The Niche Think Tank » attitude of gratitude

The Real Life Struggles Of An Online Entrepreneur

Larry C. — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:35:36 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and there are several reasons why, which I will go into. Let me first explain a little about this post and the reason for posting it.

I’ve been blogging on here for a while now relating my successes and struggles. I also read many other blogs on success, making money online, personal improvement and the location independent lifestyle. One thing I have noticed about most, if not all, is the lack of struggles that happen. I don’t read much about the struggles and hardships they go through and many write about how everything seems peachy and rosy.

I’m not here to bitch and complain, but I think people should see or hear what some of us go through, because it isn’t all peaches and cream in the life of a successful blogger/online entrepreneur. There have been things that have happened that make me question why I am doing this, why I continue to try to make it big like others, and do I want to press the Publish button when I am done writing this post.

Everyone talks about being authentic or being transparent but I never hear about the bad shit. Show me you’re a real person and tell me what’s really going on in your life once in a while. I want to know you are for real.

I have this blog and things have been a little rough the past few months, and I need to write about it.

Business Stuff

Back in December things were really looking good, I mean really good! Income was going through the roof thanks to Christmas, the niche sites were really working well and I felt like I had finally made it to the big time.

Then Google hit with the Panda Update.

Some of my main money makers took a hit, a huge hit. My Adsense income went from $20-$30 a day to $2-$8 a day and my Amazon Associate sales feel quite a bit too because of the lowered traffic my sites had. You can read This Thread at the Google Webmasters Forum and see all the others who have been hit. People who have good sites with original content, yet are losing traffic and income because of the Panda Update, all in one fell swoop.

On June 16th Google pushed out Panda 2.2 and many people, including myself, have seen some recovery from the initial Panda update. This is the latest and just one of several updates done to Panda since it’s release back on February 24th.

My Adsense income has gone back up to $20-$30+ a day again and it’s been a much needed change and recovery. But it’s guarded. What I mean is that I can’t and won’t put much trust in Google again. Well let me say this that I never really trusted Google to begin with anyway. Having a monopoly on search engine traffic and customizing peoples search results isn’t being quite honest in my opinion. This is why I diversified my online income, so my eggs weren’t all in one basket, but it was a good part of my arsenal. I am further diversifying my arsenal for the next time something like this happens. And it will happen, trust me.

Family Stuff

One thing that has had me way distracted and very angry was the lead test that came back positive for my daughter Sarah. The landlord had done some renovations which weren’t conducted properly, nor was the clean up done properly, and my daughter was exposed to lead dust.

This house was built in 1927 and it is covered in lead paint. Most of the time, if the paint isn’t disturbed things are ok, but the lead laws in San Diego make it mandatory that a lead certified construction company do the lead abatement whenever there are renovations going on. This was not done.

Consequently my daughter tested positive for lead and when I asked the landlord to pay for testing to find the source, he refused. Further investigation lead me to the Lead Safe Neighborhood Program of San Diego. After telling them my story they opened a case on this house, came and tested the painted surfaces, took dust samples and cited the owner. The owner had 45 days to comply or be hit with heavy fines for violating health and safety codes.

New renovations have been done by a Lead Certified company and removed even more lead paint from this house in the safety of containment containers. However the owner and the rental agency have made us feel as if we were the bad guys for calling the city on them. It still really bothers me they did this, actually it makes me so damn angry, it’s not even funny. We still have yet to get an apology from the owner.

We’ve been looking for a new place to live and we don’t need their attitude. I am also sure after the “No Retaliation” period of 6 months is over, they will give us the boot. Either way, moving sucks but we need a place to live that is attitude and lead paint free.

In doing my homework I found what removes lead from the body: vegetables high in Iron like greens and Apple juice to name a few. Three months after the initial lead test we had her tested again and the lead has been eradicated from her body. Thankfully she didn’t have to go through chelation therapy. We are relieved and happy to have this lead removed from her tiny body, yet we still have to take her to get evaluations for her growth and learning progress to see if there are any long lasting effects from the lead poisoning.

It’s been almost 6 months since her initial lead test came back positive, the lead is gone but we are still dealing with the after effects of this situation. Doctor and therapist appointments, feelings of anger and helplessness, and wondering if her IQ has been affected or not. It’s not something a parent wants to hear has happened to their child knowing it could have been prevented.

Amazon Associates Program Gets the Ax in California

Here’s a screen shot of the letter I received from Amazon:

Amazon Associates Cancellation Letter

I had waited a week before hitting the publish button just to make sure I really wanted to publish this post. I guess there was another reason I waited and now I know why. Another blow has hit online entrepreneurs who reside in California. This blow comes in the form of the cancellation of the Amazon Associates program in California. This is because Amazon and other companies like OverStock.com are taking a stand on what they feel is unconstitutional and counter-productive.

