I spent a couple hours wandering around campus today, seeing as it was the first sunny day in a couple weeks. I like doing that – it’s amazing how little I think when I’m working. Walking and thinking is energizing. Maybe because it lets me peek at the bigger picture.
I heard about a guy named Jim Rohn four or five months ago. He was a wealthy entrepreneur who went into public speaking – mostly about finance. A couple things I had heard him say bubbled up as I was walking.
The first was that the difference between rich people and people of modest means is that people of modest means spend their money and invest what is left over. Rich people invest their money and spend what’s left over.
The second was that you should be aware of where every dollar goes. His rule was that you break the dollar down as follows: 70 cents is yours to do with as you’d like. 10 cents is to give to charity. 10 cents is to invest in your business. 10 cents is to invest in the business of others.
Only when I got home did I do the math. I spend 30% of my income on day-to-day expenses – food, travel, fun, etc. 64% goes into my savings, and I invest the remaining 6% into my business – as of about a week ago that number was probably closer to 2%. That means that I spend only 2% of my money to make more money. I remember three months where I spent 120% of my savings (not just income) on making more money, and I ended up making thousands of dollars. 6% is just not high enough.
The numbers that I’d like to see are 30% day-to-day, 40% on my business, and 30% into savings.
When I sat down to think about how I’d even spend that 40%, a ton of ideas hit me. I can save up for professional web design. I can have SEO automated. I can launch new sites faster and hit my goals early. I can build split-tests to see which ad positions work best. I can work on content and offers that I’ll be sending my email list. I can get more face-time with major players in the dating niche.
I can focus on the things that will make my business money rather than the many, many things that I simply need done.
I have a shitty tuna sandwich recipe website targeting 4,000 people that makes me $30 a month. I can’t imagine what I’ll be able to accomplish with 10 valuable websites that target 150,000 people each in a high-demand niche. I know it’s possible.
What worries me and what held me back for so long is that every time I’ve seen people spend money on their businesses, they look like morons. They buy stupid ebooks or useless SEO services. They fail. I feel like I’m comparing myself to these people and saying, “Well, I’ll do it better.” But who’s to say I will?
I guess my evidence is that I have earned and spent thousands of dollars online, and my flagship site is succeeding already using the techniques that I took years to learn and improve, penny-free. Now it’s time to invest in myself.
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Week (Jan.15 – Jan.21): Page Views * Click Through Rate * Earning Per Click = Total
3741 * 0.0021 *$0.24 = $1.91
Nothing too exciting. I think I might stop posting stats except for weekly page views, as that number is more indicative of progress until I seriously monetize. AdSense is just a placeholder.