ScottHallett.com

It’s just after the 2011 New Year as I write this.  My brother-in-law and I have decided to give one another some challenges to undertake in 2011.  There are a few of them, but one in particular is the reason for this post.

This particular challenge item is to make $200.

Sounds simple enough, right?  However, the caveat is that the money must come to us indirectly from us trading work for it.

One of the key factors in entrepreneurship is that you don’t trade dollars for hours.  Instead you set up investment vehicles that do the work for you.

You see, you only have so many hours in the day.  If you have to work each of those hours to get money then you have given up some of your life that you will never get back.  This is called “earning a wage” (trading a unit of work for a unit of pay).

There are still more problems.

Even if you can make $1,000 an hour – then you will still reach a limit as to what you can earn.  And you still haven’t solved the problem of getting your free time back because you are still putting in hours to get it - and there are only so many in a day.  You’re eventually gonna run out.

Even if you go to school to become a doctor or lawyer you still have to trade your hours to receive money.

Knowing, and capitalizing from this information is what has always separated the truly wealthy from the working class.  (Note: doctors or lawyers know this - they just take their earnings and invest them instead of spending them.)

Is there something better?

Well, with morals and ethics aside – and even passion and purpose – there is a better way to do it.  It could be looked at as “receiving a return on investment” as opposed to “earning a wage”.  With this model there is no limit to how much you can make (or receive).  You are not limited by time.  You can scale horizontally.

How does this work?

Well, instead of learning a skill that requires you to trade dollars for hours you spend your time creating investment vehicles that bring in money while you are playing golf or sitting on some remote tropical beach.

This can come in the form of many different things.

A real estate investor or landlord buys land once, and can rent it out indefinitely.  An author or songwriter writes a book or song once (intellectual property) and collects royalties on it for life.

(One of the smartest things Keanu Reeves did was to ask for a small percentage of ongoing royalties, in addition to a salary, for his work in the Matrix movies.  In addition to his salary for his acting work, he will continuously be rewarded financially as long as the Matrix franchise makes money…)

You get the idea.

So, back to this post.

Our challenge is to make (recieve) $200 this year,  but we have to do it in the form of a product or service that we create once and collect on many times over (if not indefinitely).

That in actuality is the challenge – to make a product or service that we can collect residual income from – not to make $200.   The $200 just serves as a means to validate that the product is a legitimate one and has the potential to earn money – it is simply a means to gauge our success or failure.

Well, we have a full year to do it, so again you would think it would be pretty easy.  However, we both know it is not.

We work full time, are full time dads and are strapped for every possible resource needed (time, money, energy, a killer idea, etc…)

And that is only part of it.  You can’t make money unless a product is sold.  And it takes much more than making a product/service to get paid.

In fact, I would say that product creation is like 15% and marketing is 85%.

And that is where it gets ugly.

So, to be able to make and produce a viable & desirable product, market it effectively, sell and deliver it hands off is a pretty tall challenge.

I have tried many different times and I have always dropped the ball (most probably due to lack of success and failure to maintain interest in what I was attempting to do - amongst other things to discuss later).

Well, in 2011, I am gonna take another stab at it.

This time, I am going to take all that I learned from the past and use it to my advantage to become successful this time around.

The two most important things I learned is that I have to maintain interest in what I am doing - and I/it must come from an area of expertise/authority that would ensure a quality product or service.

These are two aspects that I failed at in the past, but believe I have an idea on how to fix going forward.

I hope to document this journey here with this series of blog posts.

The next (post) on being what are the two of the most important things in choosing your product/service and niche – and how to be successful with it.

Stay tuned!

Click on either of these two books to figure out how to make bio-diesel at home

This is something that I have wanted to do for over a year or so.

Logistics and information have been my main barrier - but this year, 2011, I am gonna make it happen.

There is a lot of information out there on making bio-diesel from algae, but nothing for the beginner.  Especially in terms of how-to for the complete non-technical, nor mechanically declined newbie.

This is where I had always dropped the ball.

Well, now, I think I will take another stab at it…

But first, some background…

Diesel engines do not run on gasoline - they run on diesel.  These engines can also be outfitted to run on raw vegetable oil (oil from peanuts, corn, cottonseed and soy to name a few), or the raw vegetable oil can be outfitted to run in a diesel engine (bio-diesel).

For a quick and entertaining introduction on bio-diesel, watch these discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcKpIB1HYKM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaaFsWNqLPI

One of the problems is production.

A field of corn may only yield 50 gallons an acre - and take significant time to grow), whereas algae may yield 6,000 gallons an acre - and take significantly less time to grow.  They can also grow indoors, underground, year round - and make use of vertical scaling.

The oil density of algae could be anywhere from 20 to 70% of its mass!

Plus the growing of algae converts CO2 to oxygen to boot!   Very Green!!!

To see people doing this, simply hop on over to YouTube and do a search for “algae” and “bio diesel”.

The basics are this:

1. Grow algae in a some kind of reactor (basically a tank with flowing water,  UV light, an algae strain and some food for the algae).
2. After the algae grows, and causes the density of the water to be primarily algae, it is harvested.
3. After harvesting, all the water is removed - either through some form of centrifuge or filter, or drying.
4. You are left with pure algae
5. You then need to extract the oil from the algae - this can be done with an expeller press.  You will be left with dried algae, and oil.
6. The oil will be a raw form of vegetable oil that can be used in an diesel engine outfitted to run straight VO (vegetable oil).
7. The oil can be converted to bio-diesel so that it can run in any standard diesel engine.

As I had mentioned above, I always dropped the ball when I needed information and instructions for a small scale testing operation.

Well, I now have an idea of how I am going to make it work.

I will give myself the entire year to make a batch of oil (converted to bio-diesel) to run a small diesel generator.

I found a small generator on Amazon that I would purchase to do my testing…

Amazon link

Hopefully, I could get a used one pretty cheap from eBay or Craigslist.

But that comes later…

When it comes to growing and harvesting algae, most of the contraptions on the internet seemed pretty complicated.

You can do a Google image search - or a video search on Google or YouTube for “algae” and “bio reactor”. There are a few home jobs and people selling either them or instructions for building them yourself.

The problem I foresaw was the harvesting, drying, and extraction of the algae…  This was never covered.  Nor was cleaning these bio-reactors.

Some typical bio-reactors:

(just do a Google image search on algae bio-reactor)

The approach I will take will be about as simple as I can get!

I will not build a complex bio reactor, but just use a basic 40 gallon fish tank/aquarium.

For the aeration, I will use a bubbler - probably more than one.

For the UV Lighting, I will rig a couple lights each on both side of the tank.

I will fill it with water, an algae strain, food and let it go!

For harvesting, I will use a basic water pump to pump all the water out of the tank (with algae) into another tank (or just a large, heavy duty Rubbermaid/Tupperware bin).  But with some sort of filter in place to retain and hold the algae.  More on this later.

For algae separation:

Once the algae is in the filter container - most of the water should be out, but I will need to let it sit for sometime to get as much water out as possible.

Once that has completed, I will have to move the algae over to a drying table to get the rest of the water out.  For this entire process, I do not know how long it will take… We will just have to wait and see.

(Before I go forward, I will need to research on how to make sure all the water is out.)

After it is as dry as it can get, the algae will have to go into an press.  This will get the oil out of the algae.

To see how that works, watch these videos:

Those are larger scale operations, but you get the idea.

You can get a much smaller home press - which is the route I will take for my experimentation:

or: 

Once extracted, you will have leftover algae without the oil.  Ill have to research what this can be used for - maybe it can be sold. 

As far as the oil, it is crude, and needs to be filtered cleaned, and potentially made into bio diesel:

Well, that’s it for now…

I will make another post after I have done some research on parts / costs / procedures…

Until next time!

Lorem

I created this post as a placeholder.

I think it is about time to update it.

The two primary things I wanted to use this for was to document what I was doing in terms for “eating healthy” for the new year and specifically to meet my challenges.

They were:

1. Eat one meal replacement salad four times per week for 40 days straight (starting on Jan 1).  To clarify, for at least 4 meals, I will replace that meal with a hefty salad - not incorporate a salad into that meal.  This means a lot of Jason’s Deli, Souper Salad and homemade ones as well.
2. Drink at least 4 green shakes per week for 40 days straight (starting on Jan 1).  In case you dont know what a “Green Shake” is, it is simple a smoothie made with an array of super healthy green vegeatbles + added fruits for sweetening and taste.  They get their name becuase they are green :-).  Do a Google web/image/video search on green shake and you can get a ton of info.
3. Do a fast food fast for 40 days.  This is pretty sef explanetory.

So, those are the challenges.  As you can see, they revolve around a 40 day time span.  The reason for that is specific, but wont get into it here.  You can do a Google search on the spiritual significance of 40 to find out more.  Also, many people believe that 40 days is the right amount of time to gerninate new habits or break old ones.

There are a number of other things I am working on in terms of eating healthy that center around added things: such as milti-vitamins, concentrated greens, fish oils, etc…  Removed/reduced things:  white starches, caffeine, beer, concentrted juices, etc…  And modified things:  replacing some coffee intake with green/white and black teas, etc…

As an update to this post it is in the second week of 2011 and I have met week 1 with success:

4 MREs (meal replacement salads) and 4 green shakes.

Ready for week 2!

As part of my 2011 New Years resolutions, I have decided to get into shape and get healthy.

This is also the result of a challenge my brother in law presented me with (which you can read about here).

Part of that entails running a half marathon before the end of 2011.

In this post, I will document my journey to completing that Marathon.

For starters, the half marathon that I have chosen to complete is this one:

White Rock Centennial Half Marathon

It cost $70 for non-members, and is expected to sell out because it only will allow 2100 runners.

It is on may 7th.

This will give me about 5 months to prepare…

To start things off, my initial weigh-in on January 1st is 205 pounds.

I will document my running on this post as well

______________________

January  1  --   .9 miles
January  2  --  1.8 miles
January  3  --  rest day
January  4  --  rest day
January  5  --  3.0 miles
January  6  --  4.5 miles (2.5 straight, last two: walk/run intervals)
January  7  --  rest day
January  8  --  5.0 miles (3 straight, last two: walk/run intervals)
January  9  --  rest day
January 10  --  

______________________

Stay tuned to this thread, as it will be updated with my latest results…

This blog post is about new years resolutions.  I haven’t written to this blog that much – but decided to fire it back up for the purpose for which it was intended:  logging “personal” journal entries. (Web based Logging -> Web Log -> weBLOG -> Blog).

So, I will use it to capture my journey through some of the new years challenge that I have taken for myself.

It all started when my brother in law (Richard) asked if I would accept the idea of each of us deciding to choose and challenge each other with news years resolutions/challenges.

It is an idea he got from Tim Ferriss (author of 4-Hour Work Week and the 4-Hour Body), an author we both have read, listened to and respect.

I suggested we come up with “joint challenges” together and make it “interesting”.

We came up with 10 to be completed before the end of 2011.

If either of us fail, then we lose the challenge and have to suffer the consequence(s).

The price for failure that we decided upon was to wear the NFL jersey (or some form of apparel) of the others team for at least 5 key dates during the 2011 football season.

For example, I am a cowboys fan, and he is a Saints fan.  If he loses – he has to wear a Cowboys shirt/jersey to work in New Orleans amongst his peers, and perhaps on game day.  At least 5 times.  I would do the same.

So, for starters, here are our 10 challenges that we each have to complete in the year 2011:

1. Run a half marathon
2. Sign up for and attend at least 8 visits to some form of MMA training
3. Fast food fast for 40 days
4. Go green:
   1. Scott: Add 4 meal replacement salads per week for 40 days
   2. Scott: Add 4 green shakes/juicings per week for 40 days
   3. Richard:  Add something green every meal for 40 days
5. Lose 20 pounds
6. 5 Books to read jointly and discuss (So far we have decided on):
   1. 4-Hour Body (link)
   2. Born to Run (link)
   3. I will teach you to be rich (link)
   4. How to make millions with your ideas (link)
   5. [tbd…]
7. Create a product/service, market it and make $200 (This must follow the entrepreneurial rule of not trading dollars for hours.  Meaning, work once - collect residual income for ever.  An example of this would be creating a form of intellectual property or own real estate that you rent.  More details to come…)
8. Establish online presence
9. Curl at least 35 lbs. at least 10 times (I personally would like to use kettle bells)

Well – that’s it for the joint resolutions.

I have a number of others here that I will include for just me:

1. Go more veg
2. Go more natural
3. Organize and downsize considerably – both mentally and physically
4. Read the Bible cover to cover (more on this later)
5. Reduce significant debt
6. Establish second form of income (residual – this will hopefully use item 7 above as a springboard)
7. Remove amalgams (mercury based fillings)
8. Radically alter my diet for optimal nutrition and health
9. Get seriously healthy!  Healthier than I have ever been  (Many items above will serve as a catalyst to this)
10. Makeover office
11. Develop/Establish/Implement better household management
12. Develop/Establish/Implement better personal goals and achievements - and the means to make them happen
13. Get happier (lose some baggage :-))

There are actually many more than this that I will bring up later, but for now – these are the high level ones.

I will also go over these in more detail as I start them.

For starters, on January 1 – I weighed in.

I am 205 pounds.

I also did my first run.

Well, that’s it for now…

I will use this post as a starting point and update it often with links to other posts and related links.

Stay tuned for more as I document this journey!!!  

1.  Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me alone.

2.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.

3.  It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.

4.  Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.

5.  Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.

6.  Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

7.  If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

8.  Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.

9.  If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is probably not for you.

10.  Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

11.  If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably a wise investment.

12.  If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

13.  Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the windshield.

14.  Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

15.  The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

16.  A closed mouth gathers no foot.

17.  Duct tape is like ‘The Force’. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

18.  There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.

19.  Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving .

20.  Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

21.  Never miss a good chance to shut up.

And…

22.  Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

The reason I am writing this post is because I both love and hate MLM (multi level marketing) – also knows as Network Marketing.

I personally believe that the network marketing financial compensation model is one of the greatest revenue plans out there.  And for that reason I am hooked - as are many others.

I simply love it!  Always have and always will…

If a person takes the time to seriously think about how it works, it’s no question that the true potential becomes apparent.

And with everyone who has got involved (and continues to become involved) with MLM, it’s safe to say they probably felt/feel the same way.

With all things being perfect, here is how it would go down:

You find just 5 people, and teach them each to do the same.  If that happened down to 5 generational levels – and if you were earning only 1$ per month on each person – you would be making about $4,000 a month residual!!!

I won’t spend but that one paragraph explaining the model – it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out how it all works…

So, what’s the problem?

Why have so many failed in network marketing?

Not only that, why is the industry hated soooo much by soooo many people?

Mainly – empty promises by those who recruit others into the business.

Here are a few:

• All you need to do is find just a few, and teach them do the same (the emphasis on this lie is “All you need to do”)
• The product sells it self
• You just need to make a list of people you know – and you will have all the signups you need
• Once your downline is started, it grows automatically.

What would happen, if a recruiter told something more akin to the truth:

• Chances are your going to have to find a lot of people, because 99% wont be interested, resent you for asking – and the one percent that you do convince to join will probably not be successful and lose money and friends before he makes any back – so he will quit.
• Without adequate training, you will be left to your own devices to try to market this product on anyone you can find by any means possible.
• The product you are selling is an inferior product that is wrapped up in an money making opportunity, but that’s ok – because we are using it to make money and people will see that.
• You are going to have to buy tons of product that you may not want or need and it will probably sit in your garage collecting dust.
• You will have to make a list of all your friends and family and bug them to join.  Chances are they are already aware these types of so-called “opportunities” and wont want to join.  Many will probably look at you in a negative manner afterwards.
• Even if you do get a few on your frontline, most won’t make a go of it because they are not serious about building a business – and will eventually drop out.

But with all of this, MLM is still very much alive.  And there are quite a few people who continue to thrive in this industry.

The math is there.

For this reason, I still remain hopeful.

So, in 2009 – is it still possible to get involved in MLM and make a successful run of it?

Absolutely!

The first and most important thing you must do is completely overhaul your understanding of MLM.

And overhaul how you promote this industry.

Integrity is key.  Integrity on the part of the company to deliver a quality product that works at a competitive price point with similar products – or by providing a product that truly is revolutionary and doesn’t exits in the marketplace.

It also takes integrity on the part of the individual sales associate.

Two things one must do:

1. Tell the truth about the industry
2. Work with a professional integrity

Here are some things to think about.

• Never lie about how the industry works.  Be honest with expectations one can face when starting in this industry.
• Never push your product on others, instead treat it like a professional business.
• Advertise your product and let those (and only those) who are interested come to you
• Respect peoples decisions and privacy.

And when choosing a company and a person to help you represent them, consider the following:

• Find someone who doesn’t hype up a product or opportunity (beyond reason).
• Find someone who works exclusively with their downline to help them become successful.
• Look for satisfied customers.
• Look for a company/team that has professional marketing/promotional and training tools – ask to see all of them ahead of time.
• Look for a company that wont make you commit to more product than you can use for yourself in the designated period.

There is a new wave of people in this industry who refuse to compromise it.  Attraction marketing is the best thing that has happened to this industry, and it is the only way to go.

I will save what attraction marketing is for another post – but it basically means you put yourself out there in a way so that those who want what you have can find you and *choose on their terms* to do business with you because you have proven yourself to be a positive attribute and help to them - regardless of what is in it for you - thus establishing trust, credibility and a sincere desire to want to work with this person.

• These people conduct their business like a business and with complete honesty and integrity.
• You provide authentically helpful service to others without regard to anything in return for yourself.
• People will naturally gravitate to you.

MLM and many other work-at-home opportunities are still very much in high demand.  And people, both newcomers – and those who have been burned in the past, are looking.  They will choose to partner with people that make them feel like they matter, comfortable and have a feeling like they can work with this person and ultimately become successful with them.

There is a lot more to say about MLM and finding the right company/product and sponsor/team - also about how to successfully establish and build a business in this industry.

But for now, I just wanted to cover some of the high points…

My advice – do not rule out MLM – you truly can make a great income/living from this industry.  But it is up to you to do your due diligence to understand exactly what is to be expected and what it takes to succeed.

Best of luck!

Could this be the greatest thing ever?

At first I didn’t see it.  But after a quick clarification in the terminology and description, I am now blown away…

I am not one for cash gifting operations, but you don’t have to get involved in cash gifting to take advantage of a 1-up / 1up / 1 up  pay plan – there are many sites that use payment processors to do the lifting for you – and its not a “gift”, they will provide you with a slew of products…  Mainly just stuff you can get online for free, but it helps with the legalities

Here’s how it works:

You, I will call you “Joe”, decide you want to join a “1up payplan”.   So, you find one you like and drop your one-time fee, lets say its $125.00 - $100 goes to the guy who recruited / invited you – and $25 goes to the house as an administrative fee. (how nice for them).

Now, you are in the system…  No more payments from you ever…  (it’s a one-time deal)

You are not qualified to start receiving money yet – because there is one more thing you have to do.

The first person you invite or recruit into the system is your “qualifier” – and you have to send him up to your sponsor – hence the “1 up”.

So that first person you recruited – let’s call her Beth.

Well, you will never see or hear from Beth again – she was sent up to your recruiter / sponsor, we will call him Bob.

So, Bob got a free person underneath you.

Now, at this point – you are ready to start earning money on the new people you recruit.

So, the next person you invite – lets call him Mike – he pays $125 to get in – and you get $100 immediately!  ($25 went to the house).  No money (or downline members) goes to your sponsor Bob anymore…  You never have to deal with him again.

But, here is where it gets interesting…

When Mike finds his first person (lets cal her Sally), he send that person up to you…  Not just the $100 profit from the sale, but the whole person gets added to your immediate downline!!!!

Now, Mike is out of the picture – he has earned for his freedom (by sending you someone to take his place), and he can start earning his direct keep.

But lets go back to Sally (who mike sent to you as a 1-up qualifier) – since she is brand new, she has to become qualified.  So, when she finds her first – she also send her first up to you – we will call him Rick.  You know have Mike, Sally and Rick on your first line.

Sally is now free (because she sent her first 1-up qualifier – Rick).

Now, in order for Rick to qualify – he has to find his first and give him to you.

He finds Jane, and passes her up to you.

He is now free to start his own, but here is how your frontline looked - all from finding “Mike”

Mike -> Sally -> Rick -> Jane

All from finding just Mike - each time they leave, each has to “Qualify” by sending their first to you…

Remember, you only originally found Mike – but you now have Sally, Rick and Jane as well.

In order for Jane to breakaway – she has to qualify as well – so she will find her first – lets call her Pam.

Pam is now under you, looking to qualify…

You get the picture…

Once it sunk in, just how powerful a 1-up is, it blew my mind!

No pyramid scheme here!  And as long as you provide worthy material for the products you deliver – then you are in the clear…

I will come back to this post to clean it up a bit and perhaps add some “visual aids” to help make it clearer.

My confusion was that I thought that you only pass up the profit – so that you could really only make $200 on each person (his, and the profit from his qualifying sale).

But once I realized that they send up the whole person to your immediate downline – and they in turn had to do the same thing – I saw just how it can go on to inifinity!

But it doesnt stop there – you will keep doing your part as an internet marketer and building powerlines – with each one bringing in new qualifiers…

This is way cool and VERY exciting – and I now have the *bug* to share this remarkable (shall I say revolutionary) payplan with everyone!

Good Luck – and take care…

The Cookie Thief - by Valerie Cox
Read by Wayne Dyer

A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene

She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking “If I wasn’t so nice I’d blacken his eye”

With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he’d do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half

He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought “Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude
Why he didn’t even show any gratitude”

She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes

“If mine are here” she moaned with despair
“Then the others were his and he tried to share”
“Too late to apologize she realized with grief”
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief