One of the most fundamental needs of humans is that of security.

We need to feel that we’ll be able to maintain the same standard of living in our future and that our needs will be taken care of.

In the previous economic paradigm, those needs would have been met by a benevolent government or company through well-funded pensions that would take care of us in our old age.

That may have worked for people currently getting benefits out of the system, but anyone under the age of 55 today probably doesn’t believe that the same system will be in place when they get older.

We’ve seen the whole structure of the welfare state collapse in recent months in Europe. Recently, the new minister of social affairs in Italy was crying on television when she announced that:

“I’m sorry. People who work have no more money for you. Consequently, the retirement age will be raised to 62 years for women and 65 for men. We can no longer afford to index pensions with inflation, so you’ll have to do without. ”

You probably know what a Ponzi scheme is. A lot of people have fallen for those over the years.

The concept is pretty simple. You get investors and promise them an awesome rate of return, way above the market. For example, a 20 or 30% annual return. Then, you pay these suckers faithfully for a while, but only with the proceeds of other investors that are joining in! So you spend all the capital you have to pay everybody, but eventually the structure has to collapse.

The company takes your nest egg and runs!

Government pensions are a Ponzi scheme because people receiving benefits today are being paid through the taxes of people working today. What you pay in taxes today doesn’t go to fund your own pension… it just goes to pay people that were promised benefits decades ago.

And it doesn’t matter whether you live in the USA, Europe, Canada or elsewhere. Most countries have the same problem.

So we know we can’t count on our governments to take care of us in the future.

We also know that the companies we work for might not be able to take care of us in the future.

The only thing that’s left is personal accountability for security.

The beauty of the Internet Freedom Lifestyle is that you can develop skills that can earn you a living no matter what happens in the world.

I know for a fact that even if I lost everything I have built so far, I could still start from scratch and with everything that I know, make a full-time living again in a matter of just months. And once it’s setup, I only need a few hours a day to maintain it.

Sure, you have to adapt with the times. The Internet, as it is today, will not last forever. Eventually, it will change form as technology evolves.

Even if you have a full-time job, I highly recommend that you start developing an Internet business on the side. You have a better chance to count on that as your “Pension fund” than whatever your government is promising you.

If you can’t wait to get started, check out the Do What You Love Success Group.

And as a special bonus, if you try out the Success Group, you’ll get a copy of my program “Laptop and a Beach” that teaches exactly how to create a mobile, Internet Freedom Lifestyle.

Check it out at:
 http://www.dowhatyouloveuniversity.com/new.html

“You work from home? Wow! I wish I could do the same.”

If I had a quarter for every time I heard someone tell that to me, I wouldn’t be rich but I would definitely have enough rolled up quarter to buy me a stay at a Hilton hotel, maybe for a week.

Working from home is often romanticized as the best job ever.

You rarely have a boss. And if you do, you never have to face him in person.

Then you can set your own hours, work whenever you feel like it, and NOT work whenever you feel like it.

With a laptop, you can work anywhere — lying on your bed comfortable (which I do regularly), in your home office, on your kitchen table, outside on the patio, and best of all, while traveling to exotic places.

You don’t have to stay in one place! You can work anywhere. It’s complete freedom.

Or so they say…

I won’t deny that working from home, overall, is pretty awesome. I would not switch what I do for any job in a corporate office.

But one thing that is rarely talked about are the challenges of working from home. The dream of working from home is what they sell you in books and self-improvement seminars. But there’s a few things they never told you about it, that only people who experienced it will be able to nod and say “oh yeah, I know exactly what he’s talking about.”

Let’s talk about the “dark” side of working from home and how smart entrepreneurs deal with it.

The Trap of the Open Schedule

In theory, everybody loves the idea of an open schedule. You set up your own hours, work whenever you feel like, and if you want to take a day off in the middle of the week, that’s okay too.

In practice, this approach never works!

It’s just human nature. Without structure, we’re lazy and disorganized.

