Archives for March 2019

Hang on – all this planning is super fun, but where is it going? Do you really want an internet business? Do you know what that entails?

I bet some of you have some burning questions about what we’re doing, what it’s going to look like, and how it all works. So let’s telescope out and take a look at the big picture for a moment, so you can get some clarity on where LTYF will take you – because there’s needs to be a solid platform for all this freedom you’re going to generate. Let’s start with this: How exactly does a website or a blog make money??

Where Does “Internet Money” Come From?

You’re here, so I know you’re game, but sometimes new Freedomites admit to being more than a little overwhelmed when faced with moving operations towards being online and automated.  It all depends on what your experience in business has been up until now. If you’re feeling a little uncertain of what you’ve gotten yourself into, let’s break it down to basics and see where you’re at.

Right now were seeing a zeitgeist of people who are making an honest living through online business. The cool thing is, I bet you’ve visited, or followed, some of their sites and not even realized it was their livelihood, because it can be that subtle and non-invasive.

So if you want to know how they do it, look closer. Start looking at websites and blogs with a new awareness. Ask, could this site be making money? Look for clues that might give it away. Do they have a shop? A sign-up box for a newsletter or some kind of freebie? Do they review products or tell their readers about particular workshops, teleseminars, or programs? When you buy something online, think about why you’re buying it. What made you decide on this product, from this site?

As you progress through LTYF, I promise it will all become more clear. You’ll start to see the potential for money in the strangest things – even if you’re already well-versed in online commerce!

So back to “internet money”  – the stuff I’m promising you in this program. Let me set something straight for anyone with lingering doubts: it’s not a scam, it’s not magic, and it’s definitely real money.  Let me explain in detail…

There are basically three streams of “internet money” that we’ll get into in LTYF:

1. There’s advertising, which is obvious from the amount of advertisements you can see all over websites. I mention it first only because most people assume it’s the main thing that generates cash on the internet – which is not true in our case! Ad revenue is great to know about, but it probably isn’t where the bulk of your income will come from, at least not for a long while. But if you’re curious about making money from advertising, check out this page.

2. Then there’s sales from your own products and services, which is what we’ll focus on throughout much of LTYF. I’ll give you tons of ideas and tutorials on how to design and create your own valuable products, both physical and digital, and show you how to produce, market, and deliver them to your customers. Believe me, there is something you can sell on your site, no matter how weird or niche-y it is. In fact, the more specific you get, the more you’ll attract a core group of enthusiastic and loyal customers.

3. Affiliate sales are a less obvious, but really fabulous way to generate income, either on the side or as your main venture. This is accomplished by making a commission when you sell someone else’s product through a link on your site. Whether you’re reviewing a great product, recommending a book that changed your life, or telling people about a workshop you’re really excited about, you can make considerable commissions on anything people take your word for and purchase. The great thing about this revenue-generation method, is that you can do it from an authentic and helpful place without being “selly” at all.

So where does the money come from in an affiliate sale? Think about when the owner of a physical store sells a product – when they mark something up from wholesale to make a profit, they are essentially receiving a commission for each product they sell, sometimes over 50% of the wholesale price. As an affiliate, you get to act as the salesperson and earn that commission on anything that sells through you, but without the hassle and cost of warehousing, shipping, or even touching the product!

We can go over all of this in detail, but for now, keep in mind that entrepreneur Pat Flynn makes over $40,000 a month on affiliate sales alone – with a blog that talks about affiliate and other “passive” income! Pretty darn cool!

And if you still think it sounds fishy, and are still wondering where all this internet money is coming from, think about all the middlemen that can be cut out of a more direct economy. Each of them has to be paid out of the ultimate price of the product – so the fewer hands in the pot, the more money is freed up to flow to you!

Those are just some examples to get you moving around the idea of internet money or automated income. We’ll cover all the juicy details when you’re ready for them, but is this floaty concept of “internet money” getting a little more real now? Like I said, it’s not magic, but it can still feel pretty miraculous, even to me!

What is “Passive Income”?

Both affiliate and advertising income are often referred to as passive or automated income, and even your product sales, especially the digital ones, can fall into this category. I prefer the term automated, as the term passive suggests that you don’t have to do anything to earn the money. But you do – it’s just that once you’ve set up the automation infrastructure and know how to point people in the product’s direction, you can make money without having to trade time for wages, or a physical product for cash, because the system you’ve set up is taking care of all that. As with most of what you’ll be learning in LTYF, the work happens in the set-up. So, in my view, it’s not passive at all, but it’s still a fantastic improvement on the old “time for money” model – and it may be the ticket to your success.

So…Tell Me Again, Why Online?

You’re probably starting to understand some of the benefits of selling online from what we’ve just talked about. But I’d just like to say this: everything you learn in LTYF comes from my own personal experience and years of experimentation and testing since 1997.

The details of online business may change as the internet grows and develops, but the core principles I am teaching you will stand up in any arena – and yes, once you get the hang of it, you could easily, with a little creativity, transpose them into “real world” situations. These core principles of LTYF – or of building a thriving business built on your passions – are actually very simple.

They’re about:

• building an authentic brand that you yourself believe in
• offering quality products that you’re excited to share with the world
• creating excellent relationships with your team and your customers
• having your business be known and easy to find
• providing great, consistent service that your customers can trust, and
• creating systems that are not only sustainable, but ultimately regenerative.

Even simpler, it’s about being YOU, expressing that effectively, gathering a tribe of like-minded people, and caring for them so well that they are happy to return all your efforts with the energetic exchange of money. And, maybe most importantly, it’s about doing all this as efficiently as possible so that you have the time, energy, and resources to keeping shining your light.

We are living in a time where virtually anything is possible – for anyone, from anywhere. The Internet makes running a business just incredibly faster, easier, and wider-reaching. Your products and services can be produced and distributed quickly and cheaply. Running your business with as much automation as possible can save you hours of your time. Outsourcing will save you money you’d otherwise have to spend on staffing, and people all around the world can access what you have to give.  Not only that, but you can niche down as far as you like and you’ll still be found by hundreds and thousands of people looking for what you’re selling.  Whereas, once upon a time, your customer base could only be drawn from the handful of people who could physically access you, now you can reach anyone, anywhere, so long as you have what they need or want. And I’m going to show you how to set up your site – using simple procedures – so that search engines will rank you higher and your site will be at or near the top of the list when people search for stuff related to your product or services.

What Will I End Up With?

When you’ve worked your way through this whole site and implemented everything that applies to your business, you will have a fully operational WordPress website (or a WordPress blog added to your existing site) up and running that will:

• Be focused on one idea, product, or passion of yours that we’ve figured out to be the most appropriate and viable option for you right now, and that will speak directly to your chosen tribe, or customers.
• Have a home page built to speak to your potential customers in in a matter of seconds, with a sign-up feature that will be the core driver to your email list (much, much more on this vital feature later).
• Be set up to generate income, in whichever manner(s) you choose and amount you aim for.
• Have an active, relevant, and quality blog and a working understanding of social media so that the people who need what you’re offering can find you.
• Priceless tweaks to help you increase your income, hone your systems to save time, money, and energy, and run your business efficiently, soulfully, and rewardingly.

And, of course, if you don’t know what some of this means, you will know it inside out and backwards by the time we’re done. This site is designed to fill you up with all the info, resources, and know-how you’ll need to build, maintain, and master all of this and more – but all on your own time! You’ll have the tools to make it as small or big as you want, to require as much, or as little of you as suits your lifestyle, and to provide you with whatever your vision of freedom is. With your membership, you can take all the time you want – or speed through it and come back again and again each time you want to launch a new product, or a new business.

Whew. That’s a lot of info to take in, but remember it will all come one step at a time, at your own pace. So that’s the big picture. Now let’s zoom back in to where we’re at – the beginning. What would you most like to learn next?

As you’re going through the process of defining your business, planning your new website, and thinking about what you want to sell, and how you want to sell it… it really helps to keep in mind your vision of what you’re working towards.

By that, I don’t mean what your finished site will look like. I mean the BIG picture: What do you want your life to look like when your business is up and running?

There’s no point in jumping ahead to decide what you want your homepage to look like, and all the things you’ll be selling on your site, until you’ve defined exactly how you want your business to integrate with your life plan.

There’s no point in setting up a consulting business, where you charge $100/hour, when you can only work 2 hours a day – unless, of course, you’re happy with that amount of money. So before you can decide what you want to sell, how you want to sell it, and how you want to deliver that, you first have to decide what you want your daily life to look like. That way, you can make sure your business services your ideal life and supports you in living an awesome life!

So let’s ensure you’re on the right track and that what you’re planning for yourself really does reflect your goals, values and soul’s purpose.

