Learning from Ramadan

If you are reading this article at the time I have published it, Ramadan has just begun.  I am sure all of my Muslim friends reading this need no reminder, but those of us who are not Muslims may not have been aware.

One reason for writing about Ramadan is to make sure you know what it entails and do not inadvertently do anything which might cause your Muslim friends embarrassment.  This blog is all about personal development, and I believe a very important aspect of personal development is to learn to respect the beliefs of others even if you do not share them, and to avoid doing anything which might hurt those around you in any way.

Another reason is that I strongly believe there is much to be learned from the beliefs and practices of those who do not share our own beliefs.  Having studied what happens in Ramadan, and why, I find many things which I think are helpful to anyone learning to become a better person.

So, what actually does happen during Ramadan?  I am not a Muslim, so if any of my Muslim friends spots errors in what I have written, please let me know.  I have taken great care and tried to be accurate, but am happy to correct what I have written if I have misinterpreted anything.

Even my friends who have had little or no contact with those of the Muslim faith probably know one key fact about Ramadan - that it is forbidden to eat or drink from dawn until sunset.  There are some important and practical exceptions to this rule though.  If you are ill, elderly, pregnant, breastfeeding, or diabetic you do not need to fast.  The same applies if you are travelling.  It is really up to you to decide whether your own circumstances fall within one of those exceptions solidly enough to mean you should eat and / or drink.  Where practical you should then try to fast outside the month of Ramadan to make up for the fact that you could not do so during Ramadan.  Clearly this does not apply where the reason is simply that you are elderly or diabetic.

During Ramadan it is not permissible to make love between dawn and sunset.

Putting these two prohibitions together, this means during the daylight hours you are practising abstinence from what are perhaps the most compelling and enjoyable human pleasures.  Such a practice is a very good discipline for anyone learning to become a better person.  Why?  Certainly not because there is anything wrong with eating, drinking, or making love.  But because learning to practise self-discipline is a very important aspect of personal development.  The more self-discipline you have, the higher up the ladder of personal development you can climb.  Note, though, the important balance introduced in Ramadan.  Are we told to fast and abstain from sex throughout Ramadan?  No, we are not.  Only during daylight hours.  As long as you don't live in Rovaniemi (or even further north) this gives you plenty of time during which you can eat, drink and enjoy making love - every single night of the festival.  I believe balance like this is very important.  Struggling to remain abstinent for days or weeks at a time is really not necessary when learning self control skills.  You are much more likely to be successful if you follow the teachings of the Quran in this regard rather than trying to be completely abstinent, day and night, and perhaps finding your motivation to continue dwindles.

There are also other abstinences which you must observe during your fast, such as swearing, gossiping and lying.  Obviously you are not expected to do any of these things at any time, but it is especially important to abstain from them during Ramadan.  If you do any of those things, or anything else that is clearly wrong, it is as though you have also broken your fast.  You may as well not have bothered to fast in the first place.  In the case of these things you do not have an exemption during the hours of darkness.

Ramadan is not, though, simply about abstinence.  During Ramadan a good Muslim thinks deeply about his or her faith.  It is a time for spiritual development, a time to purify your heart and soul.  The time that would otherwise be spent eating, drinking (and perhaps also making love) is time that can be used instead for spiritual exercises.  For a Muslim, this period of reflection will most certainly include reading the Quran.  For my readers who are not Muslim and who want to adopt a practice similar to that of Ramadan for their own personal development, they may not wish to read the Quran, but I suggest it would be a very good idea to spend time reading spiritual works of one kind or another.

Just as bad deeds are strictly forbidden during Ramadan, good deeds are particularly encouraged.  This includes, but is certainly not limited to, giving generously to charity.  And "charity" is also very broadly defined anyway in this sense.  For example, when the fast is broken after sunset it is considered good to share one's food with others.  In many cases this is simply with family and friends, much as Americans share the blessings of the earth with family and close friends at Thanksgiving, but it is also considered good to share with those who may not be able to afford the good food you have perhaps kept aside for breaking your fast.

Now that you are more aware of what is involved in Ramadan, please try to remember this when talking and making arrangements with Muslim friends.  For example, remember that they are not allowed to eat or drink during the day, so please do not try to invite them to lunch, or even to dinner if it is early in the evening before the sun has set.

If you have read this far and are interested in any form of self development I hope you have seen that the practices of pious Muslims during their festival of Ramadan might be a good thing to practise in order to accelerate that self development.  It may even be that some Muslims will look at their own practices during Ramadan and realize they should be using their time during Ramadan more effectively for their own spiritual development. 

If you are not a Muslim you may simply wish to pick out certain aspects as outlined above and see if you can incorporate them in your own practices.  But if you have Muslim friends maybe a good way to do this would be to ask them if they would mind if you tried to share their spiritual practices with them during Ramadan.  Don't push it if they seem less than enthusiastic, but you may find they like the idea and are very willing to share their beliefs and practices.  If so, this should not only help you develop practices which I strongly believe will help you in your self development, but also strengthen your friendship with Muslim acquaintances and increase your understanding of their faith.  Anything that increases understanding between people of different faiths has to be a very good thing in a world in which misunderstandings and prejudices are so common.

Jihad

What is Jihad?

Bear with me for this.  Soon you will see why I am writing about Jihad in a personal development blog.  And you will also see this is very relevant whether or not you are a Muslim.  But first I need to clear up some gross misconceptions about the meaning of Jihad.

If you are a true Muslim you should know the answer.  I say "should", as there are many Muslims who have completely the wrong idea about what Jihad is, just as the vast majority of non-Muslims do.

Here are some of the things Jihad is NOT:

• It is NOT a holy war.  There is nothing in Islamic doctrine about holy war, which is a concept created not by Islam but by Christian Crusaders nearly 1,000 years ago.  War is vile and can never be holy, even if it is believed to be necessary.
• It is not about blowing yourself up.  That is a sin in Islam just as it is in most religions.  According to the Hadith, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said "A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide, and so Allah said: My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly, so I forbid Paradise for him."  Certainly no suggestion here of many virgins waiting in paradise for a suicide bomber!
• It is not about killing innocent people.  That is a sin in Islam just as it is for people of other beliefs.
• It is certainly not about killing people simply because their faith is different from yours.  Christians and Muslims may have done this throughout history, but there is nothing in either religion that condones, let alone commands, it.

The greater Jihad (Jihad al-Akbar) is all about inner struggle.  Not fighting others, but fighting the demons within.  The inner fight of good against evil.

This struggle is almost certainly the greatest and most important struggle you will ever have.  It is a struggle that is ordained for all Muslims (Quran 2:216).  But it is also a struggle we all need to undertake, whether or not we believe in the teachings of Islam.

As Gandhi said, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  Change yourself and you will change the world.  Make yourself a better person and you will make this world a better world.  Do not believe that you are too small or insignificant to make a real change in the world - you are not!  Work on improving yourself not just because you want things to be better for you, but because you want things to be better for others.  The Christian mystic John Donne knew this when he penned "No Man is an Island".

Change does not come easily.  There is a good reason Jihad is called "struggle".  It is a constant struggle.  There will always be voices inside telling you that it is too difficult, that there is no reason to do it, that it would be much better to sit and watch the latest soap on TV.  You must struggle against those voices and work your Jihad within.

I cannot tell you here what you must do for your own personal development.  How to work the greater Jihad will be different for each of us.  But don't give up at the first hurdle using the excuse that you do not know what to do.  Doing ANYTHING to improve yourself is far better than doing nothing.  So resolve now to begin that struggle by doing something, anything!

If you are stuck and simply cannot think of how to start your own personal Jihad, then go to http://www.beallican.com/, where you will be able to download 4 free e-books and to sign up to a regular newsletter which will help you develop yourself.  If you are seeking Muslim teachings you will be disappointed, as I am not a Muslim myself.  But whether or not you are a Muslim, this path will be the first step in your personal Jihad and give you many ways to improve yourself and thereby improve the world around you.

Seven Ways To Grow Your Own Success

by

Elaine Bailey

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I decided to start my own business I was fired up and ready to go! I bought all the books my mentor (and other people) recommended and signed up for numerous online programs and packages.

Then I drowned in an ocean of self-help modules and leadership resources! I felt overwhelmed and scared because I had so much stuff to learn. I had no plan so the learning tools gathered dust on a shelf as I got busy doing coaching and trying to be successful!

My personal development stopped. I'd get stuck with some of the basic business challenges because I wasn't growing. Others around me seemed to be growing faster and getting more success, this hurt!

Here's what I realized...

Buying learning won't help you to learn - You have to READ and APPLY the tools consistently! This is where most of us fall down.

I was trying to grow my business without growing myself.

This also applies if you work in the corporate world. You get promoted and take on a leadership role and there's a whole new set of responsibilities placed on you!

Whether you work in corporate or for yourself, one of the minimum requirements of being successful is your ability to grow. The "Future belongs to learning." Active continuous personal development separates the successful from the mediocre... and the gap between the two is wide!

Here's my personal development success formula...

You have to INVEST in yourself on three levels:

1. Invest money (I was good at buying the books, mentors and resources!)
2. Invest time (I didn't invest the time because I was too busy doing!)
3. Invest attitude (I invested in a growth mindset and take my personal development very seriously)

All three need to be present...

I know individuals who have ignored these and it has destroyed their careers by developing fixed mindset and relying purely on status, ego and past experience to solve future problems. Learning is seen as a weakness by these people!

If you stop learning, you stop leading. You stagnate and you will fail.

Successful people invest time, money and attitude in their own personal development and it pays off. They take learning seriously because they recognize its real value.

Here's how to grow your own success from the inside-out:

1. Start from where you are now - You may have loads of resources backed up. Just choose ONE! Commit to working through that one resource, then move onto the next. Begin today.

2. Read for an hour a day - Wake up an hour earlier each day and read each morning first thing. If you do this 5 days a week - that's five hours of reading! Just think how many books you could read in a year and the advantage you would have over your peers! Make notes and apply one thing you've read during the day (Start with 30 minutes and build up. Turn the TV off and read for an hour each night if you 'don't do' mornings!).

3. Listen to audio books on the move - I listen to learning while I'm working out at the gym! I find the gym boring! Now I learn as I workout and time flies by. I make a few notes back in the changing room! You can also listen as you drive, fly or take the train!

4. Have an ATTITUDE for learning - Is your passion and commitment for what you do greater than any inconvenience in timing or traveling? I travel thousands of miles for my own personal development it's not always convenient - I look beyond discomfort because I'm passionate about being the best I possibly can be. Get out from behind the convenience of your computer and look beyond the discomfort of traveling! Take your personal development seriously - Mean it! Activity seek out specific events and trainings that will help you grow. Group learning can expand your mindset and your skillset. Go to the source of the expertise and learn from the best if you want to be the best!

5. Plan your personal development time - Schedule dates and times for each week and show up! Look for opportunities to learn - Carry a book or IPad with you! Read while you wait for appointments (Instead of wasting time on Facebook!).

6. Apply what you learn - Reading is only a small part of the process. Growing involves USING what you've learned and is critical for success. I know hundreds of managers who have read: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, but only about 15% have actually applied any of the content to their life.

7. Work with a mentor - If you want to run a million pound business, then you want to learn from someone who has first hand experience and can provide wisdom, intuition and support. Working one on one will help you to: stay focused, be accountable, keep your commitment and create the discipline and persistence to make things happen. A coach or a mentor can help you to maximise your potential and be the best in your career or business.

Are you passionate enough about your success to seriously INVEST in your personal development?

How much do you REALLY WANT to be successful?

About the Author:

Elaine is founder of Elaine Bailey International Ltd. a company devoted to coaching busy and successful women and men into their best lives. Elaine spans the Atlantic from the UK to the USA in her life and business coaching. She is a sought after motivational speaker, whose topics include "Business or Busy-ness? Four Ways to Get Your Life Back on Purpose. Please visit http://ElaineBaileyInternational.com.

Why Read Self-Help Books

Today's article is by Yan Wei Chue, who ran a personal development blog http://www.livingthegreat.blogspot.com.  When I last checked there were no recent blog posts by Yan Wei, but I found this particular article so powerful I obtained permission to reproduce it here.

When you have read all about WHY you should read self-help books, if you want to get access to a regular stream of FREE personal development material, then join my Great Personal Development Material project!  You can join here:

http://beallican.com/gpdm/greatpdm.htm

Why Read Self-help Books and Attend Personal Development Seminars?

We live in a very competitive world. Any individual who wants a piece of pie in this world has to fight for it.

Today we go about getting a larger piece of the pie by increasing our self-worth through various means. For some, it means going back to school to pursue a higher education. Some continue to believe that sheer hard work is the practical way to success. Whereas a minority does nothing and hope that they can become better people.

There is an increasing trend where people turn to self-help books and seminars to improve themselves. And the results are extremely promising and encouraging.

To many of those who do not have the habit of reading, this alternative may seem boring and nerdy. Boring and nerdy would never be the words you or I would use to describe once we recognize the many benefits they have.

What is the magic behind these books and seminars? Foremost, they provide motivation. Massive and focused motivation in areas you are interested in improving on. Motivation is a crucial key to success in life. And the most convenient source of motivation comes from these books and seminars. Motivation empowers an individual with a positive mindset, the correct attitude: this greatly increases his energy, drive and productivity. We are constantly surrounded with negativity, from people, TV, radio, it's important that we get out of this negativity by reading uplifting and positive books.

Self-help books and seminars provide an array of specialized knowledge that is not available in the current education system. What is this specialized knowledge? What you seek is what you get. There are lots and lots of books in so many areas, all it requires you are some time, effort and maybe money to get your hands on the information you seek through the book. This specialized knowledge is extremely valuable and practical once you applied it. New knowledge opens the mind. You will be exposed to new ideas and perspectives from different schools of thoughts to improve yourself and to an extent for some, they suffer "information overload". My advice for you is to apply as many of the ideas you have learnt, discard those that do not work for you, keep those that are effective and see the positive changes take place in your life.

The acquisition of new knowledge is vitally important to remain competitive in today's world. However, knowledge alone is not sufficient to bring you to greater heights. What I have learnt from these books and seminars is that they have the ability to act as mentors in our lives. Mentors have valuable experience in their specialized fields to share that will provide any individual with insights and ideas never known to them. This can greatly shorten the learning curve and reduce any trial and error needed to achieve the outcome. However, everyone recognizes the many benefits of a good mentor but not many of us take the effort or are lucky enough to find such a mentor. Self-help books and seminars are an extraordinary source of accumulated experience of the authors and speakers. The essence of their experiences lies deep in these materials and is easily accessible to anyone who makes the effort to understand, learn and apply what is taught. For some, they never managed to see the valuable experience that lies right in front of them and they never will until the day they feel that is so much pain in their lives and that something must be done. Wouldn't it be too late by then? Read with a definite purpose; ask yourself, "What information am I seeking for, what is my purpose of reading this book?" Self-help books and seminars are your best mentors till you find the one that is willing to enrich and guide you.

Looking for a mentor to guide you is a MUST if you seek to achieve success in the shortest time possible. Where and how do you go about finding them? A self-help seminar is one highly possible place. These seminars are a congregation of highly motivated individuals who come from various fields and age groups and most importantly, many of them are very helpful people. The speakers themselves can be your mentors as well. There is no other better place as compared to a self-help seminar. Networking is the key to finding your ideal mentor. You will never know when you will find such a person. In short, it takes courage, persistence and a respectable amount of self-confidence in yourself to impress and convince someone to be your mentor. Remember that these mentors you seek are very busy people themselves. Instead of satisfying your needs, think about what you can offer to your mentor first. Give before you receive. They may not become your mentors but beautiful friendship may bloom and soon you realized that you are completely surrounded by positive and highly motivated people. It was Jim Rohn who said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." And since you are surrounded by positive and energetic people, you will experience new vibrant energy to propel you to greater heights in your life.

Copyrights © Yan Wei Chue

All Rights Reserved

Change Naturally With Hypnosis Audio MP3s

Hypnosis has never been more popular.

Everyone is trying hypnosis and spreading the word, and it is becoming widely known as a simple and natural method for deep and lasting change.

Hypnosis is now well established.  It is a way to gain access to your mind and reprogram your limiting and negative beliefs, a tool you can use to eliminate these negativities and change for the better.

Hypnosis is often way over mystified, but really it is a simple tool. All it does is put you into a focused state of heightened awareness, where suggestions can easily be made to you which you will naturally accept.

It is because of this that you can make changes more naturally - as your logical, conscious, and often negative mind is turned off, and so you can make changes on a deeper level.

This used to be quite an expensive way to implement a self-improvement program.  You had to arrange a number of one to one sessions with a professional.  Nowadays, though, it is possible to download inexpensive MP3s to achieve the same result.

There are two main ways in which all hypnosis downloads work:

Firstly hypnotherapy will help to alter your patterns of thinking. This may differ depending on the area you're pursuing, whether it be weight loss or confidence for example.  Hypnotherapy would examine exactly how you think about healthy eating, going on a diet exercising, or meeting new people, socialising and so forth.  It would tap into exactly how you think when you think about working out, or consuming healthy food, or how you feel when you think about having to meet a new group of people. 