Many, many people in California, and other states(California isn’t the only state who did this) who’ve been axed, depended on the income that Amazon Associated Program gave them. Many people have been ruined and some have probably lost their homes and livelihoods or worse. I counted on the income from Amazon too, but it wasn’t my sole source of income, as I said previously I diversified my income and it was only a part of my income. While it is making things interesting, it is not the devastating blow many people have felt.

Amazon isn’t the only affiliate program that has given Californians the boot. I’ve been kicked out of no less than 5 other affiliate programs due to the new law. Mainly companies who have no physical presence in California. I’ve had to search for comparable affiliate programs, but the biggest blow for me, is that many of my niche sites are dependent on Amazon for the products in the niche. Amazon has a HUGE, no, THE HUGEST inventory of just about anything you can think of. I looked at Barnes & Noble and Borders, and neither of those giants have the selection of the books or products I need to make money with my niche sites.

So what am I doing?

Some of my sites are being sold on Flippa, such as this site: Kindle Covers and Cases which brought in $1,649.10 in December of 2010 and it continues to bring in sales each month. I could get an LLC in another state to continue to work with Amazon, but I don’t really want to go through the hassle of getting an LLC in another state to continue to operate with Amazon Associates. At least not yet. I am hoping the tax law will be over turned and we will get our associates program back. For now I am selling it on Flippa, as well as some of my other sites.

Another thing I am doing…

Another thing I have been doing is focusing on niche sites that I have an active interest in and selling eBooks, such as my Boudoir Photography Poses website. This site, on average right now, has an average of 46 daily visitors, and it sells between $25-$50 worth affiliate sales in eBooks each day on the subject of Boudoir photography Tips.I started this site after the Google panda update hit the first time, in an effort to supplement the lose of the Adsense income I had. This along with the recovery of my Adsense income has helped to offset the lose of the Amazon Affiliates Program.

Dealing with stress and remembering what’s important…

In May of this year we had a family wedding to attend in Ohio. We stayed at my sister-in-laws in Kentucky which is right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio. I decided that I wasn’t going to do ANY work at all. I had at first thought I would do some posts and get caught up on this blog, but decided not to. I did however have to review and approve personal profiles for the dating sites I run. This is about 10 minutes per day just before bed and that was all I did.

Taking time for the family…The Attitude of Gratitude

First, I spent lot’s of time with my girls: my wife and my two daughters.

My daughter and I on a quiet Kentucky dirt road

The next thing I did was not worry about business, knowing that whatever is supposed to happen, is going to happen no matter what I do. I just tried to do the next indicated step. Knowing that no matter what happens, everything will be OK. I’m an entrepreneur and entrepreneurs are survivors. I’m a survivor. If one thing fails I go to another thing or way of making money.

The next thing I did was spend some time with my parents who came down just to baby site and see the girls. That was nice. My dad hadn’t met the younger one, Hannah, and my mom hadn’t seen her since she was born. We went to the zoo with my parents and the kids and spent the day feeding the goats in the childrens zoo, riding the miniature train(Sarah loves trains) and just enjoying the free time of not having to work.

Worrying about what’s going to happen, does nothing but make you sick and paralyzed. There’s nothing that worrying has ever solved for me, so I just went with the flow. I just turned 47 last month and I’m not getting any younger so spending time with my daughters is paramount in my daily life. Who knows what the future holds for us, but I remember an old saying, ” Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift.”

Another saying is “If you have one foot in the past, and one foot in the future, you’re pissing on the present”.

Things do happen in the lives of successful people and their not always pleasant. Staying grounded and keeping what’s really important close to your heart, will help you get through anything. My grandfather used to say ” If you have a shovel you can always dig ditches”. My head is the shovel, life is the ditch. I dig life, it’s an adventure worth living.

So what Amazon is gone for me now, maybe it will come back, maybe it won’t. I’ll do other things that help to support the family and my lifestyle of working at home, close to the family. So what Google made my traffic almost nil for some sites and my income go down a bit, I’ll just do something else like sell eBooks and do photography. So what all this is happening around me, what really matters is what’s important and close to my heart, my family. That is what’s truly important.

Without the bad we wouldn’t be able to gauge the good or know true happiness.

This post goes out to my mentor and teacher Yaro Starak. My thoughts are with you and your Mum.

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Amazon Trademark Infringement, Ooopsss…

Larry C. — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 04:24:25 +0000

It’s been a little over 2 months since I posted last, in fact December 6th was the last post. I had been busy making sites and getting them indexed for the rush of Christmas traffic, and just got caught up in the whirl wind of excitement. LOTS of things happenin’g and happened since then, one of which I am not too happy about, Trademark Infringement.

