Dana El, Author at Cosmic Blogger

How To Build An Awesome WordPress Website That Makes Money

by Dana El · Jun 1, 2017

So today, I’m going to show you how to build an awesome WordPress website that makes money.

Owning your own website is the first step in building a sustainable, evergreen online business.

If you have ever attempted to build a website before and failed, DON’T WORRY, I’m going to show you step-by-step how to build your new website the right way.

In this tutorial you’re going to learn one of the most important foundational skills you need to make money online, web design.

When it comes to making money online, there are many ways to do it, but I prefer affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing is basically, selling and promoting other people’s products online for a commission.

The cool thing about affiliate marketing is you don’t have to have your own products or even create one. You don’t have to deal with customer service issues or shipping.

Affiliate Marketing is one of the core methods for making money on auto-pilot aka while you sleep.

The top portion of this article is dedicated to building a website, the later half will show you how to make money with your website.

So if you are ready to learn how to build an awesome website that makes money, let’s begin.

Introduction to Web Design

There are 3 basic things every website needs:

Domain Name
Hosting
Website Platform

I’ll explain these 3 elements briefly:

Domain Name – Your domain name is the name that people type into the address bar of their favorite Internet browser in order to reach your website (or “site” for short). Domain names commonly end in (.com, .org, .net, .biz, .us, etc.). My domain name is CosmicBlogger.com. No one else in the world has that exact domain name. That is why when you type CosmicBlogger.com into your address bar, you are able to reach my website and not someone else. You purchase your domain name from a Domain Name Registrar such as GoDaddy or Namecheap.

Hosting – A hosting server is a computer that is connected to the internet and allows other computers connected to the internet, access to it’s files and folders. Your website is actually a folder full of files, text, images and code sitting on a hosting server. Hosting providers let you rent space for your website on their hosting servers.

Website Platform – When building a website, there are a bunch different website platform options available to you. In this tutorial, we are going to be using WordPress, the most popular and easy to use website platform.

Making Your First Decisions

Now that you understand what domain names, hosting and website platforms are, it’s time to make a decision. We already know we are building on the WordPress platform so that part is decided.

You must now decide:

What your domain name will be
Where you will purchase it from
Who is going to be your hosting provider

Feel free to do your own research however, these are my recommendations:

Domain Name Registrar: Namecheap
Hosting: InmotionHosting

Choose a Registrar

I like Namecheap because they are way cheaper than GoDaddy. For $10.69 per year you can buy your domain name and get privacy protection for the first year for free.

Choose a Hosting Company

I like InmotionHosting (been using them for years). The one thing I don’t like is they don’t give you Free SSL Certificates for your sites unless you get the VPS (Virtual Private Server) package. The VPS package is awesome and super fast but, it does cost more than basic shared hosting.

A Warning About Cheap Hosting

There are pros and cons to hosting companies and their plans just like anything else. You can find really cheap “shared hosting” plans online but, you should avoid them if you can (especially GoDaddy). With hosting plans you get what you pay for.

Cheap shared hosting plans are more trouble than they are worth. The way shared hosting works is, you are sharing server space and resources with 100’s of other sites at the same time. This makes shared hosting the slowest server speed option available and that’s why it is cheap.

I can vouch for InmotionHosting’s Shared Business Hosting PRO Plan ($15.99 per month) as being ok but, if you can afford the VPS it’s a great investment. I’ve been using InmotionHosting for about 7 years so, I feel comfortable recommending them.

Remember, slow websites hurt your Google rankings and are a turn-off to website visitors.

How to Build a WordPress Website Tutorial

If you have read my story you know that I’ve been building websites for quite some time.

WordPress is by far the easiest platform to build on and understand. In this section of the tutorial, I’m going to show you how to get a basic WordPress site up and running quickly.

Here’s an outline of the steps you’re going to be following:

Purchase Domain From Registrar
Point DNS to your Nameservers (may take 24-48 hours)
Purchase Hosting
Login to cPanel
Create Addon Domain
Use WordPress Install Script
Choose Blogs > WordPress > Install Now
Configure WordPress Details & Complete Install
Login to Your WordPress Dashboard and Select a Theme
Setup Your Pages, Posts, Menu and Logo

1. Purchase Domain Name From Registrar

My favorite registrar for domain name is NameCheap. With Namecheap you get the lowest prices online plus, free privacy protection and renewal coupons (something GoDaddy never does).

Here’s what you do when you go to Namecheap:

Find a unique domain name you want to buy, add it to your cart and pay for it.

2. Point DNS to your Nameservers (may take 24-48 hours)

After you have bought your domain name, click on the “Manage” button next your new domain name.

Next, select “Custom DNS” under Nameservers and type in your Hosting company’s nameservers (you get this info once you sign up for a hosting account, discussed later in this article).

3. Purchase Hosting

Now you need to buy your hosting plan.

If you decide to not go with InmotionHosting, make sure the company you choose offers cPanel and a WordPress installation script.

4. Login to cPanel

5. Create Addon Domain

On the homepage of your cPanel account, click on the “Addon Domains” icon.

Next, type in your new domain name you purchased and create a password for your new domain.

6. Use WordPress Install Script

Most hosting companies use different scripts to install WordPress. Some will have the WordPress script listed under “Software” or “Scripts” within cPanel. Others will use a script called “Fantastico”.

Either way, locate the WordPress install script within your cPanel and click it to initiate your installation of WordPress.

Some hosting companies don’t have install scripts, so before you buy hosting, make sure the host you choose has a script so you can easily install WordPress.

InmotionHosting uses cPanel and has a WordPress script included in all of their plans.

7. Choose Blogs > WordPress > Install Now

You will now be sent to the WordPress installation screen. Once there, click on “Blogs” and then “WordPress”. You will now see the WordPress “Install Now” button, click it and your WordPress installation is officially underway!

8. Configure WordPress Details

After you’ve clicked the Install Now button, you now need to add in your site details. First, choose a protocol which will be http:// or http://www, and select your Addon domain you just created. Next, type in your Site Name and Site Description. Finally, create your admin username, password and assign an email address for your site. All of your new site details will be sent to this email address.

9. Login to Your WordPress Dashboard and Select a Theme

The first thing you want to do when you login to your new website is change the Theme. I am building on the TwentySixteen Theme for this tutorial. To access Themes go to Appearance > Themes.

