Smart Passive Income Blog Review, The Shocking Truth About Pat Flynn and the Long Con

Greetings, before we get started I want to provide a slight disclaimer about what I am going to write.  I like Pat Flynn.  Pat Flynn is the person responsible for me getting off my lazy @$$ and actually doing something with my life.  That being said, it would be irresponsible of me not to share highly valuable information about my experiences with Pat Flynn, Niche Site Duel and the Passive Income Blog / Podcast.

This is an honest review of Pat Flynn.  I know this is going to make a lot of people upset, and I'm probably going to receive some hate mail because of this particular blog post.  I might even lose the 100 readers I do have, but I have no choice.  It's that important to me.  I took the time to calm down and collect my thoughts before writing this.  I want people to understand my experience with Pat so they can benefit from it (or discard it, whatever they choose).

Photo Credit:    by  The Sales Whisperer 

Pat Flynn is an internet marketing personality that had tremendous exposure over the past half a decade.  His story is truly inspirational and as a regular reader / listener of his products I can tell you that he really is a very charismatic guy. When I first found out about him, I was reading about him and Tyrone Shum and their infamous "Niche Site Duel".  I was highly driven by his story to follow in his footsteps and show the world that I was really capable of making a living exactly the way that Pat did.  Not only did I have a real desire to make these dreams come true, now I had a blueprint to follow, written by an average guy, just like you or I, the "underdog".

Photo Credit:    by  casperam 

I was in a horrible place financially when I made the jump into internet marketing.  That income counter that Pat has on his smart passive income blog had me so excited I really thought that everything he was saying, had to be true  That hard work could really make a "niche site fantasy" a reality.  I had access to this highly valuable information that no one else wanted to share with me. I saw his income statements, and I was reading all this chatter on forums and review boards,  and I was completely starstruck by this fantastic guy who really wanted to help people out.  After being scammed by a few different marketers I really thought that I had found a lucky break.  My time was finally here.

On the Passive Income Blog, there is a step-by-step guide on how to start a niche site!  Mind you when I started this adventure, I had no experience in web marketing.  However, I did have a lot of computer experience and I won the Dade-County programming competition back in high school.  Myself and a group of friends placed 14th in the state of Florida and I had been using a computer and programming in one language or another since the age of five.  I was confident that I would have the necessary skills to see this through to fruition.  With Pat's help I was certain that I could make 30k a month "passively" and be able to obtain all the things in life that I thought I deserved.

Photo Credit:    by  derrickkwa 

I was hooked.  I started listening to podcasts, and I started taking notes, I studied from the time I woke up in the morning, until I passed out (sometimes 2 days later) and I was eating, living and breathing Pat Flynn's marketing plan.  There was one thing I completely missed though...I was the one he was marketing to.  I bought it hook line and sinker.

I registered for "Niche Site Duel 2.0" where Pat had this ingenious idea of creating a place where new marketers could all get together and talk with each other.  We could learn from each other and talk about different ideas and tactics so that we would be able to succeed together.  What a great idea right?.... WRONG

Photo Credit:    by  Alex Schweigert 

I felt completely hoodwinked.  First of all, Pat is not even on the site.  He posted a couple posts a year or two ago when he started the site, and I don't think he has ever been seen since.  He is not there to answer questions, he is not there to hold your hand, and he certainly isn't going to write back if you message him on there.  What are you stupid or something?

There were a few members that actually made huge efforts to help people.  Not just me, but other people as well.  These people were very important to me when I was starting out, because I had no "mentor".  The mentor I thought I had, was never around.  You can email him, or leave him a question for his other podcast "ask Pat", but after listening literally to hundreds of hours of audio from him, it was very easy to realize that the chances of him getting to your question were pretty small.  I have tried to contact Pat on numerous occasions, and other than his automated marketing emails, there was only one time he ever answered me.

Photo Credit:    by  bitesizeinspiration 

I kept going...I just knew for sure that Pat would never steer me wrong and that he really wanted to help me, even if he didn't have the time to do it.  That's how much I believed (or wanted to believe) that what Pat Flynn was saying was going to guide me to success.  I knew that if I could just get a couple of things going a little bit, and then maybe Pat would talk to me.. Heck maybe even interview me on one of his podcasts because I had used his plan and become successful.

I actually fantasized about that interview in my mind, as silly as that sounds, but it's true.  I really wanted to talk to him, and I wanted to do well so that I could make him proud.  It's sad, but it's true, and I have a feeling based on his "cult" following that I'm not the only one that thought about that same interview.

Photo Credit:    by  Akshay Hallur 

So the first falling out I had was on Niche Site Duel.  Let me explain a couple of things that Pat Flynn's program is not going to teach you, and you are going to have to learn on your own, one way or another.

1. Google Sandbox - Google can take anywhere from 1 day to several months to crawl your site.  Why?  Because... there is no answer to that question, google does whatever it wants, it doesn't tell you why it does it, or how it does it.  You have no right to ask either.  Google doesn't care about you or you stupid website about widgets, but when you are first starting out, you really want google to look at it.  You can't help but think "I have the best website EVER made on the face of the earth about plumbing fittings, and I just can't believe google doesn't have me on the front page yet".  It's so exciting and you will have worked so very hard getting to that point, you really aren't prepared for the fact that it could take weeks or even months to get in the index, if you appear in the search results at all.  That's a topic for another time really.....
2.  Keywords are not as important as they used to be when this whole "niche marketing" keyword craze began.  Back in the day you could make "howtobuildabridge.com" and really get up there in the listings when someone searched for "how to build a bridge". but this is my biggest complaint, and the straw that broke the camels back for me with Pat Flynn.  Google actually penalizes you for Exact Match Domains, and Partial Match Domains.  So..yeah.. all that Market Samurai jibber jabber, and that week you spent coming up with just the right combination with traffic, and relevany, and then actually finding the domain name available that doesn't cost 3000 dollars for a premium listing?  MORE OR LESS WORTHLESS.

Photo Credit:    by  Craig Key 

You might be saying to yourself at this point "Robert you are crazy, keyword research is important and maybe you just can't use exact match domains, but it's still important"... NO ITS NOT.. The words that I tried to rank for were not important.  It turns out the page that holds the number 1 spot for those keywords... DOESN'T HAVE THE KEYWORDS ON IT........ ANYWHERE.  It doesn't have the exact match for those keywords in the copy... it doesn't have it in the title, or in a meta description, or in a filename of a picture.. or an alt tag...or ANYWHERE....AT ALL... so ... ya.. once I figured that out I got extremely mad that I spent real money buying a domain name that was hurting me based on Pat's emphasis on how important the keyword research tool was. 

I sure am glad I spent that money on the market samurai (I used Pat's Affiliate Link) to buy a tool that does absolutely, positively NOTHING to help me.  It's another marketing ploy for a product that accomplishes tasks you can do for free with the Keyword Planner.  Yeah yeah, it has suggestions, and can generate keywords, but they are 99% of the time keywords that aren't relevant to what you are trying to sell.  You can argue this all you want, you know it's true if you have used the tool yourself.  The tools offers "competition" etc.. it's all a bunch of hogwash.  It has the "possible income" section where it calculates 50% of the traffic for the #1 spot for the word, then shows you how much you would make if EVERY SINGLE PERSON that visited your site clicked an advertisement.  That's never going to happen, google would ban your account if it did.  Again, no explanation on this point.  Pat never talks about the fact that keyword samurai is flat out lying to you.  Why would they do that?  Because they want you to see how much you "could" make in a hypothetical situation that will NEVER exist and you will actually believe that you could make 1000 dollars a day in advertising for a specific keyword that google doesn't want you to optimize for.  Oh thank you Pat for endorsing this bunch of lies meant to purposely mislead people into thinking that this fantasy of "iloverubberducks.com" can exist!

Photo Credit:    by  xddorox 

Anyway so back to the duel.  Before I knew that I was not only wasting my time with a keyword/domain combo that was hurting me, and before I knew that google might take a month of Sundays to actually crawl my site, I was on there day and night, posting, trying to find out as much information as possible, and I made the biggest mistake I could have ever made....

I posted to the forums, and allowed people to see my site.  The next day I woke up and logged on to see that I had been de-indexed on google and on bing (where I was #1 for my keyword at the time)... not only that, I had a pile of garbage backlinks pointing to my site... I had a manual action against me in webmaster tools, and someone had just launched a site called:  "yourexactsamesite.org"... and it was in the front page of bing already and it looked like a cut and paste job right off my site.  I was crushed completely.

Photo Credit:    by  photosteve101 

I then realized that someone with ill intentions had crushed me based on the information I provided in the niche site duel forum.  I realized that I had made a horrible mistake that I Was not going to be able to correct.  Was it my fault?  Absolutely... 100% my mistake.  I didn't understand that there are a great number of people involved in internet marketing that are really horrible people.  I learned that I could never share the site names that I am working on, because this will happen over and over again.  I was really upset because I had just started finally making money with the site and some of the things I was trying were working.  Pat was nowhere to be found, and instead people used his website to hurt other people trying to start out in business.  Way to go Pat!

I am really mad at Pat at this point, and I sent an email to him saying something along the lines that "I will never buy one your products, or ever use your sites again" and he actually wrote me back.  I don't have the email anymore, but I remember him telling me that he "doesn't sell anything" and blah blah blah.  Now I know better, he does sell things.  He sold eBooks, he sells affiliate links to all the trash he's promoting on Passive Income Blog, but I bought in one more time.  I was just so excited that he actually emailed me that once again I said to myself "he has to be a good guy, he really wants to help people do this".

Anyway, I continued with the podcast.  I continued taking notes.  I tried harder and harder to make it work just like Pat said it would.  But I started to find out, It doesn't work like Pat says it works.  In fact all that old outdated information doesn't work at all.

OK so if that's true, I should have listened to everything and get all the new info and still be able to do it right?... Well no, not exactly, now I had this messed up site, that had all these things that I originally done incorrectly and I didn't have the plan anymore. Because the original plan doesn't work, and maybe if you sat there and took notes (which I did) out of every podcast and corrected all the things that have changed, maybe you could do that, but after 6 months of VERY hard work, I had given up hope.  I didn't want to rewrite his plan.. I wanted to know how the it works right now... not read about how great Pat Flynn has it for him and his family while all of us suckers read his piles of worthless content.

Photo Credit:    by  land_camera_land_camera 

I was played like a fiddle.


I know that I failed at this because of myself.  I know that Pat is not the reason I failed.  The reason I failed is because I put faith where I shouldn't have put faith.  This person never updated all that messed up info, because it ranks well and I'm sure he wouldn't wanna pull the plug on the money maker.  I feel that he has a responsibility to his followers to update these things and put together something current that works, instead of leading people on each week and bringing on some other marketer that runs an affiliate site.

It's not realistic, he is praying on people's false hopes.  He's selling snake oil, and I don't care if he says "it's all free"... because it isn't.  It comes at a price to the people that blindly follow him.  I guess he really doesn't care about anyone like I thought he did.  If he cared, he would update that stuff, and not let people run themselves into the ground trying to execute a plan that will not work.  I mean put together a current plan and sell it...I would buy it... there are 10's of thousands of people that would buy it.

The Most Important Things I Learned From Pat Flynn's GIANT LONG CON SCAM

Don't share your links and projects with people on the internet (or in real life).  There are people that will crush you on purpose just for fun.  Heaven forbid you actually have something profitable then they will really go after you.

Photo Credit:    by  Will Scullin 

There is no blueprint for web marketing success.  It's all a bunch of people that want to take your money by preying on the fact that you are desperate and you want that "dream" of owning a ".com" that makes you billions.  It's especially bad when the person thinks they can "outsource" everything and just pay people to do it all for them.   I'm not saying you can't outsource...because you can, in fact you HAVE TO if you want to succeed at this.  But you also have to be really involved, there is no "passive income" on the internet, you're gonna work your ass off to see it to fruition.  I am seeing success now, I making enough money to live on and it was originally Pat that got me going in that direction.

What wound up working, and how it "really is" is not what Pat describes or sells.  He's just a marketer that is selling hope.  I got upset because I am a good judge of character and I am not the person that typically gets scammed.

If you want to learn more about making money online, email me at voicesmicro@gmail.com.  That's all I have to say... no sales pitch.. We can talk about your goals, your expectations, where you currently are in your journey, and I will tailor a custom plan to get you on the right path.

11 Reasons You Shouldn't Drink - Work at Home Men | Health Tip #2

Men shouldn't consume alcohol. It is understood that men not only traditionally enjoyed alcohol, but that it has been part of society as a whole for thousands of years.  Enthusiasts would even argue that the advancement of our civilizations would not have been possible without alcohol use.  None of those things will be disputed or argued. The goal of this post is to identify potential health issues that arise for men related to drinking.

   by  euthman 

Anemia

Anemia is a condition that develops when your blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells or hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a main part of red blood cells and binds oxygen. If you have too few or abnormal red blood cells, or your hemoglobin is abnormal or low, the cells in your body will not get enough oxygen.

Cancer

Heavy or regular alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, breast, colon, and rectum. The risk of developing cancer increases with the amount of alcohol a person drinks.

Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease (also called heart disease) is a class of diseases that involve the heart, the blood vessels, arteries, capillaries, and veins.

   by  Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library 

Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis is a late stage of scarring (fibrosis) of the liver caused by many forms of liver diseases and conditions, such as hepatitis and chronic alcohol abuse. The liver carries out several necessary functions, including detoxifying harmful substances in your body, cleaning your blood and making vital nutrients.

Dementia

Dementia is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior.

Legal Problems

Criminal Record, jail time, loss of license, loss of car, increased insurance, fines, mandated treatment, community service, interlock devices, fines, legal fees, court costs, .... (the list goes on!)

   by  Ryan_M651 

Depression

There’s also a strong link between serious alcohol use and depression. The question is, does regular drinking lead to depression, or are depressed people more likely to drink too much? Both are possible.  Don't get caught in that cycle, it's simply not worth it.  My grandfather once said, "You drink to forget about your problems, but when you wake up the next day, your problems still remain, and now you have a headache on top of it!"

Gout

Gout is characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, redness and tenderness in joints, often the joint at the base of the big toe. Gout is complex form of arthritis. Men are more likely to get gout than women, especially men who drink.

High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is when your blood pressure is 140/90 mmHg or above most of the time.  Drinking alcohol greatly increases your chances of high blood pressure, particularly in men.

Nerve Damage (Neuropathy)

Alcohol can be toxic to nerve tissue. People who drink too much may start to feel pain and tingling in their limbs. This is known as alcoholic neuropathy. In people with alcoholic neuropathy, the peripheral nerves have been damaged by too much alcohol use. The peripheral nerves transmit signals between the body, the spinal cord, and the brain.

   by  CarbonNYC [in SF!] 

Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is a disease in which the pancreas becomes inflamed. Pancreatic damage happens when the digestive enzymes are activated before they are released into the small intestine and begin attacking the pancreas.

Not enough to convince you? Just remember, when the doctor comes in and tells you that you have one of these life threatening conditions, that you will have no one to blame but yourself.

If you or someone you know may be an alcoholic that is actively seeking help, visit Alcoholics Anonymous for more information.  You can also call the National Drug and Alcohol Treatment center at 1-800-662-HELP.

The Truth About Online Schools and Universities

Do you have what it takes to get a college degree?  Well, we all would like to say “yes, of course!”  Unfortunately it doesn’t really work that way.  I wrote this blog post to give you some insight into the financial options that exist and some of the things you need to have in place emotionally to make sure that you are set up for the best chance of success, should you decide to go to college online..

   by  dcJohn

As information technology has accelerated in the past couple of decades, we have found ourselves in a position where more and more people are electing to take their college courses online.  You may have been alive when online options first started being offered by Universities around the country.  Tons of schools popped up very quickly and some are still here with us today.  The initial impression of an Online Degree was not very good.  They were often looked down upon by employers and considered to be “not as good as a real college degree.”  Luckily for you, that stigma has been broken and there are several high quality online Colleges available now to choose from. 

What type of school should I go to:  A strictly online school, a state or private University, or a Community College?

I am going to give you my experience with choosing a school.  This should save you a great deal of time, and really it’s the very best advice that I can give.  It took me almost a year to get enrolled in my first term, because I made some mistakes, and I actually wound up going through three colleges by the time I finally settled in and got busy.  

Something you have to understand about private colleges and online colleges is that they are strictly for profit.  If you qualify for financial aid, they are going to charge you tuition costs that are pretty much equal to the maximum amount of aid you will receive.  That means that if you don’t have a job that is capable of supporting all your needs while you attend classes, there will not be any money left over to help pay rent, food, or anything else.  This is why I didn’t go with a traditional online school.  They wanted every cent they could get their hot little hands on, and I wanted to attend school full time.  I was also unemployed so it really wasn’t a good option for me.  Your situation may differ from mine, but I can guarantee you that the quality of education that you will receive from a major online college is not any different from any other college.

If you pick a State school, the tuition will be slightly less.  If you choose the community college, it will be substantially less.  The problem is that they may not offer all the classes you need online (as opposed to an Online School).   The advantages include the lowest tuition prices available (in-state, Community College) and if you pick something local, you can actually go to the school.  You can meet with your teachers, peers and administrators.  You can also use the services and extracurricular activities that the school has to offer such as the library, the fitness center, computer labs, counselors, advisers, work study programs, etc…  It really was a win-win for me, and I am glad I chose this route.  

Be sure to get in touch with your local community college and ask to speak to an admissions adviser.  Ask them about their online courses and what they have to offer.  Explain to them your situation and develop a good relationship with this person.  They are the key to getting you registered, tested (if needed) and placed into your freshmen classes.

   by  krossbow 

Internet Knowledge

This is an area that I have seen a lot of online students fail in.  The fact that you are on the computer right now reading this blog post is a good sign, but you do have to be honest with yourself about your computer skills.  Taking online courses can offer unique challenges, and if your school uses “Canvas” for its classes (chances are it does) it’s notoriously unreliable and can cause you a lot of headaches.  If the school has a good IT department, there will be a help desk to call and they can walk you through most things.  (Canvas is a platform used by many state funded schools and community colleges to allow you to attend the class).

It’s really important to have a good working knowledge of:

• ·         The Internet and Web Browsing
• ·         Email (and attachments)
• ·         How to take Pictures
• ·         How to Record Videos
• ·         How to use YouTube
• ·         How to use Facebook

That is a short list.  There is more as the course work carries into future terms.  I strongly recommend taking a “College Success” class, or something of that nature.  It can be named other things like “College Development”, just ask your adviser.  It will be considered an “introduction to college” course.  This is the most important class you will take in college.  Take it as your first class, and do the coursework as honestly as you can.  You’re going to learn all about yourself, and how you learn, your strengths, your weaknesses and how to turn them into strengths.

The next thing is an “introduction to college computing” and possibly a “typing” class as well.  Do these in the first term and get the ball rolling correctly.  It doesn’t matter if they are not counted towards your AA degree, if you are below average in any of these areas, you MUST do this.  Otherwise, you will be frustrated and things will go down, and documents will be lost and you will likely become stressed out.  

   by  LucasRichter 

The object is to get set up in the best possible way.  Don’t brush these things off. If you can’t type, learn.  You look unprofessional trying to get a job if you are hunting and pecking on a computer.  The computer is almost essential to every job today, so go in there and learn it!  If you got a job working for me, and I found out that you didn’t really have computer skills (and I will know within a matter of minutes) I would have to let you go.  Don’t be scared, you have to get in there and take it by the horns, be honest with yourself, and make a well-informed decision.

The reason I stress the computing aspect so strongly is because “accidents” are going to happen.  I didn’t have one single class that ran smoothly for the whole term.  Not once.  Your professors are not going to tolerate late work, or missing assignments due to technical problems.  You are responsible for getting the work in on time even if the system is down.  I know this sounds crazy, but it is true.  I recommend doing all your classwork and submitting it a few days in advance.  I also recommend that once you have submitted your work, you take a screenshot of it and store those files on your computer, and then on a backup (the cloud works best e.g., OneDrive from Microsoft or Google Docs, because should your system go down, you can retrieve these files from any computer that has internet access).  That way if something goes wrong, you can at least show the professor that you did have the work submitted, and then you can simply pull the file from your drive and send it again.   I know it seems like overkill, but covering your tracks when dealing with quirky technology is the only way to avoid some technical error that lost your 15 page term paper.

Lastly, is the emotional aspect of all this.  Are you ready to go to school?  Having your personal life in order makes the process much easier.  I always recommend that no matter what, you should be in school if you haven’t obtained a degree yet.  It doesn’t matter what is going on in your life, you must invest this time in yourself to gain the knowledge and earning power necessary to achieve most goals.  I found a great little survey on the internet that you can take to help you in the decision-making process.  Check it out at http://www.collegegrazing.com/readiness-survey and find out what it says about you.  Be honest with the test There are no right or wrong answers and if you try and “look better” while answering the questions, you will only be cheating yourself in the long run.

   by  midquel 

My View on It

Choosing to go to school online is a huge step in your personal development.  It is easy to think that online classes are easier because of the convenience that they offer.  I can personally tell you that it’s a myth.  Online classes can be even harder because your instructors want to know for absolute certain that you are taking the time to learn the material.  Online courses normally have far more reading and writing than traditional classes on campus.  There are typically not any lectures and you will be expected to learn the material on your own, and if you don’t understand something, you better get to your Professor’s Office (during office hours), a support lab, or a tutor right away. 

Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Go to College

The Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Go (Or Go Back) to College

by Robert Leavitt

Greetings and Salutations!  My name is Robert Leavitt and I am a freshman at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, FL.  I am 35 years old and I finally decided to go back to school after years of struggling to make ends meet.  I hit a lot of dead end jobs because of my lack of education.  I came to the realization that the goals that I had in life, could not be met without a formal education.

This blog post is targeted at both high school seniors and people like me that have never been to college and are debating whether or not they should return.  The short answer is “yes”, and I compiled this list of seven things to help you get motivated:

#1 Earning Power

This is not necessarily the most important reason for returning to college, but it is usually the primary motivation for most people.  It’s a definite consideration because according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics there is a great deal of money to be made as your level of education increases.

Top 7 Reasons to Go To College - Earning More Money!

#2 Self-Fulfillment

The sense of accomplishment that you will achieve when you complete your degree is very important to developing personal integrity.   It will help to build your sense of self-worth and give you the necessary state of mind to excel towards your goals. 

#3 Networking (Making Connections)

In college you will meet all kinds of people.  You can join clubs and meet with people that share similar interests to your own.  This will not only help you professionally but it will help your personal life as well. 

#4 Happy and Healthy Life

There are several studies that show that people who obtain college degrees are not only healthier, but are happier in life.  There is a range of theories on why this is the case, but I would like to point out a very basic one that my research has shown me people often overlook.  If you have a higher paying job, and you can afford health care, you are going to be healthier.   If you are healthier, you will be happier.  Pretty simple huh?

Top 7 Reasons to Go to College - More Jobs

#5 Increase your Qualifications

This goes hand in hand with earning power, but it also means more opportunities.  The higher your qualifications, the better you chances are at landing a high paying job.  The more qualifications you have the more job postings you will be able to choose from. It also means you can demand a higher salary based on your credentials.

#6 Secure your Future

Obtaining a college degree is important to securing your future.  Studies show that people with college degrees have a much higher rate of being able to not only retire, but retire at an earlier age!

Top 7 Reasons to go Back To College - Secure Your Future

#7 Gain Direction

College offers a broad range of topics to be studied.  As you go through your first year or two of college you will have available many different fields of study.  This will help you (if you haven’t selected a degree yet) to find out where your interests lie.

#8 Bonus Reason - It Can Be a SOURCE of Income

With Careful Research and Consideration, It is Possible that the Government will PAY You To Go To School.***

If you have never attended college, the chances are the federal government will provide you with grants and loans. The worse your situation is financially, the more likely they will cover the cost. Look for community colleges and state schools to find the lowest tuition prices.  If you find a school that is affordable, chances are you have money left over to help with rent, books and the cost of living.  The first year of my schooling, I was able to pay for my tuition, my books, my bills and food completely.  I did have to borrow some of the money, but it was actually possible to go to school and pay everything else with money left over!  I was able to go to school full time without working a job.  Be sure to talk to your adviser and get a budget set up, with some discipline and some guidance, you can really make some amazing things happen.

Be careful of high priced "online" schools and private Universities.  They are very expensive and they will eat up ALL of your financial aid.  You really don't want that to happen unless you have a steady job, or other source of income.  Remember that the financial aid doesn't have to all go towards tuition and books.  Shop around a little and see what options are available to you.  

Check the community colleges in your area so you can get an idea of ALL the options available to you.  Take it slow and make a well informed decision about your schooling.  It is possible to get a worthless degree and graduate with a mountain of debt, take advantage of the resources at school so this doesn't happen to you.  Only borrow what you need, and make sure you explore ALL the grant possibilities. 

Students have a tendency to rush the financial aid process and don't take the time to find out all the options that are available.  The adviser is very helpful, but remember that ultimately YOU are the one responsible for your financial well being.  There are options that exist that the adviser will not tell you about (not because they don't want to, but because they simply may not know).  Get involved and really work hard at this, and you can be rewarded 10 fold.

The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving SMART Goals (3/3)

The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving Goals.

Part (3/3)

This is part two of the series, "The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving Goals" by Robert Leavitt.

Short Term, Medium Term, and Long Term Goals

There are three basic time periods for goal setting. When you are first starting out, go ahead and define some long term goals first. Imagine yourself 25, 30 or even 50 years from now. What is your life like? What kinds of things do you own? Are you married? Do you have children?

The reason to start with some longer term goals, is that it will make it easier for you to define medium and long term goals after. Once you have some long term goals in place, you can start creating short and medium term goals that are designed with the longer term goals in mind.
Goals often consist of many steps. The most important thing to remember about goals is that you really do need a plan. Your plan could be simple and consist only of onc sentence (as long as it follows the SMART outline), or it can be very complicated, taking up several pages of instructions. The beautiful thing about goals, is that they are yours. There are no steadfast rules, you can adjust your goals, or adjust your plan as you see fit. Try to avoid constantly changing your goals, because there does have to reach a point where you actually finish with the project. Without finishing the project, you will never feel the sense of accomplishment that it can provide. This is a very important step in building your character and confidence.

Here are some examples of long term, medium term and short term goals

Long Term
By the age of 50 I will own a 4 bedroom house, on at least 2 acres of land in rural Florida.
By the age of 45, I will own a successful web marketing business, a diversified system of income streams, that is robust and not susceptible to changes in the economy.


Medium Term
Within 10 Years I will have finished school and paid off all of my loans for my education.

Within 6 Years I will obtain my PhD. in Business Administration.
Within 5 years I would like two cars that are dependable for my family. One of the cars to will be a van or something large to accommodate passengers, and the other car would be a truck, for hauling debris or materials for labor jobs when needed.
Within 5 years I will speak to a lawyer and start the process of having some of my criminal-record expunged.
Within 4 Years I will obtain my Bachelors in Business Administration.


Short Term
In the Next 3 years I hope to obtain my AA in Business Administration from Santa Fe College. In the Next 2 years I hope to obtain my Vocational Certificate in Marketing Management - Electronic Commerce.
In the Next 2 years I will start to take the necessary steps to obtain my license when my suspension is over.
In the Next 2 years I will have all my debt paid down that is not associated with school. In the Next Year I will start to work with the credit reporting agencies to get my credit back together.
In the Next 6 months, I will obtain employment through either the Federal Work Study program or a job that is off campus, to help towards establishing the income that I desire.
In the Next 6 months, I will begin to invest a portion of my income on a monthly basis.
In the Next 6 months I will obtain a secured credit card and begin to repair my credit.


Now, mind you, at this point, I will need to take each goal specifically, and formulate a plan for each one. Also, please take the time to realize the words used are very specific. Don't say, "I would like to", or "I hope to", state what you WILL do - make it factual. It's very important to do this. You can actually retrain the way your brain perceives things by changing the language that you use. Each day when you wake up, make sure to look at your goal list, and then read it out loud to yourself. Do it in front of a mirror in the bathroom if possible.

As you repeat these things over and over to yourself, you will begin to change the way your mind works. Instead of feeling negatively or hopeless by saying something like "I really hope I can buy a house by the time I am 50", you can train your brain to say "I will own a house by the age of 50". It really does work, it becomes like a "self-fulfilling" prophecy. Being negative and harsh on yourself will never get you any closer to achieving your goals.
The last thing you should do when setting your goals, is go over them with your spouse, or with a good trusted friend. By sharing them with someone else, you have committed to them. Have the person you trust hold you to your goals. They can do this by asking how the plan is coming on a regular basis, or they can simply contact you when you are due to complete a goal to see if you have followed through on your plan.

If you don't achieve the goal the first time, don't give up.

Sometimes life happens and you may not achieve every goal that you set. This is especially true when you first start setting the goals, and may not have a realistic plan or time frame for the task you have set out to achieve. This is very normal in the beginning and you will become better at the process as time goes on. Remember you are the one in control of this, and no one else will EVER feel that your goals are as important as you do. If you fail at first, try and try again. If you really get stuck and don't meet the goal after multiple attempts, get the opinion of someone trusted and perhaps the two of you together can devise a plan that will get you back on track.

What is the definition of success?

It's not a big house, or fancy cars, or a million dollars. Success is setting goals, and achieving them. The goals can be as big or as small as you want them to be. Sooner is better than later. You are the one that's in control. Success comes to those who plan and execute. You can be successful too - it really is in your hands. Train yourself mentally to be successful, set your goals and create a plan, and most importantly execute. The best thing about all of this, is that your success lies entirely in your hands!

Thank you for taking the time to read about goals and goal setting. I hope that this information can benefit you. Never give up, and always do the right thing. Never lie, and always try!

Work at Home Men - Health Tip #1

Use Sunscreen Whenever You are Exposed to the Sun

Even if it is Cloudy!

by Robert Leavitt

Skin Cancer can be dangerous

Here at Work at Home Men we are going to bring you some health tips that I have researched specifically for dealing with  various health conditions that affect men.  It is important that you realize I am not a doctor, and I am not qualified to give you medical advice.  This is for informational purposes only and any changes to your diet/lifestyle should be discussed with your physician or health care provider.

Melanoma is also very dangerous.

Skin protection for men is often overlooked because it's time consuming and generally annoying to have to stop every two hours to put on more sunscreen.  It's very important that you understand why you should do this, because it can benefit you dramatically.  If you get skin cancer, or any type of skin damage you will feel awful knowing that it could have easily been prevented.

If you are anything like me, you probably hate putting on sunscreen.  I grew up in Miami, FL and if it was one thing we were used to, it was the sun, but in retrospect I really should have taken more preventative action earlier in my life.  I felt somewhat self-conscious applying sunscreen.   It wasn't the “cool” thing to do and I desperately wanted to fit in.  I actually thought other people would make fun of me for applying sunscreen.

How naive and foolish I was.  The sun can really cause you serious damage.  There is the risk of cancer, melanoma, age spots, moles, solar elastosis, Basal Cell Carcinoma and more!  Here are a few tips to help you take better care of your skin:

• Use a (UVA/UVB) sunscreen of at least 15SPF

Do it religiously every time you are exposed to the sun, even if it is cloudy.  The sun casts harmful ultraviolet rays on us every day.  It can be extremely damaging to your skin and can cause a variety of different diseases.  The National Skin Cancer Foundations estimates that 90% of melanoma skin cancer is a result of exposure to the sun with no sunscreen.

• Apply an adequate amount

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You are going to want to use about 1 1/2 ounces of sunscreen every application.  It's important to generously cover all of your exposed skin.  This includes your hands, chest, arms, legs, ears, face, head (if you don't have hair).  It's also important to note that most clothing doesn't provide adequate sun protection.  A regular T-Shirt has an average SPF of about 5.   Keep this in mind when you apply your sunscreen.  We recommend taking off your clothes and applying the sunscreen to your entire body at least every other application, I realize that this isn't always possible, but it's important that you understand that your clothing will not protect your skin from ultraviolet rays.

