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Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

The Homework I Gave To My Friend Who Wanted To Generate $60K to $250K in Passive Income

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My good friend (let’s call her Rita) recently asked me for tips on how to generate extra passive income of $60,000 to $250,000 per year.

Rita wanted to do this so that her life-partner (who has a stressful job) could live a more comfortable life, and the two of them could pursue some “do-good” creative projects to better the world.

I couldn’t guarantee her anything but she asked for a meeting with me and I came up with some homework that she could do ahead of time (mostly to read some of my past articles and do some exercises).

I know the links/tips I include are all my own…but, hey, that’s what I know best. 😉

I thought I’d share with you my email to Rita in case you or someone you know wants to make some more $dough.

It’s not easy, but if you are serious about wanting to increase your income you’re going to have to put in some work. Here it is.

Dear Rita,

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Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

The 7 Ugly Reasons Your Ideas Don’t Turn Into Reality

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“Ideas are like a$$holes…,” my friend Ralph once said: “…everyone has one!” Ralph’s gonna hate me for mentioning that one!

You hear it almost every day: “I have an idea for a new product…or a new Web site.”  Perhaps you even say it yourself.

I keep my business ideas in a Google Docs spreadsheet for easy organization.

But most often the idea dies right there…or, worse, you hear someone whine or brag about the idea later when someone else has turned it into a product.

“Hey, I thought up a car sharing service just like Zipcar five years ago!”

If you want to avoid being one of those idea-snobs, here are 7 mistakes to avoid when you have an idea that you want to turn into a reality

1) You Keep Your Idea A Secret

Many people keep their ideas a secret — they don’t share it with anyone. This is probably the worst mistake you can make.

This may you are worried someone will steal the idea or  because you fear failure or lack confidence.

I suggest that you keep your ideas in a journal…I use Google Docs (pictured above) to keep my ideas (and ideas of friends) and I rate them based on:

  • How much capital I have to put at risk to test the idea
  • How much financial upside the idea has
  • How confident I am in the business model of the idea
  • How close the business idea is to my core competencies
  • How consistent the idea is with my values
  • How fun the idea is

And I can pull up the pipeline of ideas any time on my iPhone.

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