Kick-start your thinking process on this whole topic by watching this video first:

Sell Your Crap. Pay Your Debt. Do What You Love

Pretty powerful eh? And did you notice how he was very explicit about the importance of defining what kind of life is desirable or meaningful to YOU? Not what other people might value, but YOUR values.

Freedom Is Personal

I think it’s pretty safe to say that all of us want more freedom in our life. The question is: what exactly does that mean to you? Because ‘freedom’ is a personal experience and each of us will define it differently.

For Emma, freedom might mean traveling round the world, studying art and architecture and spending a maximum of 4 hours a day on her business.

For Roger, freedom might mean 3 children, with a wife who loves to stay home and care for him and the kids, while he just focuses on making money.

So it’s really important here to avoid making assumptions or generalizations and really spend some time exploring your soul and connecting in to your deepest desires.

Get your favorite pen ready, or your voice recording device, and let’s begin exploring these concepts.

What does ‘freedom’ mean to you?

Freedom means:

What does ‘balance’ mean to you? When you look at balancing the various joys and demands of your life, what’s the perfect mix of all the elements (work, hobbies, sports, kids, partner, animals, music, art, etc.)…

Balance, to me, means:

Now, defining your broad goals – like freedom and balance – is an important step, but does give you a concrete plan for how to achieve balance and freedom in your daily life?

An important part of being successful is always looking for the way to take large or abstract goals or visions, and break them down into smaller, concrete action steps.

So that’s what we’re going to do next; you’re going to take your important vision of freedom and balance for your life and break it down into a clear action plan for your daily life.

A fun and easy way to do this is to ask yourself:

What does my PERFECT DAY look like?

If we just stick with global, or general questions, we’ll end up with lofty statements and beautiful visions, but our day-to-day reality will not change. And we’ll still be chasing some version of the carrot on the stick.

When you finish reading (or whenever you will have a quiet space), you’re going to write down (or audio record) what your ideal day would consist of.

You’ll start with whatever time you would wake up (I might like to wake up at 10 am, you might like to wake up at 6 am) and then you will plot your ideal day in one-hour increments, labeled with what you would like to be doing in each of those time slots.

YES you need to get that detailed! Because when you get into the nitty-gritty, of each hour of your perfect day, the flaws, or incongruence in your big vision will be revealed.

Then you will have the chance to rectify the inconsistencies and come up with a cohesive vision that is truly authentic and that you can actually begin to implement.

For example, let’s say your vision for your perfect day consists of 2 hours of yoga, 5 hours of cooking and childcare, 2 hours of TV and 1 hour in a soaker tub… but yet you’re setting up your site to generate income from private consulting sessions where you charge $60/hour. So that’s 9 hours total of yoga, cooking and TV, and probably 3 hours of consulting for a gross revenue of $180/day, which means $900 per week, and $3600 per month. Then you will have some admin, accounting etc. work on top of that every week or so.

If you’re a Dad with 2 or 3 kids and your wife has a good paying, steady job, this would probably be decent money for you (after taxes and expenses). However, if you have a toddler and your wife has just given birth (so will not be working anytime soon), setting up your business this way is unlikely to meet your needs, let alone your desires. In a case like that, the incongruence between what you want and what you’re actually doing or planning for is going to result in you feeling unhappy and frustrated – and financially struggling.

Phase 1, 2 & 3 of Your Perfect Day

And of course, life is not fixed. Situations change all the time. So maybe you cannot achieve your ideal day in your first month, or year of your new and/or improved business. In that case, you would write down two or three different examples of your perfect day. You would do one Perfect Day outline for the set-up phase of your new business, or for the transition phase of your business expansion or re-design – for the first 3 months or so, for example. Remember, this may still include your day job – full- or part-time – or whatever you need to do to stay financially stable enough to support the nurturing of your dream projects.

Then do another Perfect Day outline for the growth phase of your business – the next year, for example.

Then do a third Perfect Day outline for years 2 – 5 of your business or new direction, when everything is settled and you’re steadily moving forward.

Breaking down your day into clearly defined one-hour slots will not only help you manage your time, it will help you plan your business effectively – to be able to deliver and support the lifestyle you want. It will also enable you to plan out a road map for staying balanced and healthy while you start or expand your business.