• Apply multiple times per day, once every two hours

Unless the brand of sunscreen you are using instructs you to do otherwise, you should reapply your sunscreen every two hours for optimal results.  This can be a little bit tedious, but it is completely worth it.  If it starts raining, you go swimming, or you otherwise get wet, reapply your sunscreen.  Even "waterproof" sunscreens often wash off when you get wet, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

• Monitor your skin

You should regularly check your skin each month on your entire body.  You’re going to be looking for any brown spots, and any new changes (like moles, freckles, etc…) that you may see.  If you notice anything that looks out of the ordinary you should immediately see your dermatologist.

When it comes to your skin, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  It really pays off to stay on top of this area, because it is so easy to overlook.  Once you get skin cancer, you will find yourself in a very bad situation almost immediately.  It really does pay to take care of your skin.

The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving SMART Goals (2/3)

The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving Goals.

Part (2/3)

This is part two of the series, "The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving Goals" by Robert Leavitt.

Setting Goals

You may be asking yourself, "OK that sounds great, but how do I even get started with something like this?". Luckily for you, you're very smart and you are reading this blog, so that's the first step.

The second comes from my experience in college and we are going to learn about SMART Goals.

SMART Goals is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and anchored to a Time period. When creating a goal, we can use the SMART system to make sure that it is a realistic goal that we can create a realistic plan to acheive. Let's look at each section:

Specific - You want your goal to be specific. Saying something like "I want to own a business" is simply not good enough. You want to narrow down that vague statement, and create something more detailed like: "I want to own a footwear retail store". Now you have a specific goal that you are working towards. If you try and define the goal as something vague, you will not be able to really tell if you have achieved the goal, or if your plan needs to be refined.


Measurable - It is necessary to measure your goals. This gives you the ability to make sure that you are making progress towards completing it. For example, if you decide that you are going to quit smoking in 6 weeks, you may decide that you will smoke 1 pack for the first week, 15 cigarettes for the second week, 10 cigarettes for the third week, etc… Now as the time passes, you have a way to gauge if you are on track to obtain your goal or if you need to step up your effort to meet the time frame you outlined for your goal.

Attainable - This is a very important part of the goal-forming process. You have to make sure that the goal that you are setting for yourself is attainable. It does you no good to say something like "I want to have 500 million dollars and never work again" because the odds of you attaining this goal are very small. You need to set your goals up in a way that you can achieve them, that way you can feel the sense of accomplishment. I tend to set my bar a little bit lower than most, that way if I can achieve the goal, and perhaps even do better than I originally planned, I will get a great feeling of accomplishment, and feel like I am really achieving something.


Relevant - Make sure you goal has some sort of purpose. Is it relevant to your family, career or personal life? It is OK to have goals that are purely for pleasure, but remember that you MUST have goals that are designed to accelerate your career, financial earnings, and family life as well. This personal development is extremely important, because the more you develop yourself, the easier it will be to obtain future goals.

Time- Again, a very important aspect of defining a SMART goal. You must attach a time frame to your goal. This makes you accountable and also keeps you on track towards achieving it. You can't be vague here and say "I will quit smoking next summer", it is critical that you give yourself a specific date. You also should make sure that the time frame is attainable. Some projects require longer periods than others.

The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving SMART Goals (1/3)

The Path to Success: Setting and Achieving Goals.

Part (1/3)

Are you tired of feeling like you don't amount to anything? Are you tired of feeling like you really don't have any purpose and you are worthless? Regardless of whether you have ever felt those negative emotions, learning to set and achieve goals will make a tremendous impact on your life. One of the most important things you can do in this life is to set some goals. Setting goals can seem daunting at first, but once you get used to doing it, and better yet, once you start to achieve some of your goals, your entire life will change for the better.

Here is a brief list of some of the advantages to setting goals:

• They give you purpose.

At some point in your life you have probably given thought to the age old question, "why are we here?" Having goals can provide you with an answer that question. No one person has the answer to that question, but a person who has defined goals can at least answer it for his/herself. For example, if your goal is to be a business owner, with enough capital to send his two children through college, when that question comes up, you can honestly answer, "To provide an education to my children". This is a very specific example, but it can apply to any type of goal you set for yourself.

• They cause you to focus.

When you are working towards a specific goal, and you have a plan (more on that in coming weeks) you can avoid being sidetracked into something else that is not target specific. It's easy to be distracted and wind up doing something that you never had any intention of doing. Sometimes these trips can last years, or decades, and by having your goal outlined, you can correct this behavior quickly and get back on the road to success.

•  They Keep You Producing

When you have a goal, you don't have to wonder what you should be doing at any particular time. This is a great cure for boredom and will help you to lead a more rewarding life-style.

• They Build Confidence

Once you start to achieve the goals you have set for yourself, you will feel a great sense of pride - especially if you are a member of the procrastination group and you have been saying to yourself "oh I'll fix it later". You are not the only person who has taken his or her time to set goals. Everyone develops at a different speed and there is no right or wrong time to start. I will recommend that setting goals sooner than later will probably be more beneficial to you by the time your life ends, but not everyone is ready to do this. The fact that you are reading this post and trying to learn about goal setting by itself, is the first step on the road to success.

Stayed tuned next week for the 2nd installment in this series.

Going Back to School - Vital Steps to Being Successful

Going Back to School after 20 years

How to Get your Work From Home job on the fast track

Working from home is a real challenge.  I have been working at home for a number of years now and I look at my experience as if I was Thomas Edison.  I haven't failed, I just know several things that don't work.  I also know things that sort of work, and things that absolutely work.  Armed with this knowledge, one can't help but ask more questions.  I wonder if my marketing strategy is correct, and what other options there may be.  I ask myself if I my accounting is correct and how accurate my books are.  I wonder if I will grow to a point where I need to start hiring employees and I need Human Resource skills.

Going Back to School after 20 years

Whether you work from, or you have your own business, or you are an independent contractor, you will reach a point where you either realize that you need more information and education, or you can choose to ignore this and most likely fail.

After 20 years I have decided to return to college.  I am currently attending Santa Fe College in Gainesville, FL.  I am majoring in Business Administration, and I have a minor in Marketing Management - Electronic Commerce.  I am just about to start my second semester and I am very excited about the opportunities that are starting to present themselves.

Education is vital to achieving your goals.  If you are thinking about starting your own business, or you already have one, you need to consider your educational level.  If you only have a High School diploma, with no college under your belt, I would HIGHLY advise that you start going to College immediately.  Don't procrastinate, get in there and register and start talking with advisers.  The school is there to help and there are financial aid programs and other sources of funding that are available.  I am currently on a scholarship and I have some loans out, which have to paid back, but as it stands right now, I am getting "paid" to go to school.  What kind of idiot would pass up that opportunity? 

There is the argument that certain highly successful people dropped out of college and ran with this idea and now they are millionaires.  There are several examples of these people, Mark Zuckerman from Facebook is one, and it is true, he did drop out of college.  But the point that I want to make to you is that those people were IN college and stopped.  They used the resources the college had available, and networked with like minds and then launched a business model that worked.  They saw the amount of income they started receiving and made a decision to stop going to school based on that information.  It is very rare to find someone that had no education whatsoever that succeeded in business.

Success in College as an Adult

The reality is that most of the people that HAVE degrees are not successful in business.  Business is hard, it is a lot more than being in the right place at the right time.  You have to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right contacts, and the right product or service and the proper education or equivalent for it all to work.  

If you are considering going back to school, I strongly urge you to do so.  If you have no college education whatsoever or perhaps even worse, no GED, I beg you to return to school.  This journey that you are taking with me requires education.  It is imperative that you obtain an education and use the College or University for the resources it has to offer you.  Even liberal arts classes that are not related to your major can be very enlightening, and it can really change your perspective on the world.

eBay store about to bust at the seams! Consignment offers opportunities...

by Robert Leavitt

Greetings fellow workaholics!  I am back in full swing on eBay and my store is about to burst at the seams!  I am very close to reaching my max list limit (which is around 600 items) for the month.  I have never actually reached it so I'm not sure what happens then. I know just as I get close to maxing it out, eBay raises my limit, so from experience I can deduce that will happen once again.

I opened a "consignment" shop of sorts.  It's just a few friends and family that have me listing stuff for them under my account.  There are advantages to doing this as I have established a history of sales within the eBay community and I have managed to maintain my 100% feedback rating. (Knock on wood!)

The feedback rating is huge, not only does it drive people to your listing, it also will allow you to charge a premium for your items.  You can compete on price on certain things, especially used items, however if you are listing new in box items for sale, you are going to find that competing with "top-rated-plus" sellers is a very difficult task.  They pay the monthly fees to have an eBay store and they also receive discounts on the final listings and are able to undercut you.  Even if you have the same supplier and shipping costs.

eBay is addictive, it really is, both as a buyer and a seller.  If you plan to sell on eBay, start as a buyer (buy things you need for your business, like tape, bubble wrap, tape guns, boxes, etc...) and learn how the process works first.  The best thing is that you get ratings for being a buyer.  If you have 10 buying transactions and 3 selling transactions you will have a rating of 13 total transactions.  The buyers can see this in the "detailed seller ratings" but many don't know that they are combined, and what they don't know can benefit YOU!

I did say earlier in this post that I have a store, which is a stretch of the truth.  I haven't not actually upgraded to a real "Store" yet because of the fees.  I will shortly if things maintain this pace, but for now I will keep it the same.  I have read that it is a mistake to upgrade to early, and I can see that for certain.  If you are only selling a few hundred dollars per month on eBay, a store is not necessary and is in fact a waste of your hard earned money!

The consignment process is easy in principle.  It is however a challenge to maintain your inventory (keep it separate, ideally with a catalog system of some sort allowing you to put item numbers on everything so you can remember who things belong to!).  But at the very minimum at least keep your groups of boxes separate from each other.  I have yet to find an "vendor Item number" in eBay but I'm sure that one exists. I plan to find an inventory solution, perhaps built into a management platform.  I will keep you posted on this and let you know should I decide to use one.  I'm looking for something that has inventory features and will allow me to "dump" the product to amazon, eBay and a shopping cart all at once.  Maybe that's too much to ask!

I will keep you updated on my eBay progress.  I really want to write an eBay eBook but I have yet to find the time.  It really is a big project that requires a lot of thought and preparation.  There are 1000's out there, but the demand is high.  Everyone wants to do this, but not everyone can.  It is intimidating and unlike other mistakes on a computer that can often be fixed, mistakes on eBay can often mean "losing money" which is a burden few people can bear.


You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.