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How to Earn More and Work Less

Source from: Scott Allen
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/

Do you want to continue working 50, 70, 100 hours a week the rest of your life?
Good! Neither do I.
Do you want to be able to take time off whenever you want to, without worrying about what's going to happen to your business?
So do I!
There's a saying in the corporate world: "Don't make yourself irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted." As an entrepreneur, this is still true in its own way. Let's think of "being promoted" as earning more and working less. You can raise your prices, but until you can remove yourself from being directly involved in doing the work that generates the income, there's always going to be a limit to how much you can earn, and it can only increase very slowly.
Passive income, on the other hand, is income that does not require your direct involvement. Some kinds of passive income you may be familiar with include owning rental property, royalties on an invention or creative work, and network marketing. If you want to earn more, work less, and have a decent retirement, you're going to have to start creating income streams that do not require your direct involvement. Whether you're just starting your business, or you've been running it a while, the sooner you start thinking about how you are going to shift your business model to create more passive income, the sooner you can achieve personal and financial freedom.
Let's look at two basic types of passive income, and a third type of income that, while technically not passive, is a key strategy for earning more and working less.
Residual Income
Residual income is revenue that occurs over time from work done one time. Some examples include:
· An insurance agent who gets commission every year when a customer renews his policy
· A network marketing or direct sales rep's income from her direct customers when they reorder product every month
· An aerobics instructor who produces a video and sells it at the gyms where she teaches
· A marketing consultant who creates a workbook and sells it in e-book format on the Internet
· A photographer who makes his photos available through a stock photography clearinghouse and gets paid a royalty whenever someone buys one of his images
· A restaurant or retail owner who has grown to the point of hiring a trustworthy manager
As you can see, there are many different ways to generate residual income across a wide variety of businesses. It may be recurring income from the same customers, or the sales of a product to new customers. It may require no personal involvement whatsoever, such as an e-book sold on a web site, or it may require some personal interaction, such as the insurance agent calling the customer to remind them about their renewal and ask them if they want to change any of their coverage. Often, it's something that you can delegate to an assistant.
Note that this is different from merely recurring income. Recurring income may still require your involvement to earn the income, e.g., a coach or consultant on a monthly retainer, or a caterer who delivers lunch every Monday to the local school board. While this "active recurring income" offers welcome stability, it also tends to tie you down, and you still have limits on your earning capacity based on your own personal production capacity.
Leveraged Income
Leveraged income leverages the work of other people to create income for you. Some examples of leveraged income include:
· An e-book author selling her e-book through affiliates who promote the product
· A network marketer who builds a downline and receives commissions on the sales made by people in his downline
· A general contractor who makes a profit margin on the work done by sub-contractors
· Franchising your business model to other entrepreneurs (the ultimate leveraged income)
Again, there are many different models in many different businesses. The key is that you are making money off of other people's labor, rather than primarily your own. Note that leveraged income may or may not also be residual income. When you combine them, that's even better.
Active Leveraged Income
This is a term I use to describe income that requires your direct participation, but that you can make more money by having more people involved. This generally involves a one-time event, such as:
· A seminar or class
· A conference or convention
· Concerts and dance recitals
· Raves and other parties
Although these require your direct participation, your earning potential is much higher than if someone were just paying you a direct hourly rate. Fill a room with 1,000 people paying $50 each and you can cover your facility cost, promotional cost, and staffing fees and still have a nice chunk of change left over.
Applying It
Now is the time to think about how to apply this in your business. Can you create a product that people will buy over and over again? Can you engage others to sell your product? How could you make money off the work of others?
The sooner you answer these questions, the sooner you'll have financial and personal freedom.

Cult of Warren Buffett

Source from:

http://biz.thestar.com.my/bizweek/

Robert P. Miles was in Malaysia for the first time to preach about the investment principles practised by the world’s richest man.
HAVING made his fortune largely through the stock market, Warren Buffet is widely regarded as the world’s greatest investor. Today, he is also the world’s richest man, with a net worth of more than US$62bil, according to Forbes magazine’s 2008 rankings.
Buffett’s success has garnered him a cult-like following among investment professionals and amateurs alike.
This is obvious at his shareholders’ meetings held each year on the first Saturday of May in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States.
Also, many books about Buffett have gone on to become international best-sellers.
“Besides his wealth and success, Buffett is also well known for his philanthropic work. He has taught his shareholders to not just focus on making wealth, but also on distributing it back to the world to help the needy,” says Robert P Miles.
Miles is among those who have written about Buffett. To date, Miles has three titles — 101 reasons to own the world’s greatest investment: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway; The Warren Buffett CEO: Secret from the Berkshire Hathaway managers; and Warren Buffett wealth: Principles and practical methods used by the world’s greatest investor.
Tagged as a Warren Buffett expert, Miles has become a fixture on the international lecture circuit. He has spoken and conducted workshops in five continents, that is, Asia, Australia, North America, Europe and Africa.
Miles was in Malaysia for the first time last Tuesday to conduct a half-day seminar organised by the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.
BizWeek catches up with him to gain an insight into what he normally teaches and his opinions about Buffett.
BizWeek: You have travelled to many places conducting seminars. Last Tuesday was your first time doing it in Malaysia. Why was Malaysia never on your list before that?
Miles: Well, I never got invited to come to Malaysia to conduct seminars before this. My coming this time was under the invitation of a friend after I completed my tour of four Asian countries, namely, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.
What do you teach at your seminars?
I share my observations on Buffett, and my seminars focus on teaching people about his investment and management philosophies. I think he is a genius at both investing and managing.
Buffett is a living proof that it is indeed possible to become extraordinarily wealthy through an honourable way.
He has created wealth by owning businesses through the stock market. And he manages 220,000 employees at his enterprises, with only 19 stationed at his headquarters.
So, Buffett is an interesting case study, not only from the investment standpoint, but also from the management standpoint.
Who are your target audience?
Anyone who is interested in the stock market and in learning how Buffett manages his enterprises. They could range from professionals to individual investors and business students, among others.
The response around the world to the message of Buffett has been good because people are curious about him. They want to study somebody who is the best at investing and the best at managing.
What is your relationship with Buffett?
I am simply, first, a shareholder of his company, Berkshire Hathaway. I am not a spokesperson for the company, though. Neither am I on its payroll nor had Buffett instructed me to conduct seminars.
Secondly, I am an author of three books about Buffett. On my website, you will notice the focus is more on Buffett because it is really all about him. It is not about Robert Miles and how I invest. So, I try not to confuse the two. I am just an observer, a writer and speaker.
How did you develop the credibility you enjoy today of being a Warren Buffett expert?
I think credibility is earned, and people can tell whether or not you know your stuff.
I wrote my first book — 101 reasons to own Berkshire Hathaway – without any intention of publishing it. I started writing the contents of the book as a daily blog posting on fool.com over a period of 101 days.
When I finished, many people from all over the world wanted a compilation of my postings in a book. So, I self-published the book because I never thought publishers would be that interested in what I had written.
My book captured the attention of many soon after hitting the bookshelves because people found out that Buffett actually liked it. A publisher then picked up my book and published it in hardcover and paperback for foreign editions.
Following the success of the first book, I began to work on two other books on my own initiative because I was really passionate about Buffett’s philosophies.
How did you become familiar with the investment and management philosophies of Buffett?
Just by reading his letters, which are available free on his website. There are over 20 years of his letters to his shareholders (whom he regards as his partners) that pretty much explain his methods. Buffett writes to them as if they had been away from the business for a year.
How long have you been studying about Buffett?
For more than 10 years, since I became a shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway in 1995.
When did you begin to develop an interest in him?
When I began to ask myself the questions – who is the best at investing, what can I learn from him and is he available to manage money for me – back in the mid-1990s.
I found the answer in Buffett.
So, I began to invest in Berkshire Hathaway and started attending its annual shareholders’ meetings.
I got to learn so many new things from Buffett that I had never heard of from anyone else, such as: Wall Street will sell you anything that you want to buy; it is the legal pickpocket of the average investor; and it is the only place where people will go there in a Rolls Royce to get advice from people who have gone there by the subway. And I was so impressed.
Have you applied Buffett’s theories on yourself?
Yes, my income is mainly from my personal investments, not so much from my writing or speaking fees. I think one will lose his credibility if he does not make money by following the advice that he is preaching about.
Have you ever thought of just focusing on being a successful investor like Buffett?
My motivation is to share what I have discovered so that people can make up their own mind.
My job enables me to share my passion about Buffett, and by travelling, I get to experience other cultures and meet different people. I think you can learn more about yourself when you are given a comparison, not by being surrounded by people who are like yourself.
In a nutshell, what is Buffett’s way of investing?
It is figuring out what an investment is worth – what is its value – and attempting to buy it cheap. Most people confuse price with value, thinking if the stock price is US$25, then the stock must be worth US$25.
Buffett does not look at the price. He calculates the value, which is basically determined by earnings of an investment, and then figures out the best price to pay for the stock.
Then, he patiently waits for the market to offer him a much attractive price for his holdings.
Buffett strongly suggests that one should not be a stock trader if one has no interest in studying accounting and valuing a business, and does not understand market prices.
That person, according to Buffett, will be better off just buying a low-cost, low-tax, index fund, and dollar-cost average into it over his or her working life to enjoy reasonable returns.
What are the principles behind Buffett’s way of investing?
Buffett’s investing style is influenced by the methods that had been laid out by his college professor Benjamin Graham in a book called The Intelligent Investor. He learnt three important points from the book, which have helped him throughout his investing life. We can also apply them:
Firstly, we need to look at a stock as not just a list on the newspaper. It represents a share of a business. If we think that way, we will have an owner-mentality, rather than a trader-mentality. Then, we will think more about the value of the business, and not the price of it.
Secondly, we have to think that in the stock market, we have a virtual partner, whom Graham called Mr Market.
Every time the stock market opens, Mr Market is either manic or depressed. When he is manic, he wants you to buy his share of the business for twice as much to what you think the business is worth, so you should sell instead.
When he is depressed, he wants to sell you his share of the business for half of what it worth, so you should buy instead. What most people do wrong is they treat Mr Market as their master and follow his mood. But Buffett uses Mr Market as his servant, and does the opposite of what Mr Market wants.
Thirdly, we need a margin of safety, which is the difference between the value and price of an investment. The lower the price of a stock from your valuation, the more margin of safety you have.
Therefore, Buffett likes declining markets because he can get more margin of safety from such markets. In bull markets, however, Buffett will wait patiently on the sidelines.
How can one learn to be an intelligent investor like Buffett?
The stock market is a place where emotions run high as shares are being auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Emotions come into play all the time because people want to win. So they either push up or push down the prices of shares. Many therefore confuse price with value, and could not make the best investment decision.
An intelligent investor is one who is rational. Buffett is a very rational investor because he has learnt to master his emotions.