It would identify where you have negative patterns of thinking, and begin to replace these bad patterns for optimistic versions - for example, it would identify your negative patterns of thinking concerning healthy eating and exercise and replace these with positive patterns so that you start to enjoy healthy food and begin to look forward to exercising. Or if you worry about social situations, then it would instil inside you beneficial patterns of thinking in this area, so that you start looking forward to socializing, and make use of a way of thinking where you love meeting and learning new things about completely new people.

It is in this way that your behavior starts to alter.

However, a second element is necessary for greater, and genuine, lasting change:

The 2nd element is that hypnotherapy changes your beliefs on a deep level

For example, it will identify the subconscious beliefs which you will find are stopping you moving forward towards real change.  It will make you more positive, more confident, and make sure that you truly feel like you can achieve change, like you can improve yourself and that you DESERVE change.

Once you have these main self beliefs, this natural self assurance, and belief in yourself, then you will be able to change for the better. 

You can try the power of hypnosis for yourself with these 3 free hypnosis downloads from Natural Hypnosis.

Using these FREE hypnosis downloads you will see if hypnosis is right for you!

Self Hypnosis

by

Winston Saga

Hypnosis is not sleep but a heightened state of awareness similar to day dream. In 1775 Franz Mesmer developed healing by animal magnetism which was later renamed hypnosis. Hypnosis is a state of mind which has been experienced by everyone at one time or the other. In fact everyone goes into hypnosis everyday of their lives. The time you are day dreaming you are in a form of hypnosis. The ability to achieve hypnotic state are already within us. It is simply a question of unlocking the secret.

When you are hypnotized your left brain goes to sleep and your right brain opens up to receive helpful and beneficial suggestions. Hypnosis is not mind control or sleep. You cannot control someone's mind with the use of hypnosis. A hypnotized person still thinks logically, he or she can make decisions. The hypnotized person does not loose contact with reality altogether. All hypnosis is self hypnosis. To go into hypnosis you must believe, focus, concentrate and participate fully. You must direct your attention 100% on the process and your' will' to cooperate.

To learn self hypnosis takes only a few minutes. If the technique is taught correctly the learning is quick and easy because everything about hypnosis is fascinating. Any ordinary person can be taught how to hypnotize or to be hypnotized. There is a major difference between hypnosis and meditation. Hypnosis can help resolve unconscious problems which arise from the past. People learn hypnosis in order to achieve relaxation, relief from pain, anger, anxiety, panic, fear and obsessive thoughts whereas Meditation helps you to achieve relaxation and an inner mental tranquility.

By learning self hypnosis you can increase your self awareness, inner harmony, positive thinking, love and compassion. You can relax and concentrate better. It is the best medicine to heal your inner self.

Exercise:

Sit comfortably in a chair. The light should be dim. Fix your eyes on some point. Stare at the spot until you close your eyes. Say to yourself my eyes are becoming heavier and heavier. Now they become so heavy and they want to close. With every breath I inhale, my eyelids are becoming heavier and heavier. I am becoming very limp and relaxed. As I become limp and relaxed my eyes are getting heavier and heavier and they just want to close. I am becoming more and more relaxed and all I want to do is sleep and relax. Keep repeating this until your eyes are closed. Now start from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head and relax every portion of your body. As you relax say that I am becoming more and more relaxed and I am going into deeper and deeper sleep. Continue for 10 minutes. You can also use classical music in the background.

Once the whole process is over. Say to yourself I am going to count from 10 to 1. As I count from 10 to 1, with each number my sleep will become lighter and lighter and when I reach no 1, I shall be wide awake. And when I awaken I shall feel completely relaxed. Do this for 10 minutes before getting up and for 10 minutes before going to bed.

Author Information:

Winston Saga is one of the world's leading sales legends. He is also the CEO of Sales and Motivation International. Winston has been acknowledged as a unique and distinctive authority in the field of sales and personal development. Last year International Biography Centre selected him ''International Man of the Year'' for his outstanding contribution to sales and Service. He has written 100's of articles to magazine, journals and websites. Visit [http://www.telesalestips.com] to know more about the Author.

Investing in Yourself

If you are interested in personal development it is important you commit to investing in yourself.  No matter what it is you want to improve, no matter what you want to achieve, it will almost certainly require an investment or will be much better and be achieved much quicker with the right investment.

Start by listing the areas of improvement to which you wish to commit.  This can be in a very wide area, and I am not limiting myself at all to one particular niche.  Have a look at my previous article about the Top Ten New Year Resolutions.  All ten are perfectly acceptable self improvement goals, and you can probably add quite a few more to this list.

Take a look around and see what resources are out there which could help you make serious inroads on those improvements you desire.  Examine them carefully.  There are a lot of scams out there, but there are also a lot of diamonds if you look carefully enough.  Try to find at least one for each of the areas on your list.  Don’t worry at this stage about how much money they may cost.  All that should concern you right now is whether you believe they will help you achieve your goals better or faster, or both.

Once you have come up with the list of investments you want to make in yourself and are reasonably comfortable that, at least for now, this is a fairly complete list, the next step is to work out how you will pay for them.

One problem many people have, though, is that after they have paid all their monthly bills there is no money left to invest in themselves.

What may surprise you, though, is that no matter how much you earn you will almost certainly still find there is no money left after paying the bills.  How can this be?

Parkinson’s Second Law

The answer lies in Parkinson’s Second Law.  You have probably heard his First Law – “work expands to fill the available time”.  But perhaps you missed the Second Law – “expenditure rises to meet the available income”.  Parkinson’s Second Law is often applied to bureaucracies and they way they can needlessly spend our money.  But it is equally applicable to personal expenditure.

The corollary of Parkinson’s Second Law is that if you look carefully at your spending you will always find cuts you can make without impacting noticeably on your overall lifestyle.

Your first step should therefore be to examine your budget very carefully.  Pretend you are a business which is not making profit.  Step back and look at that business as if you were the finance director (or maybe the bank manager!).  I think you will be surprised by some of the cuts you could make and still continue to enjoy life just as much.

Pay Yourself First

Once you have done this, regard yourself as your own primary creditor.  You owe yourself a lot of money, so start paying it back.

Pay yourself first.  Before you pay anyone else.  Do not feel guilty about doing this.  Every day of your adult life up to now you have paid everyone except yourself.  Now it is your turn!

How much should you pay yourself?  Well, that depends, of course.  It depends on many factors.  Not least of which is how much you managed to save off your budget – make sure at least half of this goes to you.  Some coaches suggest it should be a minimum of 10% of your gross earnings.  But again I stress this depends on your own circumstances and budget.  Just don’t allow it to be whittled down to almost nothing!

Put it in savings and investments that you resolve not to touch except when investing in yourself.

Create a Second Income

Whether you work for someone else or have your own business you should consider ways of creating a second income.  You can then reserve most of this new income to invest in yourself (well, the profit on it - as there will always be expenses).

One way you can do this is to set up an online marketing business.  There are some major advantages of choosing this route rather than, for example, finding an additional part time job somewhere.

The first advantage is that you will be completely in control.  You can invest as much or as little time as you like.  As your business grows you may decide to give up your "day job" and spend all your working hours moving your internet business forward - but that is entirely up to you.  There will be no boss looking over your shoulder telling you to speed things up or do things differently.  Of course, you should also recognise this can be a disadvantage - you will need to have some good self-discipline to ensure you spend enough time doing the right things.

The second advantage is linked to the first.  You do not have to work on specific days or at specific times.  You can choose when to do this work.  If you wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep you can sit at the computer and do something to move your online business forward.

The third advantage is that once you have set up your business properly it will begin to generate profits for you even if you do not put a lot of effort in to grow it.  You will need to continue doing some work in order to maintain it, so I do not believe it is correct to call it "passive income", but it should certainly generate you high profits for not a great deal of work as long as you have built it correctly.

Be aware, though, that as with any other business an online marketing business will require you to invest time and effort.  Do not be misled by claims you will often see that suggest this is a miracle "instant millionaire" formula.  It is not!  You can certainly become very wealthy if you choose to do so, but this will not happen over night.

You will also probably find there will be a few false starts before you get your own formula right.  Ideally you should take advice from an internet marketing coach who has been there and done that and who can stop you needing to re-invent the wheel yourself.  This will not be cheap, but it will save you making costly mistakes and ultimately ensure you reach your goal faster if you choose the right coach.

Invest in Yourself

Once you have started this habit of paying yourself first, and have perhaps additionally created your second income, start to invest with this money.  Not in company shares.  Not in bricks and mortar.  You are going to invest in something far more valuable than that.  You are going to invest in yourself!