DAY 16...Sunday’s post I arrive home after another long night at work with

DAY 16...Sunday’s post

I arrive home after another long night at work with the will to work and no strength to do so. My goal of becoming debt free this year by June 1st is something I will have to work towards every day in order for it to happen. As I sit at the computer, knowing there is no time to waste, I realize that I must fight the feeling of exaustion to continue on.

It’s been said that successful people keep working even when they do not feel like it. They say that this is one of the major contributors to their success. The ability to carry on even though they don’t feel like it. Athletes also do this, especially when it comes to breaking a record, they must try harder than the last to make it happen. It’s easy to get comfortable in a daily routine especially when working a full time job. My goal is to work on new things every day no matter how tired I am from work. I also do not want this effort to affect my performance at work and that is a hard thing to pull off.

The question is, how does one complete the responsibilities at work while still having the energy to work on projects outside of the work place? I think the secret is being very organized. It has been a goal of mine for quite some time now to become as organized as possible. I think once we get a handle on all the distractions in our lives we can fully move forward on our dreams and goals.

When I say distractions I am referring to the seemingly million things that pop up when you try to work on something at home. You know what I mean, the dog starts barking, the phone rings, or you notice that pile of clothes is stacking up and you feel guilty for not working on your project instead of cleaning the house like you should be. There are many examples of things that take away our concentration and it is our job not to let them in.

Once of the main ways to combat the distractions is to set up a schedule. I have written down a daily schedule of what, when, why, and where. I know how long I need to sleep, how long it takes to get to work and back and all the errands I need to run or things around the house I need to do. I make lists and then schedule a time to take care of them. Doing this helps me tremendously and may help you too. A great tool I have found for this is using the google calander. I like google because all their products plug into each other, for example, my gmail contacts automatically sincronize with my google voice number. The google maps feature also is helpful and I can save and send directions to anything.

Google products are easy to use and the main thing I like is the data is all stored on google’s servers. This is helpful because I don’t have to be at my computer to access the info, I can use any computer anywhere with internet access and I can have everything I do personalized and accessible 24/7.

Another thing I like about the calander is the ability to set up notifications. It allows me to send text messages to my phone to remind me of appointments, this is very helpful because I can set it and forget it! I can also invite others to an event using the gmail feature, they can see the date, time, and even directions. They can respond and collaborate on any event I invite them to. This makes scheduling much easier and the fact that all this is accessible from the web and even my phone is greatly helpful.

Those are a few techniques and tools I use to organize my life. This helps me get a lot more done in the short amount of time I have and I also don’t forget anything, which is nice.

Once you are properly organized you can do a lot more then you would think. If you have a free hour on Tuesday nights for example, instead of watching your favorite T.V. show then, instead, record it for a later time and use that hour for something else. You could spend 30 minutes returning emails or doing research online or even making some quick phone calls on properties. Then you could schedule in a time to watch to show you missed before you go to bed or on another day. Using technology to your advantage will save you a lot of time and help you get much more done.

People tell me they don’t want their whole lives to be planned out but at the same time those are the same people who never get anything done. They are always swayed by the next thing that comes down the line when all they have to do is at least set aside some time to work on their goals.

I decided to plan everything out and then have the flexibility to change my plans accordingly when emergencies or un-forseen cituations arise. At least through planning I have an idea of whats going to happen so that I don’t waste time but I can always change it if I need to.

This is my focus today, to work on my scheduling and set up more automated systems that will save me time and get me closer to my goal.

Until the next post.....laters :)

Day 15 ...Lets go!

Amazingly the first month of the year is almost over, hard to believe. It seems like getting things done during the week when I work is getting harder and harder, but I am making it.

It’s funny how time passes so fast, you wake up one day and another week is gone. Although I feel like we have been able to keep up the momentum from the beginning of the year I still have to be careful to stay on track, it’s easy for time to slip by.

