Webmaker's Blog

The point of building a successful Clickincome website is to make money, right? Let's face it. People don't go into business with the desire to lose money. "I think I'd like to spend thousands of dollars and never get anything back just for the fun of it," is just not a phrase you'll hear most entrepreneurs say!

You opened an ecommerce website with Clickincome, or some other service, for a reason. You wanted to make money on the web. We talked about that, last time - the idea of making money. Making money is only half the story, though. You want to keep the money you make.

If you're every going to build any real wealth, you've got to save your money. I'm not kidding. A study done by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, revealed in their book The Millionaire Next Door, confirms this. One of the main reasons America's millionaires are millionaires is they save money. It's so simple it's crazy. They have money because they don't spend it.

For years I've heard all kinds of people in my life tell me, "Live within your means." You've probably heard that phrase, too. Guess what? It's a lie. You'll never gain wealth is you live within your means. You've got to live below your means.

"What do you mean?" my friends will ask. "I make $5,000 a month. I live within my means." Yeah. You do. But then you turn around and spend $5,000 a month.

Mentally, living below your means can be hard. It seems like every time we get an addition $5.00 we're ready to spend it. "Hey, I've got some extra cash. I'll take myself out for lunch at Burger Flopper." You've got to retrain your thinking.

Create a savings plan. I don't care how you do it. Take 10% out of each and every paycheck and stick it in a savings account. Better yet, put it in a higher yield investment, like a money-market account. Don't like those options? I don't care. Stick under your mattress if you have to. The point is you've got to save a portion of the money you make. How can you build wealth if you keep spending it?

Some of you may be thinking, "Oh, yeah. Sure. I only wish I could do that. I've got too many bills to save anything." Trust me on this. If you save just 10% each paycheck, you'll still have enough money left over to pay your bills. You really will.

Instead of avoiding a savings plan, let's look at all the other bills you're paying, instead. Do you really need to have all of those cable and satellite TV channels? Do even need cable or satellite TV at all? My wife and I got rid of our cable service years ago and, to be honest, I don't miss it one bit. Not a bit. Sure, sometimes my friends will talk about a great TV program they saw on TV that I don't have access to, but so what? I don't pay for all the bad TV programs that I don't want to watch anyway, either.

Think about how much time you'd save if you killed your TV? Think about how many wasted hours of your life you'll get back, and the amount of money you'll save.

What about your cell phone? Do you really need all those different lines? Do you really need to access the Internet on a 2 inch screen? What about your kids? Do your teenagers really need their own cell phones? Sure, there can be some "security" benefits that parents talk about but, let's face it. The vast majority of what your kids are going to do on their cell phones is what's going to get them into trouble in the first place.

What about all the other expenses you've got? Do you really need that expensive double latte from Starbucks every day? Think about the money you'd save if you brewed your own coffee at home. If you smoke, you ought to quit. Not only will it help you be healthier, think about all the money you'll save by not feeding that pack-a-day monkey on your back.

It's the same thing with going out to eat, or to clubs, or movies, or whatever you spend money on. Do you really need to consume quite so much stuff?

Think about it this way. Has having all of these things really made you happier? If you said "yes," think about it this way. If it was making you so happy and fulfilled in the first place, why did you have to go back and buy it again?

Be frugal, people! Save 10% of everything you earn. Live below your means.

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I know this will sound silly but, one of the secrets of creating wealth with a successful business is to make money. Let me explain.

When people decide to create a commercial website, with Clickincome to help them or not, they're opening a business. A lot of people somehow miss that important connection, including some of my Clickincome clients, but that's the truth of it. This is a business and you need to treat it as such.

The beauty of opening a Clickincome site, or any other commercial website, is that this is a business you can do at home, in your spare time. That means you can still keep your day job while you build your business.

This is important. I've had a few clients who have quit their regular jobs before building their own businesses. Their reasoning was that they could spend all that time building their websites. I understand that reasoning but, it ignores one very important fact: most businesses don't make money in their first year.

There are exceptions to that rule, to be sure. The internet offers great ways to jump start your cash flow and quickly get the word out about your business. But the average time lags can't be denied. Unless you "piggy-back" your message to the clients of other businesses, it's going to take some time between when you get the site up and running, get the word out (start marketing) and getting people to buy from you.

Unless you're already independently wealthy, you'll need some income to pay the start up costs and daily operating expenses. Keeping your day job is one of the easiest ways to make sure you still have income while things are ramping up.

Another great way to make money online is through eBay. There are several courses and books available (Clickincome offers one) that make it easy to get started selling things on eBay, right away. Many of the mentors at Clickincome (including myself) are certified "education specialists trained by eBay."

My take on eBay is that, to get started, sell the things around your house. I know very few people who don't have a closet full of "stuff" they don't use, barely remember they own, and could stand to get rid of. One man's trash is another mans treasure.

Selling your "stuff" does two things for you. First off, it's a great way to make near immediate cash flow. Second, it gives you experience with eBay, and selling on the web in general, with minimal risk. It's not like you've gone to a wholesale distributor and bought up a bunch of things, spending more money, hoping to sell them later. This is just stuff you've got laying around the house.

Once you start getting some sales under your belt, or your run out stuff in your house to sell, then you can start looking at finding other products. Some people are making a killing on eBay just going around to various flea markets and yard sales, picking stuff up, and then reselling it on eBay at a profit. They still keep their day jobs, while they do this, too. They just hit the yard sales on a Saturday morning, and then go post them on eBay later in the afternoon.

Commercial sales are a logical next step for eBay, as well. Commercial selling deals in brand new products, still in the package. A lot of people who are selling on eBay are getting their products through drop-shipping companies, rather than traditional wholesale suppliers.

Drop-shipping is an interesting option. With drop-shipping, you set up a relationship with a wholesale supplier that will let you buy things, one at a time. When you get an order for an item, whether it was sold to you through an eBay sale or directly on your ecommerce website, you contact the drop-shipper, order the item from them, and tell them to ship it to your client. The difference between what you got paid, and what you pay the drop-shipper, is where your profit margin lies. It's also nice that you don't have to buy the products in bulk, or warehouse any of the products themselves.

These aren't the only ways to make money while building your online business, of course. Now matter how you do it, the principle remains the same. You've got to maintain a positive cash flow while your business is built, and while business ramps up. There's no way around. Small businesses need cash flow. Even a little bit, in the beginning, is better than nothing at all.

So go out and make money. Just make sure you're still making money while you build your next money making Internet business.

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Greetings, gentle reader. Did you know that right now, right this very minute, you're doing something that puts you ahead of 80% of the other people in America? You're reading.

Yep! That's right. Just by the fact that you're reading puts you at the head of the pack when it comes to finding success. Those who succeed, read.

Where did this number come from? It turns out that 80% of American's never pick up a book after high school. You might be part of that 80%, I have to admit. There's no guarantee that you've read anything after high school, either. You may just be here by accident.

Isn't that number astounding, though? That means that only 20% of people do any serious reading after high school. Without serious reading, how can there be serious learning?

As a Clickincome mentor, learning is a big deal for me. It's my stock and trade. I teach Clickincome clients stuff about building and marketing websites. I do my best to help them learn it. Some of them do well, others don't. It's the nature of business.

One thing I've noticed when dealing with successful Clickincome clients, and any successful entrepreneur for that matter, is that they enjoy reading. They're constantly teaching themselves new things, keeping their minds sharp, and applying what they learn to their lives and businesses.

I have quite a book collection. Two walls in my basement are literally covered with bookshelves. Both my wife and I are avid readers. When we were dating we had countless conversations about books, the stories we read, and what we were currently reading. We exchanged books as well as kisses. It was great!

What's interesting is when friends and neighbors see our collection. They say things like, "Wow! You've got quite a collection here."

"Thanks!" I'll reply.

"How many of these have you actually read, though?" they ask.

"Almost all of them," I reply.

The look of disbelief on their faces is amazing.

We've tried to pass that love of reading on to our children, too. Part of my basement includes a small section is devoted to children's books. We call it the "reading nook." It has a light and a chair so my kids can go there and read books to their heart's content. It's worked, too. Sometimes I have to tell my daughter to turn out the light in her bedroom and quit reading for the evening, just so she can get some sleep.

Even though my kids read mostly fiction, that's not what I recommend everyone read all the time. I actually have a "genre" list that I cycle through. It's just a list of book types. By hitting each "genre," one after another, it helps me make sure that I'm reading on a broad range of topics, not just one. I like to think it keeps me well read and well rounded.

Food keeps me well rounded, too, but that's another story.

When reading for learning, to train yourself to do the things your Clickincome website, or any other business, requires you to be able to do correctly, you want to concentrate on books that will help you find success. I always recommend that my Clickincome clients find great books on business, the Internet, time and life management, cash flow, marketing, finance, and then read them. I've read each one of them. In some cases I've read them more than once. More important than reading them, though, is implementing what you learn from them. You want to DO what you READ.

Even though I've read a lot, I'm constantly on the lookout for other good books I can learn from. When I find a good book I want to read, but I'm currently reading something else, I write it down. I actually have lists of books that I want to read, broken up by genre. When I'm done reading a book in a particular genre, I take it off my list, and then look up the books in the next genre list and go find them. That way I'm not distracting myself with every tantalizing view of a pretty book cover that comes my way. I'm always reading those books that I WANT to read and, I feel, will do me good.

Here's a list of books I think you business people should read, in no particular order. I've read all of them. There are a few more that I need to read. Three of them are by the same author. I admit. That shows a personal bias on my part.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People- by Steven Covey

First Things First - also by Steven Covey

Principle Centered Leadership - again, by Steven Covey

Rich Dad, Poor Dad - by Robert Kiyosaki

The Millionaire Next Door - by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management - by Hyrum W. Smith.

Who Moved my Cheese? - by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard

A New Guide to Better Writing - by Rudolf Flesch & A.H. Lass (This one's out of print, I think, but you can still find it online and in some used book stores. It was also published under the title "The Way to Write.")

Enjoy your reading! More importantly, implement what you read.

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