as they choose.   The platform is browser based meaning it does not hog up your PCs memory or resources and can be access from any PC with an internet connection.  Add to this the fact that it is fully customizable and very affordable and at least for the golfers out there NetHandiCap.com makes my list of recommended sites.

In my site philosophy I explain in commandments 4 and 5 that I think every person today should be to some degree “self employed” and have some business of their own. Today the easiest way to make that happen is to make your money with internet marketing and one of the best things you can sell are either software that is down-loadable or informational products that can also be downloaded. With that all you need to do is create the product and market it, there is no inventory, no shipping, no real expenses.

To do it right though one thing you will definitely need though is ecommerce software or what is commonly referred to as an online shopping cart.  I was recently asked to check out a site called AmeriCommerce which provides the tools to do this.  I found there software is very easy to integrate and quite robust at the starting price of only 39 Dollars a month and if you need help with integration or even some help with web design they can provide that as well.

I like this platform for a few reasons

• Easy integrations with Google Check Out and PayPal
• Very stable platform that is simple but also robust for power applications as well
• It is search engine friendly
• Offers a ton of features
• Tracks your ROI (return of investment)
• Allows you to set up affiliates programs
• And a ton more

So check out AmeriCommerce if you need a good shopping cart program and the best news is they offer a 14 day free trial with every program so you can be sure of their quality of service before spending any money, for that they make my list of recommended sites.

It seems like forever ago when I first built my first website. In fact it was more then 10 years ago and at times it is easy to loose touch with how overwhelming it is for a brand new potential internet entrepreneur who wants to get started today. So I though I would share four ways a new person can begin to get started. None are all that hard but none can be complete with out learning more, these are just starting points.

1. Get a blog and do some blogging for dollars. I suggest you try not to be to obvious about this because Google has begun to give the smack down to bloggers that do this. I recommend you never use the name of the companies that you go through to find business on your blog as you are just asking for problems. What I can simply say is go to google and search for “get paid to blog” and you will find many options.

Now you are going to have to blog for about 90 days and do so at least 4 times a month to qualify for these types of services. Once you do however, you can and will make money. I won’t go deeper right now but will make some specific how to details available in the future. Let me just say that anyone that wants to can put an extra 500-1500 a month into their income column can just by doing this.

2. Learn the very basics of website design and publishing, even a tiny bit of say PHP programming can go a long way. Today if you can slap together a website you can make some money. Spend the money for a good design software and take a course on it at a community college or a CEU class at a university. Total investment may be about 1,000 dollars and it may make you a lot more then any degree will. You don’t have to be a great designer but at least be able to build simple sites, you can out source the actual “graphics” work.

Most sites are nothing but a header, a footer and some pictures. Outsource your graphics and build a site. Make your first site about something you just love to talk about and don’t worry if you make a dime on it. All you need at first is the “ability” to build and design sites. Learn how to do it and do not rely on site builders they are to limiting. Today if you can publish content there are countless ways to make money. Oh and you can pay your tuition with one months worth of blogging with suggestion number one above.

3. Start with affiliate marketing and take your skills from item two to build unique websites that provide information, build email lists and sell a few products around a niche. Later you may and honestly should create your own products and keep all your profits but in the beginning you are learning how to market and sell online so dedicate all your efforts to doing so.

A great source of items that others have made that you can sell for about a 50% commission can be found at Click Bank. Odd are there is a product about any subject you can think of. Most sell in the 50 dollar range and pay about 25 dollars in commission. You don’t have to make anything, deal with customers, etc. This is not a long term way to get rich but it is a great way to learn and earn at the same time.

4. Become an adSense Affiliate and a Yahoo Publisher, neither pay the big money they used to but they are both very passive ways to earn some extra money. In time with enough sites anyone can pull in a hundred dollars a month at least. Remember invest 100 dollars a month from age 18-65 in quality funds in a tax deferred or sheltered account and you are a multi millionaire.

The key with adSense and Publisher is make your ads blend into your sites. The inexpensive wine site I reviewed a few days ago does a good job at this. Use back ground colors that match, make the links the same color as links on your site and above all no borders for the ads. Then be sure to put the ads in prominent spots on your site, don’t hide them remember you want people to click on them.

So there you go 4 places to get started with making money online. Each has its on benifits and challenges yet if you commited to learning how to at least do all four in the next 6 months you are well on your way to truly building a solid and passive online income. In time you out source more and more and you don’t do all the work yourself. Yet in the beginning it is important to be sure you understand things, learn what you want and what you don’t want.

More then that learn to make some money asap and again bloggin for dollars is a 100% guaranteed way to start the income flow. From there you can branch out, learn more and keep building.

One more important thing. Don’t buy over priced crap, info courses and other bullshit. There are countless gurus out there, well countless self appointed internet marketing gurus that claim to have the secret to making money. They are mostly full of crap and even the ones with good info unless you learn the fundamentals first it won’t do you any good.

Start with free advice and perhaps use some of the online video courses that don’t cost to much. Learn basics, learn “how to” and then you can develop “what to” on your own terms. I promise you one of the surest ways to kill of your future in making money online is buying one to many 297 or 997 dollar how to courses.

Don’t buy that crap, start with a blog, learn to make sites, practice with affiliate products and sell ad space along the way with Google and Yahoo. Look for solid how to advice and instruction and limit your spending on “education” to 50 dollars or less a month (other then stuff like the college course I mentioned) and you will in time work things out. Gurus exist not to make you rich, they exist to enrich themselves with your dollars.

I am not big on “suing people for profit” and in fact I think that business is a big part of what is wrong with America today. Yet lawsuits have a place and they are a way for individuals and companies to attempt to right a wrong.  Business owners in particular may on occasion have no recourse other to file suit in certain circumstances.

In fact put yourself in this place for a second.  You own a small company that makes software and you come up with a great new product.  Along comes a much bigger company and steals your code, “improves” the product and basically says there is nothing you can do about it.  Such things can and do happen.  Now again you are a small company, facing a much bigger fish and you know they can drag it out and bankrupt you before you ever get a decision.

What recourse do you have?

You might want to consider Commercial Lawsuit Financing to fund your case from LawMax Legal Finance.   There are many times when you can’t get a good attorney on a “contingency basis” which is where the attorney will handle the case and all expenses and only get paid after they win the case for you.   In fact getting an attorney to work that way may be pretty easy in a personal injury case but in a business to business suit it can be very difficult indeed.

Services such as LawMax actually evaluate your case, determine if you have a good case and then if approved they actually loan you the money on that same contingency basis where you only repay the advance if you win your case or reach an out-of-court settlement!.  Again while I don’t think people should be suing for profit it is good to see that a service like this exists to help smaller companies take on their adversaries when necessary.

Part of the benefit of having extra money is the ability to spend some of it. I believe in cutting costs, investing wisely and building wealth and security. Yet I also believe in enjoying life along the way, if not then what is the point? Any of us could die tomorrow so the key is to balance living for today with planning for tomorrow. So what are some of the things I spend more money on then I should or some of the stuff I just buy when I am bored? Here are a few,

• Starbucks Coffee - I will admit it, I am a caffeine fiend. When I made a lot less money Starbucks was a luxuary that I enjoyed once in a while, now I don’t go a day without a Vente Cappuccino or two. This is extravagance, a waste, a senseless spending that I end up with nothing to show for. Still it makes me happy and I have no real debt to worry about any more, I don’t stop investing to fund it and I only pay in cash so I have the money in my pocket each week to cover the expense.

• My Animals - I have dogs, cats and a lot of reptiles. As a child I wanted to be a herpetologist (a biologist who studies reptiles) but the lure of business was too powerful and I never went to college to pursue the biology degree. When I didn’t have much money and was in debt heavily I kept no pets, today I have an abundance of animals around me. I do breed the reptiles and one day they may pay for themselves but for now all the animals are an expense that never returns any money. Yet the dogs and cats bring joy to me and the family and the reptiles allow me to fufil my childhood dream of being a researcher working with snakes.

• Gadgets - I have all kinds of electronic do dads and I buy something new at least every month. Cameras, software, media players, etc. I just love technology, I like seeing what you can do with it, what you can create and what the latest craze is before it hits. Some of the stuff like my Blackberry has a real purpose for work and organization but most is just for fun. I didn’t need a Sony Alpha DSLR but I bought one because I wanted it. I always pay cash for these gadgets but I must admit I blow money on them. Most are never used to turn a profit I just enjoy having them.

Now let’s say I am bored and just want to go out bumping around with my wife to shops and what not. Doing so will almost always result in spending money! We are all human though and just sitting at home counting money can get old and you don’t always want to really plan an activity so “shopping” (our parents window shopped but we seem to have failed to inherit that ability) has become an American past time. Here are some things I have done to allow me the activity with out totally blowing it.

• Silver Coins - I am a huge fan of American Eagle Coins and often during a jaunt out I stop by one of several local coin shops and buy one or three of them. I keep them in plastic tubes and have been doing this past time for about 10 years now. I occasionally buy more numismaticly valuable coins, mostly older silver dollar and silver half dollar coins. The Eagles have a fixed value against the silver market price (at least newer ones do) so they are decent investments. The other coins have a bit of “subjective value” based on both the silver and collector markets combined. Still even they have a basis based on the price of silver. I will never make a mint on this but there is a value to these coins that will grow. So I get to browse, spend money and not just throw it away.

• Houses - I shop for houses all the time and the beauty of this is multiple. There are always countless new model homes to take a look at, walk around in etc. You never impulse buy a home so that is nice, I shop a lot and buy very seldom. The biggest value is I know my real estate market cold, I know exactly what different types of homes in different areas sell for. So I do know a deal when it pops up. This is the best rule I can give you if you want to invest in real estate some day, window shop houses for a year or so first. Record how long those “great deals” take to sell and keep your whits about you. In time you find gems and when you do you will know it.

• Books - I love knowledge and I love to shop for books, both audio and print. To help with my addiction I shop mostly at Half Price Books so I pay less per book then buying new. A used book is no big handicap to reading it so I just can’t see paying full price unless I want a new book. Then here is the best part, some of these go into my home library but others I read, am done with and sell them back to half price books. They generally pay about 20% or what I bought them for.

So there you go some ways I admit to just blowing money and other ways I stave off boredom with shopping that doesn’t just reduce my net worth dollar per dollar.