Making Money Online

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 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.

A lot of people ask me: what kind of product can I sell on my website?

I personally have had the most success with information products. Here’s a list of possible types of information products you can release.

There are many different types of products you can sell on the Internet. My only focus here is to show you how to create and sell information products (as opposed to consumable items such as food, cosmetics, or appliances). Let’s take a look at the different types of information products you can create and sell.

· Book — This is a classic information product. I consider the book to be more like a fancy “business card” and credibility builder rather than an item that earns you a lot of money. Therefore, I don’t recommend releasing an actual, physical book until you have started building your list and have at least a couple other information products under your belt. If you decided to publish a book, consider going with a print-on-demand publisher. At the moment, the best service for print-on-demand for books is the Amazon company CreateSpace (www.createspace.com)

· eBook — The eBook can be a create information product to sell as an entry-level product to the rest of your product line. The eBook doesn’t need to be very long, but can include other bonuses such as audio recordings, other bonus eBooks, live teleconferences, etc.

· Audio CD or MP3 download — Audio products can be very successful. Take, for example, my “Perfect Health Program”, which essentially is 12 hour-long teleconference interviews, and a few bonus booklets, sold for around $300 on CDs, and less as a download. You can have a single, hour-long audio product that could fit on a CD, or a package combining several recordings.

Nowadays, it’s best to offer the option between the audio CD and the digital download. Offer the digital download for about 20% less and free shipping. Between 20 and 50% of your customers will still choose the physical version, even if they have to pay more for it. We expect that percentage to dramatically lower overtime. To ship CDs on-demand, with very few efforts on your part and a professional design, use the service at www.kunaki.com

· DVD or Video Download — Video is even more popular than audio, but more time-consuming. It can also be sold for more. An easy way to create video products is to host a live conference and film the event. Then, sell the recording. At this point, most people prefer to have the actual DVD to comfortably watch on their TV than having to download a large video file to watch on their computer. When I released my Raw Vegan Cuisine DVDs, only 2 people (out of hundreds of comments left on my blog about the pre-release) wanted to have the download. So at this point, I don’t recommend selling the download of DVDs.

DVDs can easily be produced again by www.kunaki.com. One exception would be to create a series of short videos (about 10-20 minutes long) on a very simple camera like the Flip, and sell them as a package available in a password protected membership site (with only one payment to access it).

· Live Teleconferences and Videocasts — Less marketers than before use teleconferences it seems. However, they are still a great way to create a product. All you have to do is organize an event, sell the “seats” for people to attend, produce a replay, and then create a product from the recording. Video teleconferences are now more popular. The best service for that is www.gotowebinar.com. For traditional audio teleconferences, I recommend www.nobrainerteleseminars.com

· Live Events or Cleanse — I wrote an entire special report on this for members of the Success Group. The idea here is to organize a “live” cleanse or detox program, or a form of “challenge” where participants are going to achieve some kind of goal, such as following a diet or fitness program for a specific length of time. You provide a written explanation of the program, and assist them with daily motivational emails, a discussion forum where they can connect with other members, and possibly live teleconferences. This type of product works very well in the natural health field.

· “Courses” — One of my favorite type of high-end information product is the online “course” or “training program.” To create it, all you need is a theme that promises to solve a problem or teach your clients something they really want to know. For example, some of my online courses include “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement”, “How to Write Your Own eBooks”, and “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”. As you can see, you can easily come up with a title just by using the words “How to_____” followed by your promise.

The structure of this type of online courses can vary, but usually you’ll want to have 4 to 8 lessons, one per week. These can be offered live or delivered by email. I don’t recommend going for more than 8 lessons. I found the attention span is greatly reduced after 8 weeks of consecutive lessons, and you invite more refunds that way. 4 to 8 lessons is best.

What you do is you charge for the whole package at once, but deliver the lessons overtime. You can also offer payment plans. Lessons can be in audio, video, or written format, or a combination of both. You should also include some form of support, such as direct email access to you, or a discussion forum, or teleseminars, or a combination of those.

For my course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movements”, the lessons are in audio format, assisted by slides and homework assignments, and checklists. For “How to Write Your Own eBooks”, I wrote the lessons in text format, and then recorded the audio of each lesson for additional value. For “How to Move to a Tropical Paradise”, I recorded screen capture videos of slideshow presentations.

The advantage of this type of product is that you can sell the product right away, even if you have not completed it yet. You only need one lesson before you start selling the course.

· Packages — I outlined some of the basic forms of information products. Of course, you can combine some of these items together to create all kinds of packages.

Some people have asked me, “What is the very first thing I should do to start making money on the Internet?” It’s not always obvious to answer that question, because there are a lot of possible answers.

First, let’s take a look at what are some of the steps necessary to successfully earn a living online:

- You need a list

- You need a TOPIC and a domain name

- You need a website

- You need some products to sell

- You need TRAFFIC to your website

- You need credibility

- You need a salesletter for your products

- You need to know WHY you’re doing this. What is your ultimate goal?

In my course “How to Make a Living in the Natural Health Movement,” I spend a lot of time covering the plan. I believe people should have a good plan before they start investing too much time and energy towards a business that might not work for them.

For example, you might have a great idea, like opening a restaurant, or writing a book. But if you don’t investigate more and be clear about WHY you’re doing this, and what is your ultimate end goal, you might end up with a book that nobody wants to buy, or worse, a business that costs you money and takes up all your time.

So that’s why I get people to spend several modules to research their market and be sure they’re going in the right direction.

However, I do think that there’s something even simpler that anyone can do, and which will give you results even if you’re not clear about your market and what you want to do.

So what is this special technique?

It’s very simple:

Start a blog and write a new article at least 2 or 3 times a week in it.

It will cost you very little to do this, and it will work to your advantage in several ways.

First of all: in spite of the huge popularity of online videos, text is still the dominant medium on the web, and the way most people prefer to learn. In fact, a recent survey with over a thousand responses I conducted on my list confirmed this.

In order to get traffic to your website, you need content. And the best content to have is text.

Secondly, if you want to be successful online, you need to establish a routine for writing articles. Chances are that if you don’t start now, you will have problems doing it later.

By starting a very simple blog, with new articles 2-3 times a week, you will learn a lot about writing, about the Internet, and you will be surprised by the amount of positive feedback you get once you start publicizing your blog.

Even if you realize down the road that you want to change the topic of your website, you will still have gathered all that invaluable experience and have a ton of content that you can use in many ways.

Content is king on the web. There is simply no way around it. If you have great content, people will come. You will get traffic.

Just writing a short article of about 500 words, every other day, and posting it on a blog is the best way to get started making a living with your passion on the Internet.

Yours for health and success,

Frederic

PS: Want coaching? Go to: http://www.dowhatyouloveuniversity.com/new.html