Yep, that’s right, I infringed on someone’s trademark, Amazon.Com. Ooopsss…

Basically it’s been a while since I had read the Amazon OA(Operating Agreement), and didn’t realize that I built a website that would eventually have them contacting me about. Thou Shalt Not use any of Amazon’s trademarked names(Amazon, Kindle,Etc.) in a domain name/URL. Two that I had and were running were www.kindlecoversandcases.com and www.thekindleboard.com.

Kindle covers and cases was a niche site that made a good deal of money over the course of the past year with December being a really great month. Then I sorta sandboxed myself a little with over zealous back linking. But that’s for another post, which I will tell the whole story and how I got out of the Google sandbox. The other site, thekindleboard.com was a forum for discussion of Kindles, eBooks and eBook authors, as well as other eBook readers.

I received an email, founding it in my spam folder, and read it:

We recently contacted you about our concerns with your domain names, and we have not received a response. Please know that we value your participation in Amazon’s Associates program. By requesting that you use alternate domain names, we are attempting to make sure that there is always a clear distinction between the official “Amazon” site and other third party sites. Your current use of the (insert domain name), (insert domain name) and (insert domain name) domains is a violation of the Associates Program Operating Agreement. The registration of these domain names also violates Amazon.com’s trademark, proprietary and other rights. Please review the Associates Program Operating Agreement for more details.

Please choose new domain names and transfer your content to those names. Amazon will purchase your domains (insert domain name), (insert domain name) and (insert domain name) for the initial registration prices, provided that you agree to not register any domains containing Amazon brands, or a misspelling of those brands, in the future.

If we do not hear from you regarding the above within two weeks from the date of this email, we will have no alternative but to close your Associates account and withhold payment of all advertising fees in accordance with the Agreement.

So does this David fight the Goliath Amazon and take a chance on losing all my earnings for the past 3 months? Hell no! Are you kidding? Would you throw away $4000 in affiliate sales? Yeah, I didn’t think so. I actually had 9 domain names in total with the word “Kindle” in it, but only using 4 of them. Rather than give Amazon only the 3 they listed, and still use the other 6 domain names and take a chance on losing my Associate income and my Associate account, I decided to hand over all 9 domains. They promptly paid me $10 each for a total of $90.

Another interesting thing with Amazon is they don’t want you using other peoples trademarked names either. So names like Revlon, such as in a domain name RevlonMascaraReviews.com would be a no-no. I know many people who DO use trademarked names in their URLs, and don’t get caught, but is it really worth losing your income, house or other because of it? Not in my book.

So what am I going to do with the traffic from those sites? or what am I going to do with the brand I had built up? I could just let it go or I could get another domain name and do a permanent redirect to the new site. So what did I do with those sites I built up? I moved them each to a new domain: eBook Covers and Cases and eReader Forum.

I’m happy that Amazon.com was cordial enough to work with me and just take the domains off my hands and not my income I had acquired. Lesson learned.

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My Office, The Coffee Shop

Larry C. — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 22:08:44 +0000

I love it, I’m sitting at my favorite coffee shop, across the steet from Starbucks, and I just finished my lunch. It’s raining outside, and I chose to be here for the rain today, that and to finish an 1100 word Book review for Ashley Karyl. The eBook review is for his book How To Photograph Nudes Like a Professional. Great book on the topic of Professional NUde Photography, and how to be successful at it.

The review has been a long time coming as I’ve taken a while to read the book, it’s 328 pages long, and life tends to get in the way at times. I’m not complaining though. I can honestly say that being able to walk to the coffee shop and just write and relax, is a really great may to make a living! I will NEVER work for “The Man” ever again. Think about it, right now it’s 2:27 pm on Tuesday afternoon, and I’m sitting here at this great little coffee shop, while most everyone else, is stuck in a cubicle.

I’m not trying to be a snot or snob, it’s just the way it is, and it’s also the way I’ve decided it shall stay. I’d like to say I am the one who did this lifestyle design, but I had a hand from someone above or somewhere. My I.T. company went down the tubes with the economy, and I was forced to look for income elsewhere. No one was hiring so I started blogging and doing affiliate sales. So far so good!

So I am just “Going with it”, going with the flow of the day, which is writing each day for a total of maybe 2 hours a day, writing on topics I like to write about, and reading the things I like to read. Not to mention I get to also spend a ton of time with my two beautiful daughters each day instead of putting them in a day care facility and letting someone else raise them.

The thought of how people get up early to take their kids to daycare or preschool, then go to work for 8-10 hours a day, then pick up the kids and bring them home to feed them then put them to bed, disturbs me. It really does. The most precious moments in my daughters lives, would be missed or gone without me even seeing them, if that was the case.

I love the rain. I also like the sunshine, but in San Diego, rain is rare and much appreciated and enjoyed by me, not to mention it’s free water for my organic garden. We grow great tomato’s.

So I guess I just wanted to vent, no not vent, but shout that I am pretty darn happy about having found this new type of lifestyle, based on writing about the things I love(photography, making money and not working a regular job). I write on several blogs that I own, about Kindles, Pain Medication, running a successful dating site, The Rockabilly Music Scene, Photography, Physical Fitness through Kettlebells, and several others I am probably not thinking about.

Yeah I run a few blogs, each makes me a tidy sum of money and each money the amount goes up more and more. The secret is to write about topics that are Hot, or about things that people want, like gadgets, or problems(mental, physical or perceived). Look around for what people are desperate for, and write about it. Don’t just write about what you think would work, because chances are it may not. Give people what they want, not what you think they want.

Which brings to mind, what would you like to know about? I will write about it.

Anyway, back to my hot Spiced Chai Latte and the rain…

My Coffee Shop Office

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Quitting The Day Job, Finally.

Adversity, The Catalyst for Change and Success

Larry C. — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:48:28 +0000

Sometimes, things just gotta change…

Naomi Dunford wrote a nice post for Problogger’s Birthday, and it gave me the inspiration to write about my own adversity in life.

The Adverse Incident

On April 15th, 1987, I was told I had a life threatening illness and was given about 1 year to live. It was mind numbing. As the doctor handed me a packet of information, I got up and walked out of his office, as his voice slipped into that hollow sort of echo-y distance like in the movies. I walked out to the parking lot where I fell to my knees and started to cry. Life as I knew it, was over.

All sorts of things were going through my head – How long do I have? Is there a cure? Would anyone ever love me again? Would anyone want to make love to me anymore? Would they see past the scary, ugly monster and see the real me, a person, a real person, not just this scary dis-ease? Was I damaged goods? Will I be alone for the rest of my life? On and on ad nauseum.

After a year or so of living in worry about how long I had, I realized that things might be ok. I decided I was still alive and I should go on living. I was put on a medication that made things manageable, and told there was no time limit. So on I go, but still the questions persisted: Will anyone ever want to be with me ever again?

The Push

There was a time, after this diagnoses, I was seeing a woman for a short period of time, and I decided it was time to tell her about my illness. We were sitting in her car after having a date night, kissing and laughing and then I decided it was time. I got sort of quiet and then started to tell her, that there was something I felt she should know.

After I told her she sat there quietly thinking. She didn’t know what to say and said she needed to go home. Right then, she leaned over, opened my door and pushed me out! Can your Believe that?!? She pushed me out of her car and I fell on the ground. As she drove away I just sat there for a few minutes, wondering if this is what I could expect for the rest of my life.

The Catalyst for Change

Fast forward nine years, I’m in a relationship with a young lady I had been seeing for almost two years now. Previous to this, I had no real relationships to speak of, things were great, or so I had thought. Soon after the 2 year mark we broke up. I was heart broken to say the least. Was this to be how life was going to end up, alone, no one in my life to speak of?

The Move to Change

That’s when it hit me, a dating service was needed for people like me. What we needed was a place to meet where people were alike, where we wouldn’t be shunned, ridiculed or rejected for the illness we had. I didn’t know much about running a website, much less a dating service. All I knew is it had to be done.

I searched around on the Internet and found some software for dating sites, and started the dating site that I am still running today. At first I didn’t charge for the site, it was free, people loved it and I received emails of thanks and success stories. Then I noticed there were some other sites starting to pop up for the same health niche, and they were charging for their services. I was pissed. How could they do this to me, to us, to this niche of people?

A Business is Born

Then I was introduced to the Nigerian Scammers. Someone emailed me telling me how they met someone on my site and they sent them money to come see them. As soon as the money arrived, they heard nothing from this person ever again. They said I was responsible for this loss of money and what was I going to do about it. Thus was born the FAQ about Internet dating scams and how to safely date on the Internet. And that’s when I decided to start charging for the dating site.

I implemented the “Paid” dating site. You couldn’t send messages to anyone unless you had a subscription. This was in part to help keep the scammers off the site and to keep legitimate users on. Then it happened, I received my first few payments and I had extra money in my pocket to spend. Maybe I could do this for a living? Maybe I should have been doing this all along?

Since that time, I’ve been running the site for 14 1/2 years now, and was making a few dollars per month with subscriptions, and almost $100 per month in AdSense income. Not a whole lot but it was something. I then started hanging out in a private forum for Yaro Staraks BlogMastermind group, and after talking to a few people about the site, I did some serious optimizations. I also implemented “Recurring” subscription payments, and the site now pulls in a modest $1,o00+ a month in subscriptions, AdSense, and affiliate sales. The income has become a large part of my monthly income and has been much needed since the demise of my I.T. company due to the economy. While I still run the site as a place for people looking for a safe haven to date, with this certain health issue, I look at it as a business now, and have for some time.

What’s a good Niche? Where to find a Good Niche?

