To make an impact on someone, touch them emotionally on a deeper level. That’s what Rich Dad Poor Dad did for me to a degree.

I finished this book over the weekend and it has had me thinking about quite a few things. It actually made realize how I view and use money. And what I need to change about that. Part of this book was my inspiration for my last post, Call Me Greedy If You Must. To say the least this book opened my eyes.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is written by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (contributed). Robert grew up with two dads. One rich and one poor (or middle class). He had the unique point of view of being able to see both sides of the spectrum between someone who is rich and someone who is poor. And boy, what a difference.

This book is chock full of useful tidbits and wisdom from someone that is rich themselves. And it even explains why rich people are, well, rich. They handle money differently than the majority of people. They do things smarter, not harder. Now I’m sure not all rich people do things the right way, but I came away from this book with a head full of ideas and realizations.

Maybe my growing up pretty much poor all my life had a part to do with this, but even if you are someone that is well to do already, there is still some knowledge to be had. It’s pretty amazing how ignorance can cloud your judgment. Not that I’m judgmental, but I was conditioned to think of people that are really rich as someone to avoid, someone who is just plain greedy.

So when it comes down to it, Rich Dad Poor Dad has helped me in more then just teaching me how to handle and make money (which is ingenious btw) but it’s opened my eyes to a few other things as well. The book itself is pretty easy to read, it’s fairly well written and has a lot of stories as well, which i always enjoyable.

I still don’t have any intentions in becoming super rich, but I’m not going to discount it completely like I used to. I’ve learned quite a bit from this book. And it has given me some great ideas that I’m going to start implementing now. Rich Dad Poor Dad has great long term financial advice. So if your looking for something to make you rich overnight, you won’t find it in this book.

Great read and I learned a lot. Both personally and financially. Definite must for any collection of knowledge.

To Put It Simply

- Great advice for long term financial advice
– Written by someone that has seen both rich and poor people and how they handle money
– May open your eyes to other aspects of yourself as well
– Great read, includes some cool stories, which are an awesome way to learn
– Highly recommended

Click here to get Rich Dad Poor Dad

~Chris

(all links lead to amazon.com)

Have you read Rich Dad Poor Dad yet? What do you think of it?

I have recently been trying out the new Scribe SEO by Brian Clark of Copyblogger. I’ve had a chance to try it out on a few of my posts, both present and past posts. Here are my thoughts on Scribe SEO.

Search engine optimization is a big thing around the online marketing world. If you write something that is optimized for SEO, you can bring in a lot of natural traffic from search engines. There is also big debate on writing for the SEO and writing for readers. The readability can suffer if you overstuff your article with keywords. While writing too much for the readers doesn’t optimize your article for SEO. It’s always seems like it’s one way or the other.

I always thought it would be nice to find a middle ground. Make it readable and SEO freindly. Frankly I’m not good with optimizing for SEO. At least not on my blog. I tend to write in a natural voice and while I do repeat things I’m not going to stuff my “conversation” with repeats of the same word (or maybe I do…). Don’t get me wrong, Google does like some of my articles. I have a few that are pulling in some natural traffic. Just not as much as I would like.

So, here I am trying to figure out how to optimize my articles so that they can be good for both SEO and my readers. That’s when I came across this awesome software. As I said, I’m still learning the tricks of search optimization and this particular software showed me that I was right, I’m not very good at optimizing my blog for SEO at all. But that’s also a good thing.

The cool thing that makes Scribe SEO stand out from other search engine optimization tools is that it works with what you have already written. Basically you write your blog and then use this tool to optimize it for SEO. That way it is still readable and it makes the search engines happy. Who can argue with that?

Here’s How It Works

Scribe SEO is actually a plugin for wordpress. The only requirements are to have the following themes: Thesis (great theme for seo btw), Headway, or Hybrid. Or you can also use the The All In One SEO plugin. The reason it needs one of these is because they provide custom fields for title tags and meta description.

Basically these are the two things that show up in the search results when someone does a search. Like this:

These themes and plugin will allow you to customize how your title and description will show up on the search engine. Scribe SEO uses this data to optimize your article. It then analyzes your article and tells you what you need to help the search engines like your content as well.

What That Means

Basically, what that means is that you can write out your article to please your readers. Afterwards you use Scribe SEO to analyze everything. It then presents to you what you can do to improve the SEO aspects of your article. Such as word count, link count, keywords, primary keywords, etc. It will even suggest ways to change your main keyword and give you data and suggestions for other keywords. It really is a powerful little piece of software.

Final Thoughts

This is exactly what I needed to help me get the idea of search engine optimization down without actually having someone stand here and show me. If I was writing purely for the idea of SEO I could do it. And I know I can write for my readers as that is my main focus anyways. But this little piece of software is what is going to help me find that middle line. And probably a lot of other people too. But not only is it going to help me but (this is key right here) it also helps me learn why it works and how it works.

This doesn’t just do the work for you. It shows you what you can do to make your article more efficient. It’s up to you to make it work. And that is what I love about this plug in. Even if I don’t have Scribe SEO to guide me along the way, I will know how to do it because it has shown me before. I’m learning how optimize and please both my readers and search engines. I love it!

That right there is worth the price alone. It’s like having someone show what your doing wrong and what you are doing right. Speaking of price, it’s fairly priced in my opinion for the value you get out of it. There are 3 different payment plans (monthly), each one suited for different needs. If you do affiliate work online, you could use this plugin to really rev up the SEO and bring traffic to your affiliate product. Ya, it’s not just for bloggers. It’s good for press releases, articles, web pages, basically anything that needs to be optimized for SEO.

I’ve rambled on long enough but I just wanted to give you an idea of how cool this is. Plus it has the name Brian Clark behind it so you know there is some expertise to the whole thing. Definitely a recommendation for those trying to sort out the search engine mystery.

Find Out More About Scribe SEO

The main page
Here is the main page and you can go through here and take a tour that will explain how it works and why it works better than I can.

Try it for free
Here you can try it out for 5 evaluations which should give you plenty of time to decide if it’s worth it. (It only took me a couple times to realize I made a great investment.)

Video Demo
Here is a video that goes over installing it and how it works.

Reviews
Go to google and do some of your own home work. There are reviews popping up all over the place about this.

~Chris

p.s. As of yet, I am not affiliated to Scribe SEO so all links go directly to their page. They will have an affiliate program soon though. Oh and until Feb. 26th they have a 72% sale on the advanced plan. So if you want to try it out I would hurry .

Have you used Scribe SEO yet? How did you like it? What did you like about it?

Let’s talk about truly successful people for a min. I’m not just talking about people that are making good money. I’m talking about the people that are making tons of money, live in big houses and are living the dream. More importantly these are the people that are successful as a person too. They have done great deeds and are generally good hearted people. They have reached great heights both in business and as a person. It’s like they are on a whole new level compared to most people.

I came across this concept when I first read Think and Grow Rich. The people are of high class, smart, successful people. It’s almost like they are the luckiest people on earth. Almost as if opportunity comes right to them. Which it does to a degree but it’s not because of luck.

What makes them so special? Why do they seem to have all the luck? That is what The Go-Giver: A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea is all about. This book can change your outlook on business and life as well. It is extremely enlightening.

The concept of that level of success and how they reached that point is still a bit of a mystery to me. I read about and I feel it. I grasp some of it but it always seems a bit out of reach. Maybe it has to do with my own personal current position. I think there are areas of my life that I need to change. But this book, The Go-Giver, helps in reaching that concept. It makes so much sense and is so simple to understand. It’s almost seems to good to be true.

For that reason alone this book is worth having. I think this is a must have next to books such as Think and Grow Rich. As I said, this book may change your outlook on things and for the better.

As for the book itself it’s a very easy read. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The reason it’s good is because it’s easy to go through and that saves time, plus it’s nice when you go back through it. The bad thing is that makes it seem extremely short. When something has this much juicy goodness to it I didn’t want it to end. But I think that is part of the lesson; Keep things simple.

