Archive for January, 2010

“San Jose is a pretty noisy city, so we’re looking forward to seeing the rest of the island” is actually a quote I overheard a tourist say when they first got to Costa Rica.

Of course, Costa Rica is not an island, nor is it pronounced “Costa Rico”. The confusion probably comes from another island that we all know called “Puerto Rico”.

“I’d love to spend my winters in the tropics like you, but isn’t Costa Rica dangerous? Aren’t there poisonous snakes?” is another question I often got asked.

I live in Central America during the winters because I love warm weather, beautiful tropicalal beaches and waterfalls, sunshine, inexpensive ripe fruits and vegetables and the outdoors.

But Costa Rica (or Panama) is not Miami! Here are some reasons that might discourage you from choosing this beautiful country as a place to live, spend the winter or retire:

1) There are bugs at the beach. Ants are everywhere and if you leave the smallest scrap of food, they will get it. Snakes are in the jungle and some are poisonous. Mind you, there hasn’t been any death from snake bite in over 13 years in Costa Rica, and drownings are far more commons, but everybody freaks about snakes. Yes, there are snakes in the jungle. I once discovered that a 3-foot boa lived in our attic, and one hotel I know got his parrot eaten by a snake. They’re not after you, but they’re out there.

2) There are no street numbers and often no street names in Costa Rica or Panama, and no to-your-door mail delivery. Street addresses, even for business are something like “100 meters North of the Santa Lucia Church”. It’s up to you to figure out where Santa Lucia church is…

3) Don’t move here if you insist on things getting done… yesterday! Latinos don’t like to offend and will often say that things will be done much sooner than they actually will, just to save face. If you like everything to be done in an orderly, perfect way, and get mad at every employee or clerk that makes you wait, you will not be happy here.

4) Don’t move here if you’re the “control freak” type of personality. When a neighbor throws in a party and cranks the music, it would be extremely impolite to knock on the door and ask them to please keep it down. Here people are expected to be able to live their lives. The good thing is that probably nobody will knock on your door to complain about anything! If they do, it’ll probably be a fellow gringo than a local. If someone doesn’t like your dog, keep it in leash. Your neighbors will be much more likely to poison it with rat poison rather than call the police or complain about it. I am not kidding.

5) Again, latinos don’t like confrontation. It’s a culture of “harmony” under a smiling pretence. Latinos don’t like our version of “honesty” when we confront someone with the truth of their incompetence. Nothing will win you an enemy faster than doing this here. If you ask a taxi driver, “Do you know how to get there?”, he might respond, “Si, señor, no problem.” That may translate that yes, he knows how to get there. Or that may translate to mean “Yes, I might know how to get there, once I ask a few people and fellow taxi drivers”. Or that might in fact mean, “No, I have no idea how to get there, and in fact I’m not even a real taxi driver, I just pretend to be one!”

6) Don’t move to Costa Rica or Panama if you’re easily frustrated by red tape. Something as simple as getting a phone line, opening a bank account or even getting a cell phone can be extremely complicated in Costa Rica if you’re trying to do it on your own. I suggest working with an expert in relocation such as the ones I recommended in “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”. The positive side of this is that rules are not always “fixed in stone” and you can often talk your way out of something (that may sometimes giving a bribe to a city official).

7) Don’t come and live here if you can’t learn to relax. About once a week, the power goes out where I live. You never know when it’s going to happen, and what caused it. It usually lasts a few minutes, but can last up to an hour. It has never lasted any longer in all the time I’ve lived here, but I’ve also never been able to figure out what caused it. The locals just smile, tell you to relax, “it will be back!”

8 ) People in Costa Rica and Panama speak Spanish, and not many outside of the tourist industry can speak fluent English. If you just come here and talk to everyone in English and expect them to understand, you will be frustrated.

9) There are no hurricanes here, but earthquake and volcanos are the local natural health hazard. You won’t be more at risk living here than living in San Francisco, but you have to be aware than the next “big one” could be tomorrow.

10) Hot water is a luxury. In most budget places, the water in the shower is “warmed” by a little electric device. These showers are known to gringos as “suicide showers” although I’ve never actually heard of anyone electrocuting themselves with them. By the way, I do have running hot water where I lived, but I didn’t the first three years I lived here.