Since then I have been hitting up various health care niches for income and affiliate sales. This is a prime example of what Alexis Dawes talks about in “Desperate Buyers Only“, find a niche where people are desperately seeking a solution to something socially embarrassing, health related or a fear. Once you have this you have a niche to explore. When people are embarrassed about Acne or some other related “Socially Visible” affliction, they seek out solutions, this is what we seek for niches, the same goes for health issues, cancer, diabetes or hepatitis. The same is true of fears and phobias.

And that, my friends, is how I got my start in online business.

Adversity, The Catalyst for Change and Success...

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Blogging, One Year Later, Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going…

Larry C. — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:07:53 +0000

Technically it’s been a little over a year, but who’s counting, maybe 13-14 months, but it’s been a year. I’ve come a long way since I started reading Yaro Staraks Blog, one of the biggest reasons I am still doing this. I was in his Blog Mastermind program after reading so much good content on his blog, and reading his reviews of products. I am finally starting to make a living from doing this blog business that I have built. The money from my efforts didn’t come right away, it took a while, it actually started coming in more recently, starting at about 6-9 months into it. It’s continued to grow monthly since. It’s taken basically about a year for me to realize that I can make a living from blogging. If you blog for less than a year and give up, you’re wasting your time.

It’s given me personal freedoms I have wanted for so long, such as being here everyday with my family as my two young daughters grow up. I no longer live the 9to5 life, I don’t drive in crappy morning traffic anymore, and I get to go push my daughter in a swing at the park, anytime I want to. Which, for most days, is everyday. Why? Because I can, and I really enjoy it.

We just had daughter number two, so we are settled down for a little bit to rest, and raise her(Hannah). After about 6 months to a year we hope to start hitting the road. Soon we will be traveling here in the US, while I prep my family for extended travel abroad. I personally have a health issue that I need medication for everyday, and I am working on how to get it over seas, with my insurance to still pay for it. Maybe I can have someone pick it up for me and ship it to me? or maybe I can get a couple months advance and take it with me? or maybe my insurance has a plan for overseas delivery. Who knows, I’ll make it work somehow. I always do.

I haven’t always blogged here at The Niche Think Tank, as I wasn’t really sure about what I should be blogging about(I have other projects too). I was thinking it would be the “Make Money Online” type blog, but there are so many of those, so I kept thinking. Then I became aware of a guy by the name of David Crandall, thanks to Srini over at BlogcastFM and The Skool of Life.

Srini and David made an audio Teleclass one day, I bought it and it moved me so much, that I decided to contact David Crandall and talk to him about Fear. Fear of Podcasting, Fear of Blogging, Getting over my Fear, and a few other little topics that culminated in a spiritual awakening. David is a Christian, and while I often refer to myself as a recovering Catholic, I am a deeply spiritual man. I get my connection with my higher power when I am either surfing, hiking in the desert or in an empty church, with just me and him. Anyway, I digress.

I believe that birds of a feather flock together. If you surround yourself with like minded or positive people, they tend to rub off and have an influence on you. That Skype conversation I had with David Crandall had a very positive influence on me. He helped to open my eyes to something I have. My Story.

David showed to me, myself, in such a way it gave me the courage, strength and drive to take this to the next level. At least that’s what I am working towards. While I have two other blogs that I work on, www.rockabillylifestyle.com and my photography site, www.darkmansdarkroom.com, I am going to be starting at least one other blog, maybe two. These two other blogs will be where I open up and talk about how I’m doing life, on one hell of a roller coaster and how I was able to make it through the ride, to where I am today.

You see, I’m a recovering Addict, and on my travels through life, I’ve learned a lot about myself, about love, about life and other people. I’ve also had the (un?)fortunate experience of picking up a couple life threatening illness, which have helped to shape me into what I am today, the man I want to be and am becoming. It was through realizing my own mortality, and being given a death sentence in 1987, that I realized there is more to life than doing drugs and drinking. It was time to make a life change.

This isn’t just about making money, it’s about living life to the fullest, being present not only for my life, but for the lives of my wife, and my daughters. It’s about suiting up and showing up. Participating in life everyday, as if there’s no tomorrow. Because someday, there will be no tomorrow.

I got a second chance, I better not fuck Mess it up. I need to make it count.

So, to Yaro, Srini & Sid, David, Cody, Dan & Ian, Pat and a host of others which I have mentioned in the past, thank you. Thank You for the help, guidance and insight into myself and where I am going and possibly what I should be doing with my life.

Death Valley Dunes

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Ten Things I Learned on the Journey of Self Discovery Through Blogging

Larry C. — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:00:20 +0000

In blogging for the past year, on and off, building my dating sites and niche sites, I have come to several realizations about myself.

I can’t blog or work on a niche site that I have absolutely no passion for. It becomes boring to the point that it causes me anxiety and I make distractions in order to avoid, the boring. Then I get anxious about wasting time and not doing anything productive.
I am easily distracted, even on medication for ADHD, I am still easily distracted, “Ooh shiny…”, I stay focused by NOT browsing the Internet when I am trying* to work, and write.
Getting it done doesn’t mean thinking about it more, getting it done means just that, doing it and getting it done.
Sometimes I spread myself too thin. When I do that, I know it’s time to sell a website or two to make more room for bigger, more profitable ventures. (Clearing my plate for desert.)
I’ve discovered more about myself, the things I am passionate about and the things I stand or will stand for, and things I won’t stand for. I know I won’t stand for mediocrity, although sometimes I catch myself pushing the publish button, when I shouldn’t. I am still learning.
I’m still learning. I already said that but am saying it again.
I shouldn’t compare myself to others who make more than me in this industry, nor should I base my success or failure on their successes and failures. I am a completely different person, and therefore I am not them.
From failure comes success. From success comes knowing many ways that something will not work.
Like religion, failure, is only one road to a common destination. The roads are many and varied, pick one,and stick with it.
Fail Spectacularly. It takes nothing short of an atomic blast to create change or to do something differently. If you fail in a mediocre way, then so will your change be mediocre, and your end result will also be mediocre. So if you intend on being grandly successful, then fail spectacularly, so you can succeed in a spectacular way.

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The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz – Book Review

Larry C. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:20:17 +0000

After reading the 4 Hour Work Week I decided to check into the other books he put in the “Restricted Reading” section. The restricted reading is going on a low information diet to help quiet the head and make life a little more sane. I have indulged in some of his advices such as limiting checking my email to 2 times a day and have found that it gives me more time, less stress and I am more relaxed throughout the day now too. Not constantly thinking about email and hitting the pelletized cocaine retrieval button 80 times a day, I have more time to do more important things with my time. Like spending more time with my daughter walking around the neighborhood, or working on other Niche Sites I am developing like RockabillyLifestyle.Com, which I probably have to much crap on right now, which is in itself another story.

The Magic of thinking big by David Schwartz, is the book I decided to start reading, and goes into some theory that I have always thought to be true before I read the book, and that is you can change a persons day, attitude or demeanor, with an expression of kindness, or treating them as “Important”, and not just another person to step on.

It’s not just about someone else though, it’s all about You. Your actions, the way you think, the way you treat other people and how you react to others and certain situations. It’s geared to help you become bigger than what you are now, a better person, and help you to succeed in what you do in all aspects of your life not just your jobs or financial goals. True it is about learning to be successful and succeeding, but it’s got a bigger broader picture. It goes through a whole range of thinking practices and misinformation’s.

A few examples are:

* Believe You Can Succeed and You Will
* Cure Yourself of the Fear of Failure
* Build Confidence and Destroy Fear
* Think and Dream Creatively
* You Are What You Think You Are
* Make Your Attitudes Your Allies
* Learn How to Think Positively
* Turn Defeat into Victory
* Use Goals to Help You Grow
* Think Like a Leader

Whenever I am about to talk to someone I now pause and mentally think about what I am going to say to them. I try to stay on the positive side of things and this is one huge thing I was happy he covered. When you have to approach someone about the job they are doing, and it may not be so good, it gives examples how to approach it and keep it positive while also addressing the situation at hand.

Success is not so much about how big you are or how big your company is, it’s about how big your thinking is, and how it makes others feel. It focuses on and retrains your mind to get out of the mind trappings of daily life and think big, bigger than you used to.

The book, first published in 1965, is still a classic and currently read by many people and has practical advice and guides for today’s world. Those reading this currently are big time CEO’s, life coaches, and many other successful professionals. If you get the audio book, just be prepared as the author is part of the narrative and sounds a little dated, but it’s still an excellent listen. I highly recommend The Magic of thinking big by David Schwartz.

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Killing me with Kindness – For a Better World

Larry C. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:20:37 +0000

Killing me with Kindness – For a Better World

One of the blogs I follow is http://www.thrillingheroics.com, because I like what this guy is doing. Sure he’s traveling the world and living the good life of an entrepreneur, but he’s also stopping at orphanages around Bangkok and Thailand and helping them. There’s one post I was just reading and watched the video here, “My Secret Recipe for 100% Guaranteed Happiness”. I couldn’t stop balling my eyes out and wanting to hold my daughter and never let her go. The feelings that well up inside me make me want to get this whole thing right, that much more. This whole Entrepreneur thing and living a better life to help others live a better life too. Damn this tears my heart out.

I know I can still help others live a better life now, but I want to make more of a difference than I can at the moment. I would love to be able to donate lot’s of money to specific organizations and charities to help little children like those. The smiles on faces and lights in the eyes are what make me live. My life changed when my daughter was born, for the better, no, for the best, it’s ever been. I see things in a whole different light, both scary and happy. Scary because I never want her to go through the shit I went through, and happy because I know she will have the best I can give her. Always.

I’ve lived in the streets, turned my life around and recovered from drug addiction, and when I was unemployable I put myself through tech school to make a better life for myself. I am not proud of where I have come from but it has made me what I am today. That is a matter of controversy to some but I say I am on the road to being the best person I can be. I am an up standing father to the most precious little girl and boy friend to a beautiful woman who stands by my side. What more could I ask for?

A better earth.

I’m for a better earth.

A place where people don’t kill themselves over religion, where people don’t have children needlessly and then abuse or abandon them, where things are better than they are now.

It all starts with one person, it starts with me, now.

What are YOU going to do for this world? ANSWER ME THAT!

I fear for my daughters world. Monsanto, the huge GMO conglomerate of a cluster fuck company. Makers of Agent Orange, Roundup Weedkiller and other deadly chemicals. The people who fund mass corruption. The patent holders of a life organism, as well as other corrupt people, places and ideals. If we don’t change things NOW, we’re going to be up shit’s creek without a paddle. I’m serious, why do you think people are speaking out about global warming and other changes in climate? It’s not just their imagination. It’s real. I can tell you my parents who live in D.C. where is used to snow more have not experienced snow fall like they used to 25 years ago, it’s much less due to global warming.

Have you noticed there’s not many protests except those protesting abortion and such? The passionately angry? The people who are not going to stand for any more of whatever they believe in? It sickens me when people complain about where the world is heading and then tell me they didn’t vote, or didn’t do something that could have changed the outcome results of a poll or decision. Go fuck Yourself, if you bitch and complain about something but didn’t do something that could have changed things, IT’S YOUR FAULT ALONE. Fucking Tard.

Passionately Angry, yeah that’s me. It bothers me to see protests for things that people don’t really understand. It bothers me to see no one protesting things they do understand and do nothing about. If you are sick and tired of the way things are, then do something about it. Stand for something or fall for anything. Go to Jail for it. Be a hero. Do something for the good of humanity.

I’ve been reading and listening to Timothy Ferris’ The 4-Hour Workweek book and audio, and am impressed beyond belief at how simple he makes it sound. I really like the audio book best and the book as a reference companion. I usually take the audio with me to the gym and on the road when I am driving. It’s funny when I’m at the gym, and I start busting out laughing and all heads turn and I remember where I am. Oh yeah, I’m at the gym. It’s that funny.

I’m implementing a lot of what Ferris talks about in his book. From getting a VA(Virtual Assistant) to answering calls only at 2 time periods per day, to responding to emails only at 2 time periods per day too. I’m doing this to free up needed time to enjoy whats really important to me. My Daughter.

I don’t have a steady 9-5 job, I don’t want one and nor have I had one in over 5 years of being laid of from my last employer. I will never go back and work for “The Man” ever again. If I can help it, and I’ve done pretty good so far. I prefer to get up at 8am or earlier and have my tea, stretch and get a cheese danish from the local coffee shop. THEN come home, check email and start my days proceedings.

Which brings to mind another thought I had yesterday while standing on the corner trying not to get hit by all the mad people rushing to work, while putting mascara on in the mirror and trying to drive to make the almighty buck. Yeah that life just isn’t for me anymore. The mascara part I mean, no really the driving to work for a 9-5′er and being tied to someone else’ money making venture. I stood there and realized just how lucky, maybe not lucky but how good I have it.

I’m standing there, cheese danish in hand for my 8 weeks pregnant(Again ) girlfriend, who is having the weird cravings thing, watching the line of frantic people driving off to work. Standing there wondering if I’m going to be able to cross the street, because no one is stopping to let me cross even though pedestrians have the right of way.

Yeah, I’ll continue to read the current book I’m reading, which I suggest you do as well, “The 4-Hour Workweek“, and think about what YOU are going to do to better this world, when you have the money to quit your job.

I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to stop in on Cody McKibben on my way to Angkor Wat someday if he’s still there when I get there. I’ll spend some time changing diapers at the orphanages and being grateful for what I have, help out where ever I can, then head off to see the jungle temples in Cambodia.

I give myself two years to make it.

Larry

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Compounding Online Income Streams and December’s Income Report

Larry C. — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:07:15 +0000

Compounding Little Income Streams to make Bigger Income Streams.

I’d like to go over Decembers earnings and how Compounding Little Online Income Streams can help to form Bigger Streams of Income. This post is meant to encourage those having a hard time with making money online, by seeing how it’s working for me. Decembers income report is much better than the last one I put up, about $450.00 better than the last one. The last one was around $800.00.

Decembers Report.