I found myself stuck reading this book. It is extremely hard to put down. In fact it was quite the distraction when I was trying to do my work. But it’s fairly short so it’s not like I fell way behind because of it. To put it simply, it really is that good. And as I said before I was kind of sad to see it end.

The Verdict

To put it bluntly, go buy this book. It is a must have and one of my new favorites. There is just something about getting to see how ultra successful people work. To be able to see a little more of what lies there. It’s not about the money but to have a much more fulfilling life and enjoy our time here. And to make an impact on others, to make something of ourselves by helping others.

It’s an easy read and you’ll probably breeze right through it. I’m going to read it again here soon and the authors Bob Burg and John David Mann are coming out with another book soon that I look forward to purchasing as well. It’s an excellent read and a good enlightenment.

Get The Go-Giver: A Little Story About A Powerful Business Idea here.

~Chris

note: links are amazon affiliate links, just so you know . If you can find it cheaper somewhere else then by all means go for it. Just pick this one up, it’s a gem.

Have you read the Go-Giver? If so what did you think? Did you enjoy it too? How did it change your outlook on things?

Back in August of ’09 I wrote a review on Angela Booth. One of her main products I mentioned is Sell Your Writing Online Now and since I’m a little over halfway through it I thought it would be a good time to write a review on that.

Sell Your Writing Online Now (SWYON for short) is a comprehensive course on writing online. Since writing is one of my biggest passions I had to check it out. Basically once a week she sends you a new pdf covering certain aspects of writing. This course covers everything from article writing, PLR and it’s uses, to copy writing. The course covers just about every aspect of writing online and how to make a living with it.

It starts out easy with article marketing and blogging and moves to more advanced writing topics. In later weeks the course revisits some topics and expands on them. It’s pretty much an expansive overview of learning how to write for the net. Each pdf is about 5–7 pages long and there are times when I wonder if they could be longer. But they have no fluff or filler and she is straight to the point. Not only that but each lesson comes with a bonus of some sort.

The bonuses are usually another pdf relating to that weeks topics. Sometimes they are pretty good sized pdfs. These extras include things about productivity, marketing, and other topics that are related to making a living online with writing. These bonuses really make it worthwhile. I actually just read one that really opened my eyes to some things I need to work on personally. That reason alone makes it worthwhile. I’m not sure I would have found that ebook otherwise.

Another thing I should mention too is and the end of each lesson she gives you an assignment. If you really commit yourself and try to do that assignment before the next lesson you will start earning pretty early on. This is another big plus with this course too. You implement the lessons each time and grow your presence and income as you go through the course.

I’m on lesson 28 of 52 right now. I feel comfortable enough to recommend this course if your interested in earning a living online with writing. The lessons themselves may seem a little short sometimes, but the extra bonuses make up for it with more in depth information. Just be ready for the long haul. This course is definitely a commitment and just like anything else, if you don’t put the effort implement the lessons, it’s not going to work for you.

I almost wondered if the price was a bit steep for this course, but after spending some time with it, I can say it’s worth it. I’ve learned a lot from this course. And I’ve enjoyed my time with it. It’s not boring or cheap feeling.

Final word: If your interested in making living writing online then I say go for it. It’s most definitely worth it. At the very least you will learn how many ways you can make money online with your writing. Keep in mind this doesn’t go into detail of how to write but the different ways you can make money from writing online. It’s been a blast and a huge source of knowledge for me. Learn a little more about SWYON here.

~Chris

p.s. F.Y.I. the links are not affiliate links. It goes directly to her site.

If you have taken any part in SWYON leave your opinions in the comments below. If you have any other questions about it let me know. I’d be happy to help out.

I stumbled upon Jason Gazaway a while ago and was interested in his story. He talks about going from poor to rich right back to being poor again thanks to a flood wiping everything out. It was quite a humble story and so is he. Whether it’s true or not is beside the point. It got me interested in what he had to offer. He made a connection, which was awesome.

What he had to offer was Blogger’s Payback. Of course my love for blogging already made me interested so I had to check it out. It’s based around the idea of making money with blogging and how to do it. And it’s packed full of useful information. To say the least it’s a full course meal.

Keep in mind this guide is made to learn how to make a blog specifically for making money. If you are making blogs with something else in mind this may not work for you. Although the information on gaining traffic is very valuable.

The thing I like about Blogger’s Payback is that it isn’t just a general, run of the mill “this is how you make money blogging” product. Jason goes into detail of what you need to do to make it work and why. It’s nice to learn about something but it’s even better to learn why it works. Let’s go over what Blogger’s Payback covers real quick.

The Main Course

When you get it there are several module’s to download. The first and main course is the Blogger’s Payback ebook. This book covers everything from setting up hosting and installing your blog all the way to getting traffic to your blog and everything in between. It talks about how you can make money with your blog with ads and affiliate links among other money makeing tactics.

At 139 pages, this is the meat of the whole thing. You’ll go over the basics and some of the more advanced stuff as well. Jason also includes some tips in here that I never would have thought of otherwise for generating traffic. And it’s all good too. There aren’t any tactics that are questionable.

The Other Courses

Now onto the potatoes, corn, and biscuits. Along with the main ebook of Blogger’s Payback comes several other modules of information. They are a bit smaller but no less useful. Here’s the list taken from the sales page:

- Blogging for Cash Mindset
Getting into the mindset of making money with blogs.
– Killer Blog Content Fast
Just what it says. It goes over how to make great content at a good pace.
–30 Days to a Successful Blog
This is a plan starting from getting hosting and setting up the blog to making money with it. This coincides nicely with the main ebook.
– Blog Flipping Mastery
Flipping blogs can be very profitable. Learn how to do it here.
– Blogger’s Video Quickstart Series
This section is awesome. It contains video tutorials of most of the steps in the module’s

I Think I Ate Too Much

That’s your full course meal right there. Not to mention you get some dessert too that is probably worth more than the price of Blogger’s Payback that I haven’t even dug into yet.

This may seem like a lot of information and well, it is. It’s not too much however, this is the kind of balance that I was getting at in my post about having too many bonuses. Everything works and meshes together. This is a complete course to learn how to make money blogging, plain and simple.

With that said, if you do invest in this, take your time to go through the information. There is quite a bit, but then again there is a lot to blogging for money.

The Bill

All in all, I’m happy with my purchase. The cool thing is you can start at a trial price before you pay for the whole thing. And that trial lasts for 7 days. Which means you have more than enough time to check it out before you pay full price.

For just 5 bucks I was able to get access to the whole set. I didn’t have any problem paying for the rest when the time came around. This is high quality content here.

In conclusion

If your looking for a way to make some passive income with blogs, this is a great place to go. The information here is good quality and simple to understand. Just beware there is quite a bit of it. Big thumbs up in my book.

Click to check out Blogger’s Payback

note: This is an affiliate link, but as always I wouldn’t recommend something unless I found it to be a worthwhile investment.

~Chris

Productivity is pretty essential for anyone running an online business. And especially with marketing. We are all pretty busy and anything that can help make things easier is a big help. So when I came across Todoodlist, I had to get it. I’m glad I did. It’s all about being a bit more productive with your projects, but not in the way you might expect.

In today’s world technology is an integral part of everyday life. But as Todoodlist points out, are all these handy little devices really making our lives easier or complicating things? Todoodlist outlines some great systems that involve no technology but something that has been around for a very long time. A pencil and paper.

This ebook really kind of opened my eyes a bit. And even though I do use paper more then I do some kind of device for my to do lists, there are still some awesome ideas in here.

There are tons of devices such as the iphone, or pda to keep track of your to do list. And there are even more programs that you can use on your computer or online to help you keep track of your tasks. These are all supposed to make our lives easier. But as author Nick Cernis points out, are these doing anything that a simpler system can’t handle?

And this is what Todoodlist is all about. Using a much simpler system instead of depending some complicated piece of technology.

Let’s go over one of the systems in Todoodlist:

To make a todoodlist you basically make a simple outline of your project. And then add what you need to do work towards getting the project done. Then you use different shapes to keep track of your progress and what you need to do next. It sounds more complicated than it really is. Think of it as a mind map for your to do list.