Today is my first day back to the work week. Most people work 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, I however, work the night shift at a local casino. So, that means, while most people are sleeping I am working. When most people are shopping or running errands, I am sleeping like a supposed baby. This is a hard schedule to keep, in fact, most can’t handle it on a regular basis but I have come to really enjoy it. for one thing, even though I have been growing tired of the hours, I have found ways to use it to my advantage.

I think that most things in life can be gotten something good out of if you just look hard enough.

these are the thoughts running through mind as I prepare to sleep. I need the rest because there is a lot to do this week. I am looking forward to the challenges and cannot wait to get going, so....Lets do it!

DAY 14 Online Marketing..continued

Since yesterday I have been working on my online ventures.  On my weekends, it's easy to get my day's and night's mixed up. I guess it's the pitfalls of working the night shift.

If you read my last post you will notice that I have been very active online over the past several year's.  My goal is to create multiple streams of income using various forms of e-commerce, such as, Affiliate marketing & website's.
My first website called "costa rica coffee cafe" was a success!  Even though I am no longer associated with the site, I am excited to know that it still continues on!  The coffee website was the brain storm of my mother and I after attending a Stores Online Seminar. Many people told me not to go, that it wasn't worth it, but I disagree.

Stores Online literally have the best online marketing training out there and I encourage anyone to get started with them. We learned so much about the internet, things like, SEO (search engine optimization), Keywords and google advertising. These are essential to any internet venture.

I had no idea there was so much involved and I am happy I spent the money to learn it correctly. One of the things stores online does best is create a software that builds your website for you. They also have an extensive collection of help videos, online training, and even a live chat or phone call for support.
Although the software was expensive, I see the endless possibilities it provides, along with simplicity and unconventional and extensive training and support that is second to none!

Using these tools I build my first website called Costa Rica Coffee Cafe. I used the training and techniques they taught and was successfully directing free traffic to my site. This was very exciting for me, I have to say!
It's nice when you decide to do something and it actually works!

Even though I no longer have the coffee website, I am planning to do more on different subjects soon. Right now I am learning the affiliate marketing side of things and this to is fun. Thankfully the training I received will prove helpful for this venture and other's like it.

I also mentioned my affiliation with the Blastoff Network. There is a video on the side panel of this page that explains more. This one venture is exciting to say the least! I talk about it extensively in my last post, so check that out for more info or watch the video. Better yet, just click the link at the top of the page and see for yourself. I have never seen another offer like it or as good and I think you will be surprised!

To continue with today's efforts, I am posting some of the profiles I use for generating traffic. As you know, Social Networking on the web has become a part of our daily lives. Like most, I enjoy staying in contact with friends and family, not to mention, playing some cool games!
Although I don't want to "pester" friends and family, I do realize that there are many people out there who would like to make money online or connect with like minded people on a variety of subjects and this is what I do with the many networks and profiles I am associated with.

For a list of all the profiles and networks I have, GO HERE. This is my google profile, on it, is a complete list of all the networks I currently have.

Soon I will build more website's as well. That is one of the major reasons I want to use the real estate money I make to get set up online. I believe that internet marketing is the wave of the future and I can't wait to set up more new website's that make me money literally around the clock!

If you like the idea of making money online then stay tuned to my blog, this is where I will list any idea's I have come across that are working for me. In return, if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or idea's I would love to hear them, feel free to share! I want this blog to be a resource for anyone who wants to make money other then working for a living.

Thanks for stoppin by, I will be debt free by june 1st this year, my birthday! This is my story of everything I do each day to get me closer to that goal! I appreciate any and all comments so feel free to share!

Until tomorrow!

DAY 13 Online Venture's!

Today is my day to work at Home Online.  As you know, My goal of becoming Debt Free by June 1st this year has more to do with real estate strategies, however, I wanted to show some of my online venture's as well.

My belief is that it will only take one or two real estate deals for me to become debt free.  Even though I am working on those deals, I am also actively involved in Online Marketing.  I have spent the better part of the last two years researching, learning, trying and building income from the web.  My plan is to use the real estate income to pay bills and give the capitol to invest in E-commerce.  One thing I like about internet marketing is the idea of residual income.  I also believe it's the wave of the future.  I really like the idea of my website's making me money 24/7 while I sleep.  I think this is the number one thing for me, the fact that most of the work can be automated!

So, today, in order to get closer to my goal, I am working online. I thought I would take some time to show you some of the things I am doing online and also give you some history as to how I started online and my current progress.

My first Online venture was a coffee website.  I built this website through the Store's Online Software.
Store's Online came to town and did a free seminar on how to build websites.  My mother and I went to this seminar and it literally blew us away!  I had always wanted to make money online but didn't fully understand everything thats involved, this company showed me how.
Another great thing about storesonline is they provided the software to do it. Although the software is pricy, it's definatly worth it in my book. There are many way's to get started online without purchasing their program but I for one saw the value and jumped right in!

The first website I built is Costa Rica Coffee Cafe.  This Idea was developed by me and my mother, who, incedently are in business together.  Our goal is to develope online income that will support the entire family.
We used to live in Costa Rica and we loved the coffee, so the idea was to build a website that would encompass any and all brands of Costa Rica Coffee.
We were pleased with the outcome! We built the costaricacoffeecafe from scratch and it still continues as a successful website to this day!
Unfortunatly, we do not own it any more, but it's still proof in the pudding that it can be done!  We are still proud the site continues even though we are no longer involved.  We do have plans to make a new one soon.

Current online ventures are the Blastoff Network.  This is a company who has designed a Free homepage for anyone! They are focusing on what's called, Viral Marketing, which is the new wave of online marketing.
I really like this idea because it's simple, anyone can do it and best of all it's FREE!
I know it's hard to believe, especially with all the different online scams out there but I can truely say it works.

The Blastoff Network is simple, they know people like to shop online at places like, Starbucks, Target, Barnes & Noble, so they simply link you to those website through your homepage.  Once you, or someone you refer, clicks the link and order's, you get a commission.  It's as simple as that, and one thing I like is when people click the link it takes them right to the actual Vendor's website! This means that if you need to buy some sheets for Target, or purchase plane tickets from Priceline for your next trip, simply go to your own mall, click the link and it will take you to the website.  Once there, you not only get a discount but you get paid cash back on every purchase!

The coolest part of this idea is that you also get paid on everyone you refer, everyone they refer and so on and they pay you all the way out to 10 degrees of separation! That's Powerful!
Imagine this, let's say you refer a friend, they go shop, but before they do, they also sign up for a free homepage mall and click through their own link, then they will Also get paid and you will too!

To me, this is absolutely incredible, to know that I can tell my friends who need to schedule their next trip to sign up for free, click the link, shop at a discount right on the same website they were going to use anyway, get paid to do it and I also get paid just for sending them!  To think that this can continue to ten levels deep and the only thing anyone has paid for is the product they were going to buy anyway is simply the coolest Idea I have found online.

My next venture online will be through affiliate marketing using Pay Per Click Advertising. There are many way's to do this, one is to use a blog, generate traffic to it, then make money on the links they click and possibly any products they buy when clicking those links.

I also use lot's of Social Networking to help generate traffic to my site's.  Here are some of the most popular just to name a few, your welcome to add me to your friends list if you like.

Facebook
Twitter
Myspace

My goal is to learn how to also teach other's how to do the same. I want friends and family to make money online if they choose and I am happy to show them what I've learned.

Online Marketing is a wonderful thing, unfortunately many never learn how to do it properly. Although my progress has been slow, I am confident in the eventual outcome!

Hopefully I have given you some inspiration and insight to start your own website. Now that you have seen some of what I am up to online, feel free to ask questions or post comments about it, I welcome new ideas.

That sums it up for today, I am at home working on various online enterprises and will post any results here.

Until tomorrow!  Magic Mike Coffee....signing out!

DAY 12 the Africa Nurse

After yesterdays meeting I felt confident that today we could continue moving forward on our goals even faster. I was content to know that we had set some definate dates on things.

We had to meet with the landlord around noon and since I get off work in the mornings, staying up is a challenge. Many time’s work is exhausting and I have to be careful not to sit down for to long or I’ll fall asleep and lose the day. Everyone knows that Once I do lay down for the day, I’m down for the count and dare even a tornado to try and wake me!

Fortunatly last night was easier and I was still feeling fairly rested with enough energy to keep going. It’s a challenge to do business in the morning after working all night but one has to make the best of the situation and move on anyway. Luckily I’m getting better at it and have developed a great work ethic. I have been meeting in the mornings after work now for quite some time and am getting used to it. They say that your habits make you and I’m happy that I have at least one good one now that will help me hit my goal.

So, in order to stay awake for the meeting we decided to use the time wisely and go to the local coffee shop. This way there would be no chance of me falling asleep and we could use that time to do some research and planning while waiting for 12:00 to roll around.

I am glad we did! Thanks to mom for being so outgoing too. Mom had asked a lady sitting next to us about her laptop, did she like it and was it easy to carry around? The conversation eventually led to what she does for a living and we were blown away!

This lady was a nurse and always had a desire to go to Africa and help the locals with her medical expertise. Come to find out, she even started raising money to export medical supplies.

She told us all about her trip abroad and how much it had changed her life. We learned all about the organization she works with and her plans to return. This is something that is also close to my mothers heart. I also want to help people with their financial situations so they can go do things like this.

This nurse is currently out of work and looking for way’s to finance her trip back. She started a blog and needed help with that too.

Although my goal is to be debt free, I have a desire to help other’s do the same. I think this desire comes from my day’s on the mission field when I was kid. It seemed like every time we needed something done we stopped by the lack on finances.

I know that most of the world suffer’s from that and it’s my desire to help people get what they want out of life. I figure why not? If I can do it then so can they, it will sure be fun trying. Anyone can do the easy thing and just get it all for them self. but that’s the easy way out, and really, when you think about it, one person can only spend so much before its redundant. So, my plan is to help others become debt free, that’s why I started this blog. I want to document my journey of becoming debt free in the hopes that they will see it’s possible for anyone to do it. If I can do it from nothing, then so can they!

For this reason I was excited to meet this lady. She had a big heart for the villages in Africa that suffer so much. It’s actually amazing when you think about it, we think our problems are big, but if you have ever seen the movie Blood Diamond, you will know what I mean. We have it easy compared to those people!

Like many, she has great ideas but needs the funds to do it. I was able to give her some of my ideas of raising money and she loved it! I have also studied internet marketing and was able to show her some things on the computer that helped out a lot!

I showed her how to use the google calendar and how to post pictures to her blog. This way she can share her mission with others and keep an ongoing record of it all complete with pic’s and videos.

She was so excited to have some help and support, in fact, we scheduled another meeting with her for next week and I look forward to it.

I have some unique ideas on how to raise money for charities or any project for that matter. There is nothing wrong with the normal way, people like to give, but I think there are also some other ways to do it. Instead of just giving, why not create a win win cituation for all the parties involved. Find way’s to make the money they give not only work for the charity but for them as well. I think this would help raise more money because people could give money they didn’t know they had, like equity in their homes or an I.R.A.

How does that work you ask? We don’t want people to lose their home’s or retirement! Of course not, I feel the same way, i am simply suggesting some different techniques that you might not think of were everyone involved could get something and possibly do even more then previously thought.

For example, let’s say you have $10,000 to give, normally, a charity would hand you a receipt for the donation which you could then use as a deduction on your taxes. Nothing wrong with this, it’s done all time. It works because they get the money they need and you get a deduction which helps you put more money in your pocket at the end of the year. Well, what if you could accomplish the same thing without losing the power of the money. We could leverage that money, creating a savings or retirement for you, while at the same time setting up monthly or yearly cash flow for them.

