Exactly How I Made an Extra $500 in 2 Weeks.

On July 7, 2017 I set myself a goal to make an extra $500 by the end of this month ( July 31, 2017).  The rule was I couldn't make this money from work, it had to be completely outside of my job.  Before I tell you how I made the extra $500 in the past 2 weeks I want to tell you 1) why I set this goal and 2) why I am writing this blog post for you.


I set this goal to be a stepping stone for myself.  I said to myself "If I can make an extra $500 this month why can't I do an extra AT LEAST an extra $500+ next month?"  I also love having money I didn't have before because it brings down the stress of having "just enough" money.  Secondly I wanted to share this with you because almost anyone reading this right now can replicate this method this instant!  You may have a gold mine around you right now and not even know it.  All you need it a smartphone, or a camera and computer to get started.

Craigslist

Maybe you have a lot of junk around your house like I do, or you just have stuff you don't use anymore.  Whatever it is that you don't have a need for take out your phone right now, take a few pictures of at least one thing you don't use, and post it to Craigslist.  It will only take you 5-10 minutes for each item you put up for sale.  And the best part the more you sell the more space you will have in your home!


Myself I will say this, it isn't guaranteed you will get any calls right away but thats okay, just leave the items you have for sale posted and renew them every 2 days.  I have had instances where I had my item up for a week and kept resisting every 2 days and no one called about it, then after ra week to a week and a half I got 3 people asking about the item in 1 hour!


Pricing may be one of the most important things next to the pictures you take.  Pricing determines whether someone will even look at your listing.  I can say from my experience if someone has an outrageous price for something I don't even care to look at their listing, and in turn I scroll right past it.  However I don't recommend listing something cheap or at the exact amount you want for it.  If you are selling something you will be happy with $75 for, list it for $100.  Craigslist is all about negotiation.  Some people however don't negotiate and thats good for you because you get more money than you wanted for it!

Closing Thoughts

I hope this short simple post helped you make some extra money this month.  I would love to hear your results, when you make your first sale, and when you make your first $100 or more!  I really love to hear people having success so don't be shy!  Share your results in the comments, and BRAG!  We all love to win, so get out there and WIN!

Cheers,

Brian

Price vs. Value.

Recently I have purchased a book for $1.25.  Right now you are probably wondering why I would buy a book that is that cheap.  It might sound like a waste of money.

Last month I was at a goodwill type of place (the reason the book was so cheap).  After looking at clothes and some of the old items people have sold to the goodwill my dad and I decided to look at books.  Long story short I was joking with my dad saying "wouldn't it be funny if we found Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charlie Munger here?" On Amazon the book currently ranges from $59-$135 on sale.  Sadly we didn't find this book, but after some joking around my dad found Charlie's book called On Success.  This book currently ranges from $100-175 great condition or new on Amazon.  However the used version of the book is still pretty expensive at a whopping $58!  But the best part the book looked brand new when we picked it up!

I have a couple options right now with the book.  I can sell it and 150 times my money, or keep it and get wisdom from one of the richest people alive!  There is one side of me saying to take the quick cash, but I know "a fence that is put up fast comes down fast".  So instead I am deciding to keep the book, even though half the things he talks about goes right over my head, the other half I get right away.  

Literally almost every page so far has at least one gold nugget of wisdom in it. Like I said some things he says in the book flies right over my head, but this is another reason for me to keep the book.  This way I can re-read it over and over throughout my life and look back on it whenever I need to.

I am excited to read more of this book each and every day.  I am currently half way done with it and it seems like every new page opens my eyes more clearly!

Why not sell the book for quick $$$$$:

I'm not saying that an extra $100-175 wouldn't be nice to have, but the question is, is it worth it to sell the book?  For me the answer is no, because I am learning from one of the richest people in the world.  Sure I could sell the book, but what is the money going to do? For me it would probably just sit there, or be spent on food for a month or so.  If I keep the book, I have the wisdom of the billionaire Charlie Munger whenever I need to read it!

Closing thoughts:

How has this helped you?  Do you have something you bought cheap that you could sell for a bunch of money, but realize its value to you may be more than the money you could get payed for it?  Share your thoughts on Price vs. Value in the comments.

Also if you would like to get your hands on one of the greatest books of all time (in my opinion) and help me out as well, please feel free to click the link and purchase the book by clicking the link below.  You will not be disappointed!

Should You Take a Loss to Make a Customer Happy?

Today what I want to share with you is if you should take a loss to make your customer happy.


A few weeks ago I made a sale Dropshipping and ran into a serious problem.  My supplier Home Depot ran out of the item online my customer bought.
I had a few options, first being to buy the item with express shipping and spend over $100 for a $40 item, to buy from another place such as Amazon for $80 or to go pick it up at the store, pack and ship the item myself but at least I wouldn't lose more than $5.

