How to go on more holidays

Just spoke to a friend of mine who told me that everybody he knows have tightened their purse strings and are getting ready for a tough year. And, the situation is said to get more dire after Chinese New Year as more layoffs are expected.

Well, you can either wallow in the depressing news and let it bring you down or...DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Ask yourself - Do you want to be subject to retrenchments and pay cuts or are you going to take control of your own financial destiny?

I chose the latter, that's why, contrary to what most people are doing, I have actually cut back on my work, so that I can go on MORE holidays. My holiday schedule so far:

1. Shopping & sourcing trip to Hong Kong in April
2. Clubbing & eating trip to Japan in May
3. Charity trip to help Bali Dogs in August
4. Adventure trip to Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan in November

I am able to indulge myself because I have created PASSIVE INCOME. This is money that keeps on coming in, even when I am on holiday. Inspired by my interviewees in Sleep & Get Rich!, I created a weight-loss maternity ebook with my sister at http://www.exercisepostpregnancy.com, and we are doing pretty well.

All I need to do is carry out some simple online marketing to drive traffic to my website and ka-ching! Best part of it, all work can be pre-planned in advance or outsourced - enabling me to go on a holiday and return to see money in my bank! I am currently working on another ebook (see my post below on Asia's Dragons) that will provide even more passive income :)

To find out how you can create a lucrative passive income stream, check out my book, Sleep & Get Rich! (out in all major bookstores, except Borders).

The importance of goals

Everyone has goals. But some people seem to accomplish their goals far more systematically and with greater assurance than others. Why is this? The answer is simple. People who accomplish goals at a higher rate than the average are people who use a systematic, proven method of goal setting and goal attainment.

The two most important qualities of success are focus and concentration. Focus means knowing exactly what it is you want and concentration means having the discipline to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing, until it is complete.

If you have these qualities, and both of these qualities are learned through practice, you can accomplish virtually anything. There are no limits on your future if you can focus and concentrate every hour of every single day.

The starting point of setting goals for the coming year is for you to project forward - to the end of the next twelve months and ask yourself, "If everything happens perfectly, what will it look like?"

The one quality of men and women who become leaders in their own lives and societies, throughout all of history is the quality of vision. They have the ability to visualise. They can see the future well in advance of it becoming a reality. They can then see the steps that they will need to take to get from where they are to where they want to go.

You need to set goals that are multi-dimensional. You need to set goals for every part of your life so that you function like a well-oiled machine. You need goals for your health, for your career, for your finances, for your relationships, for your personal and professional development, for your community and for your spiritual growth. Nothing happens by accident. Everything happens for a reason. And you are the "primary creative force" in your own life. You are the reason. Things are happening in your life because you make them happen, not because you sit around and wait for them to happen.

In my next post, I'll share the 7 steps to effective goal-setting...

Asia's Dragons

I have been happily immersed in writing my 4th book, Asia's Dragons, in between festive partying the last few weeks.

Asia's Dragons is a showcase of the best online brains in Asia - ordinary people who are making extraordinary incomes online!

My amazing line-up:
1. List building – Jaz Lai, http://www.OpportunityPLR.com
2. Blogging – Alvin Phang, http://www.GatherSuccess.com
3. Pay-Per-Click advertising – Eugene Ang, http://wwww.ClickMedia.com.sg
4. Affiliate marketing – Ewen Chia, http://wwww.AutoPilotProfits.com
5. eBay – Benjamin Marc Wee, http://wwww.Wtf.com.sg
6. Niche marketing – Patric Chan, http://wwww.YouChanDoIt.com
7. Membership website – Ian Del Carmen, http://wwww.FireballPlanet.com
8. Search Engine Optimization – Fabian Lim, http://wwww.WorldInternetAcademy.com

p.s. For those of you in the Internet marketing industry, you'll know that these people are the cream of the crop, veritable gurus with hundreds and thousands of "followers".

I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to get to know them on a more personal level, learn from them and have them as my business partners (a JV with any 1 of them can cost US$100,000!).

Asia's Dragons will be launched as an ebook first in February 2009, after which I will take it offline and package it into a print book to be sold at bookstores islandwide as well as regionally.

Whether you are an experienced marketer looking to hone your skills, a newbie just learning the ropes or just someone looking to free yourself from the shackles of corporate life, there's something in this book for you.

Asia's Dragons profiles eight homegrown talents in Asia who rolled up their sleeves, burnt the midnight oil and took the giant step into the unknown to explore what the Internet can do for their business – and succeeded wildly! Meet marketing wonder, Ewen Chia who generated sales of US$80,000 in 72 hours in front of a 'live' audience! And, Eugene Ang, a corporate head honcho who left a comfortable six-figure salary to start at the bottom of the Internet foodchain...