I also want to demystify some misconceptions about living in Costa Rica or Panama:

• You don’t need any vaccinations to come here. There are no malaria outbreaks and very minimal risk of tropical diseases.
• There is crime, but not more than in most major cities of North America.
• The tab water is actually drinkable.
• Both countries are very clean. People are better groomed than the average American, and the average restaurant is very well maintained and cleaner than the average restaurant in the States.
• You can get high-speed Internet access in most major cities, and even by the beach. There’s an Internet café almost every street block (costing often less than $1 per hour).
• Your cell phone will work here.
• There is no army, no civil war, no guerilla groups, and a very peaceful political climate.

Don’t let this put you off! Living here has so many things to bring. The dream of the tropical paradise is true! Warm weather, friendly people, beautiful waterfall, low cost of living… just don’t try to go it alone. If you’re serious about relocating abroad full-time or part-time, check out my course “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”.

I noticed that a lot of people are making terrible mistakes when it comes to build their online business. One of them is to focus too much on design instead of content and structure. Check out this 10-minute video as part of my ongoing “Do What You Love Video Blog”:

I’m looking forward to your comments.

I’m certainly not a conspiracy theorist, but I do have my concerns about the future. And that’s why I have a “Plan B.” Everybody should have a “plan B” — a second alternative that you can feel comfortable going back to if your initial plan doesn’t go as well as you thought it would. But before I speak about this “plan B”, let’s try to define what the plan “A” is in the first place.

Plan A is what most people try to do. It’s called the “American Dream,” but also the rat race.

I believe that the American Dream in itself is a noble endeavor. Everybody wants to improve their current circumstances.

Own a house. Raise a family. Drive a nice car. Invest some money so you don’t have to worry about your old days. Live somewhere nice.

I’m certainly not putting down any of these things. I’m not one of those naturalists who think that “materialism” is bad and the desire to become financially independent is not “spiritual”. I believe that the founding fathers of the USA were right when they said that every man (or woman) has the right of the pursuit to happiness.

The problem with the American Dream is when it turns into the “rat race”. When you’re constantly running in circles, trying to achieve the dream but never quite reaching it — and also never being totally fulfilled by it. It’s also the rat race when you can’t enjoy the process of reaching your goal. You’re only focusing on the future possibility of attaining it, but not enjoying the time you have RIGHT NOW. You’re living life in the future.

Of course, it might not be a rat race if there weren’t so many things that stood in your way. For example:

· You do your best earn some income, but the government takes most of it away in taxes — overtly or covertly.

· Inflation eats away the value of your money, things are getting more expensive as years go by

· An entire culture around you is influencing you to spend, spend, spend — and you find it hard to save

It probably would be a lot easier to achieve certain prosperity if there were not all these obstacles in your way. But another problem with the rat race is that even if you manage somehow to get the things you coveted, will you feel fulfilled and happy?

Here, the goal is more than making money on the Internet. It’s about living a live you love — a life that you’ve designed, not one that was designed for you.

Costa Rica and My Plan B

For the past 4 years, I’ve been spending several months of the year in Costa Rica. Previously I would go on rather long vacations in various countries to “break” the winter, but now I feel like Costa Rica is my first home, and that’s where I want to spend most of my time.

Whenever I arrive here, I always feel that I’m becoming a different person every time. First of all, my expenses go way down.

I spend a lot more time outside, so I don’t need so much “entertainment.” Entertainment is going to the beach or the waterfalls, or exploring a new part of the country.

A lot of things are also cheaper. Because I eat mostly fruits and vegetables, my food expenses are cut in half when I’m here.

Last year, I calculated that I actually saved money by coming here for several months, even though I still paid for my apartment in Montreal when I’m gone! (At this point, I got rid of my apartment in Canada to live in Costa Rica with my fiancée).

I don’t spend as much here not just because things are cheaper… but also because I’m more fulfilled.

During a typical week, we might spend 3 or 4 days working at home, where we have my high-speed Internet, and get as much work done as I did back home in Canada.

I might run every other day by the beach, go to the farmer’s market to buy amazing fruits and vegetables, watch the same TV shows I follow at home (such as Lie to Me or Lost, my favorite TV addictions), and read a lot more than I do at home.

On the weekends, we’ll definitely go to the beach, or go diving, or take a “river walk” to bathe in the numerous beautiful waterfalls, go to hot springs, or take a trip to a new area of the country (and there are so many of them).

Costa Rica certainly isn’t the cheapest country in the world. I know I could go to South-East Asia and spend less than I spend here. But I like it in Costa Rica because it’s convenient, extremely friendly, fairly safe and not too far from North America.

The Internet Freedom Lifestyle

My point with all of this is that I couldn’t be doing what I’m doing if it were not for the Internet Freedom Lifestyle. It really isn’t about the cost, because as I’ve demonstrated you can spend less overall by leaving for half the year to a tropical paradise!

It’s more about having the freedom to do it.

Now I know that you probably have some commitments that might not make it easy to leave for several months a year, such as a job or children.

But that’s also why I want to talk about it… so you can know that you can have a “Plan B” if you really want to change your life.

A lot of people say they’d love to be doing what I’m doing, or spend a year abroad, but they can’t because of the money issue.

But is it really about money?

There are lots of places where you can have a great life for as little as $700 a month. Tropical places such as:

· Goa, India (where you can rent a place close to the beach for less than $400 per month)

· Ecuador, where I know a couple who spends only $500 for their entire lifestyle (and enjoy lots of luxuries)

· Mexico, where you can find lots of beautiful and friendly pueblos away from the main tourist areas

· South East Asia, where mangoes cost 25 cents a pound (or less), avocados 10 cents each, and durian (a favorite tropical fruit of mine) $1 each.

And if you like it a bit more like home, Costa Rica is a great, friendly place that costs a bit more than the aforementioned places, but not nearly as much as you could spend in North America.

I personally find it extremely comforting to know that I can always live in great places all around the world, just from the income that I earn with my Internet Business.

And that even if things went really bad… I know I could live anywhere I wanted, and enjoy a much better life than if I tried to stay on the course of the “rat race” back in Canada.

How hard is it to generate $700 in profits each month from an Internet business? Not hard at all, as I’ll show you in a moment.

Isn’t it good to know that you have some options in this world?

Generating Internet Income Anywhere in the World

Now you know you can live in a tropical paradise for a fraction of what you’re currently spending at home.

Even if the whole “relocation/travel” thing doesn’t appeal to you, at least you know you have other options than the eternal rat race.

The first step is to set up a business that can earn you passive income from anywhere in the world.

When I say “passive income”, I’m referring to semi-automatic sales.

You will have to put in work to set things up, and after you will have to put in regular hours to maintain it, but your efforts will also generate sales automatically.

If you want true passive income, you’ll have to put aside $250,000 aside in Certificates of Deposits. Supposing that it earns you 5% per year, you’ll earn a little over $1000 per month in interest.But even that can’t be forever, because interest rates will change, and inflation will eventually eat away a chunk of your nest egg. Plus… who really wants to stop working completely?

If you love what you do, and helps lots of people and earns you what you need to live with only a few hours of work per week… why would you want to give that up?

· So you set up an Internet business. This business has a lot of automated systems built into it.

· You earn X amount of dollars per month — enough to cover your desired lifestyle, plus some for savings and emergencies, or future projects.

· You set this business up in a jurisdiction that works for you. For most people, that means opening a business in the USA or Canada, or Europe.

· You don’t have to create a “company” at this point. You can do business under your own name. But you’ll probably be much better off if you set up some kind of enterprise (such as a sole proprietorship), in order to benefit from tax deductions.

· Money earned will be deposited in your business or personal bank account. A certain amount should be set aside for taxes. Discuss this with your accountant.

· You can withdraw this money from anywhere in the world using your ATM card, or through bank transfers or Western Union, or take enough cash with you when you leave.

· Set things up the right way at home: have your finances, accounting and paperwork in order. Then you’ll feel free to leave for anywhere for almost any amount of time. Almost all paperwork that needs to be signed can be sent remotely with a fax (use www.efax.com for a true international fax number). Worst case, you can use FedEx to send important papers if you’re away from home, but I’ve personally never had to do that.

· The simpler and most systematized your business is, the easier it will be for you to leave whenever you want.

The key with all of this, of course, is to generate enough income with your online business.

I’ve got the last two parts of my live presentation “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement” here for you! I’m including: How to start a mail order business from anywhere, how to build a website on a tight budget, and more! If you missed the first parts, click here for part one, and here for part two.

Part 3:

Part 4:

Update!

The course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement” is going to be released on Thursday! This is our 4th edition — most complete to date, featuring the detailed 10 modules PLUS hands-on webinars and exclusive bonuses for the first people who sign up. One bonus we’re all excited about is the DVD series by Terry Dean “Blogging for Fun and Profits” — which is already sold for $97 on this page.

Past students are welcome to join, and because of the live webinars, I’m limiting space for new students to a maximum of 15! The course starts next week.

There will NOT be enough space for everybody to sign up and especially to get the bonuses. Terry Dean gave us a total of 10 DVD sets to give away, so we’re going to limit it at that.

Please watch for my announcement around 11 p.m. Eastern on Thursday if you want to sign up and get all the bonuses.

This is the video of a live conference I did last summer at the Vibrant Living Expo in Fort Bragg, California.  In this first part I talk about common excuses people have for not starting their own business.  I’ll be posting the next parts soon!

I found that the biggest problem people have to succeed with their online business is not being able to get a fully functional and monetizable website up and running. People spend months and often years to get it done!

In my upcoming webinars as part of “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement“, I’ll show you how to do it in one evening. Even better: we’ll do it together. Check out this video:

Before I move to today’s Do What You Love Tip, I want to give you a heads up regarding the launch of our course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement”!

We’re about to release a revised 4th edition of the course, with some very exciting new features. This is our most complete program on earning a living doing what you love, and it’s only available once or twice a year. It’s set to be launched on January 14th, and will be available for about 2 days. Stay tuned for more details!

Are you afraid that if everybody were trying to do a living doing what they love, there would be too much competition and not enough space for everybody?

There’s a question that came up about my course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement” that I would like to address it today’s e-mail.

Someone asked me:

- Why give away your secrets?
- Why give away your business contacts?
- Aren’t you creating more competition for yourself, potentially hurting your own business in the future?

The question comes up, because many people are afraid of lack, and scarcity is a primal motivation in the human psyche. And often this fear of lack prevents you from taking any action at all.

Naturally, when faced with the possibility of making a living on the Internet, starting your own website about health or any other subject, you are going to face competition, market saturation, and other realities of the world.

So is there enough room for everybody?

Here’s how I see things now…

My online business is really well established, so having other people to start up websites on the same subjects wouldn’t hurt me at all and would only help me.

Dozens of my own students have started successful websites and built sizeable list, and it’s only been good for all of us.

In fact, a big problem with this business is that there are not enough people who know what they are doing! People start up websites but have no knowledge about marketing therefore finding good affiliates is a very difficult task.

But I can expect that when more people start their own mailing lists and websites we can only succeed more together, and many positive associations will become possible.

If there were more people with great websites on the subject of health and nutrition, raw foods and that kind of stuff, with a *great* mailing list and websites, we could do miracles all together.

It’s like there’s a big lake and I’m fishing in it, throwing my line into it, but people are afraid that if they join and start fishing too, that at some point there won’t be enough fish to feed everybody.

The truth is: look around you.

Ask yourself: how many people need to improve their health?

And how many of those people use the Internet?

That will give you an idea of the size of the pond. It’s really, really big.

So even if my own mailing list is fairly big compared to someone who is starting out… there’s no way that having other people learn to build their own website and business would be a negative thing. I’m only reaching a tiny-tiny little percentage of the population, and so are all of the other websites out there.

There is definitely room for you to park your space, cast your line, and be doing what you love.

I want to empower you to learn how you can contribute in your own, original way, and create something unique that is yours — based on some very important principles that will work for everybody.

I decided to teach the course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement” because it’s a passion to me. I follow my passion and I love to organize and systematize information. I have great knowledge to share and I love to create courses to share it. This is what I do.

If you want to make a living doing what you love, you won’t be disappointed with this course. It takes everything that I’ve learned and teaches you a step-by-step system for making a living doing what you love.

If you’re not a student of the course yet, I’d love you to come and learn from me. I’d love teach you how you can fish so you can feed yourself for a lifetime, like the saying goes, doing what you *love*, every day. I’d like you to make 2010 a breakthrough year for yourself, in your personal achievements and success.

When you enroll as a student for the course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement,” you’ll not only get access to the only complete system ever create to earn a living online in the natural health field, but you’ll also get to participate in real live “hands-on” sessions where together we’ll build your business, one step at a time.

I’m really excited about this upcoming 4th edition. I first launched this course 3 years ago, and I’ve revised it several times to make it better and better.

This upcoming edition brings some very important changes that will make it super easy for you to start your business from scratch and succeed earning a living doing what you love.

I’ll be telling you a bit more about this in the next few days…

Let’s all succeed together — there is enough for everybody.

Yours for health and abundance,

Frederic

PS: I only offer the course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement” about two times a year. I consider January to be the best time of the year to start something new… so make sure you mark January 14th in your calendar! The course will be offered in a short time-window of about 2 days.