This does two things: It creates an outline that you can make a quick glance at to see where you are and what you need to do. And it also creates focus and helps finish the project more effectively.

This is just one of the techniques included in the book and the others are just as cool. This book has quite a few really good ideas in it that I think can be a great help to everyone.

Besides the content itself, I wanted to mention that it’s a great read. Nick Cernis has some nice writing style that’s full of wit and entertaining to read. And it’s an easy read too. Very simple to get through. I like that in a book, it’s educational and entertaining.

All in all this is a great read and highly recommended. Some of the ideas in here will be a great help bringing productivity in our busy lives. And gain some extra time back. Which is something everyone can use.

Click here to get the ebook and let me know what you think. No it’s not free, but it is cheap and more than worth the price.

~Chris

If you have read this ebook, let me know what you think in the comments. I’d love to hear your points of view on it.

Another blog that I recommend to fellow bloggers is Daily Blog Tips. It’s run by Daniel Scocco. I like this blog a lot as it’s very straightforward with it’s useful content. And it doesn’t just cover writing blogs, Daniel goes over plugins and design tips too. All that other technical stuff that come with running a blog. Daily Blog Tips even covers monetizing your blog and making money from it. Which is what this ebook is all about.

Daniel just came out with a free ebook just a few days ago. I just finished it quite eagerly. It’s called Make Money Blogging. And it covers the basics of creating and using your blog to create income for you. Here is an overview of the book.

- It starts off with a quick overview of getting your blog up and running. And what software to use.

- From there it dives into writing content. Obviously the most important part of a blog, it covers what to write and when. And even how.

- The next section covers designing your blog. He goes over the elements to use with the layout of your blog and why. (learned a few things myself in this section, thank you!)

- After that he covers the good stuff (at least I think so). Generating traffic to your blog and building relationships with networking. This part is very important.

- That leads quite well into how to promote your blog. Which is equally important.

- And last but not least he covers monetizing your blog. In other words setting it up to put money in your pocket.

I have to say this is a well written ebook. It starts out a bit slow but then it builds up quite well. And the order the information is delivered is very logical. You will definetly come away after reading this with some ideas to use. And if you haven’t already started a blog this is a great place to start!

I would highly recommend this ebook, both for those of you that are blogging already and especially for those that are not. It lays out a nice plan for you to follow and helps you build a great blog.

Besides, you can’t beat the price: Free! I think he probably should have charged for this ebook but he didn’t. So you have no excuse to not read it. Besides what’s the worst that can happen? You just might learn something.

Get the Make Money Blogging ebook here.

~Chris

p.s. I would also like to point out that on the page where you get the ebook, you also have the chance of winning a laptop next week. By retweeting his post or writing a review. I really hadn’t intended on writing a review for this book. I’ve had no luck with contests so I usually don’t even bother lol. But after I read the ebook, I knew it was something I wanted to share with you all. Just for the simple reason of it being full of useful information. So check it out, you just might win a laptop as well as learn something.

So, I’m wandering the internet looking information about writing and whatnot (as always) and I stumbled upon Angela Booth. I’m glad I did.

Angela has been writing professionally for years now and it’s pretty apparent that she really knows what she’s doing. She has many different sites and products, all related to writing in one form or another. You can check them out here. That’s why this post is a review of her and not one of her products. At least for now.

Her products range from making money with articles all the way to learning how to do copywriting. And everything in between. I’m pretty amazed at the amount of information she offers. It was a bit overwhelming actually until I dug into them. She even runs a few blogs that are updated pretty frequently.

It all actually seemed a bit disorganized, but once I started focusing on certain things it was easier. I’ll crawl the rest of her site as time goes. It’s all well put together, she just has ALOT of info.

If your even a bit interested in pursuing writing as your main income, I would highly recommend her. Or even if you want to learn how to do one thing, such as copywriting, I think her lessons would be more than sufficient.

I’m currently enrolled in her Sell Your Writing Online Now! program and here’s where I was really impressed. This program is basically a class. It teaches you how to write for the web and the many ways you can make money from that. And how.

It comes in small chunks every week. With an assignment to do for that week. The really cool thing is these assignments are extremely beneficial to you and your writing. They give you more exposure, practice, and even earn you money. You earn while you learn.

That’s what I really like about this course is the simplicity and actual step by step way it is produced. But this is just one of her products and I have plans to buy others later.

But here is why I like Angela Booth. It’s her style. And her authority. You can tell she’s very knowledgeable in this field. And she doesn’t pitter patter around or beat around the bush. She gets straight to the point and makes you focus on the task at hand. That, more than anything, is one of the reasons she makes a great teacher.

So if your looking to pursue writing as your main source of income I would giver her stuff a look. I think you will find something of use. Even if you aren’t going to be writing full time, there are still some very valuable lessons in her products. Especially her copywriting books. Everyone should at least learn the basics of copy, it goes into everything we do with marketing. If anything you could hire her to do it for you.

Those are my final words for now. I’m pretty excited I have found this and had to share it with you all. She is one of the few that take a very direct approach to teaching, and I think that’s great.

Has anyone else heard of Angela Booth? And what were your experiences if so?

~Chris

p.s. just fyi, none of these links are affiliate links. Just links straight to her sites.

Ya know, it just too easy to replace your typical 9–5 job with a work at home “job”. Many people come online hearing stories of running a business online. They hear about the freedom, and of course the money. But as they go through the process of building a streamlined business, it starts to feel like a job.

What happened to the lifestyle we were promised? Where is all the free time? How do these other people have all this free time to go on vacations? The Unlimited Freelancer may be able to answer that for you.

According to The Unlimited Freelancer you need to think of your business as, well a business. Not a job. There are many ways to outsource and leverage your time with everything. This book gives some excellent ideas about outsourcing as well as setting up systems to make every day tasks much easier and quicker.

Here’s a brief overview of what this book covers:

- What it means to be a freelancer (this talks about getting into working online and finding it just as busy as your other “job”)

- Systems, software, and automation. All stuff that helps bring your time back to you.

Here’s where it gets interesting:

–After the basics it goes over outsourcing (The big secret the “guru’s” use)

–How to build a freelance team and how this can grow your business tenfold

–It goes over what kind of relationships you can have with others in your “team” and who to look for to work with.

So not only does it cover systems and software that you can implement to make your tasks easier and quicker, it also covers teamwork. How outsourcing and partnerships can help immensely. Now your work at home “job” is a business. You can make it that way just by implementing a few things in this book.

Granted this book is aimed more specifically at freelancers, it still has a lot of information that anyone in a business can use.

In close, this book covers a lot in 200 pages. It goes over systems and software that you can put in place to make your everyday tasks much easier and faster, or even fully automated. Then it jumps to using outsourcing to take tasks off your list and creating a team to grow your business.

A business can easily fall without a solid foundation. I think with this book in hand you can create a very solid foundation for you and your business. And get that free time and money you were promised when you came into this field. Very highly recommended.

You can find the book in one of two places, depending on what you want. It comes in pdf and a physical book. I bought the physical book as that my preferred taste. You will get the same content either way. You can find the books here:

The Unlimited Freelancer PDF

The Unlimited Freelancer Book

~Chris

Building On a Budget. Another one of Mike Dillard’s great products. This guy has really done his work. I loved Magnetic Sponsoring and I read through this one pretty darn quick too. I opted for the physical book as well as the ebook. And to be honest I thought Building on a Budget was going to be bigger than it was. Why?

Because it covers bringing traffic to your website and/or business with free or cheap ways. It only has 6 chapters and they cover the following:

— Capturing your traffic

— Craigslist

— Videos

— Press Releases

— Blogs

— Funded Proposals

But that’s just the thing. Mike is so good and explaining a lot in a short amount of words. You come away with tons of information that, at the very least, will give you a big jump on traffic and bringing in people. And building your list. It’s straightforward and clean cut. I came away with plenty of ideas that I could use for my own business. It’s definitely been a great help. Highly recommended!

~Chris

p.s. If anything I would say click on the links and get the free videos if you haven’t. The videos are very informative as well.