On the next screen select the TwentySixteen Theme.

Now you can visit your homepage by hovering your mouse over the icon in top left corner of your dashboard and click on “Visit Site”. You will see a website similar to the image below.

10. Setup Your Pages, Posts, Menu and Logo

Excellent, the core of your new WordPress site is up and running!

Now we just need to add pages, posts, a menu and a logo.

This section here is very straightforward. I encourage you to play around with each of these features, because that is the only way you will get comfortable using WordPress.

Feel free to create and delete these elements as you wish, you won’t break anything so have at it!

I am now going to show you where to create your pages and posts and how they relate to your menu and homepage.

Adding a logo is optional but, I’m going to show you where it goes when you are ready to add one.

In your dashboard on the left hand side, you’ll see Pages and Posts.

When you hover your mouse over either one of these elements, you’ll see the option to create a new page or create a new post.

I’m going to create a new page called “My New Page Title”. Be sure to click “Publish” when you are done editing.

Posts are created the exact same way.

In the default setup for WordPress, all new posts created will show on the homepage in the order they were created.

On our homepage you will see the default “Hello World” post that is created during the installation. Feel free to delete that post and create your own.

Again all new post created will show on the homepage as seen below.

Next we’re going to create and add a menu to the website.

Different themes allow for multiple menus.

The Twenty Sixteen theme allows for one main menu in the header section of the site.

Navigate to the menu creation section of your WordPress dashboard by hovering your mouse over Appearance > Menus. Click on Menus.

Once you get to the menu screen do the following 5 steps as pictured below:

Click on “Create Menu”
Give the Menu a Name
Select the new page you created above and click “Add to Menu”
Select “Primary Menu”
Click “Save Menu”

Congratulations, you’ve just setup your first menu and it links to a page you created!

Now when you visit your homepage you will see your new menu in the upper right hand portion of the site, as seen below:

How To Make Money With Your WordPress Website

The real benefit of having your own website is, you have a place to call your own.

Your website is your home, a place to build your online business, it’s your storefront to the world.

One of the first things you need to figure out when you decide to build a website is this:

Who am I trying to reach online?
How can I best help these people?

In the making-money-online world, that is called a “niche”.

A niche is an audience of people. Your job as a website owner / blogger is to figure out how you can best serve and help that community online.

Serving a niche and making money from it involves research, writing, social interaction and most importantly…consistency.

If you want to quit your job, become an entrepreneur blogging and affiliate marketing is a great place to start.

With over 3 billion people online everyday, the opportunity to be a successful online entrepreneur has never been greater.

Do you have questions? If so, please leave them in the comments below.

How To Make Money Blogging Online: 5 Sure-Fire Methods That Work!

by Dana El · May 15, 2017

So you’ve heard a bunch of people online talking about how much money they are making blogging and you want to do the same. You want to know how to make money blogging online and you’re tired of the get-rich-quick schemes everyone keeps promoting.

Well my friend, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, I’m going to show you 5 sure-fire methods for making money online legitimately using blogging as the platform. I’m going to give it you straight with out all the fluff and sketchy concepts.

So here we go…

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is by far the easiest way to start making money online using your blog. With Affiliate Marketing, you don’t have to create or own a product in order to make money off of it.

So What is Affiliate Marketing?

The quick and dirty explanation is this:

Affiliate Marketing is when you get paid to market and sell other people’s products and services.

As you may or may not have noticed, more and more companies are selling and promoting their products and services online. These companies are using Affiliate Marketers to get the word out and to tell more products.

The cool thing for you as a blogger is this, if you can build an audience of people who like your blog and come to it on a regular basis, you can promote products that benefit that audience. Each time someone clicks on one of your links or performs an action like filling out a form, you will earn a commission for efforts.

The person buying the product or filling out the form doesn’t get charged anything extra for buying through your link, the vendor selling the product simply pays you a commission out of their own profits.

Basically, you become the advertiser so the company pays YOU instead of traditional advertisers such as TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, etc.

Here are 5 popular sites that offer Affiliate Programs you can sign up for to start making money through your blog:

Amazon Affiliate Program

These are just 5 big ones, I know of and have used before. There are literally millions of Affiliate Programs out there for just about any niche / audience.

The key with Affiliate Marketing is you will need an online audience to promote to so, if you haven’t created your blog yet, you can get quickly trained here.

2. E-Commerce

E-Commerce is when you are outright selling products on your blog site and you have “Buy Now” links setup for easy payments to your PayPal or Bank Account.

E-Commerce is a great way to make money using a blog because if you have an audience that is already on your site reading information about a certain topic, you can sell them the products they inherently will want and need.

With E-Commerce, you’ll need to find a product to sell in order to make it work but good news, there are many options available to make this happen. Some involve purchasing products in bulk before you get a sale and some methods involve buying the product at the time you get a sale.

In the future, I will be creating multiple blog posts on the topic of E-Commerce, as it is simply a HUGE topic to cover.

So how does E-Commerce work with a blog?

Let’s say you own an Indoor Gardening Blog.

You have a blog site setup discussing all different ways a person can grow vegetables in their home and people simply love your site. You get visitors to your site regularly and this is a topic you enjoy researching and sharing information about.

You could very easily go online, buy some seeds in bulk, package them and sell them on your blog site directly.

Here you already have an audience that is interested in indoor gardening, why not sell them seeds they will want and need for their indoor garden?

Not only are you making money, you are providing a helpful service to your audience.

For most people, time is limited. If you have a product your audience needs, they will happily buy from you because you’re already helping them so much with your blog posts and research. This is a great win-win for everyone.

The Simple Way To Do E-Commerce

The most simple way to do e-commerce is by using Paypal. Once you signup with Paypal, they will give you the code you need to create “Buy Now” buttons on your site.

Simply copy and paste, the code to the page you want to sell your products on. Whenever someone purchases using your “Buy Now” button, you get paid.

Now you just send out the product, thank your customer and you’re done.

I build all my sites in WordPress. It’s easy to use and once you pay for hosting, you don’t have any other costs.

A True E-Commerce Platform For Bloggers

You may choose however to sell products on a true e-commerce platform such as Shopify.

Shopify is a great e-commerce platform because it is probably the most simplest one I’ve seen.

As you know I’ve been building websites professionally since 2010 so I know all the other more complicated options out there.

Shopify is secure, they take care of the hosting and they even give you multiple payment processors to choose from.

Shopify sites also have the ability to have blogs within them which is great for attracting visitors to your online store.

If you already have a vibrant blog, it would be best to use Shopify’s “Buy Now” buttons on your current blog site. The purchases will be secure, plus you get the added benefit of a traditional online shopping cart.

3. Teach Something

Often times bloggers overlook the idea of teaching what they know in the form of an online class.

When people come to a blog, 9 times out of 10 they are looking for information that can help them in some way. Why teach your audience key information that can help them achieve their desired end results quickly?

There are many different ways you can teach an audience online, here are 4 options you should consider:

On-Demand Video Training

We’ve all seen this type of training before. This is where you create a full course and divide it up into smaller video lessons.

People love video.❤

Even more so, than reading. For most people it is easier for them to learn and digest information through video than it is to spend 2-3 times longer reading that same information.

You can use a platform like Teachable to teach your audience seamlessly.

Teachable is a complete video training platform that not only hosts your videos, they also have a built-in, fully functional payment gateway as well.

When it comes to providing training through video online, the #1 thing you must do is secure your videos.

While it’s easy to setup private videos on Youtube and sell links to it through Paypal, the problem is you have no idea of WHO is actually watching your training videos. Nothing prevents one person from buying your training, getting access to it and then sending out links to it publicly online.

With Teachable your videos are securely monitored by ip address. Even better than that, their platform is pretty, easy to navigate and you don’t have to worry about slow shared-hosting speeds when multiple people are watching your videos at the same time.

Hosting Live Webinars

Another great method of making money blogging online is through the use of Live Webinars. Not just any type of webinar where you are promoting a product and selling it at the end, the type of webinar I am talking about is paid webinars.

With this method, you can charge people to attend a valuable live training webinar.

For that, I recommend using a platform like WebinarJam.

WebinarJam is a high-speed, webinar hosting platform that also has a built-in payment gateway. The cool thing about it is you can not only sell the live training, you could sell the replays at a discounted rate to the audience that was unable to attend the live class.

Depending on what you’re teaching and your goals, you may decide you want to focus on selling on-demand videos instead of live webinars. Either way however, you should consider using WebinarJam to pitch your on-demand video training courses anyway.

Running live webinars is a great way to address your audience and their questions right there on-the-spot. Answering questions live not only helps with sales conversions, it also gives your audience a real opportunity to connect with you on a more human level.

Setup A Membership Site

A Membership site is essentially a section of your site that is secure and private. You can set it up on your current blog site or you can set it up on a subdomain of your site, it’s really up to you.

Back when I first started using WordPress, setting up a membership site was a complete nightmare and required quite a bit of technical skill. Nowadays, membership sites are pretty inexpensive and easy to setup.

The best one out there comes in the form of a WordPress plugin called MembershipPress.

MembershipPress will let you setup and sell training on your blog site with ease. All you have to do is create the course for your training, save it to specific pages on your WordPress site and then make those pages part of the membership / private portion of your site.

With MembershipPress, you get a built-in payment processor plus you have the ability to “drip content” to your paying audience.

Content dripping allows you to show restricted content to members only after a certain amount of time has elapsed. This is a very useful feature for selling online courses and other forms of learning materials.

Write & Sell An E-Book

Writing and selling an E-Book is a old strategy that still works well today.

If you are in a niche that is super-hungry for the kind of information you are sharing, they will be more than happy to buy your E-Book from you.

While video has become a preferred method of learning and teaching, some people actually prefer to read instead.

You can choose to sell your E-Book directly through your blog, using Paypal or Shopify buttons. Both platforms allow for automatic email responses upon payment so delivering your E-Book will be easy.

Another method some people choose to use involves selling their E-Book through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform. With Amazon, your book will placed in front of a huge customer base, so you have a chance to sell to much more than just your blog audience.

Amazon does take out their fees but, it’s still a valuable option because you could potentially gain a ton of blog subscribers via your E-Book’s exposure.

Which ever platform you decide to sell your E-Book on, you’re going to want to review all of the pros and cons before putting your time and effort into setting everything up. Keep in mind though, there’s nothing stopping you from selling your E-Book directly and through Amazon.

4. Sell Advertising

Now these last two methods are last for a reason.

They both require you to have an active blog with consistent traffic and they require more effort on your part to make it work.

Selling Advertising involves you reaching out to businesses who offer products and services that you know your audience needs.

So in the case of an Indoor Garden Blogger, they would be reaching out to seed companies, indoor garden kit makers, etc. offering to sell ad space directly on their blog.

The ads can be setup as banner advertisements (eg. image links), written content with product links going to the advertisers site or perhaps a form of video advertising.

I know some people are a little shy when it comes to this type of money making method but, if you are comfortable reaching out to people / businesses even local to you, you’d be surprised at how many businesses would be interested in paying you monthly for such advertising.

5. Sell Sales Leads

This method basically takes method #4 one step further.

Here you will still have to reach out businesses and people but now instead of looking to sell advertising, you’re actually selling sales leads that are ready to purchase.

I don’t care what kind of business you are talking about, ANY BUSINESS would be more than happy to work out a commission deal with you for sending leads that end up buying.

The main purpose of business advertising is to get sales.

When you have an audience of potential buyers, you can lead them to the best product and often times get them a discount they ordinarily wouldn’t have received if it wasn’t for you.

Think of it this way.

If you were a business owner and someone came to you and said, “I have people I interact with daily online that need your product / service. They are going to buy the type of product you sell because I’m showing them WHY they need it. Would you be interested in servicing these people and giving them a discount for coming to you through me? Also would be interested in giving me a small commission since you won’t have to advertise or go looking for this new business?”

What do you think the business owner is going to say?

Yes, No or Maybe?

Either way, you WILL find a business owner that is interested in that deal, and when you do, the two of you can build a relationship that could go very far.

Again, selling leads requires effort outside of your blog but, it could very well turn into a multi-million dollar venture. Depending on your audience, the product / service involved and the relationship you establish with the vendor / business, you can do very well with this method.

In Conclusion

You have just read 5 of the best ways to make money blogging online.

When it comes to making money online in general, there are literally hundreds of different ways to do it. I like these methods the most though because, you have full control through your blog.

Other methods like building out pages on free social media sites involves you having to depend on another person’s business to be successful.

There are people online that have quit their jobs and built large 5 figure, 6 figure and even 7 figure businesses using their blog.

Really sky’s the limit when it comes to blogging and what you can do with it!

Just be sure to focus on helping your audience and you can do well.

Do you have any questions? If so, please leave a comment below.

What To Do When You’re Stuck In A Dead End Job With No Qualifications

by Dana El · May 1, 2017

There’s nothing worst than when you’re stuck in a dead end job with no qualifications.

Should you quit, should you get more training or should you suck it up, stay miserable and ride it out?

Decisions like these are never easy. Let’s face it…unless you already have access to money you can rely on, bills still have to get paid.

Today, I am going to give you the 7 things you can do to make the best decision possible.

I’m also going to show you an awesome alternative that may bring some joy back into your concept of “working”.

So let’s get started…

1. Get Out Your Notepad

You’re going to be writing a few things down so get yourself a small notepad that you can keep with you at all times moving forward. This notepad is going to be dedicated to successfully finding a remedy to your sucky job situation.

I like writing important things on paper because psychologically it sticks with you better. If you want however, create a new note on your smartphone dedicated to all things related to your job / career goals.

Everyday starting today, you’re going to write down: the pros and cons of your current job, the problems you have and what you’re going to do to put yourself in a better situation (3 separate pages).

Writing will bring clarity to your decision-making and it will open your mind up to new opportunities you may not have thought of yet.

Trust me on this and just do it.

2. Speak Up For Yourself

Have you spoken up about your issues with your job to anyone in management that can help you with your situation?

As they say…

A closed mouth don’t get fed.

The first thing you need to do is speak up for yourself and let your supervisor and HR know you’re not happy in your position at the company. Let them know WHY you’re not happy and what they can do if anything to remedy the situation.

If you believe your issue is related to lack of qualifications, ask them what can you do to get the proper training you need to move up in the company.

If you’re cool with your boss and have free / open communication with him or her ask them to put aside sometime for the two of you to talk.

Don’t be afraid.

Regardless of the outcome, you’re going to be ok and you have a duty to yourself to protect your interest, grow professionally and guard your mental health.

If you’re boss is an arrogant jerk, put your complaint / issues in writing and send it to them via email or certified mail.

Be sure to articulate your issues clearly and demonstrate why you’re not happy in your current role. Sometimes companies will be reasonable and work with you to find fair options that work for both sides. Give them a chance to help you even if you think it’s a long-shot.

If you feel your rights are being violated, seek out an attorney for advice. Sometimes Employment Law consultations cost a few hundred dollars depending on which attorneys you contact, other times they are free.

Either way, you’re going to have to write out your grievance so don’t skip this step.

3. Let’s Talk Qualifications

Maybe you love your job and the real issue is that you want more pay and better day-to-day tasks.

Sometimes people are legitimately unhappy in their job because they started off in an entry level position and never did anything to warrant position and pay increases. Sometimes lack of training that would make you more valuable is the issue.

If you are in a position that is expendable, meaning you can easily be replaced, maybe it’s time you seek out the training or certifications you need to make yourself more valuable.

I went from working an administrative type job in Recruiting to working in the Computer Networking field by going out and getting A+ and MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) certified. It took me 2 years of studying and practicing after work and on the weekends but, I was able to double my salary when I was done.

Again, if your issue is training, do a search on Google for the degrees or certifications you need to find and get a better job.

4. What Do You Want For Yourself?

Have you thought about what it is you really want for your life when it comes to working?

In your notepad, write down what your ideal job would look like if fear of failure and money were not the issue.

Do you have something that you love doing so much, you would do it for free if all your bills were paid?

Think of a hobby or perhaps something that you enjoy doing that would help other people. Perhaps you like playing video games, working out or talking about the latest trends in fashion / beauty.

Did you know some people actually get paid to do and talk about those things everyday?

Here I want you dream a little. Brainstorm what it is you want and write it down.

Use your dream work-life goal as motivation to change your circumstance, read it daily.

5. Keep Doing Your Job Well

This is probably one of the hardest things to do.

When you KNOW you hate your dead end job and there’s no future in it, it’s terribly hard to stay motivated.

The basic tasks you’ve probably been doing for years now become harder to accomplish because it’s “What’s the point?!”

This is where you have to be strong and remember, everyone who hates their job goes through that feeling. Only you’re taking it one step further because, now instead of just complaining to your co-workers you’re actively doing something about it.

Give yourself a pat on the back for being brave and wanting more out of life. By taking action, you’re showing yourself love ❤…remember that.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, use that as motivation to keep doing your job well.

Again, this is probably the hardest part to do when you absolutely hate your job and mentally don’t want to do it anymore. Just remember you want to…

Leave your job on your terms, not your employers.

6. Prepare For The Future

If you are stuck in a dead end job with no qualifications, I’m pretty sure you simply want out!

What you need is a job that checks off all your work-life goals, pays you very well and has huge growth potential.

You’re current qualifications today won’t matter because you’re going to ease into this new venture slowly.

This is something you can do and build while you’re still stuck in your dead end job.

What is this secret venture I am talking about?

It’s Blogging.

7. A New Way Of Making Money

Did you know there are many people online who make over a $100k per month blogging?

Blogging is one of the new ways people like yourself are making great money online while working from home.

No matter what your passion is you can make legitimate, job-replacing money blogging about it online.

All you need to do is learn how to blog and make money doing it.

There is a method to the madness and this is something you can start doing now, so that you can walk away from your dead end job for good.

I’m a huge advocate for people having multiple streams of income even if they love their current job and employer.

Blogging is a legit way to build multiple streams of income.

In Conclusion – Take Action!

Life is too short to be stuck in a dead end job with no qualifications but, remember you have options.

At the most basic level, you can always look for another job or possibly collect unemployment until you find the right job.

However, I recommend something better.

I recommend you start building an online business using blogging as the platform so you create real money for the longterm.

Your end goal should be to find a way out of the rat-race permanently.

Are you stuck in a dead end job you hate if so what do you plan to do about it? Leave me a comment below and I’ll be sure to respond.

How To Accomplish Your Dreams Of Entrepreneurship

by Dana El · Apr 15, 2017

Do you dream of being able to quit your day job and work for yourself? Do you wish it could happen sooner than later? Well today, I’m going to show you how to accomplish your dreams of entrepreneurship using your mind, focus and a bit of hard work.

Becoming an entrepreneur is no easy task. But, if you are like me, you welcome the challenge because the rewards are just too great to pass up!

In a day where websites, apps, YouTube and Instagram are helping people become millionaires, why shouldn’t you give it a go?

You can do anything you set your mind to, as the mind is a powerful tool.

Here are the 7 steps you need to take to bring your dreams of entrepreneurship into reality:

1. Dream it.

The most power tool in your body is your mind.

Your mind has the ability to create, control and lead your actions in ways many people clearly don’t quite comprehend.

All thoughts, actions and deeds start in the mind so it is important to nurture it and take care of it consciously.

When you dream at night, that is the one time during a 24 hour day cycle that that your mind is allowed to roam freely. It is the time your mind is free to create.

It’s not thinking about what the next physical task is or what it’s going to feed the body no, during dream state the mind is free to travel and relax.

When you dream at night, you can lead your mind to create and ponder on the thoughts you desire by feeding the mind images and thoughts of prosperity.

Before you go to bed at night, spend 5 – 10 minutes thinking about your goal of entrepreneurship.

Imagine what it would be like to be a thriving, successful entrepreneur.

This little short exercise can lead your mind to dream about the success you seek.

Dreaming about being a successful entrepreneur will lead to greater success during your waking hours.

2: See it.

When you are awake, you still have the ability to dream.

This is called, day dreaming.

You can use day dreaming to your advantage by imagining what your days and nights would be like if you were already a successful entrepreneur.

Imagine what it would feel like to have the money and accomplishments you dream of.

What would you do with your free time? What kind of car would you drive? What does the inside and outside of your home look like?

Visualize these thoughts every day for 5 – 10 minutes before you start your work day, during your lunch break and at night.

Seeing your success as an entrepreneur is a powerful tool you should use to bring your dream into reality.

3. Believe it.

Belief is one the key ingredients you need to achieve just about anything.

If you don’t truly believe you can do something, the mind and body will follow that thought.

To believe something is the same as feeling it.

If you really want to bring your dreams of entrepreneurship into reality…

You need to KNOW and FEEL you can do it.

You must learn to remove all doubts and not succumb to fear.

Have you ever heard the saying, “Seeing is Believing?”

When you SEE yourself as a successful entrepreneur, make sure you also practice feeling and believing you can do it.

If you doubt your own abilities, no one else will believe in you either.

Belief is a must-have if you are going to realize your dreams.

4. Plan it.

There’s nothing easy about being or becoming an entrepreneur.

No matter how talented you are or how much money you do or don’t have, entrepreneurship requires careful planning to work.

Whatever your dream is regarding entrepreneurship, write it down.

Write down, your goals, ideas, costs…

and how you are going to go about executing your plan.

In the business world, this is called a business plan.

Make sure you create a sound business plan that has the ability to work.

Punch holes in your ideas and let other successful business owners critique your business plan.

In addition to your business plan, you need to make sure you spend time quiet time with yourself throughout the day.

When you take bathroom breaks, lunch breaks or are just brushing your teeth in the mirror, THINK about your plan.

Think about how and what you are going to do that day to bring your dream into reality.

5. Do it.

This is where a lot of dreamers fall off.

It takes hard work to realize the dream of entrepreneurship.

In order for your dreams to become real, you need to DO the work that is going to make you successful.

Make sure that you back your goals, plans and dreams with real action.

Your actions are the backbone of your success.

Dreams can only become reality when YOU take the necessary actions that back up your thoughts and beliefs.

Don’t sleep on this part of the puzzle.

Work hard and follow your plan, your success depends on it.

6. Speak it.

Speaking about your dream is another powerful tool.

When you speak about things, you are actually beginning the creation process of your thoughts.

So once, you’ve followed the first 5 steps of: dreaming, seeing, believing, planning and doing; the next step is speaking.

Tell people what your entrepreneurship goals are.

By telling other people what you want to achieve, you are taking responsibility for making your dream happen.

Spend a couple of minutes speaking your dream out loud to yourself.

This exercise is called Affirmation.

Affirmations are super powerful and they help condition your mind for success when done with proper intent.

7. Achieve it.

Achieving your dream of entrepreneurship is the final step.

Achievement is the culmination of successfully doing steps 1 – 6 consistently.

Here you get to stand on the mountain top and realize what you have accomplished.

Success in the entrepreneurial world leads you to the next dream, the next goal. The cool thing is you now have experience to rely on.

At this stage, you now KNOW how to accomplish your dreams of entrepreneurship and bring your dreams into reality.

Take a step back and enjoy what you have accomplished.

Conclusion – Start Now!

To dream of being a successful entrepreneur is one thing but, actually, realizing and accomplishing you dreams is another thing all together.

When you approach your dreams and goals using the 7 steps outlined above, you’ve created a structure for success.

All of these steps takes practice and hard work to realize.

Trust and believe that YOU have what it takes to make it happen!

You are blessed with a brilliant mind, all you have to do is follow the plan.

If you have a dream and a strong desire to be a successful entrepreneur, start now!

Don’t waste your time talking and dreaming, put your goals into action.

Success is available to all those that seek it, why not you?

Do you have a dream you would like to achieve? If so what is it? Leave me a comment below and let me know.

Intelligent Change Productivity Planner Review: Beat Your Procrastination

by Dana El · Apr 1, 2017

Struggle with procrastinating too much? Today, I will be reviewing the Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change.

The purpose of this Productivity Planner review is to give you a full rundown on the planner, and what makes it unique from basic planners found just about everywhere.

I purchased the planner to help me be more accountable and get more accomplished.

What is the Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change?

The Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change is a weekly / daily planner that is structured so you can get more stuff done quicker and more efficiently.

Product Specs

Product: Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change
Price: $24.95
Purpose: Daily / Weekly Planner
Specs: 5″ x 8″ – 3/4″ thick
Guarantee: Yes
My Rating: 9 out of 10

Why I Am Reviewing The Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change?

I am reviewing Intelligent Change’s Productivity Planner because, I personally find myself procrastinating and not getting enough accomplished way too often.

Some days, I am able to get a lot accomplished, while other days I get absolutely nothing important done.

I find that I am easily distracted by emails, Youtube videos and social media stuff and I needed / wanted a system to help me stay more focused.

As an entrepreneur, I have a ton of stuff I need to do and should be doing everyday.

Everyday that I waste not getting the most important things done, I am failing my business.

I am reviewing the Productivity Planner to help others like myself.

Who is The Productivity Planner For?

The Productivity Planner is ideal for people who want to get more stuff done, quicker and more efficiently.

Entrepreneurs, business owners, CEO’s or executives will love ❤️ the Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change.

What Makes The Productivity Planner Planner Unique?

The Productivity Planner is unique in that it actually uses and teaches you a proven system called the Pomodoro Technique to help you get more accomplished.

Regular planners normally just have a monthly view, weekly view, daily view and a space to write a few notes.

The Productivity Planner’s system teaches you how to break up your tasks into small 25 minute increments and how to prioritize your most important tasks.

The planner was specifically designed to use the Pomodoro Technique to knock out your most important tasks every day / week.

By structuring your weekly and daily tasks into smaller, more focused work intervals, you tend to get a lot more done.

Features / Benefits

Here are the benefits as outlined by Intelligent Change:

Proven Productivity Format: The Productivity Planner is based on historical leading Productivity Principles and Supported Goals Research that are proven to increase productivity.
Get Focused. Beat Procrastination: Stay clear of distractions with the Productivity Planner’s simple focused Pomodoro style work system.
Become More Productive Daily: Rate your productivity at the end of each day and become more effective day by day.
Weekly Planning / Review: Stay on top of your weekly goals and review what happened each week. Everything is non-dated so you do not waste pages like most planners. Includes 5-day pages per week.
Money Back Guarantee: The Productivity Planner is Guaranteed to work or your money back! If you do not absolutely love the Productivity Planner, return it and we will issue you a full refund (or replace it if there’s a problem).

How Does It Work?

The first 30 pages of the Productivity Planner is actually an introduction into how the Pomodoro Technique works and how to best use the planner.

They are not full pages of text so I found that it only took me about 20 – 30 minutes to read everything and understand how it works.

How Pomodoros Work

Inside-the-Productivity-Planner — Daily tasks start with a motivational quote and space for you to write in the date.

The little circles you see above are what they call Pomodoros, each one represents 25 minutes of time.

The idea is you write down your weekly goals first (16 projects listed from the most important to the least important).

Next you take your top most important projects and break them up into smaller tasks.

Here’s an Example:

Let’s say you wanted to create a power point presentation by the end of the week. Instead of just writing down “Create Powerpoint Presentation,” you would break it up into smaller tasks that can be done ideally within 5 pomodoros or 2.5 hours.

Basically, you would separate your projects into smaller tasks like:

Find Images for Powerpoint Presentation
Write Notes for Presentation
Format Notes Into Presentation, etc.

In the box in front of the pomodoro circles you write down:

How many pomodoros / time you think it will take you to complete your task.

In the box after the pomodoro circles you write down:

How many pomodoros / time it actually took you to complete the task.

You then shade in your pomodoros when you are done with the task to show how long it took to complete.

By breaking up your projects / tasks into smaller segments of time, you stay more focused and refreshed mentally.

The planner is designed to takes away the procrastination many of us entrepreneurs fall into when we know what we have to do is only a small part of a very large project.

What I Love About The Productivity Planner

I pretty much love everything about the Productivity Planner. ❤️

Since I’ve been using it, I have been getting WAY more accomplished. Like seriously.

I find that it really does help with preventing procrastination.

I like that the planner doesn’t have pre-printed dates like typical yearly planners. The Productivity Planner lets you write in the date for each page which is a great benefit in 2 ways:

You don’t waste pages if you happen to not use the planner every day.
You don’t lose money on it because it’s not calendar driven.

In the past, I’ve wasted money on planners because I didn’t use them that much during the year. With this planner, even if I take a break from using it, I can pick up right where I left off, no problem.

Another thing I love are the motivational quotes that are listed at the start of the week page and the quotes listed at the top of each daily page.

It really puts your mind in the right frame of mind to be productive, so I really like that feature a lot!

Physically, it is soft to the touch and feels very high quality when you hold it.
The paper is light and smooth which makes it a joy to write in.
It’s smaller than most planners so it’s easy to carry around or keep in your backpack.

I also like how it’s not all big and floppy like a lot of the cheap $15 planners you see at Staples.

What I Don’t Like About The Productivity Planner

There are really only 2 things I don’t like about the Productivity Planner:

The weeks are setup as 5 day work weeks. It is not designed to be used for weekend projects / tasks.
I wish the writing space for the tasks / projects was a little longer.

I find that you have to write a lot of abbreviations to make everything fit. But for me, that is not a deal-breaker.

Price

The cheapest place to buy the Productivity Planner is on Amazon for $24.95.

Does It Come With A Guarantee?

Yes.

The Productivity Planner comes with a Full Money Back Guarantee.

Conclusion – The Intelligent Change Productivity Planner is Worth Every Penny!

Personally, I love everything about the Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change.

The pomodoro system is genius and for me, it’s working like a charm and well worth the cost!

I find that my mind is more at ease using the planner because, I feel like I’m accomplishing a lot more. It only takes a couple of minutes every morning to fill out your daily projects because you are following the “most important” list you set up at the beginning of the week.

I feel more focused during my day and it’s nice having the scheduled 5 minute breaks after every 25 minutes of work (part of the Pomodoro Technique).

The Productivity Planner lasts for 6 months if you use it everyday.

For me, it’s worth $24.95 to have a system like this helping me to accomplish more and reach my goals.

Do you struggle with procrastination? Have you ever used the Productivity Planner before? If so, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Employee vs Entrepreneur Mindset: How To Make A Successful Transition

by Dana El · Mar 15, 2017

In case you haven’t noticed, in the soon to be future, most people won’t be able to rely on a 9-to-5 job.

Nowadays, people have to learn how to make money on their own so they can keep up with the rapid changes taking place in business and the economy.

So what’s the difference between the Employee vs Entrepreneur Mindset?

How can you make the successful transition from being an employee into entrepreneur?

To answer these questions, I am going to show you the main differences and how you too can become an entrepreneur even before you actually quit your job.

Entrepreneur Mindset Definition

First, let’s start off with what the definition of the Entrepreneur Mindset is and what it really means.

Entrepreneurial mindset refers to a specific state of mind which orientates human conduct towards entrepreneurial activities and outcomes. Individuals with entrepreneurial mindsets are often drawn to opportunities, innovation and new value creation. Characteristics include the ability to take calculated risks and accept the realities of change and uncertainty. – Financial Times

My simple definition is this…

The Entrepreneur Mindset means you THINK like an entrepreneur and ACT like an entrepreneur. You are a go-getter, a hustler. You are inspired by change. You have the desire to be in full control of your life and income. You don’t ask other people permission to do anything.

YOU are both the cause and reason for your successes and failures.

What’s the Difference Between Being an Entrepreneur versus Being an Employee?

The difference between being an Entrepreneur and being an Employee is pretty significant yet simple.

Unlike the entrepreneur, the employee really only has one thing to worry about and accomplish: show up to work on time and give satisfactory effort.

Employees get paid for the hours they work (unless of course you are a full time commissioned sales person) and then they go home.

Typically, full-time employees work 5 days a week and they get weekends off.

Entrepreneurs on the other hand, only get paid when they cause a sale of some kind to happen.

It doesn’t matter if an entrepreneur works 20, 30, 40 or 80 hours a week, they only get paid when they produce money-making results.

Entrepreneurs Take More Risks Than Employees

Another difference between entrepreneurs and employees is, entrepreneurs are by nature risk takers.

People who become employees and stay employees do so because they enjoy the SECURITY of having a job.

Full-time employees enjoy medical benefits, paid vacations, weekly / bi-weekly paychecks and 401k investment programs.

Entrepreneurs on the other hand, have to not only create a system for making money consistently, they are also on the hook for their medical costs and longterm financial needs.

Entrepreneurship involves risks as 80% of new businesses tend to fail.

So what do you do if you are an employee that truly wants to become an entrepreneur?

How To Make The Transition From Employee to Entrepreneur: 3 Tips to Follow

Did you know that 40 to 50 percent of students entering college in will be self-employed or will freelance at some point in their careers?

Having an Entrepreneur Mindset is something you should began to understand and have for your own financial security and future.

The biggest transition most people must go through when they go from being an employee to an entrepreneur is the MENTAL CHANGE.

You have to go from thinking about your life in the short-term to thinking about your longterm happiness and lifestyle goals.

There is nothing easy about being an entrepreneur but, the rewards are great if you can pull it off!

Ex-employees go from having the relative freedom they find in their off hours and weekends, to a new sense of freedom where sky is the limit.

1. Learn to Take Responsibility For Your Life

Entrepreneurs take responsibility for everything that goes right AND everything that goes wrong in their life and business.

A person can be just as unhappy as an entrepreneur as any fed-up disgruntled employee.

The advantage that YOU as an entrepreneur has over YOU as an employee is, YOU have the ability to fix your daily circumstances and create a business lifestyle that makes you happy!

Without happiness, what do you really have? Nothing.

By taking responsibility for your business, how much money you do or don’t make, you give yourself the POWER to make things right.

What may be an ideal business for one person may be totally wrong for the next person.

Remember happiness is the foundation of a truly successful business so you must take the time to truly discover what kind of money making lifestyle is best suited to your lifestyle goals and needs.

Don’t blame others for your failures. Own them, fix them and you’ll be happier for it.

2. Learn to Embrace Risks

Employment gives you security and low rewards while Entrepreneurship gives you risks with potentially very high rewards.

If you truly want to become an entrepreneur and ditch your current job, you must become comfortable with taking risks.

I’m not talking about risks like you might take playing the lotto or playing craps at the casino, I’m talking about the kinds of calculated risks that come with starting and running a business.

Whether you decide to become a freelancer of some sort or a full-fledged business owner, you have to take some risks to see just how successful or unsuccessful your business idea will be.

Risks could mean:

Buying products
Paying for Training
Investing in a Website, Marketing, Paying for Advertising or other needs

No matter what it is, you have to figure out if you want to go after your dreams of entrepreneurship 100% or you want to rely on your 9-to-5 for the rest of your working life.

3. Make Sure Your Money is Right!

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they go from being an employee to an entrepreneur is under estimating how much money they are going to need to get their new found business idea up and running.

This was the mistake I made when I quit my job so, I encourage you to do your research and write out a full business plan first.

If someone pitches you on a business idea and they say, “It doesn’t cost you anything to start”, run for the hills!

All true businesses cost money to start.

The most simplest / cheapest businesses to start these days only require hosting, a website and your time…none the less, that is still a cost.

Besides having money to start your business, you’re going to need money to cover your expenses while you ramp up your income.

I recommend people to start building a business online while they are still working so that money doesn’t become the cause of failure.

Conclusion – Make The Transition From Employee to Entrepreneur, You Can Do It!

I encourage you no matter what your current situation is to start a business asap!

We live in a time where jobs and big businesses are folding everyday.

Jobs that were once a staple part of society are being outsourced to countries that pay workers pennies on the American dollar.

Jobs that used to require human intervention are being replaced by computers and the Internet.

The time is now for YOU to take your life into your own hands!

Don’t depend on other people’s businesses to take care of you and your family. Take control of your financial future and find ways to embrace technology.

I quit my job and started working for myself back in 2009.

My goal is to HELP YOU make a successful transition from employee to entrepreneur.

If you really want to make that happen, I know YOU can do it!

Have you quit your job and become an entrepreneur? Hit me up in the comments below and I’d love hear what your experience was like.

How Do You Start An Online Business With No Money?

by Dana El · Mar 1, 2017

So exactly how do you start an online business with no money?

How do you build a business website, get your hustle on, and make some bread all for free?

In today’s lesson, I’m going to show you just that…how to start an online business using a free website.

Normally, I always recommend people have at least a small monthly budget ($50 – $100 per month) when they start their online business.

Going in, you have to know it’s going to take a lot of hard work and hustle on your part to create a business from nothing but, you can definitely do it.

Here’s my 6-step tutorial for starting an online business for FREE!

1. What Are You Interested In Doing?

Now if your answer to the above question is “I just want to make MONEY!”, you’re starting off on the wrong foot my friend. 🙂

The first step in starting any business whether online or offline is figuring out WHAT kind of business niche you want to work in.

What subject are you most passionate about?

Maybe a hobby, a particular field of interest or perhaps a group of people you would love to help and work with?

If so, congratulate yourself.

You have just figured out the most important part of what will make YOU successful in your business.

If you don’t know just yet what group of people you want to target, spend a day or two thinking about what you want your business to look like.

Knowing WHO you want to HELP and work with – is the most important first step you need to make.

Nothing is worse than spending a year working on a business only to find out, you HATE what you are doing.

You don’t like the types of customers you have to deal with and it’s totally unenjoyable.

So spend some time on this part.

Figure out what you are most interested in doing and WHO you want to help using your business.

This advice may seem minor but, it’s probably the most important key to success so don’t take this decision lightly.

2. Choose A Unique Business Name

After you’ve come up with your perfect business idea, the next step is going to be to give your business a name.

Choose a name that is unique and easy to remember.

You’re business name is important and it should reflect what the business is about.

So if you are selling cool phone cases and your name is Joe, you could call your business “Joe’s Phone Cases.”

Don’t just call it, “Joe’s Company.”

As much as you might like your personal name, make sure people know what your business is about when they hear or see the name.

Do you have to register your business?

No.

We are going the free route to start so you’re going to call your business a sole proprietorship which doesn’t cost you money or require any type of state registration.

A sole proprietorship is a one-person business that, unlike corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs), it doesn’t even have to be registered with the state in order to exist. There were more than 22.6 million sole proprietorships in the U.S. in 2008. – Internal Revenue Service

Sole proprietorships are the best way to start a new business because if it doesn’t work out, you don’t end up wasting the $200 – $500 it takes to setup an LLC.

3. Let’s Get That Free Email Setup

You’re going to need an email address that brands your business name so other people will take you seriously.

Not only that, you’re going to use this new email address to register your free website and your social media platforms as well.

More about that in the next section.

2 Best Free Email Services

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably are well aware of these two free email services:

When you register your email address, choose one that has your business name in it.

So if your business name is “Joe’s Phone Cases” your email address should be:

JoesPhoneCases@gmail.com
JoesPhoneCases@hotmail.com

The cool thing about both of these platforms is, they are the 2 largest free email suppliers and they also give you free space on their cloud platforms:

I could write multiple blog posts on just how many things you can do with those 2 cloud services but, for now, just know you need to setup your email accounts on one of the two platforms.

Personally, I recommend Google just because they are the masters of Internet Search, so you might as well rock out with them.

4. Let’s Setup Your Free Website

There are bunch of free website platforms out there but, I have 2 that standout the most for what you’re looking to accomplish.

They are:

Both of these platforms are free and they’ve been around for a long time.

Blogger.com is owned by Google.

WordPress.com is an open source software which basically means it’s supported by a bunch of developers that love WordPress.

Choose either one but, my #1 choice would be Blogger.com.

WHY?

Because it’s owned by Google of course so again…why not join the top dog in the industry?

Use Your Free Business Email Address to Setup Your Website Name

When you setup your website, be sure to use your email address you branded with your business name.

Believe it or not, search engines like Google do look at that level of details so try to keep everything succinct to your business name.

Your Website Name Will Be On A Subdomain

Because you’re going the free route, you’re going to be setting up or building your website on a subdomain of either WordPress.com or Blogger.com

What does that mean?

It means your business’ website name will look like this in it’s URL:

JoesPhoneCases.blogger.com
JoesPhoneCases.wordpress.com

Now of course, when you start making money one of the first things you will want to do is change over from a free website to a traditional website that you own outright.

That way you could purchase a domain name and setup a WordPress site called: JoesPhoneCases.com.

Don’t sweat this for now.

Just take advantage of the free website platform and move on to the next step.

5. Write Some Awesome Content

The name of the game to making money online is content.

You can choose to write it, video it or engage with people through your writing on social media. Either way you have to find a way to add value to the people you want to do business with.

Personally, I think blogging is the best platform because it’s simple to do and it doesn’t require much beyond a computer, the Internet and your time.

Vlogging is super cool too but, it involves editing and a good smartphone camera at the minimum to get started.

While this section is rather short, it is the most important part of your online business strategy after choosing your niche.

If you can get good at writing and finding out how to help your target audience online, you can start making money in so many different ways.

Here are few that I can think of off the top of my head:

Offer a service to build free websites for other people (many people don’t know how to setup blogger or wordpress.com sites)
Sell Affiliate Products to your target audience
Write a helpful ebook and sell it to your customers (cheap ebooks sometimes are the best bang for your buck, people love them!)
Teach a course on a topic your audience can’t say no to (this can also be a ebook / pdf)
Contact businesses within your niche and sell their products through your site for a commission

There are a ton of ways to make money online once you find your audience and can get them coming to your site.

Free sites have their limitations but, it definitely shouldn’t stop you from making money in the beginning.

6. Setup A Paypal Account

While you can absolutely work a bit offline with your online business and get checks and money orders for your products, that way sucks!

This is an online business so you need to be able to get paid online seamlessly.

Paypal is the best platform to use and it’s totally FREE to setup.

Basically, all you’re going to need is a checking account to set everything up.

Once you login to the site, just follow the prompts for setting up your account and again be sure to use your branded email address you created earlier.

Once you have your Paypal is setup, you are ready to start accepting payments.

Selling online using Paypal is a dream and super smooth.

People trust Paypal so, sometimes it’s even better than a lot of the paid payment platforms just for that reason alone.

Conclusion – Get Your Hustle On!

Check it out, you now know the answer to…how do you start an online business with no money?

You have everything you need to get your business started literally within the next day or two.

If you don’t have money to start your business right now, do the steps I outlined above.

Don’t waste time waiting on the perfect moment!

Time is your most valuable resource so the quicker you get started the better.

Once you start making money…then you can reinvest it into a better website, cooler software and all that stuff.

In the meantime, stay focused on making your first dollar.

I got a bunch of blog posts here on this site that are going to help you tremendously!

Be sure to read through the site and if you have ANY questions, don’t be afraid to ask them in the comments.

This site is all about helping people who want to become entrepreneurs so, I appreciate hearing from my readers as it helps me to write better and better content.

Do you have an idea for a business, if so what is it? Hit me up in the comments, I’d love to know!

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