In Breaking Free I outline a number of ways that people can generate passive income to forever leave their jobs. And as you know I always like to see new examples of that…

Well I recently stumbled across this YouTube video of a guy named Ronald Jenkees and it struck me how the internet has really made breaking free that much easier.

Ronald is just an “average” guy in small town America who happened to really enjoy playing music. A while back he started posting videos of some of the beats he was coming up with. He also came up with a blog to share some of the challenges he was facing composing music. Eventually he put together a CD of some of his work.

Apparently people liked his videos on Youtube and felt a genuine connection with him, because at last count he has over 33,000 subscribers to his videos and his work has been viewed by over 2 million people. I don’t have exact figures, but apparently his CD is selling quite well.

All this with little more than his personal time invested and probably a few hundred bucks in equipment.

By the way, music sales are a perfect example of passive income because it doesn’t require your personal time for each person to benefit from it.

The internet is the great equalizer. People with talent or something interesting to say now get free distribution to the world. You no longer have to “get discovered” by some music exec in LA or New York. A kid in a tiny town in Kentucky can reach the whole world.

Even if you aren’t a musician, you can apply the same principle. Find something you enjoy or are passionate about. Share your experience or journey to learn it. Offer some value to other people. Build a list of people who are interested in what you have to say.

This will NOT happen overnight. If Ronald had started his blog to “get rich quick” it most certainly would not have worked, and I’d be willing to bet that for the first few years (perhaps longer) he saw little or no results from it. He kept doing it because it was something he enjoyed whether other people noticed or not. This is key. As they say, it takes 7 years to become an “overnight success”, so pick something you enjoy doing.

Here is a sample of one of his videos. I happen to really like his music…make sure to check out his CD.

Have you seen any other good examples lately of people breaking free by doing what they love? Leave me a comment below…

John Chow on why you shouldn’t “trading time for money”…one of my favorite topics

There are many ways to make money in this world. By far the most common is trading hours for dollar, also known as a job. Maybe it’s the fact that I have never held a job for more than a year of my entire life, but I just can’t understand why people would choose to make their income this way. Trading hours for the dollar is like the worst possible method of earning a living one can make. Here’s why.

Scott Adams with the best (and simplest) advice I’ve ever seen on how to write funny stuff

Tell me what you were DOING immediately before reading this blog, and also tell me what you were THINKING about while you did it. If you can do both of those things, you are halfway to being an interesting and humorous writer. For example, “I was answering an e-mail from my coworker Karl while thinking he won’t understand my answer because he has an unusually small head that probably can’t hold much of a hat much less a brain.

Shoemoney on why people fail in business

Starting your own business can yield amazing rewards but at the same time its a pretty big risk. I was recently asked in the Q&A why people fail at starting their own businesses. I came up with several reasons and wanted to expand more on this.

37Signals on the lack of value in getting an MBA

There’s a popular book on entrepreneurship called The E-Myth which claims that bakers shouldn’t run bakeries, plumbers shouldn’t run plumbing companies, and everyone else should think about how they could turn their small business into a franchise. On the face of it, there’s a lot of good advice about how you can’t just be a good baker if you don’t have a business bone in your body and expect commercial success.

On October 14th, 2005 I quit my job at Deloitte to work for myself full time. It wasn’t quite like this…but I wish it had been :)

Here is some excellent business education for the day. Much cheaper than getting an MBA.

In this talk, Milton Friedman gives an overview of free market economics, including how…

• The minimum wage law is discriminatory
• The cost of social security is born 100% by the employee
• Every social program has had the opposite of the intended effect
• Doing charity with other people’s money is flawed

Why this stuff isn’t taught in school I have no idea (I actually have a degree in economics and we never learned anything as useful as this).

If you don’t see the video click here.

Today I’ve been thinking a lot about different business models for internet companies. Specifically, internet companies that have some sort of service to match people up.

As you know I’ve been working on a new tutoring business model lately which is what sparked these thoughts.

Actually there are lots of companies online which match buyers and sellers just like I’m matching tutors and students.

For example, companies like AutoTrader.com match buyers and sellers of cars. Travelocity matches buyers and sellers of airline tickets. Ebay matches buyers and sellers of all sorts of products. Even Match.com matches people (not for buying and selling but for dating).

Would you believe that each of these companies uses a slightly different business model?

First of all, WHO do you charge? Does the buyer pay your fee or the seller?

Secondly, WHEN do you charge? Do you charge up front to use the service or only after a transaction actually takes place?

I made a little matrix to illustrate these different business models with an example of each. Here we’ll look at WHO gets charged and WHEN in the process:

So Match.com’s business model is to charge the buyer and they pay up front. Ebay’s business model is to charge the seller and they only pay when an actual transaction takes place. You get the idea…

Which is best? I think the answer is that none are better than the other (after all, all four example companies are highly successful). I think it totally depends on your particular business, and getting in the wrong quadrant could be disastrous if it doesn’t fit.

For example, I’d assume its always better to do the “only pay when a transaction occurs” option IF you’re able to verify when a transaction actually occurs. It’s much easier to sell this idea to customers “hey I only make money if you make money”. Most people have no problem with that because they can try your service for free and if doesn’t work they pay nothing. That’s appealing. I mean, imagine Ebay charging you up front whether you sold anything or not! That would be annoying.

But you can quickly imagine why AutoTrader and Match.com can’t use this model because they can’t verify when a transaction takes places. No one is going to go buy a car or fall in love without going to LOOK at the product in person first ;) And once the buyer and seller are in contact outside of your site, what incentive do they have to come back and report to you that a transaction actually took place? The answer is none. So AutoTrader and Match.com are forced to charge up front. A harder sale, but necessary in this case.

Secondly, who should you charge? Would it make sense on AutoTrader to give free listings to car sellers and charge buyers instead who are searching for cars? I’m guessing not…the car seller has more to gain by getting a higher price for his or her car so it makes sense to charge them. If they can sell the car for just $25 more, then they’ve made up for the cost of posting it on AutoTrader.

Other Variables

There are plenty of other options to look at when deciding a business model. For example, you could just give the product/service away for free and be advertising supported. You could also debate between charging a one time fee vs. a monthly subscription. In general subscription products are more profitable because they come with recurring revenue, but not all products justify it. Is it something that the customer will need on an ongoing basis (like finding more dates every Friday night on Match.com) or is it a one time need (like selling your car once on AutoTrader).

So what about tutoring? A thought exercise…

For my new business that matches tutors and students online, what is the best business model?

Should the tutor pay to find students or should the students pay to find a tutor? The tutor stands to make money, but the student is the one in need. Using the AutoTrader model the tutor would pay, but using the Match.com model the student would pay.

Ideally I’d charge one of them only after a match had been made and they decided to meet. But I hit the same problem of knowing WHEN a transaction actually takes place…if a tutor and student meet through the website, what incentive do they have to come back and report to me they actually met for 10 hours this month? Once they have each others email or phone (which is pretty much necessary for deciding you’d like to work with a tutor) they have no need to come back to the website to give me a cut. So I’m thinking paying up front would be the only option there.

Should it be a one time fee or subscription? Tutors would probably pay monthly to keep their profile up and get more students to work with, but a student has a need to find a new tutor maybe once or twice a year at most…so that makes more sense as a one time fee I’d think.

Or should it just be a totally free service and make money from ads?

This is all a bit jumbled and just some random thoughts floating around my head today. But hopefully it helps you see a new way to think about business models and what would work best in any particular situation.

Lets do a little survey, what do you think would be the best business model for the tutoring business just described and why? Post in the comments below!

This has been bugging me for a while now, and somebody needs to finally say it: Network Marketing is not a worthwhile endeavor, stay away from it!

The number of people who are caught up in this stuff is staggering and it seems like at least once a week I get contacted by someone trying to get me to join some program.

It’s really annoying, and there is no quicker way to ruin your reputation among your friends and contacts then trying to get them to join this stuff. Smart, respectable business people stay away from network marketing like the plague and it will INSTANTLY kill your credibility if they get even a whiff that you’re trying to get them to join one of these things.

I’ll probably piss off half the readers of this blog by posting this, but thats fine because it needs to be said. For some reason the “home based business” industry is surrounded by this stuff…get rich quick schemes, network marketing, and all sorts of shady offerings…and that bothers me.

Even the Google ads which show up automatically on this site seem to come up as network marketing type stuff half the time (haven’t figured out how to change that, if anyone knows leave me a comment)…which means they are targeting people who want to start their own business. Being a network marketer is not starting your own business!

If you want to break free from your job…you’re going to have to do it honestly, ethically, and with hard work. You’re not going to do it by selling some herbal supplement or lower electric bills or energy drink to your friends. And you’re certainly not going to do it by pissing off every contact you’ve ever made trying to get them to join you.

If you can’t explain your business in one sentence, you’re either hiding something or don’t know what you’re doing

I was in an elevator the other day and struck up a conversation with the elderly woman next to me. I asked her what she was up to and she said she was going to a meeting for XYZ (I can’t even remember the name). When I asked her what it was she gave me the most cryptic reply…”well, we do a lot of things really, but mostly…we find ways to help people.”

Right away the little alarm bell is going off in my brain…the same one I get when telemarketers call or Jehovah’s witnesses come to the door…damnit, she is a network marketer.

If you can’t explain clearly what your business is in one sentence…you’re either hiding something or you haven’t figured it out yet either.

Sure enough…her next words were “why don’t you give me your card and I can tell you more about it some time”.

“Well is it network marketing?” I asked.

“Sort of”, she said, “but not really…we really just help people. Let me get your card and we can talk more some time”.

“No offense”, I said, “but if its anything related to that I really don’t want to get involved”.

Her mouth hung open for a second, and then she stormed out of the elevator, visibly shocked.

Why You Shouldn’t Do It

Does network marketing even work? I certainly haven’t researched it extensively…the thing is every network marketer will tell you they KNOW someone who is super rich from doing it, but I’ve never met that illusive person.

On the other hand, I HAVE met dozens of millionaires who are legitimate business owners or are involved in real estate. In fact, EVERY rich person I’ve ever met either owns their own business or owns lots of real estate (or both).

That’s just my personal experience and not conclusive proof, but look at your own personal experience and see if it matches up.

That brings me to an important point. Even if network marketing DID make lots of money (which I don’t think it does for 99.9% of people), I STILL think you shouldn’t do it.

Why? Because in the process of making that money you would have pissed off all your friends and family hustling them to sell your vitamins!

What good is it to have all that money if your family hates you and the only friends you have left are other network marketers?

Does It Feel Like You’re Helping People?

The only way to make a ton of money is help a bunch of people. Period. If you give a bunch of people a tremendous amount of value they will gladly give you some money for that.

I know, I know…your network marketing program is different from the others which all give it a bad name, etc…and the intense motivational weekend you went to made it sound like you were helping people who love the product.

Just be honest with yourself for a minute and forget all the delusional bullcrap, and ask yourself how you feel about what you’re doing. Maybe it REALLY IS a good product that helps people…if so why the tactics to get people to buy it. If it feels dirty get out.

Its the same as people who bring fraudulent slip-and-fall lawsuits or don’t disclose the patch repair done on their transmission when they go to sell a car.

Of course its possible to make money in slightly unethical ways in the short term…there is no doubt about that. But I think ultimately the biggest person you end up hurting is yourself…both in terms of your pocket book and self-esteem.

Stay away from network marketing, and if you’re in it already…forgive yourself (we all make mistakes) and get the hell out!

What has been your experience with network marketing and dealing with network marketers? Please post a comment below…

I spent some time digging through my emails tonight and updated the book page with about a dozen emails from people who purchased Breaking Free the book.

Some of them are pretty inspiring…and it’s amazing to see the VARIETY of people who all share the same desire to be free from a job (from doctors to 15 year olds).

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did…

Hey! I just finished your book, and although I’m not writing to thank you for the vast changes it has brought up in my life JUST YET- I feel the need to tell you that I completely enjoyed every sentence of the book.

There were many parts where I couldn’t help but smile because it was clear how you genuinely wanted the absolute best for the reader - you weren’t worried about how silly things might sound as long as you got your point across or as long as it worked (like punching the little ’self doubt creature’ off your shoulder hahah). I also loved the stressed importance of not ripping off your customers or ‘being evil.’ You seem like a great person and I’m genuinely happy that you’ve reached this success because you seem like you totally deserve it.

Take care!
Juliet

Hi Brian,

Big fan of your blog. Bought your ebook a couple of days ago and I think it’s great! Congratulations for a job well done.

One of the posts that I find very inspiring is your “From Idea to Launch” post series. Mainly because it shifted my paradigm that online business = information products.

[Specific question removed]

-Carlo

PS. FYI, in “Breaking Free”, Afterword was spelled Afterward (don’t know if that was intentional) and you have a typo on page 229 for your email address :D Yes, I got to that within just a couple days of reading.

Dear Brian,

I am a doctor, and this was the only way I could see myself functioning in this world.

You gave me the courage to “start breaking free” away from the path, which no longer was led by my desire, but rather by inability to turn back on something into which I have invested so much. I am not sure this mail will reach you, but I want to thank you and wish you success in everything you do.

- Kind regards,Katie

Hey Brian,

I actually thought this was a pretty good book. This is the first full eBook that I have bought, and I have to say that I was very impressed.

The concepts are well thought out and presented in a very clean manner that helps for easier understanding and retention.

I bought this book at the same time as 4-Hour Work Week (by Timothy Ferriss) and these two books are now two books that I am recommending to people over everything else.

I think the ideas presented in your book are very reasonable and there should be no problem implementing them, especially using the “small steps” guideline.

Thanks for a good read and plan for “Breaking Free”..
Tom

Brian,
I finally finished Breaking Free last night. It was good; I liked the no-nonsense advice. The message I especially took away from it is: “this is not that hard to do.” I just wanted to share with you some of the things that I’ve started doing as a result of your book and some of its spin-off activities:

[goes on to list 9 activities…]

Anyway, thanks for helping me get started on this path; I’ll let you know how I’m progressing. Let me know if you’re ever in Boston!
- Dave

Hi Brian,

I am half way through the book so far (probably need to take you up on that speed reading suggestion) and have started playing around with Wordpress. Thank you so much for putting the info out there that you do. I am at a point in my life (I turn 30 in November) where I know I need to start working for myself–the employee world is just not for me. It is exciting but scary. I am still working on pushing myself harder.

I am really glad blogs and e-books like yours exist! They do wonders for encouraging me. One of the things you wrote that really set off a bell was the “no matter what” ;-) I have two Masters degrees and kind of just followed a path for a while of getting a good education and going to work for a co. with benefits–blah, blah…it’s not my destiny. I know I cannot waste my whole life dreading work in the morning.

Thanks!
Christine G.

“Hello Brian,
I met you at the after hour networking event with Jon King and bought your book. Enjoying it!
This information is such valuable stuff especially for the new business builders. Thank-you so much for sharing!
- Faye DeSilva

Hi Brian -

Just writing to let you know that I really liked the book. It is quite a value for the money and it had some helpful advice I had not encountered before. (and I’ve read a lot on the subject)

I’m in the process of trying to break free right now. I’m a very successful engineer at a top company, published author, and I consider myself a smart and capable guy. Starting the process is difficult at times, but reading the experience of someone who has broken free has been very inspiring.