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How To Make A Million Before You Turn 20

By Forbes.com

While their peers were out making trouble, these young achievers were making bank.
Forever in search of the secrets to entrepreneurial success, we peeked into the inspirational lives of five whiz kids who built million-dollar enterprises before the age of 20.
They partnered with friends, siblings and mentors, or did the work on their own. Three are from the U.S., two from the U.K. All started at age 15 or younger--and one before he broke double digits.
Their common thread: preternatural business sense and demon drive to turn ideas into reality.
In Pictures: Businesses Of The (Really) Young And Successful
Five Teen Millionaire Entrepreneurs: Fraser Doherty, Ashley Qualls, Catherine Cook, Cameron Johnson, Adam Hildreth

In Pictures: Eight Ways To Make Money Online
While four of the five were making a mint on the Internet, Fraser Doherty was doing things the old-fashioned way. In 2002, at the age of 14, Doherty started making jams from his grandmother's recipes in his parents' kitchen in Edinburgh, Scotland. Neighbors and church friends loved them. As word spread, Doherty started receiving orders faster than he could produce them at home, so he rented time at a 200-person food-processing factory several days a month.
Go With The Flow
By age 16, Doherty left school (with his parents' blessing) to work on his jams full time. In early 2007, Waitrose, a high-end supermarket in the U.K., approached Doherty, hoping to sell his Superjam products in their stores. Within months there were Superjam jars on the shelves of 184 Waitrose stores, hoisting Doherty and his business to new heights.
Doherty borrowed 5,000 pounds (about $9,000) from a bank to cover general expenses and more factory time to produce three flavors: Blueberry & Blackcurrant, Rhubarb & Ginger and Cranberry & Raspberry. Tesco (other-otc: TSCDY - news - people ) followed, adding Doherty's products to 300 stores across the U.K. In March, Superjam will launch at Tesco in Ireland.
Last year Superjam hit $750,000 in sales and is on track to double that in 2008 (about 50,000 jars a month). Based on a reasonable valuation multiple of one times revenue--jelly-maker J.M. Smucker (nyse: SJM - news - people ) trades at 1.2 times sales--Doherty's 100% stake is worth in the neighborhood of $1 million to $2 million.
Not bad for a 19-year-old. Doherty's recommendation to other young entrepreneurs: "Have an attitude of adventure, and enjoy the journey."
Double Down
Cameron Johnson truly took that perspective to heart, parlaying one hit into the next. Back in 1994, when he was just 9, Johnson launched his first business out of his home in Virginia, making invitations for his parents' holiday party. By the seasoned age of 11, Johnson had saved up several thousand dollars selling greeting cards. He called his company Cheers and Tears.
But the little guy didn't stop there. At age 12, Johnson offered his younger sister $100 for her collection of 30 Ty Beanie Babies, all the rage at that time. The young entrepreneur quickly earned 10 times that amount by selling the dolls on eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ). Smelling potential, he contacted Ty and began purchasing the dolls at wholesale with the aim of selling them on eBay and on his Cheers and Tears Web site.
In less than a year, Johnson banked $50,000--seed money for his next venture, My EZ Mail, a service that forwarded e-mails to a particular account without revealing the recipient's personal information. He hired a programmer to flesh out his idea, and within two years My EZ Mail was generating up to $3,000 per month in advertising revenue.
Be Fearless
Johnson still wasn't done. In 1997, he joined forces with two other teen entrepreneurs, Aaron Greenspan and Tom Kho, to create an online advertising company called Surfingprizes.com, which provided scrolling advertisements across the top of users' Web browsers. Those who downloaded the software received 20 cents per hour (a tiny fraction of the value to the advertiser) for the inconvenience of having ads splay across their computer screens.
The boys employed a classic pyramid strategy to spread the service. Users who managed to refer Surfingprizes.com to a new customer would nab 10% of that new person's hourly revenue.
But Johnson and company didn't just sell software--they wanted a piece of that juicy ad revenue too. Their solution: partnering with companies such as DoubleClick, L90 and Advertising.com that could sell the ads for them. Under the agreements, the middlemen would collect 30% of any ad revenue sold, while the three boys split the remaining 70%, out of which they paid those referral fees.
"I was 15 years old and receiving checks between $300,000 and $400,000 per month," says Johnson. At 19, he sold the company name and software (but not the customer database) to an undisclosed buyer. Says Johnson, "Before my high school graduation, my combined assets were worth more than $1 million."
Now just 23, and with other ventures under his belt, Johnson spends his time giving speeches and promoting a new book. "Put yourself out there," he advises. "Don't be afraid of rejection. Don't be afraid to ask anything."
Stick To A Vision
At 15, Catherine Cook and her brother Dave, 17, were flipping through their high school yearbook and came up with the idea to develop a free interactive version online. In 2005, the two convinced their older brother Geoff, a budding Web entrepreneur himself, to invest $250,000 and his time to help them launch MyYearbook.com, a social-networking site based in Skillman, N.J.
Soon after, the Cooks merged with Zenhex.com, an ad-supported site where users post a variety of homemade quizzes, more than doubling the number of eyeballs taking in their site. But when they tried to expand even further, they hit some snags. Potential investors wanted to move the company's headquarters to New York (the Cooks wanted to stay put). They also wanted to have ads appear on users' personal profile pages (the Cooks didn't).
Good thing the Cooks stuck to their vision. By 2006, MyYearbook had raised $4.1 million from the likes of U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital. Since then, the site has attracted such advertisers as Neutrogena, Disney (nyse: DIS - news - people ) and ABC; has grown to 3 million members worldwide; and rakes in annual sales in the "seven figures," says Catherine.
How to compete in an industry dominated by MySpace and Facebook? Mine a niche. "[Our site is] specifically for high school students, and we really listen to the suggestions of our members," says Catherine.
While the Cooks decline to discuss the value of their stake in the business, one MyYearbook investor (who agreed to speak only if unidentified) claims the Cooks' chunk is worth "well over $1 million."
Seven figures is real money to anyone, let alone a teenager. Yet despite their heady success, all of these young world-beaters seem to remain--refreshingly--kids at heart. "I'm not driving around in fancy cars," says Doherty. "I'm in it totally for the adventure."
Profits and perspective: Sounds like a recipe for even greater success in the decades to come