Start working from home and pretty soon you’ll start chasing your own tail, wasting your time in unproductive activities and have the constant feeling of not getting anything concrete done, yet never allowing yourself the freedom to take any real time off, out of guilt.

Anyone who’s worked from home long enough knows that you have to set yourself a schedule and stick to it.

Once in a while, you can change your schedule or skip it completely, but there must be a basic setup in place.

For example, my typical work day starts around 10 a.m. (I know, poor me…). In the morning before 10, I exercise and get ready for the day. Then, starting at 10, I work for a couple of hours, and then have lunch. Then I try to have a productive afternoon. In the evening, I’ll often work for two hours from 7 until 9.

I try to take at least one complete day off per week, and some days I only work 2-3 hours.

You need a schedule and a plan, otherwise you’ll start wasting your time and never get anything done.

The Cabin Fever Syndrome

One of the problems of working from home is that you’re home all the time!

After a while, cabin fever sets in.

First of all, your house is a mess, because you use it more than most people. You will stay in the house 8 to 10 hours more a day more than someone working in an office, meaning that you’ll end up needing to vacuum the floors and clean your place more often, leading you to spend even more time in the house.

When you have a job, you spend most of your day outside of your home. Then your home becomes a restful place that you associate with relaxation.

When you work from home, you start associating your house with work. It seems that there’s no place to escape. When you’re done with the day, it’s difficult to “call it a day” and relax, because work is always waiting for you under your laptop.

Sleep experts tell us that our bedrooms should only be used for sleeping and sex, but not for watching TV, and certainly not to work.

In your home, you should ideally have a dedicated office space where you work. When you close the door to that office, you leave your work behind. Don’t bring that laptop to the kitchen table or the bedroom bed, if you can.

To avoid cabin fever, you’ll need to plan more activities outside the house. Go out for a jog. Run errands yourself instead of ordering everything you need on the Internet.

That’s why I don’t start work until 10 in the morning. I need those few morning hours for myself, to read, go for a walk or a run, and enjoy the house without the thought of work.

As people who work from home grow their business, many of them end up renting a separate office space outside the house. Why? To avoid that cabin fever syndrome.

I personally rent an office in my city with the Regus.com group, through a subscription that allows me to use a private office 5 times a month. That way, at least once a week I get to spend an entire work day outside the home and alone, which keeps me productive.

Another strategy that many entrepreneurs have used, especially those with families and children, is to rent a hotel room once a month or so to conduct a “lock-in.”

This hotel room will not be used for illicit romantic encounters, but rather to work like crazy! For some reason, having a desk in a hotel room is very productive place, away from all distractions of home. I personally have used that technique successfully many time to finish projects.

The Schizophrenic Social Life

I recently met a lawyer who told me he could never work from home because he needs the stimulation of meeting people every day.

Work-at-home entrepreneurs tend to be a bit more introverted than most people. I personally am like that and that’s why I love to work at home.

But at some point, any normal person will start to go a little bit crazy from the lack of social interactions from working from home.

That’s why you need to plan more social events and get out of the house to meet people.

While it’s tempting to automate everything and never leave the house, conducting all of our business online, I find it liberating to be able to run some errands myself, go to the post office and do “normal” stuff, even though I could do many of those things on the Internet without having to leave the house.

Final Words of Advice for Work-at-Home Wannabes

The advantages of working from home outweigh the disadvantages.

You’ll never been invited to a boring christmas party.

You’ll never be molested by your boss! Or accused of sexual harassment for making a politically incorrect joke.

And you’ll never have to breathe the strong perfume of your co-workers, or the underarm smell of those who forgot to shower that morning.

And best of all, if you sleep in one day, no one will ever find out. Except you… and that may be the challenge of the work-at-home entrepreneur. You still work for someone: yourself! And you need some accountability.

Some tips:

• Don’t think that working from home means you don’t need any discipline anymore. You need MORE discipline working from home because you have no one to keep you accountable, except yourself.
• Try to separate “work” from “home” as much as possible. Don’t bring your work anywhere and everywhere.
• If you start to feel cabin fever, change environment. Go work at the public library, or at your favorite coffee shop.
• Resist the temptation to buy everything online, and sometimes actually get out of the house to run some errands
• Plan some “play days” in your schedule. Ideally, in those days you should not touch your laptop at all.
• Don’t forget that you need a social life. Schedule social meetings in your calendar, otherwise they will never happen!

Remember that the best thing about working from home — the total flexibility and freedom — can also turn into your worst enemy. Avoid that from happening by putting some structure into things, and you’ll only be more productive and happier.

To discover how to make passive income from home, consider joining the Do What You Love Success Group! http://www.dowhatyouloveuniversity.com/new.html You’ll get over $1700 of free education just for giving it a try.

Most people think that a great way to make a living on the Internet is through a blog like blogspot where you talk about your life and the things you like and get people to follow you.

Wrong!

Most bloggers are barely able to generate a few hundred dollars a month with their website, even when they get a ton of traffic. They put out so much great content, yet they don’t have many things to sell and build a faithful audience of people who love to read their free information, but don’t reciprocate by buying anything in return.

Sure some bloggers have paid advertisers on them, but they they are selling someone else’s information and when their readers click on the ads they leave their site and go somewhere else.

So if blogs don’t work, then what does?

The list-based approach has always worked best.

That means that the main thing that you do and offer is an ezine subscription. The great content that you send is sent by email. You want people to look forward to receiving your content in their email inboxes, not go to your website to read it.

Sure, you may want to have a blog to complement this approach, but the main goal of your blog is to actually get traffic so that people sign up for your list!

Once people sign up for your list, you may occasionally want to send them to your website to post comments on articles, but generally, you want to get them hooked to your emails, not your blog.

That’s the true mistake that bloggers make. They think that because they get a lot of traffic, they have a business. But all they have is a time-consuming hobby that earns them less than minimum wage.

This morning I was reading about the tough economic crisis facing Europe, and also the rest of the world at the moment.

This reminded me of what I was reading last week, and the week before, and the one before that…

Seriously, it seems that there are not many good news on the horizon when it comes to the state of the economy.

Naturally, it makes sense to start looking for ways to make extra cash. Did you know that even during the great depression of the 1930s, some industries thrived? Interestingly, the entertainment industry did pretty well during that time.

1) Start an Internet Business

A lot of people seem to think that because the economy is not doing so great right now, that it would not be a great time to start an Internet business. The truth is that it’s not a great time to start any kind of business!

To me, it makes a lot of sense to start an Internet business right now because of the freedom that the Internet Lifestyle allows. If you ever lose your main source of income, you’ll always be able to rely on extra income from your Internet business.

If you don’t have anything set up at the moment, you could be missing the boat when the economy start picking up again.

2) Offer Your Services to Internet Business

If the thought of starting an Internet business doesn’t appeal to you, there’s an easy way to make extra income while staying at home: offering your services to existing online businesses.

Even in my business, I’m always looking for quality contractors for graphic design, customer service and other projects.

Ask yourself how you can be of value to other small businesses. Is there a way you could improve their systems?

By asking yourself how you can be of value, you’ll never run out of work.

Skills that you can pick that are always in demand include:

- Graphic Design
- Web-mastering
- Virtual assistance
- Proof-reading/editing

You can sell your services through third party companies like www.elance.com, but you can also secure a job with a company that you’d like to work for.

3) Become an Affiliate

You don’t need to start an Internet Business to make extra cash online. You can sell other people’s products through affiliate programs.

All you need is a mailing list where you send some good content regularly. To build a list, I recommend placing ads on Google. Another strategy is to build a content-rich website and convert your traffic into subscribers.

Then, send out regular content-rich emails to your list, but also include some promotions for affiliate programs.

Select affiliate programs that convert the best for you. Go to www.clickbank.com for some ideas. Also check out my own program at www.healthandprofits.net

With this setup, you don’t need to create your own products, and you eliminate any need for customer service, bookkeeping and typical major business expenses. You just receive checks in the mail!

4) Write Your Own eBooks

eBooks are a great way to earn extra income online. They don’t sell automatically, but they can be repackaged in many ways. Plus, if you write a good eBook, you can always find someone to sell it for you as an affiliate, if you give them a good-enough commissions.

How do you write an eBook? Aim at writing 1000 words a day. In just 30 days you’ll have your entire eBook written! For a bigger eBook, count 60 days.

For the full-details, the best course on the subject is “How to Write and Sell Your Own eBooks in 24 Hours or Less,” available at:
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/writeyourebook.html

5) Start selling Kindle eBooks

I recently experimented with selling Kindle eBooks. In June of this year, I made $255 in one month selling Kindle books online. In July, that amount increased to $305. Then every month it kept on increasing. Last month, I sold over $800 worth of Kindle eBooks.

I’m not planning to give up everything else that I do and only sell Kindle eBooks, as it’s not enough to make a living for now, but it’s nice to see that the demand for Kindle eBooks is definitely growing.

Now there are Kindle stores in the United States, UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany. Plus, anyone anywhere in the world can purchase Kindle eBooks at any of those stores. If you publish a book in one store, it becomes available in all other stores in the local currency.

I did a full one-hour presentation on how to start selling Kindle eBooks.

To view it, just sign up for a one-month trial for the Do What You Love Success Group, and you’ll be able to download it from the member’s area. To get started, go to http://www.dowhatyouloveuniversity.com/new.html

A lot of people think they would be happier if they moved to a tropical paradise.

Not so long ago, that’s what I thought.

In 2006, I decided to move to Costa Rica to start a retreat center. The project fell apart, but I did not completely give up my dream of moving to paradise.

I kept going back there every winter, and after much thinking about it, I decided I felt comfortable enough about living there that I would want to make it my home base.

So in 2009, I moved with my then-fiancée Veronica to Costa Rica.

We lasted six months there, before we decided to head back to North America!

What I discovered is that there was a world of difference between living part-time in a tropical paradise and making a complete move there.

When you spend a few months a year somewhere, you always have the perspective of coming back “home” eventually. Even if you feel like you don’t want to leave when you’re there, your life has been built with your return in mind. Even if you spend almost half the year in that place.

When I used to spend 4-5 months a year in Costa Rica, I did it mainly to get away from the winter. So when I was there, I had a blast. I enjoyed nice weather, knowing I would have been freezing in Montreal!

But each place had different things to offer. In Costa Rica, I was a little isolated, but that was compensated by discovering a new culture and visiting beautiful, tropical environments. I enjoyed going to the beach or the waterfall, and practicing my Spanish.

But when I came back to Canada, I also enjoyed the return to “civilization” and seeing my friends and family again.

When Veronica and I moved to Costa Rica in 2006, she initially loved it. The discovery phase was great, but what killed it was the day-to-day.

We were too isolated. We lived near the little town of Quepos, where it was sweltering hot. We rented a nice condo, but during the week we didn’t have much to do instead of working on the computer. And to get anywhere, we needed to drive.

In previous winters in Costa Rica, I lived in a bigger city, but I faced the constant barking of dogs at night, which would drive me crazy. I never fully adapted to it, so I wore earplugs.

Another problem was that in places like Costa Rica, things are not very efficient. If your Internet breaks down, it’s often problematic to get it fixed.

The real reason we left was because we missed living in North America. As much as I loved Costa Rica, I loved it more as an escape than a “home base.” I didn’t like to have to plan a trip back to Canada as a tourist, with no home base there. I enjoy the day-to-day in Canada, but I sometimes need an escape to somewhere tropical.

I was always told that before you decide to move somewhere, you should at least spend six months there to see how you like it. And that’s true!

But still, people don’t listen to that advice. Even last week, I met a couple who told me they were going to move to Ecuador, lured by the thought of a tropical paradise… but yet they have never been there!

I told them they should at least check it out for six months before moving permanently, but they seemed committed to doing it their own way.

