I’ll be honest with you, I’ve had so many blogs fail I wouldn’t even be able to list them by memory. I’ve tried niche blogs, broad-topic blogs, news blogs, and business blogs… but there was a reason they all failed.

I came across Yaro Starak, a crazy-haired Australian blogger who does very well for himself over at his Entrepreneur’s Journey blog. He’s turned his blog into a $10K/month business over the last several years with discipline and a blueprint (and a little luck, I’m sure). In my case, the one thing I was missing was a good, proven blueprint.

I don’t find it a coincidence that shortly after learning about Yaro’s blueprint in October 2008, Good Plum (which had just started) began taking off quite considerably. I all of a sudden started writing regularly for Mashable, I had people emailing me daily with questions I could help them with, my weekly newsletter started seeing new subscribers every day… in just a few short months. I’m of course not making thousands of dollars here, but there is no doubt that I will as I continue to follow my (& Yaro’s) blueprint.

There’s a reason why I advertise his material on Good Plum’s sidebar – it’s because I use it and find it extremely useful (I do NOT advertise anything I don’t use myself).

If you’re not familiar with Yaro Starak and his blog, and are looking to start a blog as a business, I’m happy to pass along the link to download Yaro’s blueprint which I have adopted as my own. Better still, this is completely and utterly free – no strings attached!

Keep in mind, that it’s rare that blogging alone brings someone enough to live on. In my case, Good Plum is simply here to serve a single, grand purpose: to be an outlet for my knowledge so that other people can learn from me. Along the way, I hope to gain loyal readers and partners who will follow me through any business I might decide to take on.

Back to Yaro’s blueprint, I wanted to give you a list of the chapter titles included in the free e-book so you can see just how powerful this stuff is. Here’s the link again to download Yaro’s Blog Profits Blueprint for yourself.

Yaro’s Blog Profits Blueprint table of contents:

How To Make Money Blogging
Blogging as a Business, Not a Job
What’s Next?
Who Is Yaro Starak?
What Is A Blog And Why Are They So Popular?
How Blogs Make Money
The Two Key Ingredients For Attracting Attention
Why Do You Blog?
How To Choose Your Blog Topic – Passions Vs. Profits
Let’s Talk Tactics
Content + Marketing = Traffic
What Is A Pillar?
How Do You Create A Pillar?
How To Market Your Blog
Time vs. Reward
Most People Are Lazy
Communication Channels
The Power of Leverage
Compound Effects
Think Big Picture, Work Little Picture
Traffic Tactics
Peer Relationships
Network Effects
Start With Your Peers
Bigger and Better Content Pillars
It’s Time To Make Money
Can Blogs Be A Stable Income Source?
The Holy Grail of Blog Monetization – Recursive Affiliate Income
The Next Best Option – Direct Advertisers
The Problem with Google AdSense
Other Monetization Options
My Top Blog Monetization Methods
Turn Your Blog Into A Business
Why Most Bloggers Fail
Do You Have Enough Information To Succeed?
Congratulations! – Now Get To Work
Advice For Beginners, The Lost And Confused
Would You Like Me To Coach You?
Thank You For Your Attention

Money: The Problem & The Solution

So, what is your amount? And what would you do to get it if you could? What is your “price”? Some people think that the magic number is 1 million dollars. They can pay the mortgage on the house, do some repairs, send the kids to college and invest in something so they can live comfortably the rest of their life.

Daydreaming is probably one of the things people spend more time on, especially when they don’t have what they want. So, if you are looking for your million dollars, what are you doing about it besides daydreaming? Many of us buy a lottery ticket hoping that, with a dollar and a dream anything can be possible. But chances are that will not happen for most of us.

Instead of daydreaming about what would you do when you have the money, what about investing that time in proactively trying to make it?

Explore your ideas, search for opportunities. Perhaps you will be able to find the key to make some money that will help you solve your problems. Maybe it will not be a million, but it will make you know of your abilities, your capabilities.

Don’t think it will be an easy thing. You’ll probably have to take 2 jobs, or work on your ideas at night after a long day. Search for it, and put your efforts towards your goal. Just don’t expect it to be easy. Nothing is really easy to achieve. And nothing is really impossible if you find the way to do it. Trust your self, your efforts, your abilities and your dreams. The world is in your hands if you see it from the right perspective.

But just in case, keep playing the lottery. Who knows? The next winner might be you!

The stars on the movie screen have a life that is worth aiming for. But, those people are often not the richest people in the world. Everyone defines being rich in a different way, if your definition requires a lot of money.

In order to move from making money to wealthy, you will need to change your perception of life. These tips to a successful life of making money and becoming wealthy will surely help.

Your mind and your money. It is important to think about money in a more organic way if you are going to become wealthy. Money will have to be something you save and not something you spend. Being thrifty today can save that wealth for the long run.

Small is Good. When thinking in terms of money and saving, small is good. Those small amounts of money you save and invest here and there will not take anything from your daily comfort, but they will grow and grow over the years, earing a lot of money for your wealthy retirement.

Sacrifice here, freedom there. Many people do not think about the $20.00 they spend here or the $40.00 they drop there. But, these monies are the reason many people can not move into the wealthy status. People become wealthy because they earn and save and choosing to give up some expensive luxuries will end up buying your financial freedom.

You are the one. The only person that can be held accountable for your financial placement in life is YOU! You are the one that needs to make making and save money, no one else.

Think stock. The next time you want to buy that new product on the market, stop and think stock. The product will, more than likely, be something you will not use in 10 years, but a stock in the mother company will still be growing.

Learn from the best. It is essential to look at real life models in order to save the most you can save in life. Saving can be followed step by step, but there are some insider tips that only the person who has actually worked to become wealthy will understand and be able to pass on.

If your goal in life is to become wealthy, you can achieve that goal. All it takes is time, saving, investing, learning and more saving. Then, if you have a little more time lying around, you can save a little more.

I’ve developed a habit, and it’s seems that it’s paid off huge. A couple years ago, I started playing around with the different start-pages. I started with Pageflakes, then tried Windows Live and Netvibes. I’ve landed on Netvibes now after trying every other start page out there, but I digress. How in the world could’ve this helped my wealth?

Let me touch on Netvibes and how I use it so you can see how it’s affected my life. Any of these may work for you too!

First of all, I do Web Development for my day job, so I’m almost always at the computer whether I’m at work or at home (this is touchy with the girlfriend, but that’s for another post!). This allows me to have my Netvibes page open in a Firefox tab all the time.

Notes
Netvibes has a notes application that allows you to simply click and type a note. This note is then available to you anywhere you have access to the site. I use this for simply things like to-dos ideas, etc. For more complex lists, I also use the Remember The Milk module.

Niche Feeds
Whatever your area of interest, whether Internet marketing, real estate, programming, or mowing grass – there are sites out there devoted to what you’re passionate about. I have a Netvibes tab devoted to Design, one for Programming, one for Marketing, one for Personal Blogs, etc. This allows me to digest a ton of information in a short amount of time – making myself much more knowledgeable in my field, and reducing the change I’ll miss an opportunity.

Get out there, find those sites relevant to you, and load them into your start-page!

World News
On my main tab, I have several different news sources. Everything from the USA Today, NY Times, my local papers, Digg, Newsvine, and more. Staying on top of the events going on around you (or if you’re like me, while you’re in your cave all day), allows you to spark conversation with someone – anyone really. We’ve all found ourselves in a few seconds of awkwardness while talking to someone new – current events is a perfect way to keep the flow going and usually opens up several more topics in order to develop a relationship with that person.

Self-Help Feeds
I also have an area of my Netvibes dedicated to self-help articles (including, of course, Becomng.com). Sites ranging from productivity, to meditation, always keep me up-t0-date with fresh ideas to keep my mind in top-shape.

Wondering when I’m going to get to the part about the start-pages getting me wealthy? Well, I can tell you without doubt that I have become a better person, accumulated knowledge beyond many of my peers, and have become much more productive since using my start-page. All of this will lead me into wealth in a dollars-and-cents kind of way, but in the meantime, the non-monetary wealth it’s given me can’t be measured.

How have start-pages affected you?