My brother who works in Shell will be one of those at risk of being cut. Just sometime ago, I thought he had a great job, well paid and good benefits. I think this comes as no surprise but then, even as a pessimist, to me things have begun to turn around. Perhaps I was wrong. All the cash injection into the world economy might not have been enough.

Still the lesson here great as things are, it is always good to have a plan B. Or a plan C for that matter. The article is here. Develop your skills wherever you work and make those skill portable. If not, then make use of your free time and develop a hobby that can pay.

What about you? Do you have a plan B?

pic credit

This brings me to the topic at hand

on creating a cash machine for yourself. For people like singers and entertainers, they, their name, the songs they write and sing, become “software” or intellectual property that is worth money. And the great thing about such intellectual property is that once it is created, it keeps on generating money over a long period of time. Another example at the moment is the Transformer movie franchise. It is going great guns with T-shirts, drinking bottles, toys, pencil holders, you name it, you have it with images of Transformers in all shape and sizes. Then there is the evergreen Star Wars franchise. Even more amazing. I wanted to create a site with Star Wars theme and everything is create and copyrighted. From the characters, the famous X-Wing, Millenium Falcon, Darth Vader, everything was created out of the mind of someone. But you say, I’m not Michael Jackson, not even close to Spielberg. That’s true but you still can create.

As an example, this site and several others I write on, becomes my intellectual property. Sure it is not even a tiny drop compared to MJ but still it brings in some dough. It is my first blog and not even that focused. And I didn’t have a framework to blog when I first started. Some of my other sites which are more targeted do generate decent money for me. Now, if you are keen to consider starting a side income initially and later turn it into a cash machine, I highly recommend you check out this course. Now the course is not for everyone. If you think you can just sign up for the course and start to make money,  then forget it. It doesn’t work that way. You have to take action and create content either by writing, creating podcast or interviews or video. It take work so forget get rich quick.

If you are prepared to work by work, I mean creating content, and assuming you can connect and build up an audience, then you will earn money. More important than just earning money is to build an asset for yourself over time, that you control. Okay, this is the free report titled Roadmap for you to read if you want to check out blogging. There are also 10 video that you can watch for free here. Why am I suggesting you check this out? Well, I’ve been exposed to lots of money making opportunity. Some are genuine, some are less so. But in the end, you don’t create an asset you own that you can sell or trade or do whatever you want with it. A site or a blog that is done properly can bring you income for years to come, and I’ve seen it happen so many times and you don’t have to hit it big to earn decent income. Anyway do check it out as the course is open for 5 days only to sign up and cost $50 for 6 months. It closes on 3rd June. Here is the sign up page if you are keen.

Someone sent me an email a few days ago to check out something called a Quantum Pendant. This person got my email from a directory site and offered me the opportunity to make a few hundred dollars if I have the time and the interest.

The email is quite standard opening, I’ve heard this line used so often and immediately I knew it had something to do with Multi Level Marketing of some sort. And I was right.

So I looked around to find out more about this Quantum Pendant and found the Fusion Excel site which is the company that sells this pendant. What was amazing is that this company managed to get endorsements from many well known athletes. Sure is a way to convince potential buyers. Golfers, body builders etc gave good reviews about getting better distance and strength.

The site claims the pendant produces

scalar energy that helps to enhance the body’s biofield. The Quantum Pendant promotes positive flow of energy and helps to maintain energy balance. It helps to restore energy that has become weak in the body.

The site also claims that the pendant can

• Reduces inflammation
• Promotes unclumping of cells
• Enhances circulation
• Enhances immune and endocrine systems
• Has the ability to destroy viruses and bacteria
• Enhances cellular nutrition and detoxification
• Enhances cellular permeability
• Increases energy
• Helps to protect DNA from damage
• Helps to retard the ageing process
• Helps to fight cancer cells
• Strengthens the body’s biofield preventing electro-magnetic waves from affecting one’s health
• Increases focus and concentration

which I found a bit far fetched. Closer inspection of the patterns reminded me it sure looked a lot like the patterns on a Bio Disc which I wrote about some time ago. A search on scalar energy revealed that this theory borders on pseudoscience.

Anyway, at the moment, there is still not much complaints on the internet about people who bought the Quantum Pendant which (cost a fair bit). I still maintain that if anything is truly effective, the people who first discovered it would patent it, sell the it by the truck load and keep the whole fortune to themselves. Don’t need a network to earn over 80% of the profits unless is it something dubious.

I received an email from a contributing editor of Brighthub, Elizabeth Winstrom because of the article I wrote about Making Money from your Geek Skills. Bright hub is a science and technology portal where you get to write your article, post it and get a revenue share based on revenue per thousand page (RPM) views.