That’s why I created a course called “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise.”

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/tropicalparadise.html

Some people may be wondering why I offer that course, if I don’t even live full-time in a tropical place. That’s because my course is really about moving somewhere part-time, but also has information for those wanting to make a definite move.

Did you know how you can get cheap rent and food in certain countries, and that you could save enough to justify a long trip there every year?

That’s what you’ll discover in “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise.”

For the next 48 hours, the course is discounted by $400 on the Deluxe version, if you use the coupon code TROPICALPARADISE. Go to:

www.fredericpatenaude.com/tropicalparadise.html

“How can you afford to take two months off in the winter?”

That’s what the US border official asked me last week, when I was catching a flight to Corpus Christi, Texas, where my wife and I will be spending some quality “winter time.”

When you’re in Canada and fly to the USA, you cross the “border” inside the airport, so when you land you don’t have to go through border control again.

The agent was very friendly and genuinely asked me how I could take two months off to go to a more sunny place. After all, he was probably stuck in Canada for the entire winter due to his job!

Every year for the past 6 years or so, I’ve spent a good chunk of the winter in a sunny, tropical place. This year is the first time I go somewhere that’s not really “tropical.” In fact, Southern Texas is even a bit chilly right now. We’re almost at the border of Mexico, but I see the UPS guy wearing a hat and mittens while I’m out for my run in a T-shirt!

I guess Southern people are not very resistant to the cold…

My friends in Dallas tell me that it’s freezing and snowing there, and that because they lack infrastructures to deal with the winter, everybody freaks out and the entire city shuts down.

The reason I’m here is that my wife’s family owns a vacation house in Corpus Christi, so we’re spending some time visiting and combining that with our “winter retreat.”

Many people would love to spend a few months of the winter in a sunny, tropical place. Even folks in Dallas! And people in Miami might even want to get away from the tourists for a while.

I once met an American guy on the island of Moorea, in Tahiti, who would spent six months a year there because he thought Maui was becoming too developed. Going from one tropical paradise to another!

Having a winter retreat makes sense for most people. While some intrepid folks make a complete move full-time to a tropical paradise, the reality is that living full-time in the tropics is not for everybody. But living there part-time is a dream come true.

I’ve spent many winters in Costa Rica, and last year I travelled around the world. Next year, we might go to Thailand, but we haven’t decided yet.

When the border official asked me how I could take two months off in the winter, I told him that I owned my own business. To that he said:

“I guess with the Internet nowadays you can live anywhere, as long as you have a laptop.”

And to that I said “Exactly!”

And that’s true.

Yet most people are stuck where they are and can’t move like trees, which is a tragic thing.

That’s the beauty of what I call the “Internet Freedom Lifestyle.”

There are ups and down in building your Internet business, but if you’re patient enough the results are liberating.

How do you make that happen?

- First of all, you need to structure your business in a way that you don’t have any employees, only contractors. In other words, you want to be a client for other people’s business, instead of having employees. That way, you avoid the burden of payroll, a crushing administrative expense that can destroy your freedom.

- Second, you want to sell products that don’t require you to physically go to the post office and ship anything yourself. That’s easy to do with digital products but also print-on-demand.

- Finally, you have to set yourself up to be totally mobile, with a laptop, a mobile fax number (I recommend www.efax.com), a mobile scanner (I recommend the Fujitsu ScanSnap)… so that if anything comes up while you’re away, you can deal with it efficiently as if you were in your own office.

Of course, there’s a lot more than this in building the Internet Freedom Lifestyle.

In future posts I’ll tell you more about it.

In the meantime, the best way to get started is with the Do What You Love Success Group.

And as a special bonus, if you try out the Success Group, you’ll get a copy of my CD-ROM “Laptop and a Beach” that teaches exactly how to create a mobile, Internet Freedom Lifestyle.

Check it out at:
http://www.dowhatyouloveuniversity.com/new.html

Watch our latest video and sign up for the course at: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/makealiving.html