More than just a compendium of biographies, Asia's Dragons aims to analyze the motivations and personality traits that characterise these entrepreneurs. It is bursting with valuable information and advice for current or aspiring online marketers.

Want to learn how to optimise your site for search engine placement? Or utilise blogs and social networking as part of your marketing mix? Or create a compelling online retail store? Most importantly, Asia's Dragons contains information about the mentoring programmes of these gurus which is the closest you can get to them guiding you step-by-step to your own Internet success!

By sharing my findings, I hope to show you that success lies within your own control and if this book helps you overcome your self-imposed limitations standing between your entrepreneurial dreams and their realisation, then I will have been fulfilled in my quest.

Robert Collier’s Principles Of Success

Action
Begin to free yourself at once by doing all that is possible with the means you have, and as you proceed in this spirit the way will open for you to do more.

Affirmation
You must intensify and render continuous by repeatedly presenting with suggestive ideas and mental pictures of the feast of good things, and the flowing fountain, which awaits the successful achievement or attainment of the desires.

Conflict
One might as well try to ride two horses moving in different directions, as to try to
maintain in equal force two opposing or contradictory sets of desires.

Desire
Plant the seed of desire in your mind and it forms a nucleus with power to attract to itself everything needed for its fulfillment. The first principle of success is desire - knowing what you want. Desire is the planting of your seed. Very few persons, comparatively, know how to Desire with sufficient intensity. They do not know what it is to feel and manifest that intense, eager, longing, craving, insistent, demanding, ravenous Desire which is akin to the persistent, insistent, ardent, overwhelming desire of the drowning man for a breath of air; of the shipwrecked or desert-lost man for a drink of water; of the famished man for bread and meat…

Giving
You have to sow before you can reap. You have to give before you can get.

Imagination
Pictures help you to form the mental mold...

Luck
All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck - who keeps right on going - is the man who is there when the good luck comes - and is ready to receive it.

Obstacles
The mere fact that you have obstacles to overcome is in your favor...

Planning
Make your mold. The best flux in the world will not make a usable shape unless you have a mold to pour it in.

Success
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out...

Visualization
See things as you would have them be instead of as they are.

FYI, Robert Collier is an author of self-help and New Thought metaphysical books.

10 ways to recession-proof yourself

Sleep & Get Rich! Out now in all major bookstores (except Borders)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Did you know that you could earn thousands of dollars in a day? Did you know you could do so without leaving home?

Sleep & Get Rich! offers valuable money-making lessons from inspiring people who have mastered a balanced work/family lifestyle by working passively.

This strategy-packed guide will reveal powerful but simple methods for striking it rich. Exclusive interviews with entrepreneurs prove how easy it is to get started and build a lucrative enterprise. The techniques you will discover in this book are realistic and everyone can take the step towards making passive income. Just one or two of these strategies will add significant dollars to your monthly income. In no time at all, they will put you in a position of financial security that will totally transform your life!

The people you will meet in this book are ordinary people — from housewives to IT enthusiasts, who are making tonnes of money while they sleep. Their real-life advice will give you a complete step-by-step blueprint for breaking through the obstacles that hold you back from living the life you want!

Find out how a full-time mum turned her e-book into a passive income stream that gives her five-figures, auto-pilot! Learn how one man overcame adversity to make his millions on eBay and be mentored by a successful investor on the tricks to getting a high ROI (return on investment) on your money.

So many people are profiting right now from passive income streams and so can you!


CONTENTS

1. Stock Market Genius — Keane Lee, T3B System
2. eBay Millionaire — Benjamin Marc Wee
3. Insurance Hotshot — Merry Riana, Merry Riana Organisation
4. Innovative Inventor — Dr Ting Meng Choon, HealthSTATS
5. Digital Media Maven — Virpi Tervonen, Golden Publishing House
6. Best-selling Author — Catherine Lim
7. Angel Investor — Landy Eng, eAngelz.com
8. Internet Marketing Guru — Larry Lim, Marketing Sphere
9. Real Estate Magnate — Mohamed Ismail Gafoor, Propnex
10. Network Marketing Expert — Dora Hoan, Best World International


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After having authored her best-selling first book, Boss of Me!, Pearlin carved a lucrative passive income pie for herself by publishing, together with her sister, an e-book on post-pregnancy diet and fitness — concrete evidence that Sleep & Get Rich! offers a blueprint for success!

A former journalist at Singapore Press Holdings upon graduation, she had a brief foray as a technologist — as the founder of an online barter site in 2000 and as a business development manager for CNET Networks Asia. Craving freedom and recognising that there is more to life, she took a corporate hiatus and enrolled in a pilates course to feed her soul. When not hanging around inspiring people or travelling, Pearlin spends her time giving private pilates classes and dreaming up more million-making ideas.


*******

Praise for Sleep and Get Rich!

“This book offers more than just inspiration fuel but also a compass for others to follow and tactics that you can put into action now.”

Brian Schwartz
Author of 50 Interviews


“This book is fabulous to read, easy to read and a must-read! It is the only book in Singapore that has condensed the success principles and belief systems adopted by the top 10 passive income earners. It will definitely open your mind to create multiple streams of passive income, whoever you are and whatever occupation you are in.”

Cayden Chang Kheng Mong
Master NLP Trainer, Director & Founder
Mind Kinesis Management International LLP


“Pearlin has written a book that espouses the old-fashioned virtues of knowledge and hard work.”

Barry Jones
Principal, Maroon Ventures

A rebellious Internet millionaire's 10 rules of success

At the recently-concluded Asian Internet Conference (AIC), I attended the brilliant presentation of Jo Han Mok, a renegade who became an Internet millionaire at 26 and below are his 10 rules of success:

1. It can be done!
2. Success is counter-intuitive.
3. Conventional wisdom is usually wrong.
4. Thoughts and actions have consequences.
5. Acknowledge that man in the mirror.
6. Forgive yourself, you are not your mistakes.
7. Nothing personal, it's only business.
8. Success is rarely achieved in a straight line!
9. I don't give a damn about what other people think, except those giving me money.
10. I am the centre of the Universe, it's ok to get my way.

To that, I'd like to add: Be Foolish and Bold! These 2 traits have brought me far and I believe that if I had been more rational and less upfront, I wouldn't be where I am today and my milestone-making new project (more on this later!) would not have materialised!

To find out more about this unconventional Internet millionaire, go to http://www.johanmok.net

Do what you LOVE!

Whenever I update my friends on my latest projects, I always get the same comments. "It's amazing how much passion and drive you have for your work!" or "You're so lucky to be doing what you love!"

HELLO guys! You can too! No one is putting a gun to your head and making you go to work every morning? Maybe I was a bit luckier. I got my wake-up call when I was a tender 26-year-old. After 5 years in the corporate life, I realised that I SUCK as an employee. If there was an award for "Worst Employee", I'd win it 5 years running. Late for work? Check. Watching movies when I'm supposed to be working? Check. Faking MCs? Check.

Then Pilates came along and saved my life. I fell head over heels in love with the workout and envisioned myself as a Pilates instructor. Being young and rash, I decided to give it a shot and see if I could do it. Listen, it is not all smooth sailing when you are pursuing your passion. My beginning was rough. I invested my savings in a Pilates course and when I graduated, I didn't know where to find work. I tried putting an ad at the local Cold Storage but no one called. Luckily, I met a friend who had just opened a studio and he took me in. That was not all. My first pay check was a measly $60. A HUGE contrast from my last paycheck of $6,000. But, you know what? I was so happy doing my Pilates that I didn't even mind. I loved what I did and would have done it for free!

I'm still enjoying Pilates today, after almost 8 years of it. But I have also found another passion and that is writing. What I do currently fulfills my life's purpose which is this:

To inspire people with my business motivational books and to heal with my Pilates.

Trust me on this: when you are doing what you love and your life's purpose, everything makes sense. I jump out of bed every day raring to work and sometimes, when I am in the midst of a writing project, I get insomnia because I am so excited and my mind is teeming with endless ideas. Sleep is not important at this juncture and I thrive on my passion. Unlike my working friends who live for the weekends, I actually abhore them and public holidays because no one is working and I can't work too.

I've tried to counsel some unhappy corporate friends in the beginning, but after a while, I realise that it is no use. It's all in the mindset - whether you believe that you can or cannot, you are right on both counts! I hear excuses like, "But I'm too old to start" or "I have no time". Hey, you can always start on the side first and I believe time is what you make of it. And, don't talk to me about having too much at stake to follow your dreams. In my 4th book about Internet marketing heroes, I profile a 38-year-old corporate bigwig who left a $250,000 annual pay to start at the bottom of the Internet marketing food chain...and he has a family to support too! (I'm currently working on a new writing project with 8 of Asia's top Internet marketing gurus - this is my "new baby" that is keeping me up at night and I am so excited that I break out into a little dance when no one's looking whenever I think of it - but more on this later!)

When I told my husband, who is a DJ at Zouk, that I'll be able to support him next year and he can quit his job. He told me, "Errr, but I still want to work leh." Now that is what I call true PASSION!