Buy AutoTrafficRSS script now for $27 only!
We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.Source: Are You Ready for AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)?
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Are You Ready for AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)?
Are You Ready for AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)? In case you're not aware, the internet is going mobile in a big way. Pinterest recently passed 200 million active users and reported that 85% of its searches were made via mobile. We are talking about a social app that has a really good desktop/laptop ... read moreHow Google's AMP Project is Changing the Mobile Web Accelerated Mobile ... identify the page as an AMP document, as well as to load unique libraries. We'll take a look here at how to get started building pages with AMP. Also, since not all visitors will use a mobile device, you can point to a regular ... read moreLooking Ahead: Preparing Your Website for Google's Mobile-First Indexing Become Educated on Micro-Moments and Accelerated Mobile Pages Mobile users want answers and ... when it takes too long for a website to load, you're going to lose visitors. AMP isn't quite ready for widespread adoption, but as Google continues to ... read more
Source: Are You Ready for AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)?
Source: Are You Ready for AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)?
Friday, September 29, 2017
How to Safely Start a Low-Cost, Low-Risk Small #Business
How to Safely Start a Low-Cost, Low-Risk Small Business Starting a business involves risk of some form or another, but it doesn't have to be the kind of financial risk that could sink you personally if things go in the wrong direction. If you're interested in venturing into business ownership but aren't ... read moreBig Business Starting to Look at Canada's Newest Industry Now, cannabis has grown into a big business, with the potential to become even bigger ... and its game-plan looks solid and relatively low-risk. If one producer falls through, say if the crop goes bad or the regulators find a problem, CBW can quickly ... read morePurdue World provides Mandela Fellows with social entrepreneurship skills to solve challenges facing African nations "The Mandela Global Challenge was a fun way for the participants to apply what they had learned about starting a successful business and use those skills ... covered a wide range of issues, including low-cost rapid diagnostics to detect infectious ... read more
Source: How to Safely Start a Low-Cost, Low-Risk Small #Business
Buy AutoTrafficRSS script now for $27 only!
We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.Source: How to Safely Start a Low-Cost, Low-Risk Small #Business
How to make a million dollars (with advice from actual millionaires)
Do you want to learn how to make a million dollars?
Of course you do. It's practically part and parcel of the American Dream, right behind buying a house with a white picket fence and eating hot wings with Guy Fieri.
Luckily for you, making a million dollars is incredibly easy as long as you do one simple trick…
…just kidding. It actually takes a lot of time, energy, and sweat equity in order to make a million dollars.
You could always try things many other people have tried before, like:
But why would you do that when you can turn to people who have actually made a million dollars and find out what they did to get there?
In fact, when you take a look at how the most wealthy Americans got their wealth, almost all of it is because of their business and investing.
Luckily for you, we did that.
We spoke with two millionaires who were able to earn their money through a powerful combination of two things:
And we'll show you exactly how to do both. But first,
The millionaires we talked toOur millionaires are…
Luisa ZhouFrom the outside, Luisa seemed to have it all. A Princeton graduate with a job that gave her a healthy six-figure income, she decided one day that she wanted more.
"I wasn't feeling fulfilled or challenged in my job," she says. "Even though I was making a great salary, I was just doing powerpoints all day! But I really pushed it into the back of my mind."
That is until a series of sporadic illnesses and accidents in her immediate family caused her to reassess her situation.
"I couldn't take work off to spend time with them for a significant amount," she recalls. "That's when I realized that I need more control in my life. Even if things are good, if I don't have the freedom to spend with the people I love then I can't do this."
That's how she got started with her side hustle consulting people in digital advertising, before moving on to teaching aspiring entrepreneurs how to launch their own business.
"A lot of people want to be millionaires overnight," Luisa says. "My response to that is there's no such thing."
She's since scaled her business and was able to earn $1.1 million in sales within 11 months. You can read about that journey on our sister site GrowthLab.
Shannon BadgerWith three kids to take care of, Shannon knew she had to really learn the art of the grind in order to quit her job and take her freelancing seriously.
"Back when I had two kids and a third on the way, I just wanted more flexibility and be my own job and be able to work more remotely from home," she says.
And so she did. That's how she was able to grow her freelance CPA consulting hustle into a full-fledged business (Badger and Badger CPA) that she runs with her husband. It's helped earn her her first million dollar year in 2017.
"It was a huge mentality shift to how much can I ramp it up while still working full time in my other job," she says. "There's a quote by Dave Ramsey that goes: 'Live like no one else, so you later can live like no one else.' My husband and I were really disciplined when we got started, and it made the process less difficult."
And now, these two millionaires are going to divulge their strategies on how they got to where they are — and how you can do it too.
How to make a million dollarsRemember, our two millionaires were able to earn their money through a powerful combination of two things:
Though you can actually make a million dollars on investing and saving alone, you can watch your net worth explode if you combine them both — which I suggest you do.
Then you'll be able to dive into a huge pool of money — a la Scrooge McDuck — sooner rather than later.
Part I: Investing and saving Step 0: Get out of debtThe number one barrier preventing people from living a Rich Life is debt.
That's why this is Step 0. Before you even think about investing, saving, or earning more money, you need to take steps to get out of credit card debt.
"A [freelancing business] is not the solution to your money problems," Luisa says. "If you're struggling to pay your bills or are in debt, the first thing you want to do is get a job that can help you. That's the easiest way to really help you first."
That's why getting out of debt was also a priority for Shannon when she and her husband/business partner first got married.
"When my husband and I were first married, we were really disciplined about getting out of debt and saving," Shannon says. "We paid off all of our debt out of college. We paid off all of our car debt. And now we're paying off our house."
Paying off your credit card debt is one of the most important investments you can make into your Rich Life. I've written about how to get out of debt before, but I'll give you a breakdown of the exact same system in my book that has helped thousands of readers finally escape their debt.
If you want a more detailed look at the system, I highly suggest you read my article on how to crush debt.
For now, here's a brief overview:
You're probably thinking, "Well, duh. Of course you should know how much debt you have," but it's actually wayyy harder than you think.
In fact, a study found that many don't actually know how much debt they owe. It makes complete sense too. Humans are sensitive creatures who would rather run from their problems than tackle them head-on.
However, this just leads to you blindly paying the minimum payment instead of actually owning your debt. Only then can you start a good strategy to get rid of it.
Not all debt is made the same. That's why you want to start paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first.
For example, imagine you have $10,000 in student loans that have a 6.8% interest rate and a 10-year repayment period. You could pay the minimum of $115/month — but if you spent another $100 more each month, you could save thousands of dollars.
The minimum will leave you saddled with more debt. Even $20/month more helps save you a lot of money.If you want to get rid of your debt for good, you can't keep adding to it. That's why you need to stop yourself from taking on more, at least until you've gotten rid of your existing debt.
So do yourself a favor and get rid of your credit cards (at least until you're out of debt). Give them to a friend or a family member to hold on to. If you have a safety deposit box, put them in there for a while. Anything works as long as your cards are out of sight and out of mind.
Did you know that you can actually save over $1,000 in a single phone call with your credit card company? Using simple negotiation systems, you can lower your credit card's APR and put that money back in your pocket. For the exact scripts that you can use during your negotiations, be sure to check out my full article on eliminating debt.
There are a number of ways you can approach this. You can use the money you got from step four and put it towards chipping away at what you owe. You can also tap into hidden income to free up some money. If you're really enterprising, though, you can start EARNING more money — I'll explain that in a little bit.
A while back, I created a video all about negotiating your debt. Don't be thrown off by how old it is or how I filmed it using a potato. The advice can still help you expertly negotiate with credit card companies.
Step 1: Save money for when you need it most"My husband and I were really good about saving money," Shannon says. "We created a six-month emergency fund that allowed us to take a small step back financially when I quit my job. But because we saved early, it gave us a lot of freedom to invest and earn."
By saving money, she gave herself the freedom to earn more money.
That's why it's important to set savings goals.
Shannon continues, "If we didn't have our savings fund as a safety net, it would have been much more difficult to start our business."
To find out how much you need in your emergency savings fund, you simply have to take into account three to six months worth of:
Basically, any living expense that you have should be accounted for.
You should also start an account exclusively for your emergency savings fund. Most banks allow you to create a sub-savings account along with your normal savings account. (You can even name them too!) So create one for your emergency fund.
And you can start putting money into the account through my favorite system: Automating your personal finances.
The process only takes one to two hours at the most, but once you set it up, you don't have to worry about it again.
AND it'll save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime.
Here is a 12-minute video of me explaining the exact process I use below.
Step 2: Invest in your futureInvesting your money is the best way to guarantee you become a millionaire. In fact, I promise you, if you follow the systems below you will eventually become rich.
Shannon knows that too.
"My husband and I have been putting 10 – 15 percent of our earnings into our retirement accounts for a while now," she says. "We also have a 529 plan for each of our kids."
When it comes to accounts for retirement, you have two options:
These are retirement accounts. That means you'll be able to accrue gains with big tax advantages with one caveat: you promise to save and invest long term. That means you can buy and sell shares of almost anything as often as you want as long as you leave the money in your account until you get near retirement age.
Let's take a look at each one.
401k: Free money from your employerA 401k is a powerful retirement account offered to you by your employer. With each pay period, you put a portion of your pre-tax paycheck into the account. That means you're able to invest more money into a 401k than you would a regular investment account.
But here's the best part: Your company will match you 1:1 up to a certain percentage of your paycheck.
Say your company offers 3% matching. If your yearly salary is $150,000 and you invest 3% of your yearly salary (~$5,000) into your 401k, your company would match you that amount — doubling your investment.
Check out the graph below that illustrates this.
This is free money!!! If your company offers a match, you should ABSOLUTELY take part in their 401k plan.
For more on 401k's, be sure to check out my article on how the account is the best way to grow your money.
But 401k's are only one part of the equation when you want to start saving for retirement. The other account you should get is a Roth IRA. And ideally, you have both.
Roth IRA: The best long-term investmentA Roth IRA is simply the best deal I've found for long-term investing.
Remember how your 401k uses pre-tax dollars and you pay income tax when you take the money out at retirement? Well, a Roth IRA uses after-tax dollars to give you an even better deal.
With a Roth, you put in already taxed income into stocks, bonds, or index funds and pay no taxes when you withdraw it.
For example, if Roth IRAs had been around in 1970 and you'd invested $10,000 in Southwest Airlines, you'd only have had to pay taxes on the initial $10,000 income. When you withdrew the money 30 years later, you wouldn't have had to pay any taxes on it.
Oh, and by the way, your $10,000 would have turned into $10 million.
That's an exceptional example, but when saving for retirement your greatest advantage is time. You have time to weather the bumps in the market. And over years, those tax-free gains are an amazing deal.
How to open a Roth IRA accountTo open up a Roth IRA, find a brokerage account. There are many out there, so I highly suggest shopping around and taking a look at the options out there.
Certain factors you want to consider when looking at brokers can be:
A few brokers I suggest, though, are Charles Schwab, Vanguard, and E*TRADE.
These brokers offer fantastic customer service and are well-known in the investment community for their great stock options.
Special note: Most brokers typically have minimum amounts for opening a Roth IRA, usually $3,000. Sometimes they'll waive the minimums if you set up an automatic payment plan depositing, say, $100/month.
Also, it's worth noting that there's currently a yearly maximum investment of $5,500 to a Roth. (This amount changes often so be sure to check out the IRS contribution limits page to keep updated.)
Once your account is set up, your money will just be sitting there. You need to do things then:
For more, read my introductory articles on stocks and bonds to gain a better understanding of your options. I also created a video that'll show you exactly how to choose a Roth IRA.
NOTE: After you invest in your retirement accounts, you can actually stop right there. After many years, your money will compound and earn you well into the millions if you continue investing.
Say you're 25 years old and you decide to invest $500/month in a low-cost, diversified index fund. If you do that until you're 60, how much money do you think you'd have?
Take a look:
$1,116,612.89.
However, if you want to be able to hit a million dollars sooner than that, there's only one really good option: Earning more money through a hustle.
Part II: Earning more moneyThe reason earning money is one of my favorite ways to get to a Rich Life is simple:
There's a limit to how much you can save, but no limit to how much you can earn.
If you're willing to put in the work and develop a hustle that'll scale and grow, you can earn as much money as you want. And while there are a lot of ways you can make more money, my favorite way is by starting a freelance hustle.
That's what Shannon and Luisa did, and they're going to show you how.
Step 3: Find a million dollar business idea (it's easier than you think)One very common misconception about starting your own freelance hustle is that you need to come up with the "perfect" idea to do it — when that couldn't be further from the case.
"People think that they need a cool crazy idea like the next Facebook to make a significant amount of money," Luisa says. "But what most people don't realize is that they already have the skills to make a million dollars."
I know it's difficult to imagine that you might have profitable skills already — but you do. In fact, Shannon has a perfect solution to find out those skills: Look at what your friends ask you to help them out with. That's how she got her start as a freelance CPA consultant.
From Shannon:
"I had a colleague who needed help sorting through her finances. She asked me to help her out, and she became my first client. Then I had another friend who started a law office and needed help, so I helped them out with all of their accounting. I'd meet with them to make sure that they were still compliant and help with their tax returns.
It just started with helping people as a hobby, but then my husband pointed out that I was getting clients without even trying. Eventually, I was able to start a freelancing business from it."
That's not the only way you can find a profitable freelancing idea either. There are actually 4 questions you can ask yourself right now to find an idea you can leverage for your hustle.
Find an answer to those questions and I promise you you'll find a great freelancing idea.
ACTION STEP: Find a profitable idea.Spend about 10 – 20 minutes now writing down five answers for each of the four questions above. Once you're done, congratulations — you now have 20 potential business ideas that you can grow into a flourishing side hustle.
For now, just choose one business idea. It's okay, you can always change it later. For now, we're going to just try one out and try to find a client with it.
Step 4: Find your first clientIn order to start earning money, you need to find the people who will give you money for your ideas.
But the question is…how? Where do you find these people?
For Luisa, that meant going online and finding out where her clients lived.
"I spent a lot of time on Facebook groups talking with potential clients answering their questions about advertising," Luisa says. "That's when I found my first client."
You can do the same thing.
Ask yourself:
At this point, you're also going to want to niche down your market in order to really tailor your services and draw in customers.
"Stay in your niche," Shannon suggests. "We had a few instances where we veered from the niche and we paid for it dearly. It might feel cheesy to sit down and figure out what your target market is or what your goals are for the company, but you have to do that. All that legwork needs to be done upfront. It's just practical."
So think about who's an example of a client who might want to buy your product.
A few questions to jumpstart your research:
Using this information, find out what your clients need by going to the places they go.
For example:
Here are a few suggestions of some other great sites freelancers can use to find business online:
Once you find a potential client, you're going to want to reach out to them and pitch your services.
ACTION STEP: Find a client and email them (with scripts).Find your client using the information, I've outlined above. Once you've done that, you can reach out to them using this handy script:
CLIENT'S NAME,
I saw your post on X and visited your website. I noticed that you've recently started using videos too.
I've been doing video editing for three years and I'd like to offer to help you edit your videos and get them optimized for the web.
That would make them look more professional and load faster, which is important for your readers. And you'd free up time that you could use to create new content.
We can discuss the details, of course, but first I wanted to see if this is something you might be interested in.
If so, would it be okay if I sent you a few ideas on how to help?
Best,
Ramit Sethi
A few takeaways:
Once you get a client using this email, congrats! You just secured your first client — but it doesn't end there. You need to actually do the work for them, and that means continually adding value.
"If your focus is to add as much value as possible, the revenue takes care of itself," Shannon says. "We deal in a very organic, transparent way. People who want to work with us know that they're going to be dealt with fairly, and also that we're going to be adding value. Because of that, we get a lot of referrals, which really helped grow the business to earn what we do now."
Step 5: Invest again — but this time, in yourselfInvesting takes many shapes. It's not all stocks, bonds, and retirement accounts. Investing can also be in yourself — and it's something you need to do if you want to earn a million dollars.
From Luisa:
"I've always been big on investing [in myself]. Even in my previous businesses it's been a lot of me putting in the cash into my business. I invested in my site. I invested in a copywriter to teach me how to make copy. I invested in someone to teach me how to make sales calls.
Thankfully, I knew what I didn't know, so I invested heavily in those things. I'm not a big risk taker. But I do believe in calculated risk. After all, I am my best asset. My top priority is myself or my business."
I love this. It hits on an idea that all IWT readers should embrace: Be continually curious.
Ask questions when you don't understand something and don't be afraid to seek out more information through books, courses, or schooling. It's only then that you can hope to truly live your Rich Life.
That's why my team and I have worked hard to create a guide to help you invest in yourself today: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money.
In it, I've included my best strategies to:
Download a FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide today by entering your name and email below — and start blowing up your net worth today.
Yes, send me the Ultimate Guide to Making MoneySource: How to make a million dollars (with advice from actual millionaires)
Thursday, September 28, 2017
4 Methods to Make #Money with a #Website or #Blog in Any Niche #Market
10 Proven Ways to Make Millions on Social Media If you are able to master Facebook marketing for a niche market that spends one ten thousandth of $27 ... compelling YouTube videos to promote gated content hosted on a branded website. Influencers like Neil Patel and Brian Dean have used YouTube videos ... read moreHow Ecommerce Brands Should Approach Content Marketing in 2018 In this article, I'll spend some time outlining some of the newest ways brands are using content to differentiate and make an impact ... of ever doing the type of blog post that you're used to seeing on an ecommerce website, and instead, have made ... read moreHow to Start Freelancing With No Experience Think back to any samples ... It's a website where Carol Tice curates blog posts from new and experienced writers with advice on how to earn money from writing. There are also many freelance writing Facebook groups you can join to make friends and ... read more
Source: 4 Methods to Make #Money with a #Website or #Blog in Any Niche #Market
Buy AutoTrafficRSS script now for $27 only!
We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.Source: 4 Methods to Make #Money with a #Website or #Blog in Any Niche #Market
Only 20% of Americans save money regularly—here are 6 easy ways to start
Americans are woefully behind when it comes to savings. New research from PurePoint Financial, a division of MUFG Union Bank, found that 56 percent of millennials don't have any money saved in a retirement account.
The numbers were only a little less bleak for older generations: 39 percent of both Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers have nothing put away for their golden years.
When asked to describe their saving habits, only 20 percent of respondents say that they put a large percentage of their income into savings regularly, according to the survey. Non-committed savers made up 40 percent of respondents, who say they either don't worry about saving at all or save on occasion, without a strict budget.
This could be because few Americans prioritize saving money over other goals .
If you want the security and benefit that comes from making saving a priority, here are six tips to help you get started.
Pause before check outCherie and Brian Lowe paid off more than $127,000 in debt in four years by working to both increase their income and pare down their expenses. While many larger factors contributed to their success, including building an emergency fund and rejiggering their tax withholdings, Cherie's No. 1 money-saving trick is simple.
"Every time you check out at the grocery store, you need to look in your cart and find three to five items that you don't need," she tells CNBC Make It . "You will save $5 to $10 every time you shop without cutting a single coupon."
The tactic, which could apply to online purchases as easily as in-person ones, works for two reasons: It puts a barrier between placing an item in your cart and actually paying for them. That shaves down your bills.
Automate everythingIt's hard to miss money you never see. Setting up your savings accounts, retirement funds and debt-repayment plans to draw money from your paycheck or checking account each month means you never have to make the choice to spend or save those dollars.
The strategy worked for Marcus Garrett , who paid off more than $34,000 after racking up thousands in credit card debt and misusing a debt consolidation loan. Garrett takes advantage of a pension fund as well as his company's 401(k) plan, which means his retirement savings are taken care of without his having to think about it.
As self-made millionaire David Bach writes in "The Automatic Millionaire," automating your finances is "the one step that virtually guarantees that you won't fail financially. … You'll never be tempted to skimp on savings because you won't even see the money going directly from your paycheck to your savings accounts."
Choose between food and drinksIt's easy to let an after work happy hour turn into dinner, or to order a margarita or two with your tacos. But regularly splurging on both food and alcohol seriously adds up. Try sticking to a simple rule : When you choose to go out to dinner, skip the wine. If you head to the bar, commit to cooking dinner at home.
Say you make plans around three times a week. Choosing to forgo one $10 drink each time saves you around $120 a month. Skipping two drinks three times a week saves $240.
Deciding to do happy hour instead of dinner saves even more. If a typical dinner out costs between $15 to $40, then skipping three $25 dinners a week generates $300 in savings per month.
Try a "zero spend" dayDavid of Zero Day Finance, who goes by only his first name online, uses a simple strategy to minimize his spending. The 26-year-old New Yorker commits to at least one "zero spend" day a week during which he actively avoids buying anything, including a morning coffee or an item from the drug store.
David tracks his progress with the challenge on his blog, where he "collects" zero spend days and pushes himself to fit as many of them as possible into a week. By gamifying his spending, he stays motivated to save.
Since starting the challenge six months ago, David has saved $18,432, cutting his monthly spending from around $4,700 a month to $3,170 a month. That's a 33 percent decrease and saves him enough to max out his 401(k).
Change one habitEarly retiree Chris Reining, who built a $1 million portfolio by age 35 , will tell you that the key to saving half your income is to start with the small stuff.