A blog home business...?

Earning Money From Your Blog?
Blog marketing is something that all blog owners do. They market their blog so that they can get readers, and make a profit from their blogs.
Marketing their blog means to get it out there so that others that are interested in it can find it and read it. It is also a great way to sell things by using affiliate links and programs.
Blog marketing can very well become a home business if that is something that you are interested in.
A blog home business...?

Having a home business by blog marketing would definitely entail that you have more than one blog.If this is something that you are considering, you will want to make a list of markets that your blogs can cover. You will find that your blogs will do best when you only have one market per blog.For example, if you have a blog about cats, you will not want to include anything on the blog about kitchen appliances. This is because the readers that read your blog and visit your blog to learn more about cats and what you have to say about them will not be interested in learning anything about kitchen appliances. Once you have overcome the relevancy issue, you will be ok.You can however, have a blog about pets, and then blog about all of the many pets that you want to include.
More about this at:
http://www.squidoo.com/blog-income

Happy Valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day...!!To all.....

Be creative in marketing

Can we say that, creativity can market more sales?

Happy Chinese New Year

Wishing you happiness, good fortune and prosperity in the year 2008!!

Some blog tips

Source: Redboxstudio

Here are some blog-sticky tips according to Patrick Schaber.
Give readers something new. They should come away with a pleasure of having learnt something from your blog. Give them this pleasure! (This also means bloggers need to work harder to bring in quality content - content which needs to fulfill the aims of your blog.)
Post frequently. In my opinion, you should post frequently if you have good posts or information to share. If none, you can always blog about what you did and what you learnt because your readers can learn through what you learnt!
Maintain focus. This is a good one. It’s easy to stray from the topic of your blog because let’s face it, things get boring after a while. But do not give in to the temptation of wanting to write about other things. For instance, Krista’s soup blog focuses on Chinese soups only. Not Western soups. She says it’s tempting sometimes to talk about other types of soups but it’s also going to be detrimental to her blog readers.
Add visual interest. This is another good point. A lot of blog readers love photos and nothing speaks louder or better than photos. That’s why we use photos when we want to bring a point across. It’s best to make a photo or visual image relevant too.

Read more : http://www.redboxstudio.com/blog/2008/01/