Here’s how it would work, you take the $10,000, put it into a mutual fund that pay’s a guaranteed dividend and alocate the bonus to be paid to the charity on a yearly basis which can be deducted. (I’m no tax pro, so the details would have to evaluated by a professional of course). There are annuities out there right now that pay a guaranteed 10% return, plus the yearly yield plus a 10% up front bonus, the only stipulation is the money must stay in for a minimum of ten years. So, let’s see how this would work, the donator put’s up the ten grand, it goes into a separate account. This account funds the ten year annuity and pays the bonus up front which can be spread out over the whole year if need be. Now the donator still has the money working for them, earning a yield which they will cash out in ten years and the charity gets the bonus of $1000 up front. They could also choose to have the bonus paid monthly, the donator simply directs this monthly payment to go to the charity which helps them more then once and since this payment can also be automated, they will have a secure stream on income for the next ten years. The donator gets a tax deduction and also still has the original ten grand in the bank earning them a profit while still providing a monthly deduction that they would normally not have. They could even set it up to have the money donated at the end of the ten year period, or just allocate the yield. Since the fund had a yield they will have successfully helped fund an entire project every month with a bonus at the end and still have their original donation left over when it’s all done at the end of the ten years.

That is a rough draft of the idea and the details of it all would need inspection and planning by a professional, but the idea is still sound. They could even use the annuity to fund a property that cash flowed and pay out a percentage of those profits to the charity on a monthly or yearly basis. This would still give them the deduction they needed, if that was the goal for them, simultaneously funding the charity on a secure monthly basis and building wealth for the donator in two ways, one on the annuity itself, and two, on the property. The property’s value doesn’t have to go up very high for this to work, it simply needs to be worth more later then it is now. The property would also provide an exit strategy for both parties and could also be donated with the deduction going to the donator.

So, as you can see, this is just one way to be creative when doing something simple like helping a charity of your choice. Strategies like this will help everyone involved, not to mention the people that rent the house. They could be future home owners that need to build their credit to qualify for their own loan and since the fund goes for ten years and building credit takes about two years, you could help 5 families with one house, build equity to be cashed out later, have a long term savings plan with a guaranteed yield and fund a charity all with the same money!

Now, I don’t know about you, but that get’s me excited! To me, it’s nice to know that there are many different and creative ways to kill two birds with one stone! That’s the difference, is knowing how to get your money working for you instead of you always working for it.

Another great day completed, we went home knowing we met and helped someone who was doing something good in the world!

BLASTOFF!

DAY 11 Emergency water!

As I drive home from work, I am excited to get back to work on my debt free goals. I also have to run some errands and pay a few bills. My plan is to do both, bills, then business. I have learned how to get things done and take time for business, it’s a simple matter of being organized.

One tool I use often is the Google calander. It integrates into my gmail contacts and makes it easy to schedule events. I can also set up reminder emails and text messages right to my phone. It’s a powerful tool and keeps me on track. It allows me to invite via email so my associates can see the meeting time and place and respond if need be.

As soon as I get home I am surprised by my mother who proceeds to tell me that one of the pipe’s broke last night. We have had several days of cold weather, we let the faucets drip but that didn’t work.

It always seems like when I am ready to go get things done, some emergency pops up to stand in the way. This ironic occurrence is life at it’s best and one must simply deal with it, like it or not. I was already tired, had a rough night but was holding steady with just enough energy to tackle to errands and still go see some properties I had lined up, but now I had to deal with even more.

We decided to take a detour to the local cafe and have breakfast while planning what to do. Last night’s pipe breaking incident, while stressful for mom to deal with alone, at night with no phone, was hard, it proved to be an attention getter and motivator for us to move forward even faster!

I like it when we can take something bad and turn it around for the good and that’s just what we did! We had a great business meeting. The incident "woke" us up and gave us the strength to tackle some issues we had been putting off. You see, that’s how you do it, you keep moving forward in spite of the bad things that happen and find ways to turn them around.

this gave us the opportunity to set some deadlines and air out some much needed issues. We were able to get on the same page and actually come into agreement about where we need to be in the next few months and that would not have happened if the pipes didn’t break.

After breakfast we both felt better. We continued with the errands we had and scouted the neighborhood for more properties. Even though the extra meeting was not something I planned or even felt I had the energy for, I’m glad we did it!

We are now on track like never before to bring in the spring with new resources in place that will help us move very fast for the rest of the year.

We both feel time is of the essence. We set some firm date’s and deadlines and will now be able to move faster! It’s nice when your in agreement on things and everyone knows what to do, that’s when things really start to happen!

Our schedule is filling up fast and I look forward to us completing our first property deal in the next few months. This will help get me closer to my goal of being debt free too.

I’m happy to say that I feel like I am right on track this new year. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has set new years resolutions and not followed through on them, but for some reason, I feel that this year will be different. I also feel like I have managed to stay on track so far and that things are moving ahead for the first time in a long time!

I don’t know why it seems to take me forever to get things done, but I take comfort in the fact that I am at least moving in a forward direction this year, and so far, it hasn’t stopped yet!

Tomorrow we meet with the landlord of our current house and will call on the properties we saw today.

The trick to this whole process is to keep doing at least one thing every day that gets me closer to my goal. I can safely say that so far I have done that! I plan to continue this process through out the year and will post everything here on the blog.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. I hope that soon I will be able to post some info about our first few deals so you can see how it all works. It may seem that I’m getting off to a slow start but even on my days of rest I am still doing something to move ahead. Soon it will pick up momentum and these posts will hopefully be more interesting and helpful to anyone who reads them.

Until laters :)

DAY 10 movies

Well, it’s officially ten day’s into the new year! Time for another day of rest & movies to prepare for coming week. I know my new word for this year is Action, but even the best have to take a day off.

Progress so far has been good even though it seems slow.I guess working a full time job while trying to pull off the impossible is not the best way to do things, but I can’t wait until all my ducks are lined up before starting, I have to do it now, using the resources I currently have. If working full time while attempting the amazing feat of becoming debt free in the next six months is the hard way to go, then i guess I’ll just have to do it the hard way.

Seems like my entire life has been done the hard way. I am not sure why that is but I wouldn’t give up the past for anything. I feel like it’s simply prepared me for what is to come. I believe you have to make things happen in spite of what life brings you, that is why I will continue to move on anyway.

I like movies, they help me dream while providing the chance to escape for it all. That two hour session of seeing things from someone else’s point of view always helps me forget how hard I have it. I also get the chance to dream about what could be!

I have always been a dreamer and I don’t plan to ever change that. I think it was einstein who once said that "imagination is everything". I believe that to be true. I think a big problem with the world today is that people have forgotten how to dream, or simply given up on the idea all together. Sad but true, people seem to think that the reality of life is doing things we don’t enjoy. For some reason, I don’t think we were meant to live that way. I think we get caught up in the day to day survival and forget how to imagine what our life could really be like if we only tried. I know it’s happened to me, I would get a great idea, then try it, and when it didn’t work for whatever reason, i would quit. I’m determined not to quit anymore!

what ever gave us the idea that we should be able to try something one time and be successful at it right off the bat? How is it that we think just because it didn’t work the first time that it wouldn’t work the next? Have we all forgotten that try and try again until you get it is exactly how we all learned to walk. I mean really, if we just gave up the first time we fell while trying to walk into mommy’s out stretched arms, we would have missed out on half our life. Don’t we realize that the only way to learn is to make mistakes? Then why is it such a stretch of the imagination to think that our next idea will fail so why bother trying? I have been victim to that kind of thinking too.

The main thing to remember is not to beat yourself up over the past. I know that’s a hard thing to do, but it’s the truth! If we would just let go of all those past let downs and focus on the future, we all would be very different people, and, a lot happier I might add!

So that’s my goal this year, to focus on the future! I will keep trying until I get right, no matter how long it takes! That is exactly why I am writing this blog, it’s a daily way to work towards all the things I want out of life. Posting to a daily blog is a big commitment for me and I am going to follow through on it!

That’s my thoughts for today, going to rest now and watch a movie, after all, it’s Sunday and I could use some rest after that long weekend at work.

laters :)