Make Money Online - Roadmap of A Dot Com Mogul

Make Money Online – A Dawn Journal Book Review

First Published Date : August 28, 2010 ADawnJournal.com

Prelude

I received a signed copy of this book in the mail from John Chow sometime in May. However, it took me a while to finish reading it due to living a part-time dot com lifestyle on the weekend only along with a full-time 9-5 lifestyle. Today, I am writing this review on my new Acer 13.3 Aspire Timeline laptop in a Tim Horton at Danforth Ave. and Birchmount Rd. in Toronto, Canada.

What Is This Book About?

This is John Chow’s first book to give readers his lifetime insight on how to make money online in simple, plain English. This book is somewhat targeted to those who are novices in the world of online money making and entrepreneurship.

Dad’s Review of Make Money Online in Two Sentences

My dad, who is close to 80, is just learning how to use the Internet and opened his first email account last week. He finished reading Make Money Online within days of receiving it and gave me his super-short review in two sentences:

·   John talks very honest and candidly without holding anything back in this book.

·   Content is very important.

Do you think anyone else can do a better review than this?

Critical Characteristic You Need to Succeed: Passion

In the first 20 pages, John talks about how he got into blogging, the dot com crash of 2001, how Google rescued Internet entrepreneurship, and so on. Then, he talks about three critical elements you should have even before you start your online venture. These three essential elements are: Being passionate on your subject, having your own domain name, and keep updating often. Passion is the most important element which comes before anything else. The reason is, regardless of how serious you are on everything else, if you are not in love with your subject, you will give up one day.

Essential Blogging Tips

John provides ten essential blogging tips in chapter four. If you are willing to achieve online success, you should embrace and follow these time-tested tips vigorously. I am going to mention here the first five tips only:

   Be Personal

·   Write for readers, not for the search engines

·   Know your readers

·   Never rush your posts
·   Go with the flow

Content Is King

One full chapter is dedicated to content. In this chapter, you will find what is considered quality content and what is not. If you are reading this book review at this very moment, you are reading it because of its content, not for anything else. The whole world is looking for information online, i.e. content, and this hunger for content will only grow in the future. Follow John’s tips on content and you will be able to turn your no-traffic website into a high-traffic website, no doubt.

Some Important Highlights from Make Money Online

Here are some important highlights I must mention before giving you my conclusion:
– Blog on something you are passionate about. If you just blog for money (not being passionate on the subject), you will fail.
– Never stop learning. Be willing to take risks and try new things.
– Do not wait for things to happen someday. You need to have goals and a plan of action with timelines to realize your goals. Dreamers will always keep dreaming and will never realize their dreams because they do not have any solid action plans with a timeline.
– You need to be different to be successful. Readers have options to read other content on the same subject. Why would they read your content if you are not different and unique?
– Branding is very important. Strong branding already gives you a boost to become different, now concentrate on generating unique content.

What I Don’t Like

Considering that Make Money Online a book to help novice Internet entrepreneurs to make money online, its simple, easy-to-follow teachings and techniques flow throughout the book smoothly – except in chapter five – WordPress basics and chapter six – WordPress techniques and tools, where I got the feeling that it’s getting a little techi for regular readers and you need to have technical literacy to comprehend some of the stuff discussed.

What I Like

It’s simple and plain language and John’s candid-conversation-style writing. Readers will have this feeling (just after reading first few pages and as my dad mentioned) that everything that said here is coming from a person of authority on online money making and he is not withholding any information. His sole purpose of this book is to shed some light on the world of online money making and help those who are willing to give it a try.

My Take

If you are a regular A Dawn Journal reader, you know that I go by three simple and straightforward ratings for my book review: A Must Read, Worth Reading, and Do Not Read. For Make Money Online, I am assigning “A Must Read.” Even if you are not looking into Internet Entrepreneurship, you should still read this book as it takes you inside the mind of a great entrepreneur who showed us how to succeed with determination, courage, and hard work in the face of severe uncertainty. It will inspire you in your daily living.

Career Success Without A Real Job

Success Without A Real Job – ADJ Book Review

First Published: ADawnJournal.com August 19, 2009

What Is This Book About?

Ernie sent me this book a while ago, and I have been reading it during lunch two times a week for the last two months. I have only so many hours a day and working a corporate job and being an Internet entrepreneur at the same time makes it hard to have time for anything else. Career Success Without A Real Job talks about exactly what I am trying to achieve – to live a free life doing something I love and something I’m passionate about.

Difficulties I Have Reading Zelinski’s Book

Whenever I read Zelinski’s books, I get the feeling that he believes exactly what I believe in and we share the same perspectives on virtually anything you can possibly imagine – such as living with fewer possessions and living on your own terms. It is very hard to read and even review a book if it feels like you are the one who wrote or should have written this book – how can possibly you review your own book? I talked about this more in another post.

Real Job and Unreal Job

Ernie talks about real jobs in this book. A real job is working in a corporation or for someone else with no freedom and flexibility. An unreal job is something you truly enjoy with a lot of flexibility and freedom. Also, the author talks about unconventional business. An unconventional business is a business that does not require any employees, with minimal to no presence on your part, and very low start-up cost. I can’t think of a better example than my Internet entrepreneurship.

An Inspirational Book

Career Success Without A Real Job is mainly an inspirational book – it does not lead you to a specific roadmap for choosing your unreal job. However, it gives you enough information and resources to help you explore your best possible unreal job. The author provides many questionnaires throughout the book to help you recognize your career strengths, steps to create a dream career, questions to help you find your life’s calling, questions to test if you can be self-employed, characteristics to recognize an ideal business and much more. Also, in this book, the author provides lists mentioning 100 of the world’s coolest unreal jobs, top excuses to stay in the corporate world, advantages and disadvantages of being self-employed, lists showing why the corporate world isn’t all that as it seems, ways to sell information, and many more useful lists.

The Work Model for People Too Prosperous to Do Mornings

The above is the title of Chapter 7 that is dedicated to Internet entrepreneurship. It is no wonder that I read the above chapter before reading anything else. The author was able to give a good summary of what kind of things you can do online and what to expect. One misconception we have is that you can be rich doing Internet business overnight – and the author points out these and other misconceptions we have about Internet entrepreneurship. Chapter 7 is a very resourceful chapter and I suggest you read this chapter with the utmost attention. Here are some lists the author mentions in this chapter:

– Examples of Profitable Internet Business
– Top-Ten Ways to Make Money on the Internet
– Ten Questions to Help You Find Your Internet Niches
– Seven Main Ways to Get Traffic to Your Website

Some Important Highlights from Career Success Without A Real Job

Here are some highlights I must mention before I finish writing this review:

– Success as an entrepreneur takes time. Don’t expect to things to happen overnight.
– Achieving Career Success Without A Real Job is like climbing a mountain. There will
be risks, disappointments, and adventure.
– Ordinary individuals were able to achieve extraordinary success – and so can you.
– It’s never too late to pursue your dream career.
– The strongest single virtue for attaining success is self esteem – believing in yourself. – Believe in you, your dreams, your talent, and that it is possible for you to reach your
dreams. You will succeed.
– Don’t be afraid to spend money on your self-development and the stuff you need
along the way to reach your goals.
– Creativity is your best asset. Explore it, culture it, use it, and grow rich.
– Try to live with fewer possessions. Material possessions are an obstacle to set your
soul free and live a happy, unreal life.

My Take

This is a must-read book for everyone – even if you love your current corporate job and have no plans to quit for an unreal job. Who knows, maybe you will look at life from a different perspective after reading Career Success Without A Real Job.

Free E-Book: 101 Reasons to Love a Recession

How to Prosper During an Economic Downturn

First Published: ADawnJournal.com May 27, 2009

International Best Selling author Ernie Zelinski has generously offered his latest E-Book free for A Dawn Journal readers.  Titled 101 reasons to Love a Recession, it talks about how motivated individuals can capitalize on recession. A recession can present opportunities to prosper during an economic downturn and benefits of a recession should not be overlooked. Economic turmoil can bring the best and it’s up to you to turn adversity into advantage.

This E-Book is yours to download right now. I will not ask you to provide your email address or force you to subscribe my RRS Feed to enjoy this book. However, If you would like, you can subscribe my RSS Feed voluntarily right here – RSS.

101_Reasons_to_Love_a_Recession.pdf

NEW RULES OF RETIREMENT – A Dawn Journal Book Review

A Canadian Retirement Planning Book

First Published: ADawnJournal.com Feb 4, 2009

Bay Street veteran investment professionals and Toronto authors Warren Mackenzie and Ken Hawkins have sent me two copies of their recently published book NEW RULES OF RETIREMENT: WHAT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR ISN’T TELLING YOU. One copy is for my free giveaway and one copy is for me to review. I just finished reading this book today, so here’s my review.

Retirement Planning Is Not Just Financial Planning

The majority of traditional financial planners will map your retirement planning based on your bank accounts. They will not look at the human aspect of retirement, and therefore will miss the bigger picture of retirement. This may sound odd, but remember that financial advisors are working for the financial industry and your bank accounts are what are making deep-pocketed profits for these financial institutions and advisors.

Retirement is a process which is made up of both financial and non-financial aspects. Of course, you will need to be in a stable financial situation to enjoy your retirement years, but you also need to look at it from a broader human perspective. You need to understand, plan, and consider your emotions, attitudes, goals and so on. In order to enjoy your retirement fully, you have to be ready to face different situations than what you have expected, consider different paths based on those unexpected situations, and tackle them with financial and psychological preparedness. The right preparation, expectations, and attitudes will help you make it through your retirement journey.

Things Have Changed

Nowadays, retirement is not the same as it used to be in the old days. In the old days, retirement was meant to be sitting idly and doing nothing but relaxing. These days, retirement is not just living a life of leisure and sedentary activities. Rather, retirement is an opportunity to take you to the second phase of your life. This is the other part of life which will be filled with activities you have always wanted to experience but never had a chance to do—pursuing your dreams, living in a new place, living a life full of activities, or embracing new challenges to live a more fulfilling and self-developed life.

Stay Away From Old Retirement Myths

The authors talk about some old retirement myths perpetuated in our society. If you are still planning your retirement based on these myths, it is high time you review your retirement road-map and throw away these myths. Here is the list of myths the authors pointed out in the book:

Retirement Means Not Working – Myth 1
Retirement Is Strictly An Economic Event – Myth 3
You Can Determine The Age At Which You Retire – Myth 4
Retirees Need 80 Percent Of Their Pre-Retirement Income To Maintain Their Standard Of Living – Myth 5
Retirees Need To Live Off Their Investment Incomes Without Touching The Principle – Myth 6
Retirees Should Take Little Financial Risk – Myth 7
Retirees Should Minimize Their RRSP/RRIF Withdrawals – Myth 8
Retirees Do Not Need Advice – Myth 9
The Most Important Objective In Retirement Is To Maintain Your Pre-Retirement Standard Of Living – Myth 10

The authors discussed these myths in the first chapter, explained why they are wrong, and then pointed out what you should do to protect yourself. The authors did a good job here starting the book with these myths; it gives the readers an idea of what to expect once you cross the door and also it makes coming chapters more riveting.

Thirty Eight Rules

The book consists of thirty eight rules. Each rule is one chapter. Authors talk about a wide range of topics covering a variety of subjects, such as how to plan for retirement, how to construct a simple portfolio, what government services are available to help you with your retirement, and so on.

What I Like

I like those chapters most wherein the authors talk about Old Age Security, Defined Benefit Plan, how early retirement affects your benefits, Life Annuity (a type of product), and how to make the most out of your RRSPs, RRIFs, etc. I believe these chapters provide invaluable information for lots of readers who have very little or no knowledge on these products and benefits. The authors explained them in simple ways and these chapters are what make this book distinctive amongst its peers.

What I Don’t Like

Due to the fact that the authors discussed so many topics in one place, you will have a feeling that it’s just kind of skimming the surface and not actually taking you too deep. This is understandable, however, as this 220-page book would have turned into a 2000-page book had the authors taken a deep dive.

My Take

If you are a regular ADJ reader, you know that I go by three very simple and straightforward ratings for my book review: A Must Read, Worth Reading, and Do Not Read. For this book, I will slightly modify my rating, still keeping within the range. This book is mainly targeted to baby boomers, and the publication timing is perfect in light of the current global financial meltdown (the first batch of baby boomers will be 63 in 2009 and will receive Old Age Security in 2011). If you are a baby boomer, or if you are over fifty, my rating is A Must Read.

Your Money or Your Life Book Review

Your Money or Your Life

First Published: ADawnJournal.com Oct 16, 2008

I just finished reading Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) and I decided to do a review of this book for ADJ readers. Before talking about the book, let me give you some information about its author, Joe Dominguez. Vicki Robin is the co-author of YMYL.

Joe Dominguez

The late Joe Dominguez worked as a Wall Street analyst for ten years before retiring at the age of thirty-one. At that time, Joe had a portfolio of $70,000 and he had lived on a yearly income of $6,000 derived from that portfolio. YMYL was published in 1992 and Joe and Vicki donated all monies they received from the bestselling book and their other activities to the New Road Map Foundation—a non-profit organization Joe and Vicki founded to promote the reduction of our consumption. The book’s dedication is very fitting: “We dedicate this book to all of the people who are actively engaged in leaving our planet in better shape than they found it.” Joe Dominguez tragically died of cancer in 1997.

Let me describe the following main issues the authors tried to present in this book.

Life Energy

Life energy simply means the time we have here on earth. It can be broken down into hours or minutes. Let’s say you work 40 hours per week. It means you are trading 40 hours of your precious life energy for money. You are paying for 40 hours of your life with money. How you spend your life energy is up to you. You could spend these 40 hours doing something else, such as spending time with your family or spending time on your own terms—not working for someone else. The book has a nice chart showing the average remaining life expectancy based on your age. For example, if you are 40, you have 329,601 hours (thirty-seven years) of life energy remaining before you die.

It’s Not Making a Living, It’s Making a Dying

By working a traditional nine-to-five, we are killing ourselves. Just look at all those employees at the end of the day, whether they are coming out of an office building or a factory. We are killing our sense, relationships, health, soul, self-confidence in our jobs. We are sacrificing our life energy, our very lives, for our jobs. This is happening so slowly that we hardly ever notice that making a living is taking us closer to death; it’s actually making a dying.

We Make a Dying at Work so We Can Live It Up on the Weekend

We spend our precious life energy on the weekdays to earn money so we can spend it on the weekends. We work to pay our daily expenses, but we end up spending more than we make on things we do not need. So we go back to work to get money to pay interest on money we’ve already overspent. If you look deep into it, in the end you are wasting your life energy to pay for your credit cards or loan interests. Is it worth it to spend two month’s (or more) worth of work or life energy just to pay your interests?

What Is Your Real Hourly Wage

You may be making $25 an hour on paper, but that’s not your real hourly wage. Since we are trading our life energy for money, take a hard look at how much you are really earning. When you factor in all the job-related costs such as commuting, costuming, meals, stress, job-related illness, vacations etc., to your surprise you will find that your hourly wage is a lot less than what you have been making on paper. As a matter of fact, a $25 per hour wage can end up paying you $15 per hour after considering all the related expenses. Is this worth trading your precious life energy for?

We Are a Cancer to Earth

Our consumption-based society is sold on materialism. However, we do not realize that the Earth is the source of everything we use and resources are depleting so quickly that very soon the planet will not be able to accommodate our demands. We are a cancer to the Earth and one day this cancer will spread to a level from which there will be no return.

A New Road Map

Your Money or Your Life teaches you how to be financially independent by following a new road map. Once you a reach that point, you will no longer need to work for someone else. You start living on your own terms and start trading your life energy for yourself. The authors call this “The Crossover Point.” At this point, your expenses can be covered by your investment income and you will be all free from your nine-to-five and making a dying.

Things I Liked and Didn’t Like

The book has lots of tips on frugality and 100 sure tips to save money. Even if you don’t agree with the authors that a nine-to-five is actually making a dying, you can still use these tips to save lots of money.

I find the book a little too long. It could have been made at least 1/3 shorter. YMYL has too many real-life stories to conclude the authors’ perspectives—which I find annoying sometimes. Also, YMYL recommends that you put all your money in one place: in government bonds. I do not agree with this idea, as it will not provide any diversification. I still believe in the old adage, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

My Rating

I am giving Your Money or Your Life a “Must Read.” I recommend it highly, especially if you are tired of being trapped in a regular nine-to-five schedule.