Something beautiful happened to me recently. I came across this site called Dailyarticle.com which is an article directory basically. But very much unlike the free directories you find aplenty — webmasters can purchase originally written articles, written by a huge number of writers empaneled therein. All of these articles are scrutinized before being posted to check for re-hashed, duplicated content and are thoroughly proof-read.

However, the point isn’t that. My articles get sold there — and that’s what I wanted to rant about. My pay pal never looked so full ever. It was after I started writing regularly for Dailyarticle that I started seeming some cash flow apart from my regular assignments.

I am so thrilled now-a-days that I can’t bear not to look at the site at least once in a day. I wasn’t so euphoric when I first started out. I was so burnt in the past that I just posted one article to see if it gets sold — it did and I am now hooked for life.

Dailyarticle.com also had a lot to teach me in a way. I taught me that persistence pays; hard work pays; quality pays and all that slogging through the nights does have a pay-off. It has also become a lucky charm for me because suddenly I seem to have more work than I can handle.

I hope that dailyarticle can render the magic to all freelance writers out there.

Check the site out today Daily Article ( not an affiliate link)

Share This

I was consulting a client on proper advertising mechanics the other day and I noticed a major flaw that some-how was a common string attached to most other companies pertaining to the message that is reaching to the consumers.

• Surprising Non-chalance : Most companies are incredulously non-chalant about the mssage that is going through their marketing efforts. Stale, laid-back, impassionate and uninteresting messages on top of the fact that the consumers today give two hoots about your names and brands and your fancy logos.
• No fire, only fart : Either the message yells out aloud and reeks of ” me too ” stench or it is not at all noticable. It has no fire, no passion and no interest in solicting consumers- it just farts about some improvised USP that smells just like it must.
• Huge Banners with Names and Contact Information : I Look around some of those yellow pages and other magazine ads and I see half-page and full-page ads with a crappy liner and the ‘name’ of the business in bold; huge fonts; erratic colors followed by teh contact info. Justwho the f%$# is bothered about what name your business has got? All consumers want is the answer to the Ubiquitous ” what’s in it for me?”
• Not reaching out to the right people : Your target audience primariy belongs to the age group of 18-34 year olds and you advertise in ” Home Decors” ? Are you insane? Who would you think would be looking at your ad now?
• Aping the donkeys : The Irrational exuberance isn’t just a stock market phenomenon. It could be found everywhere - look at yur competitors, they advertise everywhere you would. Try the baby mall tomorrow, you won’t be surprised if you found their ad along with yours — the funny thing is, both the companies selling business services.

Share This

I just realized the other day that “living in a state of apparent ease” isn’t such a bright idea after all. Everyone has a money crunch but how you come of that rut is perhaps the most important thought you would have - practically speaking. You see, I was pushed to a stage wherein I didn’t have much to fall back on. I had two choices - let it eat me up or I do something about it. I did something about it.

I am not bill gates yet, but I do have some activity happening.

Share This

Every body keeps talking about why you should be IN business. Here are reasons why you shouldn’t be :

 1.You can never go back - the point of no return: take this with a pinch of salt, once you take this step, you have sauntered beyond the point of no return. You can never get back to the corporate world — I mean, perhaps, you might ! But then, it is never going to be the same again.

 2. You will have to cajole people to make money for themselves : Sounds silly, doesn’t it? You will have to call up people and convince them to join your company ; share your dream ; rig your passion — I ask you, why do you need to go out of your way to help these shit heads to make money for themselves ( these morons even forget that they get a salary) .

3. Clients don’t Pay : That’s true. More often that not, clients seem to have a strong craving for not paying for your services. They waste all the time in the world to make that monkey-peanut payment and take months altogether. On top of all that, they will run you down a list of things to do to make your service more professional. How much more funny can it get?

4. You will be doing a thankless job : You work your ass off on everything to do with your company and people just keep quitting under you ; creditors don’t give a damn about the kind of hours you put in;  your spouse or parens don’t give two hoots about all those problems you are facing but will lap up all the profits you can share with them ; your clients will never be satisfied and you will be forever caught in the rut of ‘growing your company’.

5. You will probably have no money : This really depends on what you started out with and the kind of business you are in, but you will not be making any money - at least initially- whatsoever. Everyone else would be making some of it, but not you.

If you can stomach these and prepare yourself for the long haul, nothing like it. I am standing exactly where you stopped reading right now and I am yet to see if I can survive the turbulence of the entrepreneurial life.

Share This

It’s been 4 months into my business.

I am right most of the time.I was wrong sometimes.I made some real quick decisions. I am learning. Fast.

There is still no one to take care of the cash flow ( coz it isn’t much!) and I still follow what Michael. E. Gerber tells me. I think of my company as if it is a fortune 500 Company. I act as if I am the CEO. I am trying not to work IN my business and I am doing my best to work ON my business.

I am not here to work my butts off for the rest of my life. I am here to build a system that can work all by itself. I would like to stand by and watch the show. I would like to waddle my feet in the tepid waters of asian beaches, or the blue waters of the french riviera or perhaps even lie face-down in the sands of Barbados.

However, I did realize something. Maybe the wannabe entrepreneurs or even the struggling ones could sit up and take notice.

If you could work on building a business system — a machine that is designed to work all by itself without much of your intervention — it is then, and only then, that you are truly in business. Additionally, in the first few months ( or Years!) of your bootstrapped, cash-starved, relentless, empty-stomach days of entrepreneurship, you must get to accept the reality that SALES is everything.

Sales is the only thing that would get some cash in. Sales can blow your bottomline up.

Sales is everything.

How you do it is upto you.

My favourite ? This one really works and I don’t spend a penny on it except for the travel, effort and time ( better than newspaper and TV ads, anytime)

1. Go out there and get business.
2. Meet people Belly-to-belly.
3. Face rejection most of the time.
4. Sell sometimes.
5. keep at it.
6. repeat.

The happy truly go lucky…

Share This

 I am learning a lot from my business today and I thought I should publish my learnings for someone else to benefit from.

The overheads - get rid of them. Why?

Ask me. I just handed over the retail part of my business to an able management — outsourcing the overhead laden, bleeding business to someone who is more experienced int his aspect than I am.

Getting into this business thing had taught me one thing for sure — the importance of having to work ON one’s business and not IN one’s business. I had come across this thing first in a book called “E-Myth Revisited” by Micheal Gerber and I am hooked from then on.

I frequent a lot of forums on a regular basis and I had picked nuggets of crucial information from there too. A lot of successful entrepreneurs have suggested the “Low-overhead business”. Today, having outsourced my retail part and actively building up my corporate training business, I had come to understand the sheer power in those little words. It feels like nirvana when you take away the burden of a heavy overhead on you.

The way my business is structured now, it is all set to crawl out on a global scale. Guess what? Not a penny is spent. At least not as much as most companies do. Also, the returns are heady.

Building self-sustaining systems in business is a crucial element most small businesses overlook. It is not something they give a thought to. That is exactly the way reason why you see those numbers thrown around everywhere, like 85% percent of the businesses fail in the first year.

Share This

I was updating my lens on squidoo at http://www.squidoo.com/rebelpreneur

I couldn’t let go and began to browse around and found this nugget, a beautiful visual made for the movie ” The Secret”. It is a must to watch this like a million times to make you a millionaire. Ok, I was kidding.

 You got to make it a point to watch it at least once everyday untill  this thing embeds itself in the core tissues of your brain.

It can then render its magic.

Share This

********************************************************
Graduation speech by Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO) at Yale University to the Graduating class of 2000
********************************************************

Graduates of Yale University,

I apologize if you have endured this type of prologue before, but I want you to do something for me. Please, take a good look around you. Look at the classmate on your left. Look at the classmate on your right. Now, consider this: five years from now, 10 years from now, even 30 thirty years from now, odds are the person on your left is going to be a loser. The person on your right, meanwhile, will also be a loser. And you, in the middle? What can you expect? Loser. Loserhood. Loser Cum Laude. In fact, as I look out before me today, I don’t see a thousand hopes for a bright tomorrow. I don’t see a thousand future leaders in a thousand industries. I see a thousand losers. You’re upset. That’s understandable.

After all, how can I, Lawrence “Larry” Ellison, college dropout, have the audacity to spout such heresy to the graduating class of one of the nation’s most prestigious institutions? I’ll tell you why. Because I, Lawrence “Larry” Ellison, second richest man on the planet, am a college dropout, and you are not. Because Bill Gates, richest man on the planet-for now anyway-is a college dropout, and you are not. Because Paul Allen, the third richest man on the planet, dropped out of college, and you did not. And for good measure, because Michael Dell, No. 9 on the list and moving up fast, is a college dropout, and you, yet again, are not. Hmm … you’re very upset. That’s understandable.

So let me stroke your egos for a moment by pointing out, quite sincerely, that your diplomas were not attained in vain. Most of you, I imagine, have spent four to five years here, and in many ways what you’ve learned and endured will serve you well in the years ahead. You’ve established good work habits. You’ve established a network of people that will help you down the road. And you’ve established what will be lifelong relationships with the word “therapy.” All that of is good. For in truth, you will need that network. You will need those strong work habits. You will need that therapy. You will need them because you didn’t drop out, and so you will never be among the richest people in the world. Oh sure, you may, perhaps, work your way up to #10 or #11, like Steve Ballmer. But then, I don’t have to tell you who he really works for, do I? And for the record, he dropped out of grad school. Bit of a late bloomer. Finally, I realize that many of you, and hopefully by now most of you, are wondering, “Is there anything I can do? Is there any hope for me at all?” Actually, no. It’s too late. You’ve absorbed too much, think you know too much. You’re not 19 anymore. You have a built-in cap, and I’m not referring to the mortarboards on your heads. Hmm … you’re really very upset. That’s understandable.

So perhaps this would be a good time to bring up the silver lining. Not for you, Class of ‘00. You are a write-off, so I’ll let you slink off to your pathetic $200,000-a-year jobs, where your checks will be signed by former classmates who dropped out two years ago. Instead, I want to give hope to any underclassmen here today. I say to you, and I can’t stress this enough: LEAVE. Pack your things and your ideas and don’t come back. Drop out. Start up. For I can tell you that a cap and gown will keep you down just as surely as these security guards dragging me off this stage are keeping me dow…”

Share This