Similar to something like squidoo pages, or hubpages but instead of sharing adsense and other revenue, they pay you a fixed sum plus “bonus” shall I say. And instead of just starting any page or topic, you have to apply to be a writer, get approved and then requested to write on certain specific topics.

For every article that is approved, you get $10 for the article, $1 for every backlink pointing to your article, plus the 80% of the monthly site RPM.

From BrightHub site, writers responsibility include

1. Write articles based on the planning and analysis provided by the Managing Editor and the writing request and various creation and performance plans created by the Contributing Editor
2. Work with the Contributing Editor on changes to articles in order to meet Bright Hub’s quality standards
3. Promote and grow the popularity of articles through leveraging recommended search keywords and phrases and obtaining quality backlinks to written articles.
4. Update articles as requested by the Contributing or Managing Editor. Failure to maintain articles according to the article maintenance plan will result in the replacement of the consultant for that article with a different writer and a diversion of future revenues for that article to such new writer.

Ed’s take. Hmm, looks like you got to go and get backlinks to your article too. Marketing work included.

If you like to write, don’t want the hassle to maintain a blog or create your own following, then, you can give it a go. Generating decent revenue from a blog takes quite a lot of work nowadays to get it off the ground. Unless you are in it for the long run, a blog really takes time. For a quick buck or so, it might be worth to try brighthub. Who knows, if your article is really popular, it can generate a bit of residual income.

It might increase your publicity level even if you have a blog. Although $10 for 300 – 400 word article might not be too difficult to write, I’m not sure how it goes when it comes to editing your article. If there are multiple edits until they are happy, it could take too much time & it will feel like working for someone at a job.

On the other hand, such editing could polish up your writing style.

Anyway, I asked my buddy why he is selling one of his sites. The site has something to do with music which is his key interest. The answer didn’t really surprised me. After much time and effort to write and update his site, he wasn’t getting much in return, monetary wise. Sure he get’s check from google every few months but that’t way too much time. So he decided to close it down.

I think many people who put up websites and blogs nowadays don’t earn much from their efforts. It’s just too competitive and unless you pick a niche you are really familiar with and can offer good information, it can be hard to get an regular audience and to make some money from the site.

Anyway, my buddy decided to just go teach music as side income. Getting students won’t be a problem and assuming he charges around $30 per student for 30 minutes of teaching, he could make $150 to $200 every month working just half a day every Saturday! Not too bad and would be more that what he makes updating his website. By the way, he spend between 1 to 2 hours daily to write to his site and interviews people.

The lesson here is knowing when to quit and change direction. The knowledge he gather from his website is not lost and can be used to market his teaching later on. Too many people are spending too much time on something that doesn’t generate enough returns. Remember your ROI and ROT. Return on investment and return on your time.

I’ve been tempted to join such scams too. The people who present such scams know how human nature is. Some position it as creating an income source. Some tell it like an investment. I’ve attended such presentations where they show multiple people giving testimony how effective the product (empirical evidence only) and how much they made in whatever time period and I know how effective a personal testimony is. You can argue with a personal experience, so some of us are moved to “try” the product.

By nature, I’m a skeptic. So anyone trying to sell me stuff usually have a hard time. The last time I went to listen to such presentation, I found myself tempted and my resolve not to go into any such schemes, moved closer to an imaginary line of saying yes. I did not but found it quite interesting to analyse my own attitude.

Anyway, if you are really keen to earn some money, I suggest you forget about scams and offer some real service and products. There are tons. Nowadays, the internet offer many such opportunities. From this blog alone, I earn a little, not much but enough to pay for hosting plus a little extra. Blogging is one way to earn a bit of side income. I realize perhaps money is not my key passion when it comes to writing about it and there a lot’s of personal finance blogs out there.

To find out more about blogging and how you can earn some decent cash, you can take a look here. If you are new to using wordpress, which is what this site is built upon, you can look at some good video tutorials here.

Forget scams. Your friends and relatives won’t forget you for scamming them.

I mean, if you have such a fantastic product, why wouldn’t the manufacturer sell it at what ever price and get all the profits, rather than share the money with the people in the network? Look at Viagra. Pfizer didn’t sell the drug through the network, did they. They knew they have a market and a product that will stand up to medical trials and FDA approval, not withstanding side effects but you get my drift.

Anyway, it has been some time since I first highlighted a scam so it seem just about the right time. Remember the first rule of investing? Don’t lose your money! Don’t fall into this one.

Comments from users 1, debates from both sides

Type in “bio-disc scam” into your favorite search engine & you’ll get quite a few results. If you really want to earn some money, and not scam someone, I suggest you take a look at this post about earning some money without scamming people.

Share your thoughts here about bio disc. Have you come across it, heard it, been there done that and it not a scam?

I surfed about a bit looking for information to do that and then I realize that all this information can be packaged and sold. It might be others like me wanting to do the same thing for themselves. Of even packaged into videos and ebook. I think videos and ebook might be a long short since move internet savvy enough people will probably figure out how to do it, there are still tons of people around that might want to do the same thing who does have the inclination or desire to fiddle around.

So, what not create a service out of it and charge people for it? It can be a good money making venture. The reason I’m saying it here on this site is I just don’t have the time to do it now. But I might in the future. If you have the time, why not?

I was looking at this recently since I wanted to send multiple faxes to potential client. I decided to KIV this for the moment. Let’s say for your work, you help set up a faxing solution for you company. It works. Who else could be looking for something like this? Many small business owner or professional who can’t afford too expensive solutions or don’t have too big a volume. You can set it up for them for a fee.

With people using smart phones and databases and email, to sync everything up is a challenge. This is another possible avenue to make money. If you have geek skills or your workstation have any resemblance to the one in the picture, you can make some side income.

What if you have a blog? You’ve already know the ins and outs of building a website quickly. Offer that service to someone who want to have a web presence, especially for small businesess. I’m sure you would have a bit of search engine ranking experience. Use it to improve someone’s website for some dough.

In this article where John Tozzi interviews author Scott Shane of “The Entrepreneurship Myth” gives you a good perspective of entrepreneurship. Although I have not read his book, apparently Scott collected a lot of data about entrepreneurship. One thing I found very interesting is he says, “the industry you choose have a larger bearing than your business talent ” when it comes to your chances of success!

“If you go back 20 years or so, about 4% of all the startups in the computer and office equipment industry made the Inc. 500, 0.005% of startups in the hotel and motel industries made that list!”

Looking back at my own life, if I had a second chance, I’d stick with a job and do something part time online. Off course with hindsight, I can say that. Financially, I think I’d be better off. But then in the early days of being self employed and being almost broke, made me hunger for knowledge to be successful. That hunger drove me to learn from a far wider field than I would have, have I kept being employed. I observe of many employee friends, when they make a “more than enough” salary, few are motivated to explore beyond their field.

I saw many people, once they reached a certain level of income that they are comfortable with, somehow, they don’t push harder for more. Once it drops below a certain standard, people will push really hard to get out of the discomfort zone. It’s like a thermostat but related to the income level.

Being an entrepreneur had force me to pick up social and selling skills that I might not have picked up had I stuck to a technical and office based job. Even then, although I saw the opportunity present itself on the internet, read Youtube, Facebook and the like, I feel like I’ve somewhat missed the boat when it came to doing business online. The article above really made a point.

Where is all this going? Well, if you want to start a business, any business, do some research first. I’ve observed that many business took off because of several factors that converge, like a perfect storm. Timing, location, entrepreneur skill, right partners etc. As an example, just around the corner where I live, there is a small corner restaurant. Based on what I observed, the place changed ownership at least 3 times. Now, I can see this place operating rather well. Customers are increasing.

Why did the first 2 owners fail? Lack of customers. 3 years back, there are fewer residents in the area. It has grown quite a bit lately with several more phases occupied. At the same time, the on-going construction of new homes meant hungry workers who need a convenient place to stop by for a drink and a place to talk business.

Because there is more hungry people, the food has gotten better. In summary, if you are thinking beyond just making some side income for the short term, I’d encourage you to really check out the industry you’re in. Choosing the right one could mean the difference between success and failure.

There are companies who act as brokers or go between car owners/drivers and advertisers. These brokers choose from a large pool of drivers selecting several criteria including the your average weekly mileage, the location you frequent, the size and color of your vehicle. But I’m guessing that if you live close to or in the city area, then it would be possible to get some cold hard cash.

I did consider this method to advertise one of my offline business which is quite local but instead of hiring others, I thought of putting some decals on my own car since I travel quite a fair bit. But, then I never got to it. Something to add to my to do list. In my city, mobile advertisement on taxis or cabs and busses are already common but not on private vehicles. And I’ve seen a handful of cars wrapped in advertising decals.

I think it can be a source of side income to allow you car to have some decals advertising a local business. From the internet, I found that drivers can make between $50 to $400 per month. This is quite substantial amount if true. At least it will help pay for the gas bills. I can’t say for sure how much you can make.

Can anyone who has taken tell the us if “Paid to Drive” is a good side income earner?