In reality I had two options that were "good" I could either 1: cancel the order all together and not lose any money, and leave the customer possibly pissed and not in any way happy with the result.  Or 2:  I could pick it up, get the item ready and ship it out to the customer.

Obviously I chose the second option to lose a few dollars and make someone happy with their purchase.  Why would I do this?

- First off the customer is number one
- If I lose a few dollars but the customer is happy he/she has a better chance of leaving a good review for me.
- If I lose a few dollars and the customer is happy he/she is also more likely to purchase from me again in the future for the service I have provided here.
- I am a service based business and look at the other persons situation. (If I was to purchase an item and someone "ran out of stock" because they would lose a few dollars I would be pissed!)  Wouldn't you?

Since I would like to get to the point and make this really simple and easy for you if you are struggling with or have to make this decision yourself is me asking you one question.  How much money are you willing to lose to make your customer happy?  This number will be different for everyone, for you it could be $5 or $500.

Closing thoughts.
I hope this blog helped you with your selling and made you and your customer happy.

Thanks for reading!
-Brian

How to Stop Feeling So Tired Everyday.

Maybe you are someone who is always tired.  I have found a few things that can help you over the next couple weeks or months to help get you more awake throughout the day.  I struggle with being tired throughout the day, but these strategies I will share with you today are what help me become more awake each and everyday!

Jump right out of bed
The biggest problem I have had with being tired is that often times I will just lay in bed for a few minutes.  This only makes me want to stay in bed even longer and fall back to sleep.  Maybe you are in a similar place, or maybe you keep hitting snooze and wait till the last minute till wake up.  We have all been there.  It may be hard to jump straight out of bed upon waking up but I find that if you stop your alarm and stand up you will automatically feel more awake.

               Have a purpose

As I am writing this section I want to sleep right now, I am literally 9.5/10 tired right now.  The only reason I am not taking a nap is because this blog is more important than a little bit of sleep.  What am I trying to impress upon you here? Well what happens if I sleep right now?  I could sleep right now and wake up feeling refreshed but knowing I didn't work on this blog post to share with you.  Or I can stay up right now and want to be asleep but know I am doing something greater than myself.  See almost everyone struggles with staying awake a day and not only that, most people give up on their purpose or even worse, they don't even have one!
Here is what I ask myself when I want to take a nap.  "Is there anything else I should be doing right now that would make an impact in not only my life, but also the lives of others?"  Another couple great ways to get yourself motivated are to think of all the abundance you are letting go of if you sleep instead of act on your purpose.

Take a short nap
Since being tired almost everyday is something I deal with, I have found that many things don't work like others say.  However there is one thing that will help you be more awake if nothing else in this blog works for you this tip will.  Taking a short nap of anywhere from 20-40 minutes.  This may not sound like a long time, but what I have found for myself is that this is the one biggest strategy for having more energy and being more awake throughout the day.  Myself I like to take a nap either a little bit after work of right before work depending on if I work morning or if I work nights.  If you work a regular 9-5 job I would recommend coming home, eating, and after that read a book for a few minutes then set an alarm for 45 minutes.  The extra 5 minutes will allow you to fall asleep.  Funny enough from a nap of 40 minutes or less I notice that I wake up like I just slept for 14 hours straight!

Cold showers
Ahhhh! Probably the hardest thing I do 6/7 days a week.  A cold shower may be the most annoying thing before and during the shower, however the moment I step out of the shower I feel like a new man!  Some benefits of taking cold showers are that it improves blood circulation, increases testosterone, keeps skin and hair healthy, and can help relieve depression.
The best way for this to help you be less tired throughout the day, is to take your shower right when you wake up.  I have to admit this is something I struggle with, I take cold showers 6/7 days a week like I stated above, however most days I like waking up and working on this blog, my youtube channel, meditation, stretching, or drop shipping.  On the days I do take my cold shower right when I wake up, I notice increased energy right away and I am less tired throughout the day.

Have fun
Something I have been learning lately was to have more fun throughout the day if you are always working.  Sometimes you may need to watch a little bit of your favorite show or play your favorite video game.  The benefits of this are that you can relax, laugh, and be reminded about your purpose and why you have a purpose you are working on.  Watching a comedy helps keep you from being tired because you are laughing and not worrying about everything you have to worry about in life. The only thing I warn of is getting hooked on TV or video games.  As long as you keep a balance life should be more fun, and you should find it easier to stay awake during the day.  I recommend an hour or less a day of being in front of the TV or video games.
You could also do fun outside, such as a sport or some mini golf, or do something with friends.  These however you should do for at least an hour, but they may be harder to do every single day.  A easier and less costly way of fun (which may sound boring) is to go on a walk for at least an hour, or even 30 minutes if you don't have much time.  I love walking outside in the summer, but what if its cold?  In that case you could walk around your local mall, or go walk or run on the treadmill at your gym and listen to music, watch something on Youtube, or read or listen to a book.

Closing thoughts.
Which of these tips helped you the most?  What tips would you add?  Be sure to leave your comments! I will talk to you on the next one!

-Make the best of today, Brian.

My First Time Visiting Chicago. Trump Towers, Cheat Day, Gold Coast, And Eating at an Instagram Friend's Restaurant .

Whats going on?  Today I am bringing you a little bit different of a blog post, where I am going to share with you some cool things I was able to see and visit while I was in Chicago.  I only had a day to walk around downtown, so I thought I would capture the coolest things I saw when I was, to share with you today.

We were staying in a city called Joliet, about 50 miles from Chicago.  When we woke up my dad wanted to get breakfast, so we went to a small restaurant a couple minutes away from the hotel called Big Apple Restaurant.  Spoiler alert this restaurant had the best, and I mean the BEST French Toast I have ever had.  I ordered French toast with cream cheese in the middle.  Me thinking it would be a normal good size portion was not disappointed.  To my surprise I had 4, 2 inch pieces of French toast Covered in strawberries.  I obviously couldn't finish it, but I tried and got pretty close, I ate 2 and about 90% of the third piece, my stomach was hurting but it was worth it, and luckily I would soon be walking for about 6 hours or so around Chicago.

First off on our drive my dad and I had to head to Bentley Gold Coast.  My dad was the one driving, I was in the passenger seat.  However the drive there wasn't bad at first, in fact you can start to see the skyscrapers from about 20 miles away, which is a stunning sight!  But the closer we got the roads got busier and busier, and every single  we were supposed to drive on kept getting blocked off by cop cars.  I guess someone really "important" was in town that day, or maybe this is normal?  I don't quite know, but I have never seen this many police block off perfectly good roads to drive on.  This added an extra 30 minutes to our trip because it forced traffic into one route.

So anyways, after some driving we finally arrived to a parking structure, this wasn't just any parking structure however, this one costs over $20 for the first hour or less and then increases a few dollars every hour.  Living in Michigan this seemed like a joke, yes parking was almost impossible to find on the streets but parking structures in Michigan even in cities where there is no parking on the streets usually are free for a couple hours and only a couple dollars an hour.  But hey at least we were a block away from our first stop which is Bentley Gold Coast.

Gold Coast was pretty much the reason I wanted to go to Chicago.  When we got there we were the only people there pretty much but about a minute later about 10 people "followed" us and came in. (which seemed to be a them throughout our visit in Chicago.)  Bentley Gold Coast had a wide selection of cars and were helpful to me while I was there to take some pictures.  However I didn't know they would have a warehouse where they keep some cars, so I missed out on seeing the Bugatti, Carrera GT, SLR, and some other extremely exotics.  Luckily, I was able to get some pictures for you of one of my favorite cars, the Lamborghini Countach.  I have never seen one before in my life and was like a little kid on Christmas when I saw the red Countach. The Countach looks unique in pictures, but to really see how amazing the Countach looks you have to see it in person!

Next we decided to walk around for a bit and head towards Trump Tower to get some cool shots for a Youtube video.  While heading there we stopped for a quick bite to eat at an "Asian" cuisine type of restaurant.

As we continue walking again the closer you get to Trump Tower the bigger it is, and when we finally reached it, the size of the building was unbelievable!  On top of that the first car I see pull into the parking lot is a Rolls Royce!

Along the bridge right next to Trump Towers we see some kayaks, boats, and sailboats in the river.  This seemed to be the center of everything in Chicago.  We were standing there for about 15 minutes and making some videos.  As we are doing our thing a couple Lamborghini's went by, one purple Aventador, and one red Huracan, as well as a Bentley!

Since we were already more than halfway to Millennium Park, I wanted to shoot a video at the bean, which at the time I was calling the big silver orb thingy because I didn't know the name of it!  It happened to be a very busy day at Millennium Park, maybe because it was a weekend, I don't really know, but there at to be at least 1,000 people just at the bean.  This is where I decided to do my video as it would be cool to record in the park and it would be good practice for recoding in public.

After I made the video we started to head back to the parking structure to end our day in Chicago.  Overall I had a great time and got to experience a new place I haven't been to and did about 7 miles of walking that day.  The weather was about 70-75 degrees and sunny so we had a perfect day to walk around and enjoy the sights of Chicago!