Serve No Master: The Book
Build a six-figure brand. Create seven-figure products. Write #1 best sellers. Live life on your own terms, and basically rule the world.
Forget About The Monkey Business…
Here’s the story of a guy that went from being a disposable drone to “mastering the game” and controlling his own destiny.
Keep reading, and I’ll show you the changes I made and every tool I used to get there (no, seriously!)
Here’s me – looking a little ridiculous in my downtime. But before I made it to the islands, I was barely breaking even and struggling to make ends meet.
I had all the skills – but using them took so much time and energy. I was barely breaking even. And I felt myself turning into a zombie – my one life wasting away behind a screen. But thanks to a lot of willpower and a few lucky breaks, I dug harder until I discovered the skills and the knowledge to run a badass lifestyle business that runs on my laptop and my cellphone.
Here’s Exactly How I Did It
I needed to get successful NOW. And this was where I started:
I Woke Up To The Myth Of Job Security
I realized that my employers were in business to keep me broke and working hard until they could toss me on the scrap heap. It was a bitter pill to swallow. I felt bad. But then I felt ready to make changes.
I Learned The Art Of The Favor
I needed leverage – to find the secret inner circle of high dollar earners that were crushing it in their online business. And I realized that I HAD to build relationships… and turn those relationships into money.
I Became The Boss
I felt myself falling into a trap – instead of having one boss, I had twenty demanding clients! Then I learned how to demand more money, manage expectations, and use my clients as leverage for greater success.
I Got A “Masterless Mindset”
I kept track of my time and did everything I could to limit my time working. I took shortcuts, I shut out the social dead weight, and I fought dirty for my future.
I Turned My Skills Into Passive Income
This was the turning point. I found an audience that needed my skills (everybody has them), I sold my skills to people that needed help, and I taught what I knew to people that wanted to learn from me.
I Scaled Things Up
That’s when things got really crazy – once business started coming in, I began taking myself out of the business and building these little… systems. Outsourced writing, graphics, design – all the hard stuff was done and gave me the time I needed to blow things up even further.
All of that – covered in incredible detail – is maybe a quarter of what I’m going to show you inside Serve No Master.
You’ll have everything you need to take total control.
Take A FREE Look At The First Chapter
Read about some of what I’ve achieved, the transformative ideas that brought me there, and my plan to make you your own master in an increasingly competitive economy. Then decide for yourself whether you want to take the journey with me.
Now I’m living a lifestyle that maybe 2% of entrepreneurs are actually living. I spend more time with my girlfriend. More time raising my kids. More time chasing down my hobbies. More time going on vacations that pay for themselves by the time I get back.
Praise for Serve No Master
Reviews Pulled from Amazon
So….What About You?
If you’re willing to spend another year working a dead end job, scraping up just enough money to keep breathing, juggling a half dozen dangers until something in your life gives out…
Go live your life. But if you’ve already bought the book (and even if you haven’t)… here’s a guide to everything referenced inside Serve No Master.
First Steps – Take Action NOW
1. Leave a review on Amazon
Without reviews a book on amazon will die a slow, withering deal. If you really love me, feel free to leave a great review on GoodReads too.
3. Follow me on social media
I’m always doing fun stuff online, the more you connect with me the stronger our relationship will become
2. Share this page
Let the world know about Serve No Master and start changing the lives around you.
4. Get The Quit Your Job Checklist
Current College Debt Statistics
Student debt is bigger than ever. Kids graduating in 2015 with and debt owe an average of more than $35,000. This information comes from Mark Kantrowitz, at Edvisors.
More than 70% of students will graduate with these monstrous student loans. In the last, decade this number has jumped 6%.
Even graduating with a college degree doesn’t guarantee employment. More than 2% of the college graduates in America are out of work today.
According to the Department of Labor, the average wage of a college graduate is currently $1,193.
That number is misleading because it does not mean recent college graduates. That number is for everyone who ever went to college.
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average salary for people who get a job right out of college in 2015 was $50,615. Which is less than a thousand bucks a week.
Lest you think that I’m Amero-centric – According to the Daily Mail, Seventy-five percent of people with student loans in the UK will still be paying them off in their FIFTIES!
In America, it takes the average person just twenty-one years to pay off their student loan. Very few people actually pay it off in the ten years that they expected. – One Wisconsin Institute.
Are You Afraid of the Environment?
If you are like many Americans right now, you are afraid of Global Warming. There is this idea pushed by some scientists and celebrities that the world is getting hotter, and eventually we will boil right off the surface.
Those celebrities fly around in private jets to accept awards for being great environmentalists, while they yell at us for driving cars and pumping carbon into the atmosphere. According to a recent study, just one hour on a private jet releases more carbon than most Africans will do in an entire year.
They are burning more carbon to preach than millions of people do in their lifetimes. The worst part is that they preach fear from a place of ignorance. It only takes about five minutes and the ability to type words into Amazon.com’s search bar to find something amazing.
One of the first books to ring the alarm about global warming was written by Stephen H. Schneider in 1990. His book was called “Global Warming: Are We Entering the Greenhouse Century?”
It was one of the first books by a scientist about global warming. If you take the time to look at his previous books, you find something pretty amazing. Fourteen years earlier he wrote another book about the Earth’s temperature problem. “The Genesis Strategy: Climate and Global Survival.”
Sound pretty scary right? This guy was one of the first experts on climate change.
Except for one thing.
The first book is about GLOBAL COOLING.
In the 1970s he was screaming that we were about to enter a new ice age and freeze our planet to death. Ten years later, he switched tunes and looking at the same data; he decided that the planet was warming.
Nobody listened to his first round of warnings. He reversed his position, and suddenly everyone got excited.
Now I’m not here to say whether global warming or cooling is real. What I want you to realize is that the “scientists” we trust so much have written books claiming we are going to melt and freeze to death based on the same data.
They use fear to control our behavior. Look how much behavior has changed because of the fear of global warming in the west. We buy electric cars and pay more money for products that claim to have a lower carbon footprint. We pay more for a product if we think it’s helping the environment.
Do you remember that powerpoint presentation with a former vice president? They guy who sounded like a robot and thought he invented the Internet? That movie really scared people. It scared them into his new business venture.
He is close to becoming a billionaire from carbon trading and low carbon technology he has invested in, including smart meters.
See that movie scared a lot of people and it made him hundreds of millions of dollars.
The point is not about whether global warming is real or not. The point is that fear alters behavior. That rich people and politicians use fear to control us and make money.
It’s time to stop letting fear control you!
Is Fear Holding You Back?
If you are still feeling overwhelmed by fear when making decisions, then I recommend Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.
I read this book a long time ago, and it helped me with anxiety, especially the type you feel when negotiating a price with a new client.
If fear is holding you back from the life you deserve, this wonderful book is a powerful supplement. I read this book about ten years ago, and it helped me a lot with social anxiety.
We know fear is how the government, education, and even the media control us. Every day we are told of some new horror that could destroy our way of life.
This book is an excellent tool for letting go of all that garbage and freeing your personality.
Favors are a Muscle
I would love to tell you that I originated the idea that favors are a muscle, but it’s something that I learned from a millionaire mentor. And he learned it from this book, which he credits as the SOLE reason he was so financially successful.
When I was in high school, I modeled my friend and hero to learn how to be popular. Never Eat Alone really took me to the next level and helped me to apply those concepts with strangers and business contacts.
This is a wonderful book if you want to go even deeper into the concept of using favors to build a network of people that help you grow because they like you, rather than some silly sense of obligation.
My First Massive Hit
This is the book that started it all for me. From a popular blog to a bestselling book with one cold phone call. This is the first huge book that I wrote, and it still sells like a champion.
I originally wanted to call the book The Ring Magnet, but in the end, we realized people would be expecting hobbits and wizards. So the name was changed to Girl Gets Ring and the rest is history.
I wrote this book way back in 2010, and I continue to receive residuals all these years later.
The Woodworking Idea that My Relative Shot Down
My relative was convinced that nobody would ever want to buy woodworking plans online. Too bad for him, but what a great thing for Ted. Ted’s little company is earning deep into the SEVEN figures. You can take a look at Ted’s Woodworking to see his sales process now.
What I want you to realize is that there is knowledge within you right now worth millions. The only thing holding you back from making serious money is you. Your fear and the belief that nobody wants to hear what you have to say have been holding you back for far too long.
Even the smallest idea can grow into something amazing.
Private Label Rights – Should You Do It?
I don’t personally recommend Private Label Rights as a good strategy. Buying something that a million other people have and trying to sell it at a premium just isn’t the way to build a business that lasts. You can destroy your credibility when someone sees the same thing you are passing off as your own somewhere else.
To be clear, when I use PLR it is only as a baseline. I change all the graphics and rewrite the content. I upgrade the value to the customer. I don’t use stuff that is mass released.
I would love to give you a link to an example, but the only guy I buy from leaves links up for three days or less. If you want to see one the next time there is a cool offer of the caliber that I would use, then just make sure you enter your email address above.
By no means do you need to go this route? I much prefer that you write your own content and write from your soul.
Awesome Skills That Get You Paid
Write Your Own Bestseller
Books is my bread and butter. You’re probably here because you read one of my bestsellers and it’s easier than you think. The first step to writing your bestseller is realizing that it’s possible. You’ve come to the right place. You can make a great living as an author, editor or book coach all off of the back of writing just one bestseller.
Rank Websites on Google
The very first way I made money online was with SEO services. The ability to rank websites isworth it’s weight in gold these days. There are so many beautiful websites that wither and die because nobody sees them. I love this business because it is a recurring revenue stream.
It takes a lot of work, and the system is always changing, so you have to stay current with your tools and training. But when you learn this process, you can make big money very quickly. The best opportunity is to focus on ranking local websites.
Just getting a small business to the top of Google can turn a failing business into a champion. The great thing is that if they fire you, their site will drop again. So they need to keep paying those monthly fees to maintain their business.
The easiest way to get into this business is to become a white label. You find the clients and pay someone else to do all the dirty work for you. This requires NO technical knowledge. I just made a new course about this process for one of my interns – you can find it HERE.
Become a Copywriter
The ability to write good copy is timeless and is a job that will never disappear. Some jobs are purely technical, and they will come and go.
Technology comes and goes, but the ability to write persuasively is eternal. You don’t have to be skilled with chatting. Most of the great copywriters I know are awkward in person.
But when they write, the words flow, and they generate massive income. I have a new book as well as two great courses on copywriting in development. But you don’t have to spend a penny to learn this skill.
To learn copy without spending a dime, check my free Ultimate Copywriting Swipe File.
Get in the Ghost Writing Game
The wonderful thing about ghostwriting is the amazing people that you meet. I’ve spent time with East London kingpins and the world’s most elite madam.
I’m currently in talks with a former yakuza member to put something together amazing.
When it comes to writing, nobody taught me. I have never found a course that covers it. I learned by sweating over the keyboard.
I have some training videos that I have recorded over the years, and I think I will share them with you. Writing is something amazing, and when you are good at it, people treat you like a celebrity.
You can see some of my top writing training videos here: https://servenomaster.com/nonfiction-writer
Becoming a Freelancer
In many industries, we are shifting to a gig economy. People get paid for the work they do, and that’s it. This is an excellent way to start making money online. Take your skills and sell them on a per-job basis to provide a revenue stream while you are building more of your other projects. You can often find great customers who want to hire you for larger and larger projects.
The two best websites to get started are:
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great game to get into. I’m a product creator at heart, but a big part of building a fan base is finding great things your audience will love. When you have a bunch of rabid buyers, they want to buy something. So you have to give them what they want.
One of the best resources out there is Affilorama. I know the guy who built this course, I’ve been to his house, and he is sound as a pound. He knows his stuff and if affiliate marketing is the direction that appeals to you this is a great resource.
There are a ton of great free resources to help you understand this approach to business. You can get your feet wet without spending a penny.
One of the guys I work with all the time went through the advanced training course. He was the only person that finished the course. He is now making millions.
If you go down this path, please remember what I told you. You have to see things through to the end. The ones who finish are the ones you see greatness.
Take Money Now
Before you go out into the world and try to score a client you want to be able to accept their money.
Depending on your bank, setting up a Business Account can be very painful or very painless. When I tried at Bank of America, it was a complete nightmare. They wanted a huge amount of paperwork, and the charges were more than I was making.
Sometimes you just want something simple to get started as a sole proprietor.
Square
There are three easy ways to start taking money almost immediately. My personal favorite for dealing with clients in person is Square. I first heard of them ages ago when someone was handing out their little readers at a conference.
They give you a little square that is the size of a quarter. You plug it into your smartphone, and you can swipe credit cards through it. If you were to try getting those machines, most restaurants have you would pay at least ten times more.
You can also send email invoices with Square. But I prefer to use it for in person card swipes. You pay a lower fee because the card is there in person.
Whenever you take a credit card payment with your little Square, the money is in your connected bank account within three days.
Stripe
For my online credit card payments, I use Stripe. Stripe puts the money into your bank account within a few days. It’s quick and extremely painless.
Stripe lets you set up recurring billing. So you can take on a client for a thousand bucks a month. They automatically get billed until they cancel.
This is a lot easier than chasing a check every month.
Both Stripe and Square have different fees. There is a lot of math involved because the fees change all the time. Figure out which one has a better percentage for you.
Paypal
Paypal has been around for a long time. I’ve had an account with them for at least half my life. They are great for a lot of things. Many businesses do most of their transactions in Paypal.
The only reason I use the other two services is that people still exist who don’t have Paypal accounts.
When it comes to taking an actual credit card number, Paypal is annoying. You have to get a different kind of account. There is normal, business and merchant. I’m not even sure which kind I have anymore.
If you pay for the upgrade, which I think costs $30 a month, you can manually take a credit card over the phone. I’ve only done that a few times and I prefer not to.
I would much rather send and invoice and have them pay it while we’re on the phone chatting. Paypal is also great for requesting recurring payments.
They have their phone attachment to compete with Square, but to be honest I have no knowledge of it. It came out years after Square, and I saw no reason to switch.
I still have my little square thing in my house somewhere so that I can swipe a credit card even in the middle of nowhere in a pinch.
Taking Money Over the Phone
If you want to take money over the phone, everything gets a lot more complicated. The easiest option is Paypal. With an upgraded account they have a little box you fill in for payments like that.
If you can get people to pay on their computer while talking to you on the phone, that’s even better. But you will close fewer sales when you have that extra step in your process.
Traditional Merchant Accounts
There are a lot of other merchant accounts out there. I know of hundreds of companies, and I used a bunch when I got started. Honestly, they are garbage. They make you fill out a ton of extensive financial forms, and they will mess with your money. They will run multiple credit checks so expect a ding to your credit score.
The first company I used kept ten percent of my money for six months. A lot of them will do that to you. When you run into a technical issue, you will find out that there are three companies involved every time you take a payment.
When you call in with a complaint, each company blames one of the others ones. You thought you only signed up with one, but they secretly make you sign up for three. Even if everything is fine with two of them, a problem at the third means your transactions will fail.
This recently happened to me with one of my older merchant accounts. They never notified me there was a problem. They just stopped processing correctly.
A lot of marketers out there will recommend other merchants to you. That is because those merchants take so much of your money they can pay that other marketer a nice commission. I could earn some nice money recommending something I don’t use.
But that’s not cool in my book.
You can see that I use Stripe and Paypal. If you click on that phone coaching button up above, it takes you to a page where you get to choose which one you want to pay with.
They are who I use, and that’s why I recommend them.
Start Your Own Blog Today
CLICK HERE for my STEP-BY-STEP guide on how to launch your blog off the ground in less than an hour. This method is future-proof, so you never have to worry about changing anything.
Handle Your Own Graphics
The main graphics software I use is Photoshop CS6. After that version they switched to a monthly fee and it’s just not worth it. I have the entire suite of products, and I think it cost around $600 at the time. That might sound pretty expensive, but now that some stuff costs that much per year!
I have been using this software for six years, so sticking with this version has saved me thousands of dollars.
I’m a light graphics user. You can get just Photoshop for ten bucks a month if you want.
Some great alternatives:
GIMP has been around for a very long time, and it is free. I have tried it before and honestly I struggled. I know a lot of people who swear by this open source software, so the problem could easily be me.
It can open most Photoshop files, and that’s the key.
Affinity Photo was released in 2015 and was the Mac App of the Year. This is the main contender for the serious photography market. They have swept the world by storm and cost a fraction of the price of Photoshop.
Eventually, my Photoshop software will be too old to use anymore. It might be in ten years, but when that happens, Affinity Photo is where I will switch. Depending on your system, this software is often faster than Photoshop and it can take anything you throw at it.
Paint Shop Pro is what you want to use if you are PC only. This is made by Corel, and they are a very good graphics company. Again, you are only looking at spending around fifty bones to get this on your computer, and it will meet most of your needs.
This is much cheaper than Photoshop and cheaper than getting sucked into a monthly payment plan. The last thing you want is software that you can lose at that critical moment.
This software is the standard PC alternative, and it’s high version number tells you that they are serious about this product.
Software I Use Daily
Xmind
Xmind is my favorite tool for mind mapping. Every time I need to outline an idea of any kind, this is the tool I use.
Mindmapping just works for the way my brain operates. It likes circles more than it likes straight lines.
I like that Xmind is free, and I have never seen any need to update to a paid or pro version. I just need the basic ability to create useable mindmaps very quickly.
Scrivener
Scrivener is the tool that I use for ALL my writing. I write every book using this tool because it speeds up my process. I care about efficiency, and this tool has more than doubled my productivity.
I wrote Serve No Master using Scrivener. I even write many blog posts and emails on here. I just love being able to look at the structure.
Screenflow
A big part of generating content is recording videos. I don’t just write books! Many of my ghostwriting clients will pay me more than my book fee to turn a book into a video series as well. I create all my videos using Screenflow 5.
This is the ultimate tool on Mac. If you check out any of my advanced courses, they are all made on Screenflow. If you are on a PC, you are in great shape too. Camtasia is a wonderful product. Their mac version is terrible, so don’t accidentally buy that!
If you don’t have the dosh for one of these programs yet, that’s ok! You can start with a great screen recording program that doesn’t cost you a penny. CamStudio is a great place to get started without cracking open your wallet.
Why So Many People Fail Online
There are tons of new articles about why startups and new businesses fail popping up online every day. The main reason businesses fail is a lack of research and a failure to plan. You want to understand what you are getting into before you lock into one strategy.
There are a lot of exciting programs that all promise to teach you how to make massive amounts of money online. It can be incredibly exciting but also quite overwhelming. You want to make your buying decisions from a place of logic, rather than a place of emotion.
Every time you spend a penny online; that is a loss. That is money that your business needs to earn back. If you approach money and time this way, then you will stay on track.
Pick one strategy and follow it until you hit success. If you decide to learn the Amazon game from me, then don’t try to learn Twitter from another course at the same time. Focus on getting bestsellers up and providing income. Use the profits from your books to invest in the next course or to grow your business.
Being fiscally disciplined is HARD. There is great software and wonderful training out there that I want to get my hands on all the time. I always walk away and think about the decision logically. I don’t like to get caught up in the excitement of the moment.
Every method that I share with you here, in the blog section, in my podcast or inside the Serve No Master book is a technique that works. The problem is not the technique; it is the implementation. Your focus is a valuable resource, so please don’t squander it.
The Dip
If you want a deeper understanding of the reason people give up too soon, then The Dip by Seth Godin is a wonderful book. The entire book is about knowing when to quit and when you need to stay in the game.
He is more eloquent at explaining this concept than me, and I consider this to be a wonderful resource. I have seen a lot of people around me quit right before they were about to hit that great success. They thought they were dying when they were moments from turning it all around.
The reason I have done so well is that I simply don’t quit. I’m in the game, and I refuse to give up. I fight my way through the dark times until I find the light.
When you try something online, after a few weeks you will want to quit and try something else. This book will give you an extra layer of encouragement to keep fighting til you see the profit that is around the corner.
Skills to Pay the Bills
Below you will find a list of amazing skills that can make you a wonderful income online as well as my favorite resources for helping you to master each skill.
Writing
The real secret to writing phenomenal books and products is to master the art of research. I have put together a quick skill course explaining my exact process for product development. Where do I find the information I need, how I avoid even the hint of plagiarism and how I find the holes in the market that my product will fill.
This is a quick skill that I break down over the course of forty minutes, so you never have to be scared again. Watch as I break down a giant, scary book into small manageable chunks. Following my simple method, you will be able to put together tier one book outlines that you can turn into bestsellers!
To learn more about this specific skill, you can go to https://servenomaster.com/nonfiction-writer
Speaking
Public speaking might seem daunting to you. The best place to start out honing your chops is with a local public speaking group. I have heard great things about ToastMasters and you know I love finding groups on Meetup.
If you have a great voice and want to be a behind the scenes master doing voiceover work, the best places to start are:
Copywriting
I have some copywriting products in development, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait to learn. I put together a new blog post on how to learn copywriting on the cheap. If you follow what I teach there, you can be making a killing writing copy in the next few months.
Learning copy does take hard work. It’s not a magic skill. There is a reason top copywriters get tens of thousands of dollars and even a percentage of the business. This is a powerful skill that will never be going out of style. https://servenomaster.com/become-master-copywriter-cheap/
Graphics
Getting good with graphics is worth the time invested. I can do the basics and move some stuff around in Photoshop, but I hire graphics people all the time. This is a timeless skill that is always in demand.
There are some great graphics courses out there, but this skill takes a very long time to learn from scratch. If you don’t already have some pretty good skills, I would recommend choosing something else from this list.
If you want an example of the type of work that pays, here is something I had a designer do for me. I paid one guy to write the words and a graphics guy to make them look awesome. If this seems like something you could make, then graphics is probably your true calling.
You don’t always have to do client work either. As a graphics master, you can make tools and resources for other people to buy from you. A great example of this is a graphics bundle that I promoted in the past.