So far the figures from December of 2009, which total $1,294.78, are as follows:

Dating Site I Run – $338.89

TLA(Text Link Ads) – $52.19

Direct Advertising on my www.RockabillyLifestyle.com website – $250.00

Photography Sales (I’m a photographer too) – $150.00

Various Affiliate Sales – $173.70

Contextual Ad Placement on 5 sites – $330.00

Again the total of all these is $1,294.78 which is pretty darn cool if you ask me, it’s gone up about $400 since my last earnings report, that I actually took down a while ago.

Compounding effects of little income streams.

In Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind Program, which I am enrolled in, he talks about compounding: “The traffic secret that every blogger knows is the power of compounding.” I am now seeing the effects of compounding this month and I’ve only been doing this for about 7 months now. I think Iam doing pretty good considering I have been totally flaking on a couple of my blogs. I have several blogs I run, most of which are hobby related and stuff I am very interested in. I know some people do blogs on topics they could care less about, but I just can’t do that. I have to have a passion in order to write about something, otherwise people will see right through me and know it’s fake.

So above I have 6 different little income streams. Each one alone, is not much money, however the effect and power of all of them together is worth $1,294.78 per month to me. That’s most of my rent payment right there. In today’s economy my day job is going downhill. I am an IT consultant and I manage 6 different companies networks and computer systems. Several of those companies are in debt to me by 3+ months, and I haven’t been paid in those 3 months by them. That’s several thousand dollars that I am out each month and needed to supplement that somehow.

Where and How I started.

I got my start accidentally through Ebay. I sell Hellraiser Puzzle Boxes on Ebay and I was also interested in Costume and Vintage Jewelry. I educated myself on the jewelry and I make and sell the puzzle boxes on Ebay. I realized when things weren’t selling that well on Ebay lately, that somethign was terribly wrong. That’s about when I realized the economy was going downhill fast and I needed to find a way to supplement.

Looking for an alternative.

I started looking around, bought a couple things, several bottles of Snake Oil as I was still learning what’s legitimate out there and whats not, and that’s when I stumbled upon Blog Mastermind, For Desperate Buyers Only, Niche Profit Classroom and Confessions of a Lazy Super Affiliate by Chris Rempel. I also stumbled upon 31 days to Build a Better Blog which is the best 19.95 I’ve spent on a product in a long time. If you want to learn about blogging and making an income, I suggest reading that. If you’ve got $97.00 a month you can spare for 6 months, then I Highly Suggest Signing Up for Yaro’s Blog Mastermind. That is a COMPLETE course in and of itself and I highly recommend it. If you don’t know anything at all about Blogging, what it is and isn’t, then I would suggest checking into Yaros “Become a Blogger Course”. This will teach you what is blogging, how to set it up completely and how to star blogging and make your first money, even if you have NO CLUE about blogging.

Optimizing what I already had going.

I had been running a dating service for people with a certain health issue for 13 years, when I started blog mastermind. I was making some money with it monthly, but not as much as I am starting to make now. In the blog mastermind forums you will meet all kinds of people willing to help you out for free. They are all in there for several reasons, to make money, to learn more about making money online, and helping others make money online too.

I found a few people who helped me to look at my dating site, optimize the keywords to pull in more traffic and helped to optimize the contextual advertising on the site to bring in more money from that as well. This was about 4 months ago and I posted about the site and my findings. It’s been 4 months now and the income from the site keeps going up a little bit each months, as does the income streams from my other little streams.

The Most Supremely Ultimate Important thing.

The most supremely important thing I’ve found about all this making money online stuff is being consistent. Through consistency we built discipline, and through discipline we are able to push through the times when we feel like giving up, and putting the blog down. I hit a little bt of burnout a few Weeks or months ago, as I have been doing this on several blogs for a little while now. Through consistency I have been building traffic which is the other most important thing about making money online. Traffic Traffic Traffic. Without it you have NOTHING. It is where all sales are generated and where all word of mouth comes from and all incoming links come from. If you don’t believe me, try selling something to nobody. Then you will understand the importance of Traffic! That and good content.

Enjoy your week!

Larry

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Speech Recognition for Bloggers – The Ultimate Guide

Larry C. — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:26:53 +0000

I’m subscribed to Copyblogger as should all of you be, and I got the post for the day and it talks about speech recognition software. I’ve been “playing” around with speech recognition for a little while, but only getting frustrated with it as it works half the time if that. I watched the video at the second link that Copyblogger listed which is at Problogger. Leave it to a guy in a wheelchair to come up with the Ultimate Guide to Speech Recognition. Certainly he needed it, but he took his disability and used it to his advantage and came up with Speech Recognition for Bloggers: The Ultimate Guide

I give major kudos to Jon Morrow for not only overcoming what most people who just succumb too, but to overcome and move past his disability and become an integral and hard to replace member of one of the best blog teams on the net. I myself am glad to have watched this video because I was getting ready to trash the software and mic, but now I think I can make this work for me.

Check out the video and come back and give me a comment or two. See what you think from this guy in a wheelchair…

Enjoy…

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