"I know there are some people out there that say you shouldn't worry about the $5 latte, but, the more I think about it, cutting out the $5 latte was a good place to start," he tells CNBC Make It . "Because if you try to downsize your house, get rid of all yours cars and make all of these drastic changes, it's so overwhelming and you're not going to do any of it."
Read More
After foregoing his morning coffee, Reining eliminated the $15 lunches he bought every day. Next, he cut out the bigger things, such as the $1,000 a month he spent flying airplanes. "The small changes will lead you to be able to make the big changes," Reining says.
Bank your bonusNo matter if it's a tax return, holiday bonus or check from a side gig, don't let the sparkle of extra cash trick you into splurging on a last-minute vacation or new pair of shoes. Immediately put a portion of that money to work, either in a savings or retirement account or to pay off debt.
Make it a habit to deposit the money as soon as you get it so you're never tempted to spend it. You can't blow cash you don't see.
Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook!
Don't miss:
Source: Only 20% of Americans save money regularly—here are 6 easy ways to start
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
How Much Is My #Website Worth And How Do I Sell It?
Ryanair flight cancellations: How do I find out if my flight is affected? And what to do if it's cancelled? They should keep as much evidence as they can, such as boarding cards and receipts to claim expenses. A template letter can be found on the website of ... a passenger can do to recover consequential losses. So you have to try your travel insurer instead." read more"How Much Should I Charge?" — Why You're Undercharging and How to Fix It Charging the wrong rate can turn your dream of running your own business into a nightmare. But how do you fix the problem once you've made that mistake? One of the biggest decisions we have to make as business owners is how much to charge for services. read moreThe Retail Renaissance - How Brick and Mortar is Just Getting Started Any website can do that ... trying to answer this question and failed. It's much easier to go with consumer behavior and work it to your advantage than to fight against it. New Question: How do we make our storefront an engaging brand experience where ... read more
Source: How Much Is My #Website Worth And How Do I Sell It?
Buy AutoTrafficRSS script now for $27 only!
We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.Source: How Much Is My #Website Worth And How Do I Sell It?
LIVE BLOG: Tales of Apple's Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated, Insider Says
The major indices started Wednesday trading on a strong note with the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial rising 0.69%, 0.42% and 0.34% respectively.
Market activity around the world was generally positive Wednesday morning, as stocks in Europe and Asia took a cue from the strong session the Nasdaq and S&P 500 had in the previous day's trading stateside.
Japan's Nikkei was the outlier, falling 0.31% in trading, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.47%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.54% and London's FTSE 100 increased 0.28% with a little over two hours left in trading across the Atlantic.
The market is buzzing in anticipation of President Donald Trump's speech on tax reform in Indianapolis Wednesday. Following the Senate's decision to drop the latest attempt at health care reform without a vote, Sen. Lindsey Graham of S.C. said that Congress would focus on tax reform before attempting to go back to health care.
The iPhone 8's New Glass Back Isn't as Resilient as Apple Has Suggested10:10 AM ET
Apple has been plagued by reported soft sales of the latest version of its flagship device, but now third-party insurer SquareTrade has come out with a report saying that the iPhone 8 was significantly more brittle than rival Samsung's (SSNLF) Galaxy 8.
Squaretrade has a video detailing their findings below.
Famed Apple Insider Says iPhone Sales Aren't as Sluggish as Reports SayNoted KGI Securities Apple Inc. (AAPL) analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that reports that iPhone 8 sales are weak are overblown, based on estimates of production and research data from Localytics.
Apple shares bottomed out on Monday before bouncing back slightly Tuesday. Shares are still down nearly 4% over the past 5 sessions due to investor trepidation surrounding sales of its most popular product.
"We previously estimated the production weighting of new 2017 iPhone models at roughly 50% iPhone X and 50% iPhone 8/ 8 Plus. This matches what we believe is Apple's (US) estimate for demand. At first glance, the combined first-week adoption rate for the iPhone 8/ 8 Plus might appear low (about half that of iPhone 6s/ 6s Plus and 7/ 7 Plus). However, this is due to the fact that the iPhone X is not included, not because iPhone 8/ 8 Plus first weekend sales have been weak," Kuo said in his note, which was obtained by MacRumors.
VW's Scania Unit Fined $1.03 Billion for Price FixingVolkswagen AG's (VLKAY) bad run with regulators continued after the EU Commission fined the German automakers Scania unit $1.03 billion for price fixing its trucks.
The Commission accuses Scania of colluding with up to five rivals for 14 years to fix truck prices and of passing on the costs of developing cleaner emissions technology.
VW also faces compensation claims from truck buyers, though Scania deny's any wrongdoing. This week's fine comes just months after VW was fined a record amount by the Commission over its emission scandal.
Lyft Adds Ford to Roster of Partners in Self-Driving Collaboration8:13 a.m. ET
Ford Co. (F) is enlisting ride-hailing service Lyft to help it develop a fleet of self-driving vehicles, the companies announced Wednesday.
Ford has already announced plans to work with Domino's Pizza Inc. (DPZ) to use self-driving vehicles for deliveries, and now the company is also seeing what its technology can do for the ride-hailing industry.
"Lyft has a network of customers, growing demand for rides and strong knowledge of transportation flow within cities. We have experience with autonomous vehicle technology development and large scale manufacturing. Both companies have fleet management and big data experience. With our combined capabilities, we believe we can effectively share information to help make the best decisions for the future," Ford said in a statement.
Lyft already teams with Jaguar, GM Co. (GM) and Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL) Waymo.
Source: LIVE BLOG: Tales of Apple's Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated, Insider Says
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Inside the tiny fact-checking team combatting fake #News in #India
Inside the tiny fact-checking team combatting fake news in India Vigilante mobs beat several men to death in separate incidents in the central Indian state of Jharkhand this past May. The violence was incited in part by rumors circulating on WhatsApp that strangers were abducting children, rumors that were fabricated. read moreThe Brief Life, and Looming Death, of Europe's 'SWAT Team for Truth' PRAGUE — This past January, as the world was still reeling from the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and the idea that disinformation may have played a role in his victory, the tiny Czech ... fight against fake news. A crack team of analysts ... read moreFake Medical News Can Now Be Fact-Checked In India "We receive 200-odd messages a day" asking if information in a Whasapp message is correct, says Oliyath, who handles the fact-checking and general ... a couple other services to combat fake news have sprung up in India in the past few months. read more
Source: Inside the tiny fact-checking team combatting fake #News in #India
Buy AutoTrafficRSS script now for $27 only!
We will send the script to your PayPal email within few hours,Please add FullContentRSS@gmail.com to your email contact.Source: Inside the tiny fact-checking team combatting fake #News in #India
How to make a million dollars (with advice from actual millionaires)
Do you want to learn how to make a million dollars?
Of course you do. It's practically part and parcel of the American Dream, right behind buying a house with a white picket fence and eating hot wings with Guy Fieri.
Luckily for you, making a million dollars is incredibly easy as long as you do one simple trick…
…just kidding. It actually takes a lot of time, energy, and sweat equity in order to make a million dollars.
You could always try things many other people have tried before, like:
But why would you do that when you can turn to people who have actually made a million dollars and find out what they did to get there?
In fact, when you take a look at how the most wealthy Americans got their wealth, almost all of it is because of their business and investing.
Luckily for you, we did that.
We spoke with two millionaires who were able to earn their money through a powerful combination of two things:
And we'll show you exactly how to do both. But first,
The millionaires we talked toOur millionaires are…
Luisa ZhouFrom the outside, Luisa seemed to have it all. A Princeton graduate with a job that gave her a healthy six-figure income, she decided one day that she wanted more.
"I wasn't feeling fulfilled or challenged in my job," she says. "Even though I was making a great salary, I was just doing powerpoints all day! But I really pushed it into the back of my mind."
That is until a series of sporadic illnesses and accidents in her immediate family caused her to reassess her situation.
"I couldn't take work off to spend time with them for a significant amount," she recalls. "That's when I realized that I need more control in my life. Even if things are good, if I don't have the freedom to spend with the people I love then I can't do this."
That's how she got started with her side hustle consulting people in digital advertising, before moving on to teaching aspiring entrepreneurs how to launch their own business.
"A lot of people want to be millionaires overnight," Luisa says. "My response to that is there's no such thing."
She's since scaled her business and was able to earn $1.1 million in sales within 11 months. You can read about that journey on our sister site GrowthLab.
Shannon BadgerWith three kids to take care of, Shannon knew she had to really learn the art of the grind in order to quit her job and take her freelancing seriously.
"Back when I had two kids and a third on the way, I just wanted more flexibility and be my own job and be able to work more remotely from home," she says.
And so she did. That's how she was able to grow her freelance CPA consulting hustle into a full-fledged business (Badger and Badger CPA) that she runs with her husband. It's helped earn her her first million dollar year in 2017.
"It was a huge mentality shift to how much can I ramp it up while still working full time in my other job," she says. "There's a quote by Dave Ramsey that goes: 'Live like no one else, so you later can live like no one else.' My husband and I were really disciplined when we got started, and it made the process less difficult."
And now, these two millionaires are going to divulge their strategies on how they got to where they are — and how you can do it too.
How to make a million dollarsRemember, our two millionaires were able to earn their money through a powerful combination of two things:
Though you can actually make a million dollars on investing and saving alone, you can watch your net worth explode if you combine them both — which I suggest you do.
Then you'll be able to dive into a huge pool of money — a la Scrooge McDuck — sooner rather than later.
Part I: Investing and saving Step 0: Get out of debtThe number one barrier preventing people from living a Rich Life is debt.
That's why this is Step 0. Before you even think about investing, saving, or earning more money, you need to take steps to get out of credit card debt.
"A [freelancing business] is not the solution to your money problems," Luisa says. "If you're struggling to pay your bills or are in debt, the first thing you want to do is get a job that can help you. That's the easiest way to really help you first."
That's why getting out of debt was also a priority for Shannon when she and her husband/business partner first got married.
"When my husband and I were first married, we were really disciplined about getting out of debt and saving," Shannon says. "We paid off all of our debt out of college. We paid off all of our car debt. And now we're paying off our house."
Paying off your credit card debt is one of the most important investments you can make into your Rich Life. I've written about how to get out of debt before, but I'll give you a breakdown of the exact same system in my book that has helped thousands of readers finally escape their debt.
If you want a more detailed look at the system, I highly suggest you read my article on how to crush debt.
For now, here's a brief overview:
You're probably thinking, "Well, duh. Of course you should know how much debt you have," but it's actually wayyy harder than you think.
In fact, a study found that many don't actually know how much debt they owe. It makes complete sense too. Humans are sensitive creatures who would rather run from their problems than tackle them head-on.
However, this just leads to you blindly paying the minimum payment instead of actually owning your debt. Only then can you start a good strategy to get rid of it.
Not all debt is made the same. That's why you want to start paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first.
For example, imagine you have $10,000 in student loans that have a 6.8% interest rate and a 10-year repayment period. You could pay the minimum of $115/month — but if you spent another $100 more each month, you could save thousands of dollars.
The minimum will leave you saddled with more debt. Even $20/month more helps save you a lot of money.If you want to get rid of your debt for good, you can't keep adding to it. That's why you need to stop yourself from taking on more, at least until you've gotten rid of your existing debt.
So do yourself a favor and get rid of your credit cards (at least until you're out of debt). Give them to a friend or a family member to hold on to. If you have a safety deposit box, put them in there for a while. Anything works as long as your cards are out of sight and out of mind.
Did you know that you can actually save over $1,000 in a single phone call with your credit card company? Using simple negotiation systems, you can lower your credit card's APR and put that money back in your pocket. For the exact scripts that you can use during your negotiations, be sure to check out my full article on eliminating debt.
There are a number of ways you can approach this. You can use the money you got from step four and put it towards chipping away at what you owe. You can also tap into hidden income to free up some money. If you're really enterprising, though, you can start EARNING more money — I'll explain that in a little bit.
A while back, I created a video all about negotiating your debt. Don't be thrown off by how old it is or how I filmed it using a potato. The advice can still help you expertly negotiate with credit card companies.
Step 1: Save money for when you need it most"My husband and I were really good about saving money," Shannon says. "We created a six-month emergency fund that allowed us to take a small step back financially when I quit my job. But because we saved early, it gave us a lot of freedom to invest and earn."
By saving money, she gave herself the freedom to earn more money.
That's why it's important to set savings goals.
Shannon continues, "If we didn't have our savings fund as a safety net, it would have been much more difficult to start our business."
To find out how much you need in your emergency savings fund, you simply have to take into account three to six months worth of:
Basically, any living expense that you have should be accounted for.
You should also start an account exclusively for your emergency savings fund. Most banks allow you to create a sub-savings account along with your normal savings account. (You can even name them too!) So create one for your emergency fund.
And you can start putting money into the account through my favorite system: Automating your personal finances.
The process only takes one to two hours at the most, but once you set it up, you don't have to worry about it again.
AND it'll save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime.
Here is a 12-minute video of me explaining the exact process I use below.
Step 2: Invest in your futureInvesting your money is the best way to guarantee you become a millionaire. In fact, I promise you, if you follow the systems below you will eventually become rich.
Shannon knows that too.
"My husband and I have been putting 10 – 15 percent of our earnings into our retirement accounts for a while now," she says. "We also have a 529 plan for each of our kids."
When it comes to accounts for retirement, you have two options:
These are retirement accounts. That means you'll be able to accrue gains with big tax advantages with one caveat: you promise to save and invest long term. That means you can buy and sell shares of almost anything as often as you want as long as you leave the money in your account until you get near retirement age.
Let's take a look at each one.
401k: Free money from your employerA 401k is a powerful retirement account offered to you by your employer. With each pay period, you put a portion of your pre-tax paycheck into the account. That means you're able to invest more money into a 401k than you would a regular investment account.
But here's the best part: Your company will match you 1:1 up to a certain percentage of your paycheck.
Say your company offers 3% matching. If your yearly salary is $150,000 and you invest 3% of your yearly salary (~$5,000) into your 401k, your company would match you that amount — doubling your investment.
Check out the graph below that illustrates this.
This is free money!!! If your company offers a match, you should ABSOLUTELY take part in their 401k plan.
For more on 401k's, be sure to check out my article on how the account is the best way to grow your money.
But 401k's are only one part of the equation when you want to start saving for retirement. The other account you should get is a Roth IRA. And ideally, you have both.
Roth IRA: The best long-term investmentA Roth IRA is simply the best deal I've found for long-term investing.
Remember how your 401k uses pre-tax dollars and you pay income tax when you take the money out at retirement? Well, a Roth IRA uses after-tax dollars to give you an even better deal.
With a Roth, you put in already taxed income into stocks, bonds, or index funds and pay no taxes when you withdraw it.
For example, if Roth IRAs had been around in 1970 and you'd invested $10,000 in Southwest Airlines, you'd only have had to pay taxes on the initial $10,000 income. When you withdrew the money 30 years later, you wouldn't have had to pay any taxes on it.
Oh, and by the way, your $10,000 would have turned into $10 million.
That's an exceptional example, but when saving for retirement your greatest advantage is time. You have time to weather the bumps in the market. And over years, those tax-free gains are an amazing deal.
How to open a Roth IRA accountTo open up a Roth IRA, find a brokerage account. There are many out there, so I highly suggest shopping around and taking a look at the options out there.
Certain factors you want to consider when looking at brokers can be:
A few brokers I suggest, though, are Charles Schwab, Vanguard, and E*TRADE.
These brokers offer fantastic customer service and are well-known in the investment community for their great stock options.
Special note: Most brokers typically have minimum amounts for opening a Roth IRA, usually $3,000. Sometimes they'll waive the minimums if you set up an automatic payment plan depositing, say, $100/month.
Also, it's worth noting that there's currently a yearly maximum investment of $5,500 to a Roth. (This amount changes often so be sure to check out the IRS contribution limits page to keep updated.)
Once your account is set up, your money will just be sitting there. You need to do things then:
For more, read my introductory articles on stocks and bonds to gain a better understanding of your options. I also created a video that'll show you exactly how to choose a Roth IRA.
NOTE: After you invest in your retirement accounts, you can actually stop right there. After many years, your money will compound and earn you well into the millions if you continue investing.
Say you're 25 years old and you decide to invest $500/month in a low-cost, diversified index fund. If you do that until you're 60, how much money do you think you'd have?
Take a look:
$1,116,612.89.
However, if you want to be able to hit a million dollars sooner than that, there's only one really good option: Earning more money through a hustle.
Part II: Earning more moneyThe reason earning money is one of my favorite ways to get to a Rich Life is simple:
There's a limit to how much you can save, but no limit to how much you can earn.
If you're willing to put in the work and develop a hustle that'll scale and grow, you can earn as much money as you want. And while there are a lot of ways you can make more money, my favorite way is by starting a freelance hustle.
That's what Shannon and Luisa did, and they're going to show you how.
Step 3: Find a million dollar business idea (it's easier than you think)One very common misconception about starting your own freelance hustle is that you need to come up with the "perfect" idea to do it — when that couldn't be further from the case.
"People think that they need a cool crazy idea like the next Facebook to make a significant amount of money," Luisa says. "But what most people don't realize is that they already have the skills to make a million dollars."
I know it's difficult to imagine that you might have profitable skills already — but you do. In fact, Shannon has a perfect solution to find out those skills: Look at what your friends ask you to help them out with. That's how she got her start as a freelance CPA consultant.
From Shannon:
"I had a colleague who needed help sorting through her finances. She asked me to help her out, and she became my first client. Then I had another friend who started a law office and needed help, so I helped them out with all of their accounting. I'd meet with them to make sure that they were still compliant and help with their tax returns.
It just started with helping people as a hobby, but then my husband pointed out that I was getting clients without even trying. Eventually, I was able to start a freelancing business from it."
That's not the only way you can find a profitable freelancing idea either. There are actually 4 questions you can ask yourself right now to find an idea you can leverage for your hustle.
Find an answer to those questions and I promise you you'll find a great freelancing idea.
ACTION STEP: Find a profitable idea.Spend about 10 – 20 minutes now writing down five answers for each of the four questions above. Once you're done, congratulations — you now have 20 potential business ideas that you can grow into a flourishing side hustle.
For now, just choose one business idea. It's okay, you can always change it later. For now, we're going to just try one out and try to find a client with it.
Step 4: Find your first clientIn order to start earning money, you need to find the people who will give you money for your ideas.
But the question is…how? Where do you find these people?
For Luisa, that meant going online and finding out where her clients lived.
"I spent a lot of time on Facebook groups talking with potential clients answering their questions about advertising," Luisa says. "That's when I found my first client."
You can do the same thing.
Ask yourself:
At this point, you're also going to want to niche down your market in order to really tailor your services and draw in customers.
"Stay in your niche," Shannon suggests. "We had a few instances where we veered from the niche and we paid for it dearly. It might feel cheesy to sit down and figure out what your target market is or what your goals are for the company, but you have to do that. All that legwork needs to be done upfront. It's just practical."
So think about who's an example of a client who might want to buy your product.
A few questions to jumpstart your research:
Using this information, find out what your clients need by going to the places they go.
For example:
Here are a few suggestions of some other great sites freelancers can use to find business online:
Once you find a potential client, you're going to want to reach out to them and pitch your services.
ACTION STEP: Find a client and email them (with scripts).Find your client using the information, I've outlined above. Once you've done that, you can reach out to them using this handy script:
CLIENT'S NAME,
I saw your post on X and visited your website. I noticed that you've recently started using videos too.
I've been doing video editing for three years and I'd like to offer to help you edit your videos and get them optimized for the web.
That would make them look more professional and load faster, which is important for your readers. And you'd free up time that you could use to create new content.
We can discuss the details, of course, but first I wanted to see if this is something you might be interested in.
If so, would it be okay if I sent you a few ideas on how to help?
Best,
Ramit Sethi
A few takeaways:
Once you get a client using this email, congrats! You just secured your first client — but it doesn't end there. You need to actually do the work for them, and that means continually adding value.
"If your focus is to add as much value as possible, the revenue takes care of itself," Shannon says. "We deal in a very organic, transparent way. People who want to work with us know that they're going to be dealt with fairly, and also that we're going to be adding value. Because of that, we get a lot of referrals, which really helped grow the business to earn what we do now."
Step 5: Invest again — but this time, in yourselfInvesting takes many shapes. It's not all stocks, bonds, and retirement accounts. Investing can also be in yourself — and it's something you need to do if you want to earn a million dollars.
From Luisa:
"I've always been big on investing [in myself]. Even in my previous businesses it's been a lot of me putting in the cash into my business. I invested in my site. I invested in a copywriter to teach me how to make copy. I invested in someone to teach me how to make sales calls.
Thankfully, I knew what I didn't know, so I invested heavily in those things. I'm not a big risk taker. But I do believe in calculated risk. After all, I am my best asset. My top priority is myself or my business."
I love this. It hits on an idea that all IWT readers should embrace: Be continually curious.
Ask questions when you don't understand something and don't be afraid to seek out more information through books, courses, or schooling. It's only then that you can hope to truly live your Rich Life.
That's why my team and I have worked hard to create a guide to help you invest in yourself today: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money.
In it, I've included my best strategies to:
Download a FREE copy of the Ultimate Guide today by entering your name and email below — and start blowing up your net worth today.
Yes, send me the Ultimate Guide to Making MoneySource: How to make a million dollars (with advice from actual millionaires)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)