Max’s Big Design Bundle
has sold over five hundred copies, so this is an example of a simple product that will alway sell well.
Video
Being able to make great videos has massively increased my value. Many people see an ebook and think it’s worth seven bucks or something. That is what we are used to paying for books in the bookstore. But a DVD course? That seems like something that should cost more.
Being able to record great screencasts is the first skill you want to learn as you get into this game. I’ll record some more video trainings to show you how I do things live-action. You really don’t need that much equipment to record screen videos. Just a computer and a halfway-decent microphone.
Screencast Secrets is a great course that breaks down the right way to record your videos so they don’t look weird online. The very first course I bought was from these guys on how to record using a green screen. It’s one of the most valuable purchases I’ve ever made.
Networking
I’ve put out some very powerful courses on networking as it applies to dating for both men and women. Most of the best material from those courses is already in the Serve No Master book. If you want to take your networking to the next level, I’m working on some new blog posts and possible a training video on the topic.
All of that in development, but for now just focus on the techniques in the book. That’s enough to get you great success.
Sales
Here is my basic sales flow. Start by asking the customer or potential client where he is right now. This gives you a baseline so you can understand where he’s coming from.
Then ask him about where he would like to be. What is his goal or prime desire?
Finally, ask him what is keeping him trapped where he is right now and away from that place he wants to be. What is holding him back?
Then you simply explain how you can help him overcome that hurdle and get to his true desire through your product. (Your product needs to do what he wants of course)
Arbitrage
This is the art of buying something for a dollar and then selling it for two. It’s the easiest way to start scaling a business.
Buying and Selling Traffic
At this time the only really solid traffic arbitrage training can be found at Stack That Money Forum. Because it’s a forum, the information is always current. I am a member and go to their conferences around the world as well.
If you want to be on the cutting edge of this game, this is the place to learn it. This is a paid forum, so you have to spend money to even find out how it works.
Learning this method of making money online takes about five grand in capital, a lot of time and some serious focus. If you have those three elements, then you can learn a lot over there.
Outsourcing
The main place that I hire people is now UpWork. There used to be a few options for finding outsourcers, but they all merged into one website recently. I like to try someone out for a project before I look at hourly or monthly. I like to get into my relationships slowly.
Another great place to advertise and find a worker is OnlineJobs. It’s a site that tons of Filipinos use to find long-term jobs online.
Finding Expats
One of my favorite moves is to hire Westerners living in other countries. You kind of get the best of both worlds – a Native English speaker at international prices. This is the easiest when you do make the move to paradise. Then you can just find locals and post flyers on local area bulletin boards.
There are two types of expats in my experience. You have the retirees, who are at the end of the game. They often need work because their retirement isn’t quite stretching as far as they thought it would. These guys often have a lot of experience and a skill that you can resell – like thirty years as a master plumber.
The other type of expat I work with is the backpacker/hippie lifestyle type. They are sick of the rate race and want to live abroad. Everywhere you go, this type is working in hotels, bars, and cafes. They are paid local wages, but they get to stay in paradise.
I prefer to hire from the second group, because many of them are college educated, have a high-end laptop, and are Internet savvy. They require less training, really need the work, and are good self-motivators.
The best method for finding talent is to pick a region and then find local expats in that area. It’s hard to try and reach “foreigners abroad.” For example, there is a small Facebook group for my island that I check every day, but I don’t frequent any large scale expat sites.
Here are some sites that do have great sub-forums you can peruse:
http://www.expatforum.com/ http://www.expatexchange.com/ http://britishexpats.com/forum/
Another great place to advertise and find a worker is OnlineJobs. It’s a site that tons of Filipinos use to find long-term jobs online.
The Power of Email
Emails are the most valuable asset for many companies. Growing and properly nurturing an email list is one of the keystones to long-term passive income.
Best Email Software
When it comes to email, there are only two software companies that I can recommend. I’ve tried the most expensive and the cheapest. I’ve tried everything in between. At the end of the day, there is only ONE choice.
I love ConvertKit so much that I recorded any entire podcast episode about how it improved my profit margins. https://servenomaster.com/convertkit-changed-my-business/
Writing Great Emails
Writing great emails is an art form. You already know how to write emails. You probably do it every day!
I have put together a free series of blog posts sharing my methods to help you get started on the path to writing great emails.
You should start with the first lesson:
Effective Time Management
Multitasking Doesn’t Work
Researchers at Stanford University set out to find out why multitaskers are so efficient. Is multitasking ability something you are born with? The results they found were unexpected. It turns out that people who multitask are worse in every single mental category.
Their study found that people can’t separate data based on how important it is. They give the same amount of attention to unimportant information and priority tasks. Attempting to multitask will only slow you down and possibly damage your brain in the long term.
Pomodoro Technique
A very powerful technique for time management is called Pomodoro. This word simply means tomato. You slide your day into small chunks. Different people swear by different amounts of time, but the range is 10-25 minutes a block. You plan out your day in advance and stick to a strict structure.
There are tons of apps out there for every platform. They are all glorified egg-timers. After each block of time, you take a 5-minute break.
Having the break built into your day keeps you focused because you are working toward a goal. There are several different approaches. My friend does twenty-minute blocks, but he isn’s allowed to do any task for more than two blocks.
For my workflow, sometimes I sit and write for several hours without noticing the time fly by. That is my unique efficiency.
Pareto Principle
They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so here is a great infographic on the 80 20 rule.
Tracking Success
The reason I started with teaching you to set up a blog was multifold. It’s a great way to start your business, but you can also use it to track your journey and your progress. If you write every day about the challenges you faced and eventually overcame, you can become your source of motivation.
When you hit those moments and feel like you haven’t accomplished, reading your thoughts from just a few months ago will help you. You will be amazed at how far you have come so quickly.
Skills and Talents
We so often mix up these two words. A talent something you are born excellent at. A skill is something you learn, develop and excel at.
Most people see someone successful, and they think that person has talent. But when you look at the hours they put into training through their whole life; it becomes clear that they have great skill. They might have been born with some natural ability, but they put in thousands of thousands of hours of effort on the path to mastery.
If you want to learn more about the difference between talents and skills, or just how long it takes to master something, you’ll enjoy Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
Can We Blame Luck?
You see that interesting quote, and your first thought is to find a way to become luckier. But that is the thing about luck. It’s a force over which we have no power. There is no way for you to become more or less lucky.
I very rarely gamble, but when I do I never lose money, and I usually make some. The only game I play is craps. That’s the game that is the least rigged in a casino. Now you can go nuts and bet all the high-risk stuff. But on a core level, I stick with the pass line.
I look at the guy or the gal holding those dice, and I think to myself “Does this person look lucky?” And then I bet with them or against them. Who knows if that thought makes a difference.
The real reason I do ok is that I gamble very conservatively and take it as seriously as any other endeavor involving money. I don’t like to throw around crazy numbers. For me, it’s hard work. I sweat, and I agonize. I don’t think of money as a toy.
See, that was the perfect example of a rabbit hole. Now let’s circle back.
Luck. Fate. The Universe. These are all forces that we have no ability to measure, track or manipulate. The moment you blame someone’s success on luck you take away your ability to improve your lot in life.
Most people who’ve known me in my life would say that I’m pretty unlucky. I’ve been in a car accident, fallen off a mountain, been fired from my dream job, and dumped by more women that you could imagine. I could mope around saying that it’s bad luck.
But that’s a cop out. The moment you say that you become powerless. You can’t fix the problem if it’s luck that caused it.
So each of those things I turned into a great success. I got back behind the wheel again. I climbed another mountain a few days later. I started a blog about my dating misadventures.
Ironically, that blog is what got me fired from me “dream job.”
But it turns out that was a good thing because now I live on my little paradise island.
You have the ability to change your life and make great things happen. If you focus and try and put in the effort, you will succeed. The more factors you control in your path, the less luck has an opportunity to matter.
Do not leave your life in the hands of some invisible force.
You must be the master of your destiny!
The Night I Almost Died
I fell off a cliff and nearly broke my leg. Here I am in a foreign country, on a mountain alone, after dark, lost, with no water… I thought I was going to die. Does this guy look lucky to you?
Minimalism
There are tons of books on minimalism. I don’t know if my philosophy exactly matches anyone else. But it works for me, and it can work for you.
Look at each thing you own. Does it affect your life negatively?
I can’t do X because I just bought Y.
Here’s an example. We bought a new air conditioner for our rented house. Recently the landlord was trying to renegotiate the rent and suggested that the unit lowered the value of the house.
We were considering moving until we got the numbers we wanted. I would have had to pay someone to rip out the air conditioner and sell it. We would have lost a bunch of money.
That’s how most people look at the things we buy. We remember what we paid for it, and that becomes its value. But that’s backward.
I bet we could get 50-75% of the value.
The new place we would move to doesn’t need new air conditioners. I wouldn’t be losing money; it would be a surprise bonus.
That’s the idea of minimalism. When you have stuff that keeps you from doing things. When all you think about is the fear of loss – that’s the real problem.
- I don’t want to lose my investment, so I’m going to give up on my dreams.
- I would go on a cruise around this world, but I have to much stuff.
- I can’t move into a smaller house, where would all my stuff go.
We have all said or at least thought these types of things. This is a sign that your stuff has taken control of your life.
The more willing you are to sell off your stuff the better.
Every time I move I leave a guitar behind. Then I have to buy a new one. This is simply the nature of the beast.
I could fret about it, but what’s the point? I bought the guitar to play and enjoy the music, not as some kind of investment.
You shouldn’t own anything that you aren’t willing to leave behind.
The only thing that I worry about is my computer and to be honest at least 95% of my stuff is backed up to the cloud and locally. I would say 100% but who knows if some project from 3 years ago is missing a backup file.
Stuff should never be the reason behind a decision. I learned a lot about the fear of loss when I read Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. We make so many decisions that affect our lives negatively for the silliest reasons. If I haven’t convinced you to let go of your “stuff” his amazing book might shed some more insight for you.
Storage Units
Some of the statistics about storage units are pretty mind boggling. The industry is worth about $32billion this year. That’s how much money people are spending keeping stuff in lockers right now. That’s so much money for stuff we don’t care about.
A little under nine percent of US households currently have a storage unit. Recently, when my family was moving around different islands, we wanted to put a few big things in storage between moves. Just for a month or so.
It turns out that poor countries don’t have this industry at all. Storage lockers are a luxury of the idle rich. If you’re not idle rich, then you probably shouldn’t have one.
Let’s do some math. There are 133 million households in the United States. Nine percent of that is just under 12 million storage units currently rented. This year 155,000 unit will go to auction. Those are units where the people can’t pay the bill and lose their stuff.
That is about 1.3%. There is a more than one percent chance that every penny you spend on a storage unit will turn to dust. That you will spend the rental money and then never get your stuff back.
Does that seem like a sound investment?
It’s much better to sell your stuff before you move.
Get Serve No Master for FREE
Here are two financial tools that will give each of us $5 when you sign up.
It’s a win for both of us and an excellent way to get back the cost of my book
Invest with Acorns
Acorns is a little investment program that I love. Whenever you move money around it takes the spare change and puts it into an investment account.
When I set my account up, I answered less than ten questions about my situation and off to the races. I’m in a middle of the road fund, not aggressive and not too conservative. The money is in a little account that will go to my kids.
This is a way to get into the investment game without going to deep. I’ve never been a stock market guy because I do so well investing my money into new projects online, but I like this little guy.
He does all the work for me, and it’s passive. I just set it up and don’t have to do anything manually. I have no desire to be a day trader. Way too much stress for me. This is a cool way to set aside a special account for my kids, and it fits my approach to life.
I have money flowing into Acorns every single day, and I like their referral program. We each get a fiver if you sign up. I’m a card on the table kind of guy, so you know Acorns hooks both of us up. I love when I can recommend something that I use, and you get paid just for checking it out.
Save with Digit
Digit is similar, but it’s a savings account instead of an investment account. It’s another way to save a few bucks here and there. This account is more of my surprise fund. I think of it as couch money that I forgot about, but when I need it, I can grab it.
You can pull your money out anytime you want, but it’s a great way to be a little more frugal. This is a great app that I wish I had started using when I was eighteen. I have always been really good at making money, but I’m also good at spending it.
This app is a wonderful way to start moving toward minimalism. If you see less money in your main account, you will be less likely to spend it. You can pull your money out whenever you need.
Again, you get five bucks for signing up. So you can grab one of these to cover the cost of the book or two for a nice payday. The only thing nicer than five bucks is ten!
The Beauty of Travel
Click HERE to see my more advanced travel secrets
Take Action Now with STEP TWO
Your first action step was to set up your blog. Now that you’ve taken the first step, I want to walk you through step two.
In this step, we will set up a form on your blog so that people can become FOLLOWERS. The most important resource you have as a business is email addresses. Without a way to contact your fans, you might never hear from them again.
This is the most important step to building a business, even before driving traffic. Your site needs to be ready before the visitors come. It’s ok if you’re site is still ugly, this is way more important.
Words to Profit 50% Coupon
STEP 1: Leave a Review by clicking HERE STEP 2: Leave an Honest Review STEP 3: Take a Screenshot of your review STEP 4: Enter Your Email and Upload the Screenshot below
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