|pros • per • ly|

As you may know my true passion in life is filmmaking. All of the internet marketing and SEO work I have done in my life was a means to an end. That end was me being able to pursue the thing I love the most.

As I have talked to you about the Prosperly Way I have used that methodology to create automated income so I can spend my time working on making films.

I have most recently been working on a new sci fi web series that I am pretty stoked about and proud of. I wanted to have at least 4 episodes up before I pushed it to the public.

Well those 4 episodes are up and now I would love to have my Prosperly audience take a look and let me know what you think.

If you enjoy the series, then Like Us on Facebook, or Tweet to your followers about us, or just show your friends. I would love to see how many views I can get on these. The website is RoswellProtocol.com

I also created a hoax news report and website to help build viral buzz for the series. You can see it at HelpMeTellTheWorld.com

I can’t tell you how much enjoyment I get out of pursuing my passion and following my dreams. I hope that passion comes across in the work I have done.

Enjoy and then Spread The Word!

I was recently at my in-laws home during the holidays and happened to pick up the local newspaper. On the front page was a feature story of new years resolutions of some of the local residents of this small town.

I started reading some of them and was shocked. Here are a couple of excerpts from their resolutions:

“All the things that I accomplished this past year, I want to try to keep them going. Like I got help with my rent. I got a better place to live. I stopped using substances, stopped drinking. Going to my groups and stuff like that…”

“I forget them about a week later. I decided not to do one anytime anymore, I did quit smoking. That was about 30 years ago. That was probably the only one I remember I ever did. I used to smoke two, three packs of cigarettes a day. I just decided it was time to quit. I didn’t know if I was going to do it or not, but I did do it. I’m glad I did do it. If people want to smoke, that’s up to them. It pays off if you don’t smoke; I can tell you that.”

See full article here

There were other resolutions that were just as bad in the newspaper and I thought to myself, no wonder so many people go through life and don’t fulfill their dreams.

My key to success: If you want to be successful in life set very specific goals and then work towards those goals every single day.

One of the goals I set for myself several years ago was to make $8333 a month from my online businesses. I then broke down each website that I owned and set a goal to how much I wanted each site to make every month to help me get to that goal.

Then I created a daily tasks list for each site that would help me reach the goal for each website. As I did those daily tasks I watched as my income continued to grow to the point that I was making a great full time living online.

The other great thing that happened is that because I had a goal for myself i built momentum and eventually surpassed that goal with ease and had to set new goals.

My advice to you is this: No matter what you are trying to accomplish in life, whether it be in business, religion, personal life etc, set specific goals and you will be more successful and have a much more fulfilled life.

Lately I have seen some close friends start to make a lot of money running monthly membership sites. It has really opened my eyes as to whether or not this may be the new way to make consistent income online in 2011.

The obvious advantage to having a monthly membership site is that you know how much you will be making every month. Also, if done right this can be the epitome of an automated business. Not every membership site is automated, in fact my friends site that is doing very well is one where they have to keep adding new content to keep subscribers happy.

So my goal has become to create a more automated monthly membership site. That way I can pursue my film making goals and know exactly how much income I will have each month. It seems to create a much more stress free environment.

My New Monthly Membership Site

I have decided to take the plunge on one of my oldest websites Lawn Care Directory and turn it into a monthly membership site. This is a site that I have run for almost 10 years and have made a lot of money with during that time but I have always felt like the amount I was making had peaked and I wanted a way to make more.

So I have completely transformed the site from selling information on how to start a lawn care business to a more legitimate directory where companies pay a monthly fee to have their company featured in their area.

My goal is to get 500 members paying $19 a month. I know there are thousands of lawn care and landscaping companies out there and 500 is definitely not out of the question. Having just made this transition I have already acquired a good number of subscribers and this is the slow season for that industry.

Will this backfire on me? It is possible that I could end up making less money per month with this site but if I achieve my goal of 500 members then it will be a huge success.

NOTE: Incidentally, if you ever need lawn maintenance or landscaping visit the site. You’ll most likely find a qualified company in your city.

Having the right mindset for making a living online is crucial. I remember many years ago I said to myself, “If I could just make $300 a month online that would be so great because it would pay my car payment…” Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Now I don’t have car payments anymore but knowing what I know now I would instead say if I were just beginning, “If I made $300 a month online that would be perfect because I will have $300 a month to help me get to $2000 a month.” Right now $300 a month probably sounds like a lot of money but once you get there you will be surprised how little it is.

Don’t start using the money for your own  personal use until you are consistently making $1000 a month. And then only take out $500 and use the rest for buying links, getting programming work done, advertising on relevant sites, paying copywriters and making your site better. Don’t be satisfied with mediocrity (although I think mediocrity doesn’t come until you are making $2000-$3000 a month).

Keep setting new goals for yourself and build the business up. If I would have stopped and only worked on the first website that ever made me money, I would make a respectable income every year, but I wouldn’t have been able to quit my job and I wouldn’t have the lifestyle and freedom that I enjoy now.

Yesterday I decided not to come into work so I could work on editing a movie I shot with my two boys (Adding over 70 laser gun effects takes a long time). As I was home working on it I realized again how lucky I am and how grateful I am to have the freedom to do those kinds of things. It never would have happened if I didn’t build my online business to where it is.

Set your sights high. Take time to learn the things you need to be more successful. And NEVER give up!

Yesterday Adam and I decided to enjoy the nice weather (65 degrees!) and golf (well, first we went to put downpayments on some scooters).  On the way to the course, this being the first time playing for the season (second time for me since I played down in Phoenix while at Infusioncon), we made some score predictions for the front nine:

Adam predicted 55.

I predicted a 43.

I was jokingly optimistic, seeing as how a 42 is the best score I’ve ever shot.

At any rate, here are the results:

If you’re wondering what the other numbers are, bottom left is the tee shot, Y means the fairway was hit, N means it wasn’t.  The bottom right corner is where we record the number of putts.  You’ll also see if there were any OB penalty strokes, or if we had to deal with any bunkers.  (This is content for another post entirely — tracking your progress to stay motivated and promote smarter decision making).

Speaking of bunkers, Adam had to deal with three of the four on the ninth hole.  He had his best tee shot of the day, smashing it probably 290 yards, but the ball ends up in a fairway bunker.  He hits it out of that bunker and back into the next fairway bunker down.  Then he hits it out of that bunker and ends up in the next bunker further down.  Finally he escaped the sand completely only to land in some dirt next to a bulldozer (they’re renovating).  Once on the green, he one-putted for a triple.

Anyway, did you notice the final scores?

Adam: 55

Jesse: 43

Let’s set aside the fact that I beat Adam by 12 strokes in nine holes, and just think about the fact that the score we specifically targeted for ourselves was the one we reached.  Adam padded, knowing it was his first time playing in several months.  Don’t you find it terribly interesting that he dealt with all of those troubles on the final hole?  Maybe it was his subsconscious willing the 55 to happen.

No?

Alright, maybe that’s stretching it a bit.  But it did cause me to raise a curious eyebrow.

Adam and I have very specific goals when it comes to our overall portfolio of sites.  I won’t share our specific goals, but the key is in the specifics.  They are extremely specific.

If you want to start making money online, you’ll need to set some specific goals.

Bad Goal: I want to start making money online.

Good Goal: I want to make an extra $300 per month online within the next three months.

(I want to shoot a 43…today.)

You can’t be driven or motivated by the bad goal from above.  How will you reward yourself with the satisfaction of finally reaching an unreachable goal?  You can’t. You won’t.