Thanks
Addis

Hey dude, love your book. (im 15 by the way). I want to have my own web designing company but I really wouldn’t know where to start. Its really good from the beginning on how you started out. I can feel the experience myself though because im more of a business person too.

Looking forward to speaking with you once more and maybe in reality!

-Jarod B.

Your eBook is awesome! More people need to hear your story.
- Jason

“I found this book online by accident and bought it at a time that coincidentally I was getting sick of working for someone else. The book is very motivational and a must read for anyone who wants to “break free”. The book offers a step by step approach to quiting your job and becoming financially independent.
The author of the book, Brian Armstrong, writes from his own experiences and shows how anyone can follow in his footsteps…making breaking free seem a lot more possible.
-by A. Lehrer, New York, NY

Brian,

I am loving the book for its inspiration as I have been contemplating quiting my job. I have more than sufficient $ to take some time off, so last Friday I went ahead and put in my two weeks. It’s a scary feeling to do this especially without a side business already up and running, but I can afford it. I know that taking some time off will help give me a level head and aid in my pursuit to find my passion.

Best,
Aaron V.

To read more about Breaking Free and get your own copy of the book (either PDF or Paperback) click here.

Thanks,
Brian

One of the most bizarre pieces of business news lately has been around Microsoft’s hostile takeover bid of Yahoo.

Since Yahoo rejected the bid, the news is reporting that:

Microsoft Corp.’s abandoned takeover bid for Yahoo Inc. appears to have culminated with a disheartening thud for those two companies but amounted to yet another coup for online search leader Google Inc.

I mean at first, I thought this story would just turn out to be an embarrassment for Microsoft, who offered a ridiculous $46B for a second rate, circling the drain, “we haven’t created a successful product in years”, search engine.

That in and of itself would have been ridiculous enough. For some reason Microsoft still seems to think that they can compete by knocking off good ideas (Zune? Vista? etc) instead of actually innovating (oh yeah and learning how to do good user interface design).

I’ve written about how Microsoft has lost touch with reality since as early as 2004, but lately it seems to be getting worse. Here is a video of Balmer laughing off the iPhone. Whoops! Turned out to be the fastest selling consumer electronics device OF ALL TIME.

Come on, Google needs some real competition or they’re going to become lazy and arrogant at the top!

Anyway, I thought that would have been the end of it….but no, Yahoo! decides to top Microsoft’s stupidity by REJECTING the bid.

I mean sure, the idea of working for Microsoft probably wasn’t ideal for them. But seriously, to be doing that poorly and then have a huge buyout offer come along like that, you should be counting your blessings and praying the check clears before Microsoft comes to their senses.

I’ll make a public prediction right here that Yahoo! will look back on this in the years to come as a HUGE missed opportunity. Their stock will continue to decline and they’ll never get another buyout even close to that.

So what do you think, who is the bigger idiot? Yahoo! or Microsoft? Or do I have it all wrong? Let me know in the comments…

As I was doing keyword research for my new tutoring business, I came across an interesting discovery.

People search online 10 times as often for “homework help” as they do for “tutor”.

This was true across the board…”math homework help” searched 10 times as often as “math tutor”, etc.

Glenn Nicholas over at OM4Business.com even wrote in to confirm this fact for me and point out that I needed to do something about it ASAP.

I had always been a little skeptical of the keyword “homework help”…you see, someone who types “math tutor in Houston, TX” into Google is almost certainly a good prospect. Someone who would purchase tutoring. But someone who types “homework help” into a search engine could be a kid (instead of a parent) or just someone looking to find the answer to a problem who would never hire a tutor.

Then again, I told my self, given that the keyword was searched 10 TIMES as often, I really couldn’t afford not to test it out. After all, even if 75% of those searches never turned into customers….the remaining 25% would represent a 250% increase over the current customers I was getting from tutoring related keywords. What did I have to lose?

To further seal the deal, Glenn sent me a link about something called “problem marketing” which gave me a new perspective. When people have back pain they type “back pain” into a search engine, because that is their problem. They don’t know to type in “ergonomic chair” or “sciatic nerve therapy” or whatever, because those are SOLUTIONS.

Similarly, tutoring was the solution and homework help was the problem…so maybe, just maybe, I was marketing the wrong keyword.

Anyway, the results of this little experiment remains to be seen (and I will post them on the blog), but the point of this article is that I wanted to show you how easy it was to put up a new professional looking website to test out this idea.

The site I created is called HomeworkHelpBlog.com and it is a free resource (a blog) for students who needs help on their homework.

Saavy readers might notice that I used a domain with the keyword in it, to help it rank in search engines. The idea will be to offer free advice and tips on this site for students (my tutors can help me generate the content eventually) and build a list of subscribers who may eventually turn into tutoring customers.

The entire site from start to finish took 4 hours and $6.95 to create.

• I already pay for hosting at 1and1 and adding a new domain was free.

• I had to register the domain at GoDaddy, hence the $6.95
• To build the entire site I used WordPress (again free) so there was no programming involved
• The slick looking design was created by someone else and given away free (just google “best wordpress themes”). I installed it, again, with no programming to give it a custom look and feel.
• From start to finish it took me about 4 hours doing it entirely myself

One of the bonuses that comes with Breaking Free is a book on how to use Wordpress for exactly this reason.

It makes it very simple and easy to put up a business website ANY TIME you have an idea like this.

Conclusion
I think the main points to take away from this article are…

• There is a quick and inexpensive way to test out any business idea you have: starting a business website. I’ve shown how easy it is here, so really there is no excuse not to put together one of these when you have a good idea (or pay someone to do it). Maybe 1 out of 10 will really work out and you’ll have a business on your hand that can allow you to quit your job.
• You need to understand keyword research. If I hadn’t done the research I never would have known that “homework help” was so much more popular than tutoring keywords. That information could turn out to be priceless if it doubles or triples my business.

Until next time, keep breaking free!
Brian Armstrong

Hi Brian - are you using a self-directed IRA for your real estate investments? Also, what sort of retirement account are you using for your business. SEP-IRA vs 401K.
Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,

This is a great question, and it might surprise you to hear that I don’t use any IRA’s or 401K’s whatsoever.

The reason is simply that I’m working toward building financial freedom which is quite a bit different than working toward retirement. Let me explain…

What most people do (working toward retirement) is to save a bunch of money so that one day when you are 60 or whatever you can finally stop trading 8 hours of every day for a paycheck. Then in your old age you live off your savings, pinching pennies and hoping that you die before your money runs out.

Working toward financial freedom is a little different. The way I define financial freedom is that your passive income exceeds your expenses. So if all your expenses, including everything from rent to movie tickets, is about $3,000 per month (just as an example) and your passive income is $4,000 per month, when do you have to go back to work?

The answer is of course, never. So why have a retirement account? That same passive income will be there whether you are retired or not. It will be there whether you are 20 years old or 80 years old. It will be there whether you are bed ridden or in good health.

In fact it will continue to grow as you reinvest (plus real estate income automatically adjusts for inflation, etc).

Anyway, businesses that you own or invest in, real estate, book royalties, etc. These are all good passive income models.

Kiyosaki has some great stuff on this topic by the way.

I had a Roth IRA for years before I started getting more into this stuff but I decided to stop using it because of the above reasons. Basically I wanted to be financially free in something like 5 years, and waiting to take advantage of it until I was 65 made no sense to me.

The penalty for liquidating it was miniscule too, since all contributions to it are untouched and they made up 95% of the value. Only got taxes and penalized on the 5% that was gains.

Before I finish up I just wanted to make a few other points.

1. Many people do these types of retirement accounts for the tax advantages. Real estate has huge tax advantages and I get the benefit now instead of waiting till I’m 65, so I prefer real estate.

2. Rich people don’t use these types of retirement accounts. Do you think Bill Gates or Donald Trump have 401K’s and IRA’s? They own businesses and real estate which pay them whether they work or not.

3. I realize that what I’ve said here goes totally against conventional wisdom that 90% of people follow. And any financial planner reading this probably thinks its ridiculous. But most financial planners aren’t rich (otherwise, why would they still be working) and I get advice from rich people.

Anyway, this post can sound somewhat arrogant and it will probably challenge many people’s closely held beliefs about financial planning that they have followed for years.

So I will just end by saying that I don’t claim to know everything here. I am very much a student of this as well. This was simply the conclusion I came to after doing the research and talking to rich people, so thats what I decided to do.

Take it for what its worth, and keep breaking free!
Brian Armstrong

These will be rapid fire responses.

HelpYourSelfGetLucky.com asks:
I was wondering if you can shed some light or give some advice on how to break free when you have a family to support. I have a wife and 2 kids.

I don’t have direct experience with this myself, but I can tell you that many entrepreneurs have still done it.

The only difference is that you can take a little less risk if you are the sole breadwinner. As a bachelor you can quit and live off ramen noodles for a while if you are really dedicated, but as a father/husband you don’t want to mess things up at home. That will just make it even harder to get a business started.

My suggestion is to stay at your current job while getting your business started on the side. Wait to quit until you can match (or at least get close) to your current salary. Set yourself a goal of how much you need each month coming in from your business before you can quit. That will make it a real number to work toward.

This will not be easy, and you’ll be exhausted. Stick with it, its worth it!

Would you suggest using a straight forward domain name such as collegestudenttutors.com as you used for your recent business or would you suggest using something a little more on the humorous side to get people’s attention and them to remember the name such as yahoo.com?

For small sites I like using domains that contain your primary keywords. This helps it rank in search engines and is a good trick. For example this site ranked #1 in Google for my primary keyword phrase “houston finance tutor” or “finance tutor houston” within 30 days just because of the domain name (did no other SEO). Granted, its not a very competitive keyword.

But if you’re going to stick with a site for a long time and are willing to invest in making a real “brand” out of it then go for a more memorable name, even if it doesn’t directly suggest the product.

Quick tip on picking a brand name: the human brain likes names that have repetitive sounds (this is called alliteration). Think about how memorable these phrases are, how they’ve spread, and how if you hear it once its impossible to forget: Coca Cola, Marilyn Monroe, Dunkin Donuts, Rolls Royce, King Kong, Bed Bath and Beyond. Even pop culture phrases like “player hater” or “junk in the trunk” (note it doesn’t have to be the first letter that repeats, just the sound). Anyway, if you can use alliteration it helps an idea spread.

Caroline of Lotto Lifestyle asks:

When working for yourself, what can you do that really works and what we should stay away from?

First of all nice use of alliteration in your domain name! To build financial freedom I like real estate, I like new websites or pieces of software that solve everyday problems, I like subscription products or services, I like advice/information products a lot, I like blogging.

Stay away from any kind of network marketing or mlm type stuff (sorry I know some people on this site do that but I think they are generally a huge waste of time and have nothing to do with starting a real business), stay away from day trading or any stock stuff in general, stay away from trading time for money or labor intensive stuff (like opening a restaurant/franchise, etc), stay away from selling instant weight loss pills or anything you don’t genuinely believe in.

I heard Eben Pagen say one time that poor people have the mentality that “if I can just get a million people to give me one dollar each I’ll be rich”. They have the mentality of getting.

Rich people have the mentality that “if I can GIVE AWAY $100 dollars of value to a million people, maybe some of them will give back $10 in return”. They have the mentality of contributing a MASSIVE amount of value to a MASSIVE amount of people.

All those things I just mentioned to stay away from are (in my mind) more about getting something than contributing value.

Got a question for Brian? Send it to me, or post a comment below.