StayWealthy.com

At first when I saw the name “Liquid Trust” at ShareASale (An affiliate network with 100+ quality merchants), I thought it was a merchant selling financial products relating to trust funds. After a closer look at the description, it says:

“Liquid Trust is the world’s first Oxytocin product, specially formulated to make people trust you! Featured on NBC, ABC and WebMD. This product was just launched in August and is the first product to take advantage of the new scientific research of human hormone called Oxytocin. We are offering 25% revenue sharing per sale. We have found this product to generate a lot of interest and buzz. Our conversion rates have exceeded our expectation level!”

The Liquid Trust website, verolabs.com, boasts articles about the Oxytocin hormones from respectable publications such as National Geographic, WebMD, Scientific America, NBC, BBC, etc. According to Nature Magazine, research found that investors who had inhaled Oxytocin were significantly more willing to invest their money with people that they had just met.

Wowee… I’m so glad computers don’t spray out scents otherwise I’d have bought bulkloads at this website.

The first few things that came to my mind is that this trust potion will be particularly useful for con artists, politicians, criminals… It’s such an interesting product to be made fun of, I just had to blog about it…

In the future, fellow marketers/salespersons will be using them to increase sales.. our TVs and computers will have built-in unlimited sprays of oxytocin.

“So you’d like to advertise on our home shopping network? Do you want trust potion with that? It only costs 50% more of the fee!”

Oh, the horror! I think we better start churning out immunation towards Oxytocin.

If you’d like to give it a try, it costs only $49.95. I’ve got a $10 coupon if you are interested. On second thought… I think I’ll save the coupon for myself, I need a raise from my boss.

—-

On a more serious note, Oxytocin has the potential to treat social phobias like autism and William’s Syndrome. Click here to read all about Oxytocin.

I tried… I really tried….

I couldn’t help it… I just had to download FireFox at my office! Surfing the internet just sucks with Internet Explorer.

If you don’t have FireFox, you are missing out a browser that’s simple, speedy and expandable. Here are top 5 reasons why FireFox is my favourite browser.

1) It is SUPER fast

Enough said, Internet Explorer’s a slow poke.

2) Tabbed Browsing
My most used feature on FireFox browser is tabbed browsing, this saves me from clouding up my taskbar with every website that I open. Here’s a quick comparison:

FireFox tabbed browsing. One browser, multiple sites.

Having multiple websites opened in internet explorer clouds up my taskbar. Making out which browser is which site is absolutely impossible without opening them to find out.

Even having all internet explorers grouped into one button is a redundant process when compared to FireFox’s.

3) Built-in Search Engine

You can search google without visiting the page of google.com, drag and drop a word you highlighted into the built-in dictionary.com to look up definitions or find products on amazon. It’s so easy!

4) Browser add-ons

I’m grateful for the great programmers who developed all sorts of add-ons. Here’s what my firefox pocketknife consist:

AdSense Notifier

As AdSense is one of my revenue, this little tool saves me the trouble of having to log into Google AdSense to check my earnings.

Google Toolbar

A fantastic toolbar that consists of several tools such as spell checker, page rank, autofill, word translator etc. I use Google toolbar’s spell checker to save me embarassing spelling mistakes when I type my blogs, articles or e-mails. The toolbar also does a nifty job telling me the PageRank when I look for sites to exchange links.

Of course, these are tools that suits me but FireFox’s add-ons are aplenty to cater for different users: Web shoppers have their webshopper tools (currency converter, form auto-filler), webmasters have theirs (color picker, IE viewer), etc.

Lastly… 5)Themes

Customizing FireFox’s appearance is wonderfully easy. From Gothic to cartoonish to simple, there’s a variety of themes to choose from in the database. At the end of the day, my FireFox is customized to everything I want… except that it can’t make coffee.

When we think of successful online businesses, websites such as: Amazon.com (biggest online bookstore), eBay.com (largest auction website), Yahoo.com (most well-known search engine) usually spring into mind. On the contrary, you probably have heard of dot-com companies turned dot-bombs. So you think, “How do I make money on the internet when I don’t have money to advertise like those big guys such as Amazon.com or Yahoo.com?”

… Well, you don’t need money to make money! There are several ways to make money through the internet, and one of them is through affiliate programs. Best of all, it costs nothing to sign up!

“What are affiliate programs? Isn’t it just another get-rich quick plot or some hocus-pocus that’s all a scam?”

Affiliate programs (also known as referral/associate programs) are legitimate and not get-rich-quick scams. It’s a simple concept: Earn commission for each sale you make. As a matter of fact, even big guys like Amazon.com launched affiliate programs to fuel their sales and to increase their brand, hence that further proves my point that affiliate programs aren’t scams.

How Affiliate Programs Work…

Using Amazon.com as an example, here’s an illustration on how affiliate programs work…

An affiliate (let’s call her ‘Lily’) owns a website about movie-making, so she chose a few books related to her website including the best-seller “How to Write a Hollywood Movie Script in 5 minutes!”

Lily then puts unique links to each of these books on her website that enables Amazon to identify which visitor is sent by her. One of Lily’s visitors was so impressed by Lily’s review on the book “How to Write a Hollywood Movie Script in 5 minutes!” that she wanted to buy it immediately, the visitor then saw “Buy it now on Amazon.com!”…. CLICK!

The visitor enters the Amazon site, Amazon identifies this visitor is from Lily. The visitor then checks out with the book and pays using credit card. Lily is paid a commission on that sale!

Affiliate Programs vs. Selling Your Own Products on the Web

Sure enough as a web merchant, you get 100% of the profits made. But you will have to fuss with start-up costs, advertising, marketing, shipping, credit-card processing, products/ services to maintain, customer services, customer complaints, web hosting, accounting, staff training…

Phew! That’s a lot work! But…

As an affiliate, you don’t need your own products to sell; you don’t need to incur the costs: Your start-up cost is zero; and you don’t have to deal with the customers’ orders or accounting or all the above because the merchant will handle all these for you. In some affiliate programs, you can also recruit and train sub-affiliates under you. Your training pays off when your sub-affiliate gets a sale, because you earn ‘training commission’ too. I’ll get more in-depth about this later in the article.

“But I’m not a computer or internet-savvy person! I don’t have a website too!”
Don’t worry! An effective affiliate finds thousands of ideas to sell online, or offline! You can advertise locally in newspapers, in articles you write, recommend it to friends, notice boards, etc… There are no limits.

“Great! How do I start?”

As easy as it sounds, I’m sad to say that it’s not a piece of cake if you plan to sit there and wait for the cash to come to you. In the affiliate business, it follows the 80-20 rule – 80% of the benefit is only achieved by 20% of the affiliates. So if you want to get rich quick, affiliate program isn’t for you… but if you want to be one of the 20% affiliates who get 80% of the benefit you can go here to learn about super affiliates

Choose a Good Affiliate Program

There are many affiliate programs out there but you need to focus on the ones that work for you. I suggest a few good criteria to look for in affiliate programs:

1) High-value products/services
When I said ‘value’, I don’t mean the price tag. Let’s say, you are an affiliate for 2 companies which are in similar industries, both offering 30% commission. One sells its product for $50 and the other for $150. So you think,

“Hmmm… When I make a sale, I get more commission from company no.2 ($45) than company no.1 ($15). Wow!”

Although it is simple logic, ask yourself this question first, “will I, as a customer, buy this $150 product when I know there are cheaper ones out there?”

Think like your customer, question yourself “Am I paying my money’s worth on this product?”, “Does the company offer great value for a dollar?”

If you answer ‘no’ for both these questions, you’ll know that the company will eventually die. So stay away from highly priced products just because it has high commissions.

2) High Affiliate and Customer Support
One of the key areas to look for when choosing a good affiliate program is their support system. A company that values its customers and affiliates is a company that grows. The company must be able to provide as many resources for their affiliates to promote their products, e.g. training, newsletters, banners, free stuff, etc.

Furthermore, it should also listen to its customers’ suggestions, complaints and be able to keep their customers happy. Remember, happy customers mean long-lasting company!

3) Team Sales
There are some affiliate programs that allow you to recruit sub-affiliates under you. When your sub-affiliates perform well, you are also rewarded with a ‘coaching’ commission for their sales because it is your duty as a team leader to coach your sub-affiliates. Although most affiliate programs on the internet doesn’t support team-building, it is preferable that you choose one that does. The reason is simply:

T.E.A.M = Together Everyone Achieves More

Sure enough, you can do the whole affiliate business by being a lone ranger, but you are limiting your own capacity to earn more. Moreover, the results are two-fold: you will enjoy a second stream of income apart from your job (unless you plan to do it full-time) AND the satisfactions of helping others to earn another source of income too!

4) Repeat Sales Potential
Other than achieving one-time sales, it is recommended if the affiliate program entitles you to lifetime customers, which means ‘once your customer, always your customer!’

A company with a good sales structure will retain their customers and encourage repeat sales. Thus, you get commissions for repeat sales too.

5) Reputable and Reliable Company
Check the company’s history on the newsgroup or http://groups.google.com, and find out whether it’s well-established. Are their customers satisfied? Are the affiliates happy? Does the company keep changing the affiliate policy? I’m sure no one wants their affiliate business suddenly gone because the merchant company failed!

Lastly, Open Your Mind to Creative Ideas
Read as many articles/books as possible on the subject of selling or marketing to expand your mind to accept more ideas and concepts on how to sell! There are a lot of information on the internet to help you in your affiliate business, it costs zero to invest in your greatest asset… you.

To help you be on your way to affiliate success, here’s a great starter pack: a free e-mail course on affiliate business-building.

Just send a blank e-mail to:

The Affiliate Masters Course by Ken Evoy:
tamsff@sitesell.net

I hope you enjoy building your own affiliate business as much as I do. I wish you success in your journey!

I made my first sale on my new website on the 28th November 2005!

To learn more about affiliate programs, visit this link:
http://staywealthy.com/online-business-for-everyone

I just signed up for a “Smart Traders Seminar” which will be taught by Mirriam MacWilliams. I went to a lot of free options trading seminar previews during this year and I’ve learnt a lot in all of them even though they weren’t the full course.

The ad for Mirriam’s appealed to me because, well, she’s a woman. I’ve seen dozens of ads on options by male speakers, but this was my first time seeing a woman and that’s nice! It’s refreshing and indirectly convince me that I can do it too. I didn’t even pay attention to the text of the ad (I only realized the ad said “In 2 years, I made $2,000,000 in the stock market and I can show how to do it” after the preview).

To my disappointment, Mirriam wasn’t the speaker at the preview, but a partner, Aaron Sim. I planned to make it a free educational experience like all the other option trading previews I have been to – attend, listen, learn, go home. I actually was on my way back home, but I turned back…. I thought I should just stay a bit longer to talk to the graduates and the staff.

Aaron managed to convince me to sign up after the course (heck, he’s gooood). I thought for a very, very long time before signing up. Mirriam’s attitude hit the right chords anyway, her seminars are about 4 of her strategies that fits different personalities of investors (I’ve seen previews which sounded more like teaching basics) and she sounds pretty sincere from the interview video.

On my way back home, worries came to my mind because I am “almost” RM9,600 poorer. I’m saying “almost” because I paid a deposit for it, and I can change my mind about attending it and get a refund. I was depressed and excited at the same time because I’m actually making a big decision about changing my financial future but I didn’t have the funds to pay it even when it’s instalment payment (my Alliance credit card only allows 6 months and that’s RM1,600 per month – 85% of my net salary). I started looking for more information about Mirriam on the internet… as if I was trying to find faults about her and use it as an excuse to get back my deposit haha! I couldn’t find any.

I have a feeling I’m making a right decision, so I’m sticking with it. I know I’ll figure out the finances and I know I can’t stay the way I am forever either.

This is a cycle that has repeated millions of times in life which I call “the seniority complex”. You know those time when you are in college and you talk to a graduate (who just started work) about your frustrations in college? They’ll say, “College life is the best, you should enjoy it now while you are there”.

Okay, fine. Then when you start working and you complain that the first few weeks you have nothing to do in the office, the seniors will say “Enjoy it while you can, because there will be a lot of work in the future”.

Okay, great. Then when you start to have a lot of work pouring in, seniors say “Enjoy it while you can because when you reach my level, you’ll have more shitty stuff to do”.

Right. Whatever. Then when you get promoted, seniors say “You think you have a lot of stuff to do? When you are a manager like me, there are more problems to solve.”

So, what’s the message they are giving here?

Simply put, it means: look to the past, because your future will suck.

For the positive thinkers, it means: Live the moment.

Today I went for an interview at a financial advisor/fund management company.

I applied for the position of equities analyst in this company because it has a reputable investment newsletter and has a great track record in fund management. A friend, who’s also a subscriber of theirs, also has high recommendations about them and he says I’ll learn a lot about building assets from the fund manager (my interviewer) if I work there.

I expected the salary paid by them will be lower than my current pay because their company’s smaller in size and… well… it’s also a chinese company (chinese are famous for underpaying workers, lol). However, I was still eager to attend the interview… because if I get hired, the knowledge I gain will outweigh the sacrifice of a paycut.

I was first asked to do some tests, questions like “choose one topic below and explain in layman’s term what the topic is:
a) time value of money
b) normal and abnormal distribution
c) theory of probability
d) Do you agree our country should maintain the currency peg? Why?”

I had returned most of what I studied back to my lecturer after graduation so I had very little idea on how to elaborate a,b,c and I chose d. Another test was two articles about two great fund managers (Peter Lynch and Mark Mobius), and I have to describe what impresses me most about these two fund managers.

To be honest, I thought the test was bullshit! I always hate doing tests at interviews. I think I did pretty good during the group discussion though.

After a weird supposed-to-be-group-discussion-turned-chit-chat, I asked these questions:

1) “What are the working hours like?”

“Working hours are looonnngggg. We work saturdays. If any of you don’t want to work saturdays, you can be honest with me now and I’ll withdraw your application. Sometimes we work 10 to 12 hours. I work 17 hours.”

2) “If anyone of us has the honour to work for your company, what is the pay like?”

“$1600. Our company is performance based, so it is the bonuses that are to be looked forward to… the minimum is 0 but the maximum is unlimited. The most we have paid out before is 13 months bonus.”

3) “Can your employees own shares?”

“Yes, in fact, we encourage them to own shares!”

4) “I’m asking this because your website said ‘independent’ reviews”

“Yes, we really encourage our employees to invest because we don’t want them to rely on their paycheck. Sometimes we even force them to buy good stocks with their bonuses haha”

Okay, so why am I telling you all this?

Remember the rich’s mentality vs. poor’s mentality constantly mentioned in Kiyosaki’s books? Well this is a great illustration of it (okay, I know I’m worrying too much before I am even offered a job, but hey, who knows? I may get hired).

First of all, I was hoping the working hours won’t be as long as the current job I have so that I can have more time for my web business, but it turns out it is equivalent or maybe longer than the one I have now (my current job is only 5 days a week).

Second, although I think the knowledge I’ll gain in this job outweighs the paycut…. I’m still thinking about the paycut. As I’m already used to my lifestyle, the paycut seems huge! But for one thing, the bonus and the fact that he encourages wealth building among employees was a big plus.

My employee mentality continues *bing* *boink* *bing* *boink* to contradict my wealth building objective. There’s this big uncertainty about living on $1600 and whether the company really teaches its employees to build wealth… is he going to walk the talk? Sigh…

I confess, back when I was young(er) and foolish, I had a get-rich-quick mentality. I want money NOW! (who doesn’t?) but reality hits sooner or later…

ALL businesses need effort, time and energy

ANY business, no matter traditional or new age businesses, needs time and effort. Sure, new age businesses such as network marketing or online business makes it easier for anyone to start a business with very little money but what many don’t realize is the failure rate for any type of business is high.

Every successful business isn’t built overnight, it is the result of two ingredients perseverance and commitment. Just ask a successful businessperson, he will tell you that he has failed in other businesses or didn’t make any money for the first 1 or 2 years!

Why are people caught up in the get-rich-quick facade?

Perhaps the psychology of searching for perfection was taught to us since young… We want to search for the “perfect system”, the “perfect team”, the “perfect company” but we fail to remember that there is no free lunch. If ever there’s “perfect” opportunity comes along, it is still up to us to take action.

Making money is easy, but building a long-term income is not.

Best Cashflow 101 Game Tips… From Rich Dad’s Global Community

Hats off to Rich Dad gamers around the world! Below are some shared game tips that inspire us to �learn by doing.�

TIP #1: Never…Ever…Quit.
I believe that there are many things to understand to succeed at the game. But, for me, the most important is: NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER QUIT — ON YOURSELF! No matter how you feel, NEVER QUIT!
� Kathleen M

TIP #2: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone.
CASHFLOW 101 is so powerful because it reflects your true behavior and allows you to take risks in a safe environment. Step out of your comfort zone, and do things you may not feel comfortable doing in the �real world.� You�ll be amazed at how it changes your perspective.
� Jack N

TIP #3: Celebrate the Joy of Success.
The biggest ‘tip’ I have learned so far is that your way to wealth is the joy- not the wealth- you achieve. This became very clear to me after playing dozens of times and realizing that I would actually SKIP the Dreams on the Fast Track! I was more interested in winning the game than ‘golfing around the world.’
� Jeff B

TIP #4: Focus on Your Goals.
I found that while playing the game, I would focus on the ‘negative’ spaces � “Baby” or “Downsized” � and hope not to land there. I was focusing specifically on what I didn’t want, and, oddly enough, landing on those spaces most often. I began to repeat the numbers I WANTED to have come up, and just as oddly, those numbers seemed to come up more than mere chance would support. The lesson is simple: focus on your goals, not on what may go wrong.
� Hugh C

TIP #5: Only Take Advice from Successful People.
When the Opportunity Card comes up, some people look to fellow players for guidance. Make sure that those you take advice from are having success and on their way to getting out of the Rat Race!
� Cal J

TIP #6: Your words are your reality. Never Say �Can�t.�
There is ALWAYS a way. Think outside the box. Find a way to make your �can�t� a �can.�
� Grace N

TIP #7: Take Note of Your Overall Habits.
After playing the game, take note of your overall habits- good and bad. Evaluate how those habits helped or hindered your game play. In the next game, make a concerted effort to change the habits that may have prevented you from getting out of the Rat Race.
� Toni E

TIP #8: Get Rid of Bad Debt.
The thing that has expedited my exit from the Rat Race: Paying off �bad debt.�
� Bridget S

TIP #9: Create Your Own Rules.
Creating your own rules (or modifying the game rules) can make CASHFLOW 101 more challenging. For instance, play a game where you and your teammates: (a) Pass on purchasing $1 & $5 stock deals; (b) Remove $0 down real estate transactions; (c) Remove all the doodad cards that are $100 or less.
� Dylan B

TIP #10: Don�t Limit Yourself.
Along with bad debt, there is good debt. Don�t limit yourself to your cash on-hand. The lower the price of the stock, the more money you should borrow. When you eventually sell your shares, your rate of return will more than make up for any bank payments you have to make.
� Roosevelt C

TIP #11: Give Back.
Giving back is a necessary step in getting out of the Rat Race. Newton�s law states, �For every action there is a reaction.� Give and you shall receive.
� Lisa N

TIP #12: Put Your Ego on the Shelf.
The game has showed me some things about myself I never would have guessed- like the fact that my ego gets me in more trouble than anything else. The deals you turn down count just as much as the deals you make. Don’t let your ego get you in over your head.
� Tami R

TIP #13: Be Able to Make Quick Decisions.
As Robert says, �Fortune favors the prepared mind.� When the �Opportunity Card� comes up, you need to be able to determine if it is a good or bad deal quickly. Otherwise, just like in the �real world,� you might miss a great opportunity.
� Phil L

TIP #14: Learn From Your Mistakes.
Mistakes are opportunities to learn something new. Take risks, make mistakes� and be smarter for it!
� George C

TIP #15: Give Feedback to Fellow Players, Not Advice.
Feedback occurs after the action, advice happens before the action. Your fellow players will learn more if you tell them what they did and how they might try a different approach next time, rather than telling them what to do and how to do it.
� John D

TIP #16: Reinvest Your Cash.
Don�t let it sit there doing nothing� get your money working for you so you can get out of the Rat Race!
� Jenny M

TIP #17: Learn From Others.
Take note of fellow players� winning game strategies. Next time, test them out for yourself.
� Cheridan S

TIP #18: Overcome Fear.
Fear isn�t the problem; it�s how you handle fear: specifically, the fear of losing money. Losers are defeated by failure. Winners are inspired by it.
� Jorge T

TIP #19: Always Look For Opportunities.
No matter where you are in the game� always be on the lookout for opportunities.
� Elle J

TIP #20: Reflect on Lessons Learned.
Always think about what you can learn from the game you just played. You may not always have time to reflect on the game as it is played (and sometimes it is more interesting NOT to play, but to just observe!), but you should always take time later to think about the game and what it taught you. This is part of the educational process and so it should be savored. You can learn a lot about how investing works, how well your investment strategies pay off, and what it takes to exit the real Rat Race.
� Dave G

Article taken from richdad.com

>>Check out the Cashflow 101 Game!

Hi,

My name is Wei-Ni. Currently I work in an accounting firm as an associate consultant, making ends meet. So why should you visit a site about building wealth created by someone like me?

That’s because I am not someone who inherited millions, I’m 22 years old and starting out from scratch, just like you (most of you), to retire early. I moved out of my parents’ house and found a job in the city to be financially independent: pay my own bills, rent and expenses while I learn to create passive income. Staywealthy.com is about sharing my interests, knowledge and experience from my ups and downs. If others can turn their life around, achieve financial freedom and attain their desires, so can you and I.

My biggest inspiration came from Ken Evoy, author of “Make Your Site Sell!” and Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. As you can see most reviews on my site are about his products, I am a big fan.

My dream is to travel around the world. I wanted a way for me to create passive income so that it can support me during my travels. The criterias I was hoping to find are:
- It has to be mobile (meaning I can control it and receive the money from anywhere),
- it has to be global,
- it doesn’t take up a lot of time.

After browsing through business opportunities such as MLM, traditional businesses, online businesses etc, I ended up choosing two sources of income: affiliate marketing and options trading. You can read what they are and monitor my progress in my blog.

Feel free to contact me, I’m all ears!