In light of Valentine's Day I figured that this is the right time to tackle this article. Most of us think about the big V-day as a time to express one's feelings for those we love via cards, candy, flowers and the other stuff that the gift industry has pushed on us. (No, I'm not bitter. lol)
It's all about You.
But this Valentine's day let's be selfish for just a moment and focus on you. If you're anything like me you were probably taught to get a great paying job with benefits and ride that out until you can retire.
I was never once told by my family members, friends, guidance counsellors, etc., to pursue something I love. I guess it makes a lot of sense because none of these folks were doing what they were really passionate about. They just followed the blueprint laid out for them by everyone else.
Well let's break out that box this year. Just because everyone else has to settle with the way they make money does't mean you have to as well. The internet is the great equalizer when it comes to information, opportunity and thus money! It provides you an opportunity to work at home doing what you love that probably wouldn't be an option in the offline world. Now more than ever with the economy being in the crapper and offline jobs are harder to come by is the time to take advantage of the web! So how do we do this?
What are your strengths?
So the first thing we have to determine is what are your passions, strengths or expertise? Here are a few questions that should help you figure this out.
1. What do you usually do in your spare time for enjoyment?
Read books, write poetry, fix cars, surf porn (I'm not here to judge. lol)?
2. Do you have more knowledge than the average person about a given subject or industry?
For instance I'm a huge technology and gadget geek. For fun, I'm constantly reading blogs and articles about the latest gadgets especially when it comes to Apple stuff. This industry excites me and makes me happy. As a result my family and friends always come to me when they have a technology question. Are folks doing that to you about a given subject or topic?
3. Have you been working at a certain type of job for many years?
For example, let's say you've been a mechanic for many years. Maybe you know certain tips that you have shared with your family members and friends that can help them better maintain their cars or avoid being swindled by other mechanics.
If you can answer Yes to any of these questions, Congratulations. You have a passion or expertise. Some of you may have failed to realize it because this passion or expertise is so second nature to you. Well that's exactly why we want to capitalize it into some at home income.
Asking yourself these questions was very important because now that you have identified your expertise or passion, we can now try to figure out how to align them with a way to make money. If we're able to create a synergy between your love and a way to make money, you will be a lot more successful financially, emotionally and physically.
This is a sharp contrast from people that are just slugging along 8-10 hours a day doing whatever they have to do to pay the bills. I'm not knocking people that do that. If you have kids to feed and bills to pay then you gotta do what you gotta do. Lord knows I have. But it should not be the end all of your life. If you're going to spend most of your existence working, shouldn't it be for something you actually love to do? If you're nodding your head in agreement, then great! That means you do feel you and your family deserve a lot more. So let's try to figure out how we can get to this state of nirvana.
So how can we create a synergy between our passion and making money?
As said earlier, first you have to be able to identify your expertise, passion or love. So hopefully you've done so. However if you haven't been able to figure it out right at this moment, don't trip out about it! Trust me you do have one. Just take a couple of days to go about your normal life keeping the questions I listed above in mind. Eventually during that time you'll have an "ah ha" moment and it will reveal itself to you.
For those of you that do have an idea about what your passion or expertise might be, now you have to determine is there a way to make money with it. Some things are pretty straightforward. If you love to bake you could start selling baked goods at your local flea market or even offer to do baked goods for family and friend's events. Or let's say you enjoy planning events and everyone is always telling you that you should do it professionally. Well then offer to do their next party for a small fee.
You get the picture. These are pretty simple examples that you can run with. It's just a matter of getting over your fears and taking baby steps towards it! For those of you who have passions or expertise that are a bit more complex, you're best bet may be creating a website. Here's a perfect example.
Have you ever watch the show Extreme Couponing? If you haven't you need to check it out. Those folks are professional deal finders! They can literally purchase thousands of dollars worth of groceries for just a few bucks because of their mastery of coupons and sales. Sometimes they're so good with their coupon strategies, the store ends up having to give them store credit. How crazy is that? The store has to pay them for buying! Here's the thing, every time I watch that show I think to myself some of these folks need to start a site because I would like to learn their strategies.
If these folks knew any better they could create a website where they write articles that provide coupon tips, resources, store sales, etc. They could drive traffic to it using internet marketing techniques such as SEO. And then monetize the site with affiliate links from a company that are related to saving people money. eBates.com is a perfect store for this and has an affiliate program. Or they could create their own ebook & sell it on their site that walks people through the secrets of extreme couponing.
You see how that works? You could literally turn any expertise into another source of income using the internet as your platform. Eventually if your website becomes popular enough it may replace your full time or part time income. How great would that be? The coupon thing is just one example. But this could be applied to many other types of passions or expertise that all of you possess. It's just a matter of having the right resources to research if your passion is a viable money maker and learning the technical aspects of creating and promoting a website.
Yeah that all sounds good in theory…
But you're probably thinking to yourself, Eddy I know as much about creating a website, driving traffic and monetizing it as I do about rocket science. Agreed. It's a totally justified concern. However some of this stuff you could probably figure out on your own if you really put your mind to it. But then you would have to filter through all the noise out on the web and probably make a lot of mistakes that you could avoid if you had some handholding. As some of you know, that's how I initially learned this stuff. It's not something I ever recommend doing. It just slows your progress down. So with that said, I chatted with my buddy Kyle the co-owner of Wealthy Affiliate University.
Show me some love!
I told Kyle look Valentine's Day is coming up. In honor of the occassion I want to show some love to my users. I've been very blessed to work at home full-time doing what I love for the past 4-5 years, which is finding legitimate ways to make money and sharing it with others here on my sites. Because of the years I have put into this, my love for it and most importantly because of training from the folks at Wealthy Affiliate University, I earn a full time income that supports my whole family. Keep in mind I live in NY and the cost of living here is nuttier than squirrel poo. So the fact I'm able to support my wife and princess with this passion says a lot. Here's something else you should know. Even when I'm on vacation in places like the Bahamas. I still squeeze in time to "work". It's not because I'm on crack or a workaholic. It's because I don't view what I do as work. It's what I love. How many of you can say that about your current job or situation? I would dare to say 99.9% don't feel that way and why would you if you're not doing what you love?
So with that in mind I told Kyle I want to be able to help some folks achieve the same success I've been blessed with or ideally to help them do even better than I have. Kyle is a good dude and didn't even hesitate. He said I can definitely help! How about we hook up your users with a 7 day ALL ACCESS $1 trial to WA ? I said, sounds good!
So for Valentine's day I'm giving you the gift of a choice. All this time you've pretty much been told you have to just take whatever job pays the bills so you can support yourself or family. And in these hard times that does make a lot of sense. But I don't think that should be the end of the story for you or your family. You deserve more than that. They deserve more than that. With that said, take advantage of a full 7 days at WA for only $1 . All you have to do is click on this link. Read the information and see if it resonates with you. If it does then head over to the order page and enter the promo code: eddylovesyou
See the screenshot on where to put the code.
After you enter your information, you'll have a full 7 days to take advantage of all that WA has to offer. No limitations! Once the 7 days is complete it's $47 thereafter. But don't worry they're not going to force or trick you into staying. You can easily cancel at anytime before the 7 days are up. Please note this special offer can only work with the WA links on this article. Only my loyal subscribers and visitors have access to it. That's type of love I have for my people. However if you want to share the love with others, just refer them to this page and they can take advantage of this unique offer too.
By the way I should point out that WA has improved a lot since I reviewed it years ago.
1. They now have Live Chat!
So you can actually instant message other members any questions you have which has been a big hit! Kyle and Carson tend to be on there a lot.
2. There is a Success in 30 Days Club.
One of my biggest criticisms of WA was that people would get overwhelmed. They tend to over deliver on information which is a good and bad thing. They've heard the bitching and moaning and have done something about it. As soon as you join WA, you're automatically enrolled in a "Success in 30 Days Club". This literally walks you through everything you need to know to succeed online and gets you taking action each and every day. They send you an email each day teaching you new stuff and delivering some tasks. Don't worry you can move at your own pace. But at least it's very linear and helps you from jumping all around like a chicken without a head. Needless to say ever since they've implemented this program I haven't received a complaint about being overwhelmed in a long time.
3. Building a website is a snap.
They introduced this new benefit to members where you can create a wordpress blog like the one you're reading in a matter of minutes filling out a few short forms and pushing a button. You should have your website up and running within minutes.
4. Weekly educational videos.
So one of my biggest gripes was that WA was very text heavy. But we all learn differently. Personally I'm a better visual learner. In addition to reading, I'd prefer to actually see the concepts being played out in front of me. It tends to make it easier to understand. Others complained about this too and eventually the guys introduced the WAbinars which are weekly video webinars where you learn new topics regarding marketing. At the end of each video there is question and answer sessions where the presenter will answer any question regarding the topic covered.
One of these videos helped me launch a new business where I've made several thousands of dollars in a few months because of one tip shared. So the information is very powerful. And don't worry they save all the videos in the members areas so you can watch them at your leisure.
So obviously there is a lot of value at WAU . You can read their site to get more details. Now with all that said, are you going to build your successful full time business within 7 days? Hell no! Rome wasn't built in a day and your money generating business won't happen in a week. The purpose of this gift is to provide you with a glimpse at what another option may be for you without the risk of losing a lot of money or wasting time trying to figure it all on your own.
Hopefully for some of you it will open a new world of possibilities and eventually you can actually get paid doing something you really love. For others you might just determine that this isn't for you and you have to find another way to do what you love. It's all good either way. The purpose of this whole article is to get you thinking of ways to make money doing what you actually love and not what circumstance or people have forced you into.
With that in mind I want to leave you with a quote that I recently stumbled upon in reading the book "Who Stole My Cheese?". It's a quick read but very powerful and can be applied to all aspects of your life. The quote that was repeated in the book many times over and for good reason was as follows:
"What would you do if you weren't afraid?"
Think about that for a moment! Is your current job what you would really want to do if you weren't afraid to try something you really love? Is the life you currently live exactly where you want it to be if you weren't afraid to take risks or if your situation was different? I'll leave you with the quote again:
"What would you do if you weren't afraid?"
Now let it marinate in your mind. Hopefully it will cause you take action on this little opportunity I've presented with WA or at the very least to try to pursue something you love on your own. Either way, stop being afraid and for goodness sake try to go out there and do what you really love! Well I think I've said enough. Let me know what you guys think about this article. Does it resonate with you and make sense in your life? Chime in below if you want.
P.S. The 7 days $1 WA trial offer is only good for Feb 12 – Feb 21, 2012. Anytime during that week you can sign up with the links above and use the promo code: eddylovesyou Keep in mind the 7 days is based on when you join. So be sure to do it any time during Feb 12 – Feb 21, 2012.
LOL, It’s been one of those weeks Anna. lol
I’m glad you appreciated that quote. It’s been very influential to me in various situations in my own life. You might want to print it out and stick it all over your house, phone, etc. Just so it’s a constant reminder. You’ll be amazed what you’ll achieve when it’s top of mind.
Doh! Missed the WA promotion! Darn! lol I’ll have to wait til next time 🙂 .. I’m always catching posts late LOL .. Just wanted to mention with my situation as I stated in a previous comment on whether WA was a scam or not, that quote : “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” .. Â
Thank you for sharing that. With panic disorder that is the biggest problem .. fear .. Reading that not only helps me with pursuing my career goal, it helped me medically in a sense, to address my disorder. Â Thanks Eddy!
Great article Eddy. Â I like what Mark Twain said which goes along with your excellent points. Â “The secret of success is to make your Vocation your Vacation”. Â Â Keep up the great writing.
Great quote! Thanks for sharing!
Great web site. Â Keep it up! Â Thanks
Thanks!
Thanks. I’m still new and trying to find a niche. Friends have told me to review movies, books and of course food. Three areas I’ve retainded info since bieng hit in the head ten years ago. Unfortunately I need something right now that I can do from a public computer. Do you have any ideas? Also God Bless, It’s comforting to know there are honest home working jobs and people helping others who don’t nessary have the money to start.
Hi Gina,
You’re welcome. If you’re looking for something more immediate try some of the suggestions on my recommendations page: http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
I’m sure there are some options there you can try from any computer.
Great article Eddy. For someone like myself that is truly imprisoned with a Extremely Lucrative Business System (ELBS)that produces a guaranteed 300%-1000% profit, blue-printed to his mental mind frame, the opportunity sounds Great. I used the word imprisoned because I was taught and brought up in the same traditional manner as you mentioned above. ( Find a good job, and retire from it) What guarantee do I have that ( ELBS) can actually be put to used for the good of all?
Thanks! I’m glad you could relate!
Eddy,
I agree that now is the time to love yourself enough to step out there and do what you love for a living. Making a career change doesn’t have to be about money either. For me, my career change was about a self-esteem boost. It made me feel good to know that I was finally doing something that I knew I was good at, and that I love more than anything. And, as a bonus, if I can run my own business then I can do anything. It really does give you a whole new outlook on life when you do what you love for a living. Â
Kinya, I couldn’t agree with you more. The most important thing is actually doing what you love and sometimes that may mean taking a pay cut. But if you’re happy then that more than makes up for it. So I totally agree with you.
I’m glad you’re actually doing what you love! So thanks for chiming in! That was some great insight!
This is a great opportunity, as I’ve been on the fence about diving into WA for some time now. Thank you for this gift!
You’re quite welcome. I’m glad you can see the opportunity for what it is and plan to take advantage of it. Good luck!
Well you’re welcome my friend!
Thanks Eddy for the awesome info. I am very excited about starting some type of home based business. My passion is helping other people. I have 20+ years of customer service experience. Just not sure how to parlay that into making money. Any ideas?.
You’re welcome! Well there are tons of legitimate customer service based business opportunities.
We’ve covered a few here:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2010/08/03/is-arise-com-a-scam-%E2%80%A8/
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2010/09/14/is-vipdesk-com-a-scam/
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2011/04/05/is-alpine-access-a-scam/
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2007/10/29/live-ops-liveopscom-a-real-work-at-home-company/
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2011/06/14/is-working-solutions-a-scam/
So that’s a pretty easy one to run with. I’ve always been passionate about helping people too and I did do customer service for a short time. But it wasn’t something I was really passionate about. I didn’t find myself thinking about how to write a better email to respond to a customer. LOL What I did find was I would spend a lot of time thinking about was how to make money outside the usual 9-5. It was an addiction I had. I just married that passion with my websites and Ta Da! I’m getting paid to help people and work on something I enjoy! Hope that makes sense.
thank you
Great article Eddy. I am doing what I love by selling books.
Thanks Jerzy! It’s always great to hear when people are doing what they love. It’s a rare club to be part of. So congrats on achieving that!