Holiday bargain!

We just set the price of Here´s an ide@ to the lowest price allowable by Amazon: £2.23!

Here´s an ide@ is an inspirational book that shows you there is always a way out and that a new life is possible if you really want to.  It is an easy and timely read for this harsh economic period.

¨The book is written with a simple, clear vision of how to create a profitable web presence. The organization of the material is extremely logical and defines a solid roadmap to success. The content resonates with authenticity as it is based on the author’s own experience which is documented as a case study.¨ Excerpt from a testimonial on Amazon

We would like to bring a ray of holiday hope to the many people going through a difficult financial time, and wanted to make the book free. Unfortunately Amazon is not ready for free books yet :-| so we lowered the price to the lowest levels allowed by Amazon. The holiday price for the kindle version is now £2.23!   And for the print version, it is $5.72!

Note: Prices vary for different Amazon stores, so we pointed the links to the cheapest store. These prices are subject to change after the holiday season.

Do you know a friend or relative looking for inspiration?  Here´s an ide@ would do just that, and would make a special gift for the holiday season.


MLM opportunity

In a tough economic environment, many people seem to ¨freeze¨ overwhelmed by a declining income, the risk of losing their job or the impossibility to find employment. Personally, I keep looking at trends and bet on opportunities to come.

Lately, I have been examining the business model of multi-layer marketing (MLM) as a way to earn an income with minimum investment and a loose work schedule.

The first reaction to MLM is generally negative as MLM is often considered to be a ¨pyramid scheme¨. In many cases, this scepticism is warranted: a MLM company without a strong new product stream is bound to run into trouble!

However, there are a few MLM companies that can offer a decent return for the effort and time spent developing their business. The criteria to select such a company should be:
- established entity with many years of operation
- stable financial situation
- reputable
- fair commission plan
- strong new product stream
- operating in a growing sector

A few companies like Avon, Oriflame, Thermomix… meet these criteria. I was recently introduced to another interesting company: Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. It develops and distributes anti-aging personal care products and nutritional supplements worldwide. It is a 24 year old corporation listed on the New York stock exchange with a $2.9 billion valuation. Overall brokers´forecast points to a solid financial position and a sound R&D team. I find the fact that Nu Skin is operating in the anti-aging and nutritional sectors particularly appealing as these sectors are bound to experience excellent growth in the next 10 years.

Their products are slightly more expensive than comparable mass retail goods, but quality is probably better. The key however is that Nu Skin offers you the opportunity to earn money while using their products, something a mass retail company does not. As such, it represents an opportunity for someone willing to create a small team of like-minded people.

Whether someone embraces their offer in order to achieve financial freedom, earn extra income, or help others, I can see a good opportunity to earn a significant ongoing commission for someone motivated.

Like with many other opportunities (content site is one of them), 90% of the people who start a MLM activity will drop it after 6 months, however the people who keep at it usually end up achieving great financial rewards. Like always, there is no miracle here!

I have just signed up as a distributor for Nu Skin in order to better evaluate the opportunity. I believe there are many people around me that could really benefit from it. Hopefully, my experience will convince them to embark on their own journey towards financial independence. I will keep you posted.

Imagine!

Another inspiring story which shows that everything is possible. Just imagine and go for it!

Hedonic adaptation

Hedonica adaptation - © imaginando - Fotolia.com

Your happiness level?

Do you know about the theory of Hedonic Adaptation? It says that humans have a tendency to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.

Said another way: humans generally maintain a constant level of happiness throughout their lives – despite events that occur in their own environment!

In fact, research indicates that our level of happiness is 50% determined by genetics, 10% determined by outside circumstances, and 40% determined by intentional activities (ref. Wikipedia).

So, think positive. That will increase your happiness level.

Case Study: World Travel Options

Happy, carefree and travelling!

Happy, carefree and travelling!

This is the story of Marlene Challis, 52, a stay-at-home mom that started world-travel-options.com as a travel site to give people a place to feed their travel bug and find inspiration for their next vacation.

On her site, you can also book tours, accommodation, activities, flights and more… You will also meet Marly, her traveling teddy bear.

Q: Hello Marlene, you built your site using Sitesell (SBI). How long have you been using this platform?
A: Several years ago I had 2 previous SBI sites but I bought a business, became sick and didn’t have the time to devote to them, so I sold them. My travel site has been going since 2006. I have since bought another SBI site already built and started another one of my own.

Q: Why did you decide to set up a site around that niche?
A: I have had a passion for travel ever since I was about 10, when my father and I went for a joy flight in a Cessna. I love travelling and would get on a plane and fly somewhere all the time if I could. I decided to start the website as a hobby and share my passion for travel with the world. However it has taken off and grown. I now make money from Google Ads, Affiliate sales, my ebook and advertisers approaching me for ad space on my site.

Q: How many unique visitors do you get a month?
A: I work on page views and that is around 25,000 a month.

Q: How many months did it take you to make 1,000 euros a month?
A: It took a few years because I started the site as a hobby and wasn’t actively monetizing it. It started taking off late 2009.

Q: What were you doing before you set up your first content site?
A: When I started my sites (I’m including the previous ones here), I was a stay-at-home mom. I had worked in retail part-time, earlier on.

Q: How has your life improved since you started your first content site?
A: My life has changed a lot. I am much more confident, happy and content with myself. I have grown so much as a person. I have achieved so many things. Years ago, if people had told me I would be doing what I am today, I would have said they have rocks in their head. I attend seminars and meet amazing people. At the time of writing this, I am going to a 3-day seminar with Donald Trump and Anthony Robbins in September. I have also travelled a lot more!

Q: What do you enjoy most and least about running your own site?
A: I enjoy everything about building my site and working on it. If you love what you do, it is not work or a chore. I have to discipline myself not to spend too much time on my laptop. I love learning about the places that Marly, my travelling teddy bear goes. Have you heard of Zadar? I hadn’t until Marly went there. I don’t have any dislikes about working on my site. The only downside is that I have so many ideas and I can’t keep up with implementing them. I have notes on my laptop and iPad, with things I want to do.

Q: Have other opportunities come up for you as a result of your content site?
A: Yes. I was asked to build a site for someone else, which I did and I have taught some people things that I have learnt along the way. I have been paid for those things.

Q: What challenges or hurdles did you face along the way?
A: I had a big learning curve, which looking back, wasn’t so hard after all. When I started, I didn’t know anything about building websites or html, anything! SBI makes it so easy and the forums are full of an amazing group of people. I have learnt a lot in the forums.

Q: If you had to start again would you do anything differently?
A: If I started from scratch again, I would still use SBI but I would have more of a direction that I want to go. The site has just taken on a life of it’s own.

Q: How many hours a day do you work on your site?
A: It depends on what is happening with the site and with my personal life. If I have a lot of things to do, I might spend 4 or 5 hours one day doing things. If I am sick or just going out to movies etc., I won’t work on it at all. If I’m away travelling, I won’t work on it at all. I just keep up with the emails.

Q: What task do you find easiest? And the most difficult?
A: Anything technical I find is a challenge but I go to the forum and usually find a way to do what I want. If not, I Google it and work it out from there. Anything else to do with building the site, I find easy.

Q: What plans do you have for the future of your site?
A: I am continuing to grow the site and I have big plans for Marly, my teddy bear.

Q: Do you plan to launch other sites?
A: I have other sites: book-writer-promotion.com is the one I bought that was already started and I have grown that up and changed it around. How-to-sites.com is the one I started from scratch. I still have a lot of work to do on that one yet.

Q: Would you recommend others to start their own content site?
A: I would recommend it because it is a great way of making passive income. If you can’t or don’t want to go out into the work force, you can make an income from home doing what you love. It lets you have independence and freedom.

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