Remember, Listen To Your Freedom is not about working like a dog for 5 – 10 years so you can make tons of money and eventually enjoy your life! It’s about designing a life that supports you emotionally, spiritually, physically (health) and financially in a balanced, enjoyable way.

Jini’s Perfect Day

I re-do the Perfect Day exercise every so often, especially when I feel frustrated, or out of balance. The first time I did this exercise, I did two different versions – just to help me define my desires and my parameters better. I mapped out one Perfect Day pretending I was married, but had no kids. Then I mapped out another Perfect Day for the life I actually had – wife and mother of three children.

Why did I do that?

Because as soon as you have extra beings in your life that require your care – kids, animals, an aging or sick family member – the map of your day changes significantly. So I found it valuable to first map out a Perfect Day with no kids in it. This enabled me to really plug back into my core self, to get out of mom-mode (where I tend to put the kids’ needs first) and plug into my own soul’s desire, my own physical and emotional needs.

Once I had mapped out my perfect kid-free day, I was able to see my core self and my soul needs more clearly. And then after that I did a realistic Perfect Day map; one that included my children and all the demands of my real life. Some of you may need to get rid of your spouse too, in your first perfect day map, if you tend to take care of their needs before your own.

Mapping my perfect day in this manner led me to make some changes to our family’s way of operating. I set up certain systems differently and reassigned some responsibilities. For example, I taught the kids a repertoire of foods they could make for themselves for both breakfast and after school – thereby relieving me of those repetitive, energy-sucking (for me) tasks.

I started weekly menu planning with them (I have a couple of really picky eaters) for suppers and established that 2 meals per week would be crock-pot (slow cooker) meals to cut the work load on the days my daughter had gymnastics and needed to eat supper at 3:30 pm.

We rearranged the bedtime routine with the kids and my husband and I re-scheduled things so we both got more workout time.

Mapping my perfect day also made me realize that I wasn’t doing enough of the activities that fed my soul and my creativity. Some of the things I wanted did not exist, so I set up my own Art (painting) Group, my own Bookclub, and persisted until I found the perfect yoga class (my former yoga mentor had retired), and an awesome Pilates teacher.

On the work front, I was already pretty organized about delegating, or outsourcing, anything other than new product creation, but by actually mapping my day hour-by-hour, I realized that replying to my blog and Facebook comments was now taking up a good chunk of my time; but even more of my mental space. By the time I finished answering the blog comments, my focus was fragmented and I had less energy for new product creation.

I also realized that answering emails left me in the same state; with fragmented energy and less focus. So I decided to not even look at my emails until the last 45 minutes of my work slot. If I couldn’t get to all of them in that time frame, I could squeeze them in here and there when the kids were home and occupied with their friends or sports. I delegated all the Facebook and blog comments to my assistant and instructed him to only tag me to answer a comment if he couldn’t, or if he felt I could add significantly to his answer. I have lots of other holistic time- and energy-saving routines and hacks for you to experiment with.

Again, these insights only came about because I went through the process outlined above and actually wrote down an hourly breakdown of my perfect day – one with kids and one without.

Your Perfect Day Maps

Now it’s your turn. Do each of these Perfect Day maps – even if it doesn’t make sense to you – and by the end I guarantee you will have some significant insights about what you want, and what you need to do to make that happen…

Perfect Day – Biz Flourishing & NO Dependents

This is what my Perfect Day looks like (in 1-hour increments, from the time I wake up), with no dependents, and my dream business flourishing:

Perfect Day – Biz Flourishing & Real Life Responsibilities

This is what my Perfect Day looks like (in 1-hour increments, from the time I wake up), with my existing family and responsibilities, and my dream business flourishing:

Perfect Day – Biz Start-Up

This is what my Perfect Day looks like (in 1-hour increments, from the time I wake up),
with my existing family and responsibilities, and my dream business in the start up or development phase. Remember that most of the work is in the set-up, so if you have a baby or toddler, this phase will last far longer for you than for a single person, because you just won’t have the same time to dedicate to your business. Be realistic:

Now that you’ve done all three maps… Did you learn something new about yourself?

Did you discover some desires you didn’t know you had, or, weren’t giving yourself permission to have?

Are you much clearer now about how you want your life (including work, family, hobbies, health) to look, in order to provide yourself with the freedom and fulfillment that your soul yearns for?

Write down the things you realized and the things your soul yearns for – and then write down here the things you need to change or reorganize in your life to achieve your Perfect Day for this stage and phase of your life: