Saturday, May 26, 2012

Steve Pavlina Newsletter Issue #45 - May 25, 2012

StevePavlina.com Personal Development Insights Newsletter

Issue #45 - May 25, 2012 - http://www.stevepavlina.com/

"How to Create Passive Income" Blog Series

In case you haven't been keeping up with my blog, I've been writing a new series on how to create streams of passive income. So far the series consists of the following posts:

As part of this series, I'll be creating a new stream of passive income for myself, blogging each step as I go along to walk you through the process.
I'm leaning towards using the methods Vic Johnson shares in his Getting Rich with Ebooks program to create and sell an ebook for my new income stream. Vic has made $7+ million from ebooks so far, and he offers an online course to teach people how to do what he does.
I've gone through Vic's core program (but not all of the bonuses yet), and I found it motivating and practical. I think it would be fun to create and release an ebook for a new stream of income. I also believe this would be a good fit for a passive income walkthrough since people don't need a website to use Vic's approach. He explains how to sell ebooks through other websites. About the only thing you need is an Internet connection.
This is an especially good time to get into ebooks since the recent explosion of tablet sales (like the iPad and the Kindle Fire) has dramatically changed the book publishing landscape, giving content creators more power than ever. This creates an unusual window of opportunity for selling ebooks. This window will probably close within the next few years as ebook production catches up to the demand, but for now this is a content creator's dream. This situation is similar to the window of opportunity I saw in the blogosphere when I launched my blog in 2004, and that certainly worked out well.
If learning to make money from ebooks is of interest to you as well, a good place to start is to watch Vic's intro video. I share a bit more about Vic's program in the Passive Income Systems blog post, so you may want to read that as well.
If creating your own streams of passive income interests you, then use this weekend to catch up on the current posts in this series, and follow along with the new ones. If you do so, then you'll have the opportunity to create your own streams of passive income as I coach you through it. We'll be getting into the action phase soon, so it's not too late to catch up and follow along with everyone else.

Site Build-It 2-for-1 Deal Through March 26th

For another way to earn passive income, Site Build-It is offering a 2-for-1 deal for a very short time. This special ends on March 26th.
They normally only run this 2-for-1 special once a year at Christmas time, so if you miss it now, you'll likely have to wait till the end of the year.
I've been recommending Site Build-It for years since it's a much easier way to build passive income streams than the methods I initially used. Be sure to read my review of Site Build-It to learn more about it.
You may also want to follow Site Build-It's Facebook page to keep up with their latest deals, tips, advice, etc. With 143,000 likes, it's a very popular page.

Free Online Event - Ultimate You Mindfest

There's a free online event coming up that I recommend if you'd like to condition your mind for positive thinking, success, and action orientation. It's called the Ultimate You Mindfest.
The Mindfest is hosted by Paul Scheele, who co-founded Learning Strategies 31 years ago. Paul is an acclaimed expert of human performance, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), accelerated learning, and preconscious processing. Paul is also a friend -- we're both members of the Transformational Leadership Council. I can tell you that he's very passionate about understanding how the mind works and helping people improve their lives.
Over the course of 6 days, Paul will share the following lessons:
Day 1 – Succeed by Design: Eliminate procrastination and hesitation
Day 2 – Activate Your Automatic Pilot: Vaporize negative self-talk and self-sabotage
Day 3 – Believe in Yourself: Whisk away limiting habits of mind
Day 4 – Follow-through with Unwavering Consistency: Hardwire inner drive and amazing self-discipline
Day 5 – Feel Great about Yourself: Remove the negative influences of other people
Day 6 – Open the Flow of Prosperity: Use the immense power of your mind to attract what you choose
For each day of the course, you actually get two programs -- one lesson from Paul and one Paraliminal to listen to.
The Mindfest is totally free, so it won't cost you anything. You'll have two new programs each day that you can stream from your computer or mobile device. If you miss a day, that's no problem since they also have free make-up days.
The Mindfest officially begins on June 18th, and when you register for it, you'll receive the first lesson immediately.
Visit the Ultimate You Mindfest website to watch Paul's 4-minute intro video and get started. I'm already signed up for it!

Are Your Feelings Pushing Money Away?

A few nights ago I was at a party with some friends in a gorgeous high-rise condo here in Las Vegas. While admiring the spectacular views of the Vegas Strip and its overabundant lights, one friend and I got to talking about passive vs. active income. We'd each endured periods of being broke and worked our way up, leveraging the power of passive income. He started on this path much sooner than I did, so he's much further along today. He noted that many years ago he was earning about $600K per year as a pro speaker. Then he said something like, "But I knew I wasn't going to get ahead making only $600K a year." He pushed himself to go beyond that level. Today he can earn $250K in a weekend.
Internally I was chuckling to myself since he reminded me of the strategy I'd used in the past whenever I wanted to boost my income significantly. I had to redefine my relationship to money.
Is $600K a lot of money? To one person it will seem so. To another person it's only a modest amount.
If an amount seems like a lot, we tend to associate it with challenges and obstacles, thereby pushing it away from our everyday reality. Initially this may be due to the practicalities of what we can and can't afford, but over time we can develop an emotional connection to certain numbers. Even when we can afford something, it can feel like we can't, and so we slow down and slip back into our comfort zones.

Financial Relativity

This morning a guy came to my house to give me an estimate for some repairs. He showed me the work that needed to be done, and then I asked him how much it would cost. He nearly cringed and said, "Well, unfortunately it's going to be a lot." In the back of my mind, I'm wondering how many thousands of dollars it's going to cost and how many others I'll need to ask for estimates. Then he tells me it will cost $680, including parts and labor. I felt relieved that it was so little and agreed to it right away. It wasn't even worth the time to get other estimates.
If this same scenario had played out 15 years ago, when my income was much lower, I probably would have cringed at the amount. I remember cringing when I had to pay a $500 bill for auto repairs around that time. "Oh no… why does it have to be so much?" Back then, such a bill gave rise to feelings of loss and stress. Today a similar amount produces a feeling of relief: "That's all? No problem!"
Suppose your car breaks down. You take it in for repairs, and the mechanic tells you it will cost quite a lot to fix it. You ask how much, and he says it will cost you $6 total. You'd probably feel relieved. You might figure he was joking with you. That same effect happens as you increase your income. Amounts that once seemed large will actually feel a lot smaller. What once seemed like a large expense almost becomes a joke.
Remember how you felt about money when you were a kid? I remember that when I had $50, I felt totally rich. I could buy a whole bunch of Star Wars action figures with that much. How cool is that? These days it wouldn't feel quite as exciting to have only $50.
Of course there are practical reasons why certain amounts of money seem significant. It makes sense to avoid spending more than you earn. But these logical associations also give rise to emotional associations. We not only think that certain sums are large; we feel the difference too.
If you receive one check in the mail for $5 and another one for $5000, do you experience a different emotional reaction upon seeing each check? Is this pure logic at work? You may have your logical thoughts about these amounts, but your emotional responses are triggered automatically.

Changing Your Relationship to Money

The good news is that you can consciously change your relationship to money. Money is a passive participant in this relationship, so you're free to reassess and redefine the terms whenever you want.
A simple way to do this is by taking the feelings you already have towards certain sums of money, and then re-link them to different sums.
Sit down, close your eyes, and imagine opening an envelope with an amount that seems fairly routine. Perhaps it's an amount you'd normally expect to receive, such as your usual paycheck. Notice what that feels like. It's not overly exciting. It's just a normal, every occurrence.
Now multiply the amounts you used for the first visualization by 10. Repeat the visualization by imagining the original sum you used, and then do your best to stick with that feeling as you visualize the amount on the check flipping back and forth between the old number and the new number.
So if you once felt ho-hum when imagining a check for $50, your goal is to create that same ho-hum feeling when you imagine getting a $500 check. Load up the feeling you associate with the $50 check, and then imagine the amount flipping back and forth between $50 and $500.
Flip the amounts quickly at first, about one cycle per second. Then slow down the rate of flipping, and decrease the amount of time that the original number appears. Keep decreasing it till you're locked onto the new amount, but it still gives you the same feeling as the original amount.
After you've spent several minutes on this, you should be able to imagine receiving a check for the new amount, and it will trigger the feelings that you once associated with a sum that's 10x lower.
You can repeat this exercise by visualizing a bill, your bank balance, etc., and then shifting those associated feelings to sums that are 10x larger. So if you feel comfortable having $5000 in the bank, create those same feelings of comfort with $50,000 in the bank. You want that $50,000 sum to feel normal, not overly exciting or unrealistic. Too much excitement will push it out of your comfort zone -- and out of your reality.
While it may seem like freaking out about a large bill or getting excited about a big check is a reasonable thing to do, these feelings push you beyond your comfort zone. You undoubtedly have a strong tendency to stay inside your financial comfort zone; it doesn't feel good to spend too much time outside of it. But it's possible to move up a financial tier by changing the monetary amounts that define the edges of your comfort zone. You make it possible to receive more by first getting comfortable with the idea of receiving more.
In Law of Attraction language, this is equivalent to becoming a vibrational match for receiving more money. Instead of pushing that experience away by associating it with emotions that are outside of your comfort zone, you can bring these amounts into your comfort zone. This makes it easier to take the actions that will lead to those bigger checks. You can create the expectation that this is a normal experience for you, which makes you a better match for receiving it. I've used this approach very successfully.
Personally I find it very rewarding to jump up another tier in income. It's not about the money per se. It's about exploring a new world of opportunities and experiences that were previously unaffordable. Experiencing different income levels adds more variety to life. It also makes it easier to appreciate each level for its unique lessons, challenges, and joys. Being in jail taught me to appreciate my freedom. Being broke taught me to enjoy the beach. With a little more money, I began to appreciate that I could afford high-quality organic produce. With even more money, I fell in love with travel.
If you've been feeling bored with your current income level, perhaps it's time to move up a notch and gain access to new experiences. I'm happy to help you do this as I continue to blog about passive income. I'll be continuing this blogging series for many more weeks since there's still a lot more to cover. But for now, use the ideas I shared above to begin shifting your comfort zone. Start getting comfortable with the idea of earning more money. Don't push it away with too much excitement or drama. Try to reach the point where it begins to feel normal to you, so you believe and expect you can get there.

Please follow me on Twitter and Google+ for inspirational messages and quick updates.

Steve Recommends

Getting Rich with Ebooks - Earn passive income from ebooks.
Site Build It! - Build an income-generating website.
Lefkoe Method - Permanently eliminate a limiting belief in about 20 minutes.
Paraliminals - Accelerate your personal growth.
The Journal - Keep a secure journal on your PC.
PhotoReading - Read books 3x faster.
Life on Purpose Video Coach - Discover your life purpose.
MySpeed - Watch online videos in half the time.

Until next time, live consciously!

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