9 books in 1

HTeBooks

Copyright © 2016

Copyright © 2016 HTeBooks

              All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Disclaimer

              This book is designed to provide condensed information. It is not intended to reprint all the information that is otherwise available, but instead to complement, amplify and supplement other texts. You are urged to read all the available material, learn as much as possible and tailor the information to your individual needs.

Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible. However, there may be mistakes, both typographical and in content. Therefore, this text should be used only as a general guide and not as the ultimate source of information. The purpose of this book is to educate.

The author or the publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book.

Book List

How To Become a YouTube Superstar

How To Make Money In Binary Options

How To Make Money In Sports Betting

How To Make Money On Instagram

How To Make Money Online

How To Make Your Own Video Game

How To Start Your Own Business Without Capital

How To Value a Business

How To Write A How To Book

How To Become a YouTube Superstar

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

How To Create An Awesome And Killer YouTube Channel

The Science of Viral Videos: How to Create Viral Videos

How to Optimize Your YouTube Channel and Videos for SEO

Stardom Extra: How to Increase YouTube Video likes, views, comments, and subscribers

How to Apply What You've Learned

How Will This Book Help You?

If there is one word commonly used today, the word has to be viral. Yes, viral. We live in a socially media crazed world where within a minute, a video, quote, song, article, or product can spread to millions of people globally. What this means is that if you use the social media platforms at your disposal, millions of people worldwide could see, like, comment, or enjoy the funny video of your cat or your child singing and dancing to Karaoke or even you doing something that millions of people would love to view and share. With that said, did you know that YouTube is the biggest social media platform surpassing other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter? What makes this platform so special and globally liked is the simple fact that you can find videos on almost any topic known to man. Still do not believe me? Head over to YouTube and type in ‘poop’ and see what comes up. Unless your video violates upload rules, you can upload anything on the platform. However, and contrary to popular misconceptions, internet success is not as simple as most people make it out to be. To be an internet success, you have to create high quality sharable content. More precisely, to be a YouTube success, your content must be creative enough to hold the attention of the millions of viewers paying some importance to the fact that there are thousands of other companies, businesses, and individuals fighting for the attention of the viewer. YouTube can help you in various ways whether you are a business or an individual but the fundamental benefit is that it can help you reach out to your audience. This book will help you in the following ways:

*Create sharable content (Viral videos)

As I have already stated, one of the prerequisites to being a YouTube success is content, sharable, creative content. For this reason, the very first thing this book will look to teach you is the underlying concepts of a sharable video. To put it simply, the first thing this book will teach you is how to create a video that speaks to the multitude of YouTubers waiting to devour it.

*Create a killer YouTube channel (your channel, your voice)

Your awesome videos can only get you so far. Before you even think about sharing your potentially viral video, you have to begin by creating a killer channel that has your style written all over it. This book will teach you how to create a channel that not only stands out, but one that is also popular.

*How to optimize your video and channel for SEO

YouTube success or any internet success for that matter largely depends on the SEO friendliness of your content (videos in the case of YouTube). It is almost impossible for your potential viral videos to do well if they do not utilize the correct keywords that make it easily ‘indexable’ and discoverable by Google search engines. This book will teach you how to optimize your channel and videos to make sure they rank higher in keyword related searches.

*Like, views, comment and subscribers galore

This is the crux of what this book aims to teach you. It is not just enough to create a potentially viral video or a killer YouTube channel. Your YouTube domination will largely depend on how many likes, subscribers, shares, comments and views your video gets. Why is this the most important thing that this book will teach you? This is simply because we measure success on YouTube by how well your video is doing.

*Lastly, How to apply what you have learnt

After learning, it is easy to get confused with an overload of information. The final chapter of this book will aim to give you tips on how to implement everything you have learnt.

Let us get started with our learning process. I should point out my aim will be to arrange the above lessons in a way that is easy to follow so that you can get the best out of our lessons.

How To Create An Awesome And Killer YouTube Channel

"I’m sure if Shakespear were alive today, he’d be doing classic guitar solos on YouTube"

-Peter Capaldi.

Before you even create a video that has viral potential, (making videos is not extremely complicated if you love what you do), you have to create a channel that stands out. It is also true that the videos you create are the chemical X, which will make your channel standout. However, I have found that creating a killer channel before uploading the first video is important. Let me also point out that we shall not cover how to create a channel (I shall assume you know how to sign up for a YouTube channel); what we shall cover is how to make the channel yours and make it stand out. Here are the tips you need to achieve this fete.

*Create and design your brand

As I have indicated, we shall not cover how to create a channel. However, I should point out that if you have a Google email account and comment or like videos on YouTube, chances are, you already have a channel. It is important to note that the channel you create is the heart of your YouTube brand. This is what will prompt viewers to subscribe to your channel. What this means is that you have to give your channel’s name the proper attention it deserves. Your channel name should be something memorable and relevant to the content you shall be sharing with your subscribers and the world. For example, if you intend to create how to make-up videos, you could create a channel under the name ‘beautywithin’.

If you do not know how to create a channel, here is the link to the channel creation portal.

* Exude professionalism

If you take a moment to wade through all the videos that attract many views and comments on YouTube, you will notice one outstanding thing, which is the quality of video and interactions. This simply means that to create a killer channel and video that draws in millions of views, you have to be professional. You have to be professional about your presentation, how you create the video and especially the technology you use to shoot the video. This means that if you do not have a video camera, you can use your iPhone (not recommended) but make sure to hold the phone as steadily as possible. Additionally, the audio on your video should be of high quality. It also means that if you are not a native English speaker or have an accent, you should seriously consider adding subtitles to your video. If your videos are out of focus, I can guarantee that your channel will never come close to stardom status. To find out what is professional by YouTube standards, visit some of the more popular channels and emulate their video presentation.

*Create a video response

Most YouTubers struggle to get their channel noticed despite the fact that they may be producing high quality sharable content. This leaves the uploader with only hope that someone with a large following will discover his or her channel. Here is a trick that will ensure your channel gets out there faster. That trick is to create a high quality video response to a popular video. Furthermore, make your response either interesting or highly controversial to make sure that other people click through to your channel without necessarily caring who you are. Controversial, interesting, shocking, or insightful video responses will also guarantee you a few subscribers who feel that your opinion or style speaks to them. On the other hand, even if you do not get subscribers, chances are high that the ones who click through to your channel will watch a few of your videos. There is a caveat to using video responses; make sure you do not try this trick until your channel has some very high quality, interesting videos.

* Bait the crowd with reviews

When you want to buy an item, the first thing you probably do is to head over to Google to search for reviews. The easiest and most likely to go viral videos are review videos. It really does not matter what gadget or item you review as long as you make sure that the review is comprehensive and speaks directly to the crowd of people interested in that particular item. Many of us (perhaps even you) are always looking for product reviews; as such, create a channel that gets many views and subscribers. It is well worth the effort to produce a few highly actionable review videos of some popular gadgets or products.

*Channel your energy on the channel

If your favorite musician only produced a song after every three years, how would that make you feel? Bored is the word! A YouTube channel takes a very similar approach. If your commitment to the channel waivers such that it takes you very long to upload, all the subscribers and viewers you have gathered, will drift off to another channel that offers them videos consistently. It does not stop at uploading; you have to be active on the channel, interacting with viewers, responding to their comments, and simply making sure they feel appreciated and connected to you. If you do seem to hold the interests of your audience at heart, by constantly interacting and uploading videos, they will move on.

*Key point/action step

To develop the mindset and routine necessary for creating an outstanding YouTube channel, fall into the habit of logging onto the site daily, watching a few videos and commenting on those that interest you. This is especially important because it will fuel your idea machinery and push you to create videos that people like.

The Science of Viral Videos: How to Create Viral Videos

"Content is King Distribution is Queen"

-Andrea Fabbraio.

Now that we have created a YouTube channel and seen the relevance of what it takes to create an outstanding channel bound to make you a YouTube superstar fast, the next important thing is the videos you create. As stated earlier, the videos you create play a very central part in your channel popularity as well as the popularity of the video. In the world we live in where everybody with a camera or camera phone is constantly making videos and uploading them, creating and making your videos go viral is not a walk in the proverbial park. It is also important to note that out of all the videos uploaded to YouTube (about 100Hrs of video each hour) only 0.3% of these go viral. Therefore, the competition to stardom is steep. In fact, some video production analyst and vloggers (video bloggers) claim that getting your video to go viral is not much different from winning the lottery.

These facts should neither disappoint nor discourage you. Regardless of the competition, you can take some actions to increase the chances of your videos going viral or attracting thousands if not millions of views, shares, and likes. Here are the tactics or tips you can employ.

*Make it short and sweet

While creating your video, it is important to employ the Twitter mentality. What is the Twitter mentality? The Twitter mentality is the mentality of expressing your opinion in 140 characters. To state is simply, short and simple is the mentality you must have. Why is this mentality essential to viral videos? Because in the socially crazed world we live in, our attention span has shortened. This means that unless your YouTube video is a movie or a documentary, it must follow the Twitter mentality. If your video is long, the first one minute must be interesting enough to ensure that the viewer stays on to watch the rest of it. Why is this? Because a study published in The New York Times indicated that most people (19%) navigate away from a video in the first 10 seconds and this number gets higher (44%) by the one-minute mark. The trick to cornering this tip is to ensure that the interesting bits of your video play within the first one-minute. In the world of YouTube, never ever save the best for last.

*Free the positivity

In one study conducted by a bestselling YouTube author, he found that the highly sharable content elicit positive emotions within the mindset of the viewer. What does this mean? It means that your potentially viral video must strike a positive cord in the viewer. A positive cord is one of happy emotions as indicated by two researchers, Professor Katherine Milkman and Berger. Their research shows that in terms of sharability, happy emotions videos outdo sad emotion videos. Depending on your field of upload, you should play on the emotions of the viewer and if you can avoid it, avoid sad emotional videos. This is especially so much so if you want people to share your video content.

*Trendy

Viral videos, or rather, potentially viral videos must be current. What do I mean by this? What I mean by this is that when the internet breaks with some new topic (which it does every day), that is the correct time to create the video. This simply means that to create viral videos, you must brush on current events. Your video can go viral if you make a meme of a current popular topic simply because at that time, there are many people interested in that topic. You can create a meme on anything; be it a current global political event or a social topic eliciting many opinions. Still do not believe me. Go to YouTube and see how many channels on popular games and other popular topics there are. By tapping into a current event, you increase the chances of your video going viral by a huge margin.

*Information central

What is it you are looking for when you search the internet? Information. Viral videos are laden with information. Videos that show how to perform normal everyday tasks are very popular (make up videos). For your video to go viral or have the potential to go viral, it must contain useful and interesting information. I will leave you to interpret what useful means (a funny video is useful to someone feeling blue). On the other hand, videos aimed at teaching someone something are very popular. After all, life is much more interesting when we learn something new every day. Your best bet to going viral, whether you are a business or an individual is to curate informative and interesting video content.

*Inspire

To give your video and YouTube channel the viral edge it so desperately needs, look for and create video stories that inspire your viewership. Videos of overcoming struggle, facing adversity, or finding success are all inspirational videos you can share with the viewership on your channel. YouTubers love a good inspirational story because it makes them feel like they can overcome any trial and tribulation they are facing. Furthermore, inspirational videos are highly sharable.

*Key point/action step

Creating viral videos is not as easy as it sounds. It takes thousands of hours of practice and experience. Practice with the tips and advice above to improve your video sharability and quality rate, which gives you a lead over all other not so good videos on YouTube

How to Optimize Your YouTube Channel and Videos for SEO

“Keyword research is your bread and butter in YouTube success”

-Anonymous

Most of us create videos, be it YouTube videos or otherwise, in the hope that they will ‘generate a ton of views.’ While this sentiment is well and good for the motivational edge, motivations can only take you so far. As we have seen in the chapter above, there are over 100 hours of video uploaded every day, which from a broader perspective hinders your YouTube stardom. Fortunately, you can use the tips I shall give you to optimize your video and channel to make it totally SEO friendly. Before we move on to the optimization, it is important to point out the search engines at YouTube do not differ much from the ones Google uses to index the World Wide Web (they are both owned by the same company after all). What does this mean to your YouTube domination or stardom? It means that while success on YouTube is what we are in search of, it means that we must first understand how YouTube ranks video.

How YouTube ranks videos

Video ranking on YouTube is not an exact science. In fact, even the most experienced YouTubers do not know this well guarded secret. Nonetheless, there is some consensus that YouTube uses these four factors. You should also note that these factors are not all that YouTube search engine depend or rely on to rank videos. Here are the four factors.

#- Video description

#- Video Title

#- Video ratings and

#- Video views

To make this chapter easy to navigate, we shall separate the aspect of video optimization and channel optimization. Before we begin with the video and channel optimization, let me point out a very important fact. Like articles on the web, keyword research plays a very big part in video and channel optimization. Most YouTubers give a deaf ear to the fact that above all, YouTube is a search engine. If you know anything about search engines, (and even if you do not) you should know that search engines rely on keywords to rank content. Therefore, you must pay proper attention to doing some keyword research before you hit the upload button on your channel. The keywords search will aid you when you are creating a video title description and all the other facts about optimization we shall look at. YouTube has a keyword tool you can use to your advantage. You can find it here.

Let us now look at video optimization.

How to optimize your video

*Video titles

I cannot count on one hand the number of YouTube uploaders who use ambiguous title such as ‘mov01200’, or the same file name their camcorder assigned the file. Unless you intend to share the file with a close-knit circle of friends who pay no credence to the title of your video, then this is ok. However, if your intention is YouTube stardom, this mistake is one you must avoid at all cost. Remember what I mentioned about keywords; the reason for doing keyword search is to help you create a compelling and appetizing title that speaks to the viewers and aptly describes the content in the video. This not only makes the video SEO friendly, it also makes the video appealing to the viewers, who truth be told, depend on the title of  video to know if it is worth their time. YouTube video titles are normally 70 characters and below.

*Video descriptions

Your video description is the ideal place to tell viewers and search engines the content of the video. You should think of your video description as a marketing pitch. For example, if a YouTube user types in the word “poop”, the search will return a bunch of videos. How well you use the description part of your video is what determines if the user clicks through and watches your video or not. On your video description, I would also urge you to employ the keywords we talked about earlier. On the other hand, you should keep the text short and seductive to the potential viewer taking into account that the description is 160 characters long. Furthermore, if your intention is to attract viewers to click through to your hosted website, you should place a link to your website in the first line of your description. This is especially helpful to businesses looking to drive traffic to their websites.

*YouTube categories

YouTube video categories also play an integral part of your video optimization. Your YouTube channel can belong to one of the following categories: Education, film and animation, comedy, entertainment, gaming, how-to and style, autos and vehicles, music, people and blogs, nonprofits and activism, music, and news and politics. Before you hit the upload button, make sure that your video is in the correct category to make sure that it is visible to the multitude of people interested in that field.

* Utilize captions

When you use captions on your video, you help Google and YouTube understand the content within the video. This also helps greatly in SEO ranking. According to Google, captions are also a very powerful way to make sure that disabled or non-native English speakers (or people who do not speak the language of your video) understand the content within the video.

How to optimize your channel

Your channel is your public face. As stated in the ‘how to create a killer channel,’ it is an extension of who you are and the type of style you want people to associate you with. Here are a few tips on how to optimize your YouTube channel. It is important to note that you should customize your channel as much as possible.

*Complete your social profile and ‘about’ section

As a very active YouTuber, I have seen thousands of channels that leave their about sections blank. To show the importance of the about page, I should point out that your about page is the first page of your brand. You should use the same keywords technique to make the about page short and sweet, as well as keyword rich if possible. The trick here is to strike a balance between being informative and keywords. To make your channel even more comprehensive and search engine friendly, you should link it to all your social networks, Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. Additionally, each channel has the capability to carry up to 20 custom URLs and titles. When you integrate all your social profiles into your YouTube channel, you give your brand (channel) the extra oomph it requires to stand out socially.

* Use featured playlists and other channels

Are you wondering what are featured playlists? Featured playlists are a group of YouTube videos that you can compile as a channel administrator. How do they play a part in optimization? YouTube playlists are very effective when you want to group together some related music. The good thing about them is that the videos on your playlist do not have to be your personal uploads. In fact, you can add any video on YouTube to a playlist. Additionally, when a user subscribes to a playlist, they will see the update in their subscription bar.

*Key point/action step

Practice using SEO and keywords on your channel and videos to reap the benefits. Which benefits? The traffic that search engines will drive to your video and channel if it ticks all the right keyword boxes.

Stardom Extra: How to Increase YouTube Video likes, views, comments, and subscribers

"“I believe that the most beautiful things in life are the small things, the things we tend to overlook. "

- Sawyer Hartman

We have learnt a lot so far. Now it is time to go the extra mile and make sure that everything we have learnt translates into stardom (in terms of getting your video to as many people as is possible). If you have employed everything we have learnt, I am 100% sure that the knowledge reflects directly to your video and channel. On top of the views, likes and comments already on your video, you may still want some more (more never hurts). I will share some tips and tricks bound to skyrocket your popularity on YouTube. You should note that these tips and tricks are tested and proven (I have used the same to grow views and likes on one of my videos from 10,000-100,000). While the techniques I shall share seem simple, the is power in their simplicity.

*Titles...titles...titles

Why do you think I have repeated the word title three times? Because of its importance to your YouTube likes, comments, and subscribers. While video titles seem obvious, they are in fact the least optimized YouTube domination tool. In fact, only 1% of people give proper thought to their video titles. As stated in an earlier chapter, titles play a very important part in not only optimization, but proper titles make sure that a user selects to watch your video out of many others. Moreover, I have also seen that most uploaders use boring and bland titles, which is wrong. Your titles have to ‘pop’! They have to be interesting and as descriptive as possible. For example if your video is about makeup, rather than using a title like ‘apply makeup’, you can increase the chances of your video getting more views by choosing a more descriptive title such as ‘how to correctly apply makeup and look stunning’. The latter of the titles would attract more views than the former. Your title must capture attention and be unique.

*Upload and sync your video transcript

One of the things that we have seen so far is the fact that YouTube just like Google uses keywords and key phrases to return search results. Here is a fact about Google and YouTube you probably did not know: The search engine spiders at Google listen to your video before the multitude of admiring fans get to watch it. Crazy right? By listening to your video and more precisely, what you are saying in the video, Google indexes it better. This can make the difference between a success story and a boring video that is never found. You can help Google rank your video better by uploading transcripts of your video. You may find that Google ranks you for words in the video that are not in the description or title.

*Add a custom thumbnail

A custom thumbnail is like a billboard on a busy intersection. It grabs and captures the attention of the viewer. A custom thumbnail appears on the YouTube search result page. You should think of your custom thumbnail as a magazine cover. To make the thumbnail worthwhile, you have to choose the right picture and use the correct text. In most instances, a killer thumbnail will elicit positive results. How so? Because if the thumbnail is eye popping, users will halt in their scrolling tracks and choose your video over others (humans are very visual). This can increase your likes and channel traffic.

*Ask for subscribers by using subscribers annotation

There is no magic to getting your channel noticed by YouTube. There is only one way to do it: be active on the channel (upload and comment regularly). To get more subscribers, add a subscribe annotation to every video you upload. Adding an annotation is easy and should not cost you more than 30 seconds.

*Promote

By promote, I do not mean promote products on your videos or channel (although this is a very good way to monetize your videos and channel). I mean promote your video as soon as it uploads and finishes processing. Here is how you can promote your video.

#-Submit your video link to bookmarking sites (Digg, Reddit etc.); it will increase your views and also search rankings

#-Post the video link on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc)

#-Post Video responses to related videos

#-Share the video with friends and family

That is exactly what you must do to push your video views to the next level and closer to viral status.

*Key point/action step

Consistently engage with other YouTube uploaders by commenting on other channels and videos. This will likely bring in more views for your videos and channel. People will already be interested in what you have to say and are then looking for what you have to offer. It will also increase your video viewership especially if you have mentioned a specific video in your comment

How to Apply What You've Learned

I am cognizant of the fact that too much information may at times work against you; the same applies to your strive towards YouTube stardom. To help you out, I have decided that we shall summarize everything we have learnt into an actionable plan that you can follow easily. Let us get to it.

*Fueling your idea tanks

Draw your ideas from other videos that are doing well on YouTube. Regardless of which field or category you intend to upload into, I can guarantee you that there are other YouTubers in the field. Visit their channels, view their videos, and take away from their videos the best practices. Watch how they do their videos, their voice-overs etc. and then figure out if you can replicate, but add a flare of personality their style.

*Viral does not come easy

As stated earlier, creating viral videos is not easy. Unfortunately, there is no trick or outright blueprint to creating viral videos. On the other hand, there is only one definite way to make sure your videos come close to perfection and closer to viral and that is practice. Practice creating videos using different cameras, different lighting, and even different angles. When you employ this tactic, you increase your video creation skills. In simple terms, make sure that you do not look back and say, ‘I should have shot that angle differently’.

*SEO plays a very central role

We have looked at the different factors that contribute to ranking on YouTube and Google. Central to this ranking is optimizing your video and channel. This means that you have to learn all you can about keywords and how to use them effectively to help your video rank better. Fortunately, the internet is full of SEO and keyword resources you can use. You really don’t have to use paid keyword searches because the free keyword analytics tool from Google work best.

*Engagements make all the difference

To drive traffic to your channel and videos, you must consistently engage with other YouTubers by commenting, liking, and sharing their video. This is especially effective when you make video responses to highly popular videos. Furthermore, engagement means you have to engage consistently with YouTube by creating and uploading videos as often as possible. Remember: YouTube loves active channels.

How To Make Money In Binary Options

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

Options: An Introduction

Binary Options: What you Need to Know

Types of Binary Options

Strategies To Employ In Binary Options Trading

How to Apply What You've Learned?

How Will This Book Help You?

Many people think that investment vehicles end with the stock market, bonds, government securities and the more recent mutual funds. To them, these are not only the safest bets but also the ones that in their minds can stand the test of their risk profiles. Many either do not know or dread the derivative market. This book is specifically designed to help you drive away this fear or informational asymmetry. The book specifically narrows down to options trading and goes deeper into how you can make money and prosper in the world of binary options trading. It will help you in understanding the various strategies that you can employ in binary options trading to beat the market average rate of return. Reading this book will sharpen your investment skills in binary trading.

Options: An Introduction

"Investing is an art not a science."

- Anonymous

For a long time, a misconception has been held that options trading in general are sophisticated investors’ investment vehicle. Many investment authors and advisers have instilled the fear that options are complex and risky for ‘small’ investors. However, options trading offers unlimited opportunities to investors and are not as complex as many people think especially if you get the right information. Actually, options offer you a chance to take advantage of market movements. In this chapter, I introduce you to the world of options trading. I will start by a brief introduction of options trading so that if you do not have some background information in options trading, you can benefit from this chapter.

What are options?

Options represent financial instruments that offer the buyer the right but not the obligation to buy or sell an underlying financial asset at a specific price on or before a certain date. Just as you know, options are like any other financial securities or instruments with defined terms and conditions. Important to note is that options are not themselves assets but derive their values from other financial assets like stocks hence the name derivatives.

There are mainly two types of options; call and put. Call options give you the right but not the obligation to buy an underlying at a specific price on or before a certain date in the future. Buyers of calls have hopes that the price of the underlying asset will increase in the future and hence offer them opportunity to make gains in the market.

Put options on the other hand, offer the buyer an option but not the obligation to sell an underlying asset at a particular price within a specific period. Buyers of puts believe that prices are likely to decline in the near future.

Why options trading?

Options have been branded as some of the most risky investment ventures. However, over the past decades, participants in the options market have tremendously grown. Why would an investment vehicle thought to be so risky gain such popularity? There are several benefits that are attributed to this, but let us shift focus on the two main reasons why people use options- hedging and speculation.

1. Speculation

Speculation is better understood if thought of as betting on the price of an underlying asset. People base their beliefs of what the security price will be in the future as the market adjusts itself and make a bet on the predicted market movement. The use of options for speculation is what makes options a risky venture. You not only have to be accurate in determining the direction of the market movements but also the timing and size of such movements. If say you predict that the price of Microsoft stocks will likely rise in the next three months, you can buy call option which will enable you buy the stocks at a lower price and sell them at a higher price. If the market moves in your favour, you can make substancial gains. However, if the market movements do not favour you, you lose 100% of your investments (options price).

2. Hedging

Options can be an insurance policy for your investments. You can use options to hedge your investments against a downturn. For example, if assume you wish to take advantage of the upside of technology stocks like Microsoft, you can buy a put option and take advantage of the upside keeping the stocks safeguarded against any downturn.

*Key point/action step

Investing is all about determining the kind of investor you are and the goals you hope to achieve in investing. When investing in options, you have two main reasons for investing; to either hedge or speculate. It is important that you determine your reason for investing in order to invest wisely.

Binary Options: What you Need to Know

"Knowledge is power."

- Francis Bacon

Binary options as suggested by the term binary is two way kind of trade- all-or-nothing trade. It is typically a type of option where there are only two possible outcomes; you can either get 100% of your investment or nothing at all. It is yes/no trade if you decide to carry your investments to expiration. Nothing in the middle. I know I am now scaring you but do not be scared; the good news is on its way. Binary options allow you to trade off various possible outcomes with a relatively small capital at minimum risks.

How binary options work

Binary trading is not complex as many put it. Binary options are only 6 years old after getting the legal backing in the USA in 2008 but are quickly becoming the darling of many investors.

The process starts by you selecting an asset and predicting its price movements.

For instance assume you predict that the price of gold will be $1248 by 2PM the next day at NADEX (North American Derivative Exchange). You will buy an option that will pay off if the price of gold the next day exceeds $1248 by 2pm the next day. Alternatively, if in your own evaluation, think that the price of gold will not exceed the $1248, you will sell a binary option. Note that you are not buying a future contract on gold. You are simply betting on the price of the gold.

The price of the binary trade will depend on the future price of the asset in relation to the strike price and time to expiration. Binary options price fluctuates between $0 and $100. A binary price approaching $100 means that the buyers predictions could be true and represents a low probability for the seller. A binary price approaching zero means high probability for the seller and a low probability for the buyer. If you think that there is a 30% chance that the price of gold would exceed a $1248, you could buy a binary price at $30 and the person on the other end of the trade will pay $70 for the binary trade suggesting a 60% chance that the price of gold will not exceed the $1248 mark. In this engagement, your maximum profit is $60 and the maximum loss is $40. The opposite is also true for the person on the other end. That is how, perhaps one of the newest in vestment vehicle, works. Pretty easy to understand, isn’t it?

Binary options contrasted with other options

At a glance, binary options and traditional options seem to share a lot in common. Some think that there is a fine line between the two classes of investments such that they can almost be classified under one class. Both binary and traditional options are financial derivatives deriving their value from other financial instruments. Also both instruments use similar terminologies like strike price, expiration dates and so on.

However, binary options are exotic options that exhibit different features from other ordinary options. Often-misunderstood, binary options have different structures, payoffs and many other things.

First, other options represent real financial products. They give you the right to exercise your option regarding the underlying financial product within the specified term. However, binary options are virtual products whose returns are only realized at the expiration of the term with no right to purchase the underlying financial asset.

Normal options are basically traded at the securities exchange like say the NYSE. In binary options, traders have no access to the options market. They basically trade via their brokers. There is no one binary options exchange market but very many small markets created by individual brokers.

The most conspicuous difference is perhaps the number of outcomes that accompany these classes of investments. For normal options, the outcome varies with the magnitude of price movements. For binary options, the outcome is fixed no matter the magnitude of these movements.

Benefits of binary options over ordinary options

There are significant differences between binary options and the traditional options. Just why would an investor prefer binary options to other options? Below are the reasons:

1. Binary options are simpler to trade. You do not need to understand the magnitude and timing of the price movement. All you need is to know the direction of that price movement and you will profit.

2. The time to expiration of a binary option is usually shorter. While with ordinary options, this time can be months and so on with the possibility of the market experiencing numerous changes, binary options only take a few weeks, hours, days or even minutes to mature.

3. You need less capital to trade in binary stocks. As opposed to ordinary stocks, you need less capital to venture into binary options trading. With about $25, you are good to go.

4. Binary markets are quite competitive. As such, brokers do all they can to win customers including offering you bonuses that can add up your profits. This is not so with traditional options.

*Key point/action step

The only way that you can succeed in binary trading is with the adequate knowledge about binary options as well as how these options compare with other options. While I may have provided adequate knowledge about binary options, you can never know too much; hence, you need to gather more information about binary options so that you can know all there is about binary options trading.

Types of Binary Options

"Information can bring you choices and choices bring power - educate yourself about your options and choices. Never remain in the dark of ignorance."

- Joy Page

There are many types of binary options available to you as an investor. Interestingly, the most common types of binary options not only confuse new traders but also experienced ones. I will go slow just to ensure that you get this information clear.

1. Digital binary options

Under this, we have call/put and up/down options.

Call options: You place a call option if you believe that the price will rise above the entry price.

Put options: You use this if you believe that the price will not rise above the entry price.

With up/down options, you only need to predict the direction of the price movements when you entered the market. Will it move up/down?

2. Touch binary options

These types of binary options come with predefined rates needed to win the trade as opposed to the trade participant just predicting the direction of the price movement. Here, you predict a level of decrease or increase it will reach (touch) and the level it will not reach (no touch). Please note that these types of binary options only trade when the market is closed, mostly during weekends. If the market touches or passes the specific level by 1700GMT on Monday, you get your returns. No touch pays when the level defined is not reached.

3. 60 seconds  option

Are you the type that gets excited by quick rewards? Perhaps this is your best bet. This option expires in 60 seconds. With this, it is easy to predict the price movements. Basically, I usually recommend this option for traders who wish to profit quickly from  a trending market.

4. Boundary options

This is sometimes also called range options. It differs from digital options in that two levels-upper and lower are defined. The asset must stay inside this boundary for a trader to receive any payout. This method is ideal for stable markets when trading inside the boundaries and volatile markets when trading outside the defined boundaries.

*Key point/action step

As you have seen in this chapter, there are different types of binary options that you can invest in; hence, it is important to choose wisely. My advice would be to start small with binary options that are easy for instance the boundary options that give you more leeway when it comes to anticipating price movements. However, it is up to you to choose the most suitable option to trade in depending on the returns you are looking for. If you are the adrenaline junkie kind of investor, then the 60-second option is most suitable for you.

Strategies To Employ In Binary Options Trading

"An investment in knowledge pays the interest."

- Benjamin Franklin

You too can make money in the world of binary options trading…

To this end, many shy away from venturing into this financial investment vehicle if the recent remarks by Forbes warning investors to keep off these investments options are anything to go by. The world is, however, yet to see a risk free investment option. Everybody knows that the higher the risk, the higher the returns. By employing the best strategies, binary options can offer you unlimited gains. You only need to stop living in ignorance concerning binary options trading and jump into this sea of winning investments. I have outlined several strategies you can use to be successful in options trading. Evaluate the strategies outlined below and choose what works best for you.

Take advantage of the bonuses

Many options trading brokers are offering their clients bonuses to keep abreast with the ever growing competition in the market. You can optimize the use of these bonuses in the following ways:

-Hedge binary trades using these bonuses. When you sign up with two different brokers, use your cash bonus to place opposing trades with each broker so that whilst one of the trades is losing, the other will win. In this way, you will be guaranteed profit made by your bonus cash!

-Watch out for re-deposit bonuses. A number of brokers are offering their most loyal and regular clients re-deposit bonuses each time they make qualifying deposits. It is automatic therefore that the more cash you deposit, the more bonuses are credited to your account and the more chances of making a winning trade.

Using your bonuses in the best way possible can open the door of wealth making in the binary trades for you. Do not just cash the bonuses and relax. Remember Warren Buffet said that while women fake orgasms, men fake finances.

Limit the number of wins and losses

A psychological problem with most traders is that once they make many wins, they get caught up with the excitement and enthusiasm. As such, they make imprudent and reckless investment decisions and it is not surprising that some of them end up losing their earlier wins in the process of making new contracts. Put yourself a ceiling that once you win say 10 trades, then you stop no matter.

In the same way of thinking, say to yourself that after losing a given number of trades, you stop whichever the case may be. This is because if, for instance, you say that you must win a given number of trades before quitting, you may end up losing a 100 trades without a single win. It is not a win or die competition.

The other way to think of this strategy is to put a ceiling that when you hit a certain percentage of losses then you stop immediately. In this way, you will not be limiting the number of trades you can participate in but timing your losses. If say, you discipline yourself that you will stop trading once your losses hit 30% of total trades played, then you will stop once this target is hit. You could have played 100 or only 10 trades before hitting the 30% mark but the bottom line is that it is time to hang your boots. The reason behind this is that people tend to run after their money by playing more games and in the process lose even much more. You have to be rational and objective and you should not let emotions that accompany your losses dig your investment grave while you are still alive.

Other investors also advise that you should put yourself a ceiling on the maximum trades you can play on any given day.

Choose your time frame

Time matters in this kind of trade perhaps more than in any other type of trade. If say, you are trading in the 60 seconds options, you need to determine your time frame before going into the real venture. You need to know when you are available to trade and when to close your shop. Selecting your time frame will depend on a variety of factors such as:

-Your type of trade. There are many binary options traders. Each trade will require a special time frame.

-How much time you have to oversee your investments and look for opportunities on a daily basis.

-Do you prefer a fast paced kind of investment that offers you quick rewards?

-Are your investments affected by certain economic events such as interest rates or new information in the corporate world?

These questions will have as many varied answers as the number of audience. The parameters of these factors must be defined before you get yourself in the trade. The process must be time bound if any financial gain is to be realized.

Select your best trading asset

This stems from the fact that you have to accurately determine the performance of this asset in the financial asset. You will only be able to do this if you have thorough knowledge of the asset. If what you know best is the stock market and you are able to perform a fundamental and technical analyses on the same, then it would best to concentrate and make bets in the stock market.

Many get into assets that they can barely explain their features regarding the market.

Each asset type has its own economic drivers that influence its performance in the security market. If you were trading in currency, for instance, you will need a thorough understanding of macroeconomics such as monetary policies as these factors have a direct bearing on this type of trade. My advice is that if you do not know about it, either leave it alone or invest in knowledge. You must understand the asset for you to make accurate predictions.

Level your risks

Each person prefers a certain level of risk. There are the risk lovers, medium risk takers and the risk averse types of investors. No matter your risk profile, you will agree with me that you should never bite more than you can chew. This strategy is meant to help you participate in binary trading only up to the extent you are willing to take the risk. It means therefore this strategy will strictly depend on y0ur personal outlook and risk profile. I will classify the probable risk profiles into three categories so you can decide where you fall:

a) Low risk strategy

This strategy is meant for those who prefer low risks to high risks. This team does not wish to trade high risks with profits. While you will only enjoy low profits, you will also reduce your risks. If your risk profile falls under this category, then you can apply the following ‘rules’:

-Stop trading after 10 wins. Also stop trading after 4 losses.

-Immediately stop trading after incurring 8% losses.

-Stop trading trading if the winning ratio is 80% i.e. 20% losses and 80% wins.

-Stop trading after 10 trades.

It is essential you note that you cannot apply all the above ‘rules’ at once. If you are risk averse, you can pick either of the above to minimize your risks. If you decide to go by strategy 1, then you need to monitor the number of wins and losses as you trade.

b) Medium risk strategy

This is to help you if you are indifferent about taking risks. If you are this kind of investor, I recommend the following:

-Stop trading after 30 wins. Also stop after 10 losses!

-Stop the trade after losing 15% of trades.

-Stop it if your winning ratio falls below 75%.

-Stop the game after 50 trades.

Again whether you will go any strategy, it will mainly depend on your outlook. Just pick on any that suits the time.

c) High risk strategy

This is for you if you are a risk lover. Below are some important rules to follow:

-Stop after 100+ wins. No need to continue after 30 losses.

-Stop after 25% losses.

-Stop if your winning ratio drops to 65%.

-You can trade as many as you wish but ensure you are within the above mentioned limits.

The above are rules of thumb. Even though they are the most recommended, tested and tried, this does not prevent you from using your own figures. However, it is advisable that you operate within a reasonable range and the above suggested values are your best bet if you are to efficiently manage your money.

Technical analysis

In the earlier strategies, we made little reference as to how you can make accurate predictions as regards price movements. With many odds stack against you in the volatile market, it is worth learning how to predict future market movements. Technical and fundamental analyses are used by many investors to identify trends and predict future market behaviours.

Technical analysis is a method that uses charts developed from historical activities in the market to identify patterns and specific contexts where it is possible to predict future market characteristics based on the historical behaviours of the market.

This strategy of predicting the market future orientation is based on the belief that the market remembers and will likely behave the same way in the future as it did in the past.

If say, you are trading in the binary options with asset X and it is possible to get all the data regarding X for the past 1 year when this information is presented in graphic form, you will be able to identify a particular pattern of behaviour. This can enable you to predict the likely direction that X will move.

Technical analysis as a strategy will help you predict the future market orientation with most accuracy. I have not dag deep into how to draw financial graphs and charts as you can easily do this as long as you have the data. With technology today, you only need to feed this data in financial software and your computer will do the rest for you. Some brokers are also adding value to their clients by giving this information to their clients.

Technical analysis if used correctly and in combination with fundamental analysis (discussed below) will increase your profits because you will get your guess wrong. Sorry, I am not guaranteeing you a 100% probability of getting it right but I am assuring you a higher a chance getting it right. Why get it wrong any way?

Fundamental analysis

A discussion on investment strategies would not only be incomplete but perhaps null too without a discussion on fundamental analysis. This too as earlier mentioned is to help you predict the future market orientation. In binary trading, studying the ‘fundamentals’ of a particular asset is useful in predicting the future orientations of asset prices.

Fundamental analysis focusses majorly on economic factors and overall economic climate that has a direct bearing on the prices of the assets. These economic statistics can include interest rates, unemployment rates, inflation and national debt. A good example was the 2008 crisis that hit most economies and then was a good time to bet downwards in binary trade market.

If say, you notice a significant change in the interest rates from the financial information just released and your binary option is currencies, then it is possible to assess what effect the change in interest rates will have on exchange rates and thus you will make accurate decisions.

Most economic information are released in real time. Constantly monitoring new information will greatly help you increase your profits as you will find yourself ahead of the market. When combined together with technical analysis, I am certain you will be able to say with high reliability whether a security price will move up or down. It is time you start being sure!

Martingale betting

Martingale method of betting is perhaps one of the most interesting strategies I will tell you about in this book. The word interesting is perhaps an underestimation of the extent to which this method is funny.

Martingale is a method of betting that advocates that you increase the amount of investments after every loss suffered! The principle of martingale demands that you double your investments after every loss until a winning position is achieved.

For instance, if I had bet in the binary trade with an initial investment of $200 in binary options, losing this investment will invite you to bet again with another $200. If luck is not in your second bet and you lose another time, you will add your bet by $400. This should go on until a winning closing position is achieved. This looks weird, doesn’t it?

But what is the rationale? The advocates of this stratify base it on the premise that additional investments will offset the losses and you will achieve the level of profitability sought once you achieve a winning position. This is mathematically correct but in my own view, theoretically risky. If one suffers subsequent losses even after betting in many trades, the loss can only become large and by closing time, I believe nothing will be left in your trading account. In fact, you will be at the legal unit filing a suit against the inventors of this principle and its proponents. Even at the furthest stretch of your imagination, do not expect me to advice you to try this strategy but remember the choice is yours. I know the psychology of a trader is formatted such that it always wants to run after its money. This can only result into more losses. Even though there exists many books and websites extolling the merits of martingale (they are right anyway), I always advise investors to shun this strategy as it is equivalent to running after your money- something quite dangerous.

Key notes: What you need to know to succeed in binary options trading;

Binary options are easy to trade but it is not all that easy to make money with binary options. Whereas there are many people who will tell you that all you need to to do is to sign up for an account and start trading, binary options like other trades require more than just that. Life cannot be that easy. Before venturing into the market, equip yourself with the following:

-A thorough knowledge of the trade. I hope this book has provided you with adequate information on how best to invest in binary options.

-Sharpen your skills so that you can read and interpret data presented in whatever form of charts. This will aid you in technical analysis.

-Learn how to efficiently manage your capital. I always advise to only trade with the amount you are ‘willing’ to lose as well. Do not trade with borrowed money.

-Keep abreast with real time news about financial markets.

-Last but not ultimately the least, pick on a reputable broker. Not any Tom, Dick and Harry that poses as a broker is your best guess.

*Key point/action step

I leave the choice of the strategy you would like to apply to start reaping gains in the world of binary trading to you. Remember each strategy suits different individuals and works in different environments. However, whichever strategy you pick on, do not leave behind technical and fundamental analyses. The latter strategies can never be outdated. A combination of these strategies with proper capital management strategies yields the best profits. Also, I will be doing injustice to your investment dreams if I did not tell you how to identify scam in binary options. As a binary trader, you wish to ensure the safety of your investments but the world of binary options is full of uncouth investors who will want to milk out even your last dollar. The below can help you spot a scam in binary options:

*Unrealistic promises. If the deal seems to be too good, think twice. Money is hard to come by and any deal that offers you promises too high to be true is a scam. The financial market is full of skilled investors just like you and you should not expect to win all the time.

*A broker who promises wealth overnight is not a genuine one. You will meet some brokers who tell you that you will retire within just months after you begin trading. Hey! Wait a minute. Why are they in the business themselves. What makes you achieve highly in the options market is your hard work, dedication, discipline and winning strategies not empty promises.

So next time you meet any person posing as a binary options broker, be on the look for these indicators.

How to Apply What You've Learned?

In this book, we have not just demystified the world of binary options but also proved that binary options are for everyone. I believe that I started with risk averse investors but as they read this concluding chapter, they already know that binary trading is worth the risk. You learnt from this book that though the world of binary options present numerous opportunities to make wealth, there are also risks and other odds stack against you. The book, however, does not leave you with the burden of solving this dilemma on your own. It goes ahead to propose to you nine strategies that you can use to manage risks while maximizing returns. However, to find this guide helpful, you will need to apply the plethora of knowledge you have gained from this guide to the real market together with what you already know. These words of Robert Allen should be your pillar in every decision.

"How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in a savings account? I rest my case."

- Robert Allen

I too rest my case here.

How To Make Money In Sports Betting

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

Testing the waters: What do you stand to gain?

The Bets

The Bettor’s Mindset

The Self Before the Bet

The Probability

Managing the Bet

The Bet as an Investment

The Pitfalls

Making a Sports Investment - or, what you will need to start gambling

Parting Shots and Moving forward

How to Apply What You've Learned?

How Will This Book Help You?

This ebook is all about winning at sports betting. It contains useful tips whether you would simply want to augment your monthly income through wagering, or whether you would want to supplant your current day job by being a full time sports bettor.

In this ebook, you'll learn about stuff that may seem to be out of the common. We will try to dispel a lot of the common misconceptions (and yes, there are a LOT) that surrounds the art and science of sports betting. We will present it as a hard science with probability thrown in, not much different from your typical stock market or forex business.

Testing the waters: What do you stand to gain?

“If people want to become successful at sports betting the first question they must ask themselves is why am I doing this? Is it for fun and entertainment, or is it to make profits?”

- Keith Sobey, Centaur Sports Funds

Okay, first of all, we will whet your appetite, just so you can readily see how lucrative sports betting really is, and why so many people are lured by its charms. We will show you just how much you stand to get once you have everything up and going!

There will ultimately be only three factors that will decide the amount you will win. These are the number of bets, the edge, and the money that you risk per bet. The second one, the edge, is quite difficult to find when you’re just starting off. It could actually be easier and more accurate if this is computed while betting. But of course, before you risk any real money, you can practice calculating it by paper-betting. This is simply tracking the results of a “would have been” bet on paper, or on a spreadsheet application.

Finding the edge. Since we mentioned that this is the trickiest, we will start off with this subject. It must be every bettor’s aim to look for the so called “value betting opportunities”. This means betting on certain odds that seem higher than the exact probability of the outcome of the event. For example, if a bettor is wagering on a game’s result at a decimal odd of 2.00, one needs to be correct by at least 55%. This means that the probability of the chosen team to win would be about 55% at the very least. Once you have the skill to discover these types of numbers for yourself, then you can easily compute for potential games.

Like in any other skill, practice will be very important at this point. A bettor will always have to bet on paper or using visual money at the start, in order to confirm the win rate after an extensive number of bets (a good range will be around 200 practice bets). When this has been done, the edge will be eventually found. It is a good idea to keep track of all your performance, and betting at the exact same amount each time, in a process known as flat betting.

Let’s say that a bettor will submit 100 bets of five dollars each in a single month, and ended up profiting 50 dollars. The edge is then calculated at 10% by dividing the profit by the total stake (which is at 500 dollars).

Mean Stake size per bet. As you saw, one of the factors is the amount of money a person is betting. We recommended that it should be constant for starters, but this does not have to be the case when you have been betting for some time. Whether you are betting the same amount or not, an average stake size needs to be calculated.

Now, let us go back to the aforementioned 50 dollar gain. If you are ever thinking of turning betting into a full time source of income, then you need to increase this number, either by increasing the stakes of increasing the edge. Or, the best way, is to increase the betting volume by upping the number of bets. We would advise beginner bettors not to bother with the edge, as a 10% edge is a lot more than decent if it can be sustained in the long term.

The betting volume. Looking at the example we had earlier, a person can gain around a thousand dollars per month by betting around $20,000 in the same period. Of course, this is outrageous for beginners, but you will be astounded to know how many bet this amount and more! And most likely (if you are successful in following the steps in this book), you will also have this same betting volume. Meaning you too can earn couple of thousand bucks per month!

This amount can be divided in many ways, for example, a person may bet around 100 bets of $200 each, or bet a thousand times for twenty bucks each.

This chapter described how to compute the potential winnings one can earn simply by studying the process of sports gambling.

The Bets

“I played Roger Federer against Alejandro Falla in a match during Wimbledon 2010 when I watched him go two sets down as I had read that Federer had NEVER come back from two sets down at Wimbledon I was more than happy that my money was won and ignored the rest of the match to do ‘other’ important things. The rest, as they say, is history.”(Federer came back to win the game 5-7 4-6 6-4 7-6 6-0)

- Peter Dreyfus, Sports Trader

For those new to sports betting, many fall into the trap of thinking sports betting is one simple game. In fact, the concept of “sports betting” alone encompasses many different types that one has to know by heart. In this chapter, we will look into the different types of bets.

Straight Bets. A straight bet is a type of wager that is made against a specified spread. The spread (or “line”) is defined as a certain number assigned by the bookmakers, handicapping one team and favoring the others. Let’s look at the NBA, for example, when two teams meet on the hardcourt, one of them is always perceived as being more likely to bring home the bacon. In order, then, to make betting on the underdog attractive, the bookmakers will give them points. A good example was the face-off of the Miami Heat against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals. Before game 5, a line went around reading “Miami - 3, Oklahoma City, +3”. This means that Miami was more likely to win. To determine who gets the money in this spread, the numbers in the line must be added or subtracted to the final scores of both teams. In order for a person who bet on Miami to win, the team would have to lead by four or more points. The straight bet is the most common bet in the sports scene.

Proposition bets. These are wagers that are based on a more specific outcome of the match. In a game of football, for example, one bets on an exact event, like, if a player will score, for example. This could also take the form of betting on a player from one baseball team hitting more than his counterpart from the other team.

Parlays. These involve multiple bets (commonly up to a dozen). Winning a parlay rewards the bettor with a huge payout. An example is a four-team parlay. In this scenario, a bettor will have four different wagers, and he is betting on all of them winning. If any of the bets do not succeed, the bettor fails the entire parlay. But if all four wins, he will gain a larger amount as payout. This is better than if he had made four separate wagers.

Progressive parlays. This involves multiple bets, rewarding the successful ones with a large pay, although not quite as large as a regular parlay. The only difference is that a progressive parlay is safer, as a reduced payout will still be made even if some of the bets do not cover.

Teasers. A teaser will allow the person to combine the wagers he makes on two or more games. The bettor has the ability to adjust the point lines for the two different games, but like a parlay, he must get all the bets to win in order to get the payout. Though still substantial, the return will be smaller than regular parlays.

If bets. This type of bet consists of two (at the least) straight bets that have been joined by an “if” clause. This clause will then determine the wager process, if the bettor’s first bet complies with the clause (condition), then the second part of the clause will have action. In turn, if the second bet complies, the third will have action, this is repeated until the end of the bet.

Goal line, puck line, or run line bets. These are bets that are offered mostly as alternatives to the straight up prices in soccer, hockey, or baseball, respectively. These have a fixed spread that mostly offers a lower payout for the underdog, and a higher one for the favorite.

Future wagers. Technically, all wagers are by definition bets on future events. But these “future” wagers are usually meant to feature a long-term horizon that is measured in month or weeks. A good example is a bet that a specific NFL team will triumph in the Super Bowl next season. This bet will be conducted before the season begins in September. As well, those who won will not be paid off until after the Super Bowl, though any losing bets will be cleared before this time. The odds for this kind of wager will be expressed in a ratio of the units paid to the unit that was wagered. For example, if a team is wagered at 50-1, then the wager will pay 50 times the original amount if the bet clears. Generally, many sports betting sites prefer this type of bet since the probability of a win is very low. There is also a longer time wherein the house will hold the bettors’ money, while it is still pending.

Head-to-head. In these types of bets, the bettor will attempt to predict the results of competitors against each other, instead of the overall result. A good example will be Formula One races, where two or three drivers will be bet on in their placement among others. Bettors may also wager a tie, where one or both of the drivers have the same time, get disqualified, or eventually drop out.

Totalizators. These are also called “flexible-rate bets”. In these wagers, the odds will change in real-time. This is according to the share of exchanges each of the outcomes have accumulated. This also takes into account the return rate of the bookmakers who offer the bet. As an example, if the return rate of the bookmaker is around 90%, this same percentage of the amount garnered by the winning result will be taken home by the bettors. The remaining 10% will belong to the bookmaker. Of course, the more money that has been bet on a specific result, the less the odds will be on that outcome. This is the same as parimutuel wagering in dog racing and horse racing.

2nd half-bets. The second half bet is also called a halftime bet. This is placed only at the halftime of a certain sporting event. This bet can then be placed on the line (spread) or under/over. The resulting wager that has been placed is either won or lost based on the points received by both teams only during the second half.

In-play betting. This is a feature that has been offered only by some online brokers, enabling bettors to put in new bets while the event itself is in progress.

There is always more than one type of bet, and it is up to you to find out which one suits you the most.

The Bettor’s Mindset

“Expect to make mistakes. They are a part of the learning process.”

- Peter Webb, www.betangel.com

Many of us seem to have wrong preconceptions about the entire art and science of betting. And this cannot be avoided, since we all share the same human mind, one that is geared primarily for the efforts of survival, seeing something as betting as too risky and therefore inappropriate. Or, if we ever get past the stage of apprehension and actually get into betting, we may still view it as something potentially dangerous. This is true, as any endeavor can be very dangerous when handled the wrong way. However, most of the behaviors needed to be successful in this field, as well as in many others, actually require us to go against the normal human urges and instincts. To be successful in sports betting is to think very differently to adopt an entirely new mindset, with winning beliefs that most would find as counter-intuitive.

In a bet, regardless of the result setbacks, mistakes, losses, and the eventual win, the factor that starkly differentiates people is their ability to respond to them. Most of the time, these events will get to their mindsets, affecting their future actions, as the mindset is the agent that acts between the events that happens around yourself. As such, the mindset can either be your greatest weapon or the key to your defeat.

Mindset is an extremely important factor, and it is the first thing one must change. The succeeding chapters will show how this can be done.

The Self Before the Bet

“Most people in sports betting are looking at things in the wrong way”

Peter Webb, www.betangel.com

There are a few key components of a winning mindset when it comes to sports betting. Of course, the underlying factor would be discipline, but we will break them down according to their individual implications.

Take responsibility. Every single bettor has experienced defeat. You will surely have had this as well. Now, think back to that time and try to remember the reason you lost the bet. Was it the team you bet on? The bookie? The computer (if you were betting online)? The weather? That person who got you in a bad mood before placing the bet?

It is important to remember that the most important aspect in sustaining success in wagering is understanding the importance of the self, and the responsibility the self plays. Like all other things in life, the choices you made were in the end done by you. While it is normal to blame and complain (and it is relatively easy, too), always remember that doing so will prevent you from learning. Betting requires a high degree of self-awareness. Always ask , “how did I achieve the result that I got?” This is true whether the result of the bet is good or bad.

Adopt mastery. As mentioned previously, the entire aspect of betting is an art and a science, meaning, it can be studied. Approaching it with “mastery” means that you will strive to be as good in the matter as you can be. Getting feedback from each single bet, no matter if it cleared or not, can be seen as an important step in developing your skills. Remember that it’s not all about luck (though definitely, it plays a considerable part).

Keeping yourself grounded throughout each and every bet will go a long way. Remember that the first secret in the field is discipline.

The Probability

“As punters, we must embrace risk and not be afraid. As a participant in the sports markets, we are risk takers. We have to take risks in order to achieve reward – this is our reason for betting. So we should welcome risk, just as we will welcome the rewards that come with it.”

Matt Finnigan, www.mattfinnigan.com

Embrace the risk. If luck does not turn your way, it is important to remember that you jumped into a very risky business. It is not any far from stock markets or foreign exchange. Of you really want to be successful, then embracing the risk will take you one step ahead of others. This is why we bet, we take the risk to taste the compensation, much like a businessman invests in order to receive the returns.

Think uncertainty. Of course, it would be bad manners to suddenly go back on your bet. But always remember that when you place your money, you will always have a chance to lose it. As humans, we always prefer certainty and stability, but remember that this same uncertainty gives you the chance to reap great rewards. Different bettors will have different ways to deal with uncertainty. Some of them trade in and out during the interval; some of them back and lay, all the while taking profit at different pre-chosen prices instead of simply waiting for the outcome of the bet.

Accept reality. As mentioned before, every bettor has once experience failure. And while it is easy to say that you have convinced yourself of the uncertainty of the bet, you may not be so sure once you have tasted actual loss. Once you have learned to do so, however, it will do no worse than freeing your mind and relieving tension. A mindset of acceptance will also help prevent you from resisting losing, making you relax so you can bet with an analytical mind instead of a tense gut.

As everything in the field is subject to probability, keeping this in mind will prevent the shock of losing a bet from getting to you.

Managing the Bet

“From my time at Sporting Index it became clear that the best sports traders are focused on managing risk first and foremost and not obsessively trying to pick winners. A key question I asked myself in my own betting was ‘how can I make my money last longer?’”

Compton Hellyer, founder Sporting Index

Focus on the risk management. Another misconception most people have in the process of betting, we tend to think of choosing the right people to bet on without adequately putting thought into the risk management that comes along with it. Remember that in a game of skill and chance, there is something more important than choosing winners, managing losses.

One good scenario in demonstrating this fact: the lure of betting for most people is in the fact that they can make a lot of money easily. In order to achieve this, they would pick as many bets as possible where they believe they know the apparent winners. However, those who do not manage their risks end up losing instead of gaining. An experienced bettor would, on the other hand, weigh first his betting capacity with the odds he is facing, betting only on those with minimal risks if his funds are running low.

Bet for the money , not for the excitement. This is an undercurrent of the betting process that only the most self aware people will realize. Sometimes, a neophyte bettor will bet just for the sheer high of it, instead of actually betting for the potential gains. While this is also exhibited by veteran bettors, this mentality will prompt you to be more casual in the way you wager, failing to make proper preparations and record the results afterwards.

At the end of the day, the bet will remain a bet. Knowing its ins and outs as well as taking note of its many properties will keep you from spiraling into an unwanted betting spree.

The Bet as an Investment

“Some people only ever seem to want to hit the sexy six, and not take the singles.”

- Compton Hellyer, Founder Sporting Index

For people who bet, wagering is a business and the decisions involved should always be geared towards maximizing the profits while minimizing the losses. Emotional needs, such as fun and excitement, should always take the back seat.

Think of the long run. This is another thing that many bettors fail to realize, the entire affair of wagering is not meant to be a one night stand. Though it is true that you can get rich with just a single stroke of good luck, you could drown in debt just as easily. Again, we will draw the parallel to stock and foreign exchange, everything will be much more profitable in the long run, helping you to avoid the short-term twists that could put you off.

Take a positive attitude. As betting is all about money, always make sure that you have a positive outlook on the entire concept. Many people have emotional swings when money is involved, affecting decisions.

Believe you can win! This is the final component of the winning betting mindset, many people still take to wagering with a thought that they will lose, even if it has not yet happened.

Betting is ultimately a business, the entire subject should be approached with as much care and optimism as you would, had you set up a conventional business.

The Pitfalls

“The public is out there throwing darts at a board, sport. I don’t throw darts at a board. I only bet on sure things.”

- Gordon Gecko

And here’s another misconception about bets, that when you lose, it is always because there are countless uncontrollable factors at play. While this is true for any game of chance and skill, many people use it as a reason to simply put everything on the line while praying, the common yet unproven statistics that 90% of all gamblers lose does not help this mentality much. In fact, if we pare it down to the core, there will always be just a few reasons why many gamblers lose. And we will detail each one of them here so that you can avoid making the same mistakes!

Bad money management. We cannot stress this enough, so we are putting it here again. The top reason bettors lose is not poor pick but the poor way they handled those picks. In fact, there are more bettors who pick winners than those who actually make money out of these winners!

Always remember that a bettor will always win in a few games, but if you keep on betting relentlessly, you are almost sure to lose more than you won. This is the same deal with casinos. Many have the impulse to double up after winning (and sometimes even after losing), and this is nothing but a recipe for disaster.

The event. Now, it is just as important to choose the event you are betting on. In fact, this may even be more important than choosing the winning team. It is not a secret that most of America’s betting dollars go to either football of basketball, but many long-time experts on sports betting will also tell you that these are the exact same sports where there is such a low probability of making long term profits from.

For most professional sports gamblers (yes, they exist), the sport of choice will always be baseball. Hockey is also a good choice, giving the bettor an advantage over the ever present sports betting broker. But one does not have to actually like baseball or hockey in order to bet. But if you do like the prospect of making money from a gamble, then following them would be essential. Or, at least, you may want to find someone who is good in these two sports in order to filter the data for you.

A little learning. What many do not realize: being knowledgeable in NBA does not necessarily make on knowledgeable in NBA betting. In fact, in the concept of wagering, many bettors know just the right information to make betting more dangerous for them.

Always remember that when you bet, you are not playing against the other team. You will be up against countless other bettors, many of whom have spent several hours prior studying the trends, handicaps, injuries, and the betting angles. And it would be fatal to assume that you know more than these people.

If you do not have enough time to digest all the needed information on the bet, then find a reputable service that can do this for you. Certain sports service websites as well as posting forums can help you get just what you need.

Betting on the TV. Many sports gamblers feel that if a game is televised, then they must bet on it at all costs. In fact, years ago, this was not much of a problem. But today, there are so many televised shows that a bettor can easily make 7 to 8 wagers in one sitting, and most likely lose at most of them.

Again, money management should come into play, if you really want to make half a dozen bets in a single night, then these should be smaller than the usual bets, around one-fourth of the amount. Studies show that many bettors actually lose more money on televised bets rather than if they choose wagers that they honestly believe are good ones.

Betting on the Casino. This is relatively new, but because of technology, there are a lot of sports betting brokers that offer casino style betting. Sometimes, this can be too much for a sports bettor to walk away from. Fact is, many good and solid bettors will show a weekly profit from regular bets, only to lose them all and a little more playing the casino games online.

Another thing is that legitimacy can become a very big question, especially in the age of scams. It’s quite difficult to swallow how the dealer pulls up a 5 to their 16 in a game of blackjack, swallowing up your 20. But it feels out of this world when such odds happen online. In fact, some online sports casinos readily understand this, and would be willing to block you for your own sake at your request. Yes, all at your request.

Avoiding all the pitfalls in this section may sound much, but it will be the surest way to not lose money in your initial bets.

Making a Sports Investment - or, what you will need to start gambling

“One of my biggest hurdles of making the transition from knowing how to trade to becoming a successful sports trader was learning how to respect money. The problem that I had with my trading bank was that it wasn’t real money, just numbers on a screen and in the early days this lead me to make all kinds of rash decisions.”

- Matt Finnigan, www.mattfinnigan.com

Have a bankroll. Any person looking to make money in the betting process needs to have a fund that is strictly dedicated to the object. This will be known as your “bankroll”. Contained in the bankroll is the money that you can afford to lose, and nothing more.

While there are some who believe that betting can actually replace (supplement, at the very least) your regular income in due time, you should still NEVER use the money that would have gone to your rent, mortgage, or children’s trust fund just to bet. Patience is a virtue, and you would do better to start only with the amount you can afford, no matter how measly this is, you will see it grow as soon as your plans are executed properly.

Cook up a system. Now that you have your funds, you must develop a way to bet. The general rule among most successful bettors is to never bet more than 5% of your total bankroll , 2.5% should be the safe margin. This way of betting is meant to mitigate losses, keeping your bankroll healthy despite any bad runs you may be having. As an example, if your bankroll is worth a thousand bucks, never bet more than $50.

The Winning Percentage. This step is a must learn for anyone, how to hit a winning percentage of more than 52.36%. This may not sound like much to the average person, but this is ideal and actually translates to a large profit.

The average bet has the odds of almost two dollars ($1.91 to be exact). Hitting, let’s say, 56% will return a gain of $6,960, more than most stocks and definitely more than almost all property returns! This equates to a 348% return per annum on equity. On the other hand, hitting a 54% winning percentage will give you a profit of $3,140 for the year.

This is the secret of successful gambling in sports. Having a steady bankroll and following the no more than 5% rule, the typical handicap of %1.91 will yield a break even percentage on 52,36%. Seeing this dispels another mentality that you need to win an exaggerated percentage of bets to be successful. Professional bettors realize that a moderate winning percentage in itself could yield a great profit, especially when coupled with diligent money management!

The Tipster’s role. In essence, a tipster is a consultant that will help you gain access to things such as betting records and analysis. This allows you to statistically look at the data, categorized by sport and time period.

Naturally, a tipster’s services will set you back a few bucks. However, there are some online services that will allow you to take advantage of tipsters’ data for free. Of course, one can never be perfectly sure of their reliability, so it is important to apply another of the business world’s techniques: diversification. This means never putting your eggs in just one basket, or not placing all you bets on the strength of a sole tipster’s data. And while we are on this topic...

Develop an investor profile. This sounds very "stockmarketish", because it is, we are applying another time honored technique to the risky realm of sports betting.

As you gain real money, you would have to know how you will play that money. Earlier, we discussed the different betting styles, and you must have already seen one or more that suits your personality. Betting on a favorite will most likely give you a sense of security, enabling you to bet with a more focused mind.

As an individual, your personality may also manifest in the types of bets you make. For example, you might be a risky fellow who bets on the underdogs. If you like high rewards to go with the high risks, parlays may suit you well. People playing parlays are those who have the guts to bet against a win percentage of perpetually below fifty percent. However, if you are a regular 2-team parlay player, then you can profit with a win rate of even just forty percent.

If you are the ultra conservative type, then you may be attracted to “sucker” bets (teaser bets). These bets are called such because you have to bet on multiple games, though the odds are lower than they would be when you bet on the games separately. But because of the bettor’s ability to alter the spread, the win percentage can then be heightened. However, because of the odds again, one will have to make it in at least over 55% of the total number of bets in order just to break even and this can be very hard.

As mentioned earlier, you will be playing against a multitude of other gamblers. Learning the techniques mentioned in this chapter will help you from going the way the other 95% of sports bettors did!

As you noticed, we had put these items last the point we are making is that these items and strategies would be utterly useless unless they are used with the correct mindset!

Parting Shots and Moving forward

“To be successful at sports betting you need to think differently”

- Steve Ward

Looking at the things we have learned thus far, discipline makes up more than three quarters of a good bettor’s arsenal. Everything else takes a far second place. Even if you did not have enough money to begin with (as long as that money is your extra), you can make your way up as long as you keep a business mind.

Remember, though, that times may change drastically. For example, back in 2007, a simple betting system was profitable up until the end of the European football league season. After that, profits started vaporizing and confidence steadily declined to zero. This is just a demonstration that no system is immortal, and that you should always keep track of everything that goes on in your betting circle , whether through a tipster or through your own research.

Times are forever changing and what may be effective now may fail you the next moment. Keep abreast, or you may drown in an unfamiliar field!

How to Apply What You've Learned?

The next step will be to actually practice betting, even just on paper. Then, do some more research! There are a lot of other techniques available from dozens of sources, and who knows if they will be useful for you. Just make sure to keep the principles discussed here as your core material, and you should be on your way up the betting ranks! Remember that good discipline, good background, and good preparation will always be the key to successful wagering. Good luck!

How To Make Money On Instagram

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

The Basics

Basic Tips For Making Money On Instagram

How to Build Your Instagram Followers

How to Post Memorable Content

Basic Photography Tips

How to Apply What You Have Learned

How Will This Book Help You?

Assuming you are actually on instagram, what have you been using it for? Are you merely following celebrities, friends or other folks, using it just as a hobby or to kill time? While there is nothing wrong with being social and interested to know what people you are fond of are up to or even sharing your life and enjoying yourself at the same time, something is really wrong if you fail to make an extra buck while the opportunity is right in front of your eyes, unless your pockets are too full of course. If you want to make money out of your activities on instagram, this book will show you the tricks, tips and offer you a comprehensive guide to do so. If you are not on Instagram, it will inspire you to join this amazing moneymaking and enjoyable network and possibly make thousands of dollars in the process.

The Basics

“All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.”

-Mohandas Gandhi

What is instragram?

According to Wikipedia, Instagram is an online mobile video sharing, social networking, and mobile photo sharing service that allows different users to take videos and photos and then share them on different social networking platforms like Flickr, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. As you can see from the description, it is a mobile app for smartphones and is available on Windows mobile, iOS and Android.

With the app, you can add captions and filters to your photos, get likes, and increase followers tremendously. You can also follow friends or whoever else you like to get their pictures on your Instagram feed.

If you are awfully talented in taking amazing pictures, or want to turn your many followers into customers, there are many ways you can begin to earn money on Instagram.

Brief history of Instagram

Instagram was officially launched around 2010 and three years later became one of the largest and most engaging social networks. It’s no wonder why Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO and founder, bought this photo sharing app for a whopping amount of 1 billion dollars from its rightful founders (Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom). Most people thought he was crazy. At the time of purchase, Instagram had only 13 employees had less than 22 million active users and no website. It has since grown so fast to currently having more than 300 million active users, definitely more than twitter or Pinterest and over 100 employees. In fact, according to recent research, people are spending more time on Instagram than on Twitter or Facebook. It’s the fastest growing social platform in the world and its future is very bright. Just as it has upgraded Facebook’s balance sheet, it can upgrade your income. Instagram's social feeds and easy to use editing tools make everyone capable of creating and sharing nice edited pictures today. It has empowered people in unexpected ways, even those who don’t bare Bieber, Hilton or Kardashian names. You can use it to share your interests for instance skate boarding, art, and other experiences or just share your photos or videos and make money for such a simple effort. Many big companies are now using this platform to reach out to customers worldwide and their sales have sky rocketed. Companies like Puma are even hiring Instagrammers with massive, profound, and engaging followings at more than $5000 a day to capture photos that display the respective company products.

Key Point

With the over 300 million Instagram users, anything is possible. Think of it as a large billboard in a large intersection where over 300 million people frequent and you will discover that this is an immensely big number of people. So whatever it is that you might want to do whether to gain in popularity or to make money, the potential is limitless!

Basic Tips For Making Money On Instagram

“You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them”

- Pam  Moore

Like many people out there are doing, you can turn this so called hobby to be a money minting cash cow by following the basic guidelines given below;

Build a follower base

Getting people to follow you is the first step to making money with Instagram. Without the very minimum of a few thousand followers, it will be hard for you to convince any brands to sponsor your posts. Even with the over 300 million users, it doesn’t mean that being on Instagram automatically qualifies you to have access to this large number of users; you must strive to get a fraction of this number to follow you. Just like any other product, before you start making sales, you need a market and this is your followers. Here is how:

1) Increase followers; Take all the time you need to expand on the number of your account followers by interacting with your followers and posting unique photos. You will learn more about this in the next chapter of this book.

2) Use hashtags to attract more people. For every photo you take, make sure that it has at least three hashtags that can add to your viewers. The hashtags should speak about the photo, but should be broad enough to show up in numerous searches. Don’t worry! You will learn more on hashtags later in this book.

Upload quality images

1) Master your craft; the fact of the matter is that, if your photos aren’t so good, people will not be willing to buy them. This may mean many different things to different people, but you need to take quality pictures if you want to end up selling them.

2) Use different cameras; avoid limiting yourself to your phone's camera. With Instagram, you can upload photos taken using other devices; all you need is to transfer them to your phone first. Get yourself a nice camera and notice the significant difference in the quality of photos you take.

Set Up Your Store

Without an online store, you are almost doomed. You can't sell your photos via Instagram directly, so you have to set up an alternative way that people can buy your pictures. Here are some ways you can go about this.

1) Hire a store service; you can sell your photos directly through Services like Twenty20, and so on through their site. You get 20% of the sale and they handle the printing and shipping for you. If you want to avoid dealing with printing and shipping orders, this can be useful.

2) Get your own store; you can use your personal website to set up your own online store. You will definately get more money than you would if you used a hired service, although you will have to take care of orders, as well as shipping and printing the images. For each image you upload to sell on instagram, it should have a caption containing a link to its store page regardless of which method you use to set up your storefront. So that the link doesn't take up the whole caption space, use TinyURL or Bit.ly to shorten the address. Take advantage of apps such as ‘HashBag’, which automatically identifies and posts any items that have the hashtag ‘#forsale’ on your Instagram account to their respective market.

Market your Products

After you gain followers and therefore in a good position to approach and convince any company, do this:

1) Contact companies; you need to explain and convince your target companies how you can help increase awareness for their brand through your Instagram account. Show them how often you update your Instagram feed and give details on the number of followers you have. Carry some sample shots to display and illustrate you know how to take clear, artistic pictures which can shed some positiveness to their product. Services such as Popular Pays and QuickShouts can connect you with companies, which hire aspiring Instagram marketers.

2) Work out a contract. You need to have a clear written contract indicating matters such as the expected number of pictures you are supposed to take, and bonuses for improved number of followers if any. To protect yourself from being under-paid by the company you are marketing for, sign a contract.

3) Take quality pictures of the service or product. For sure, you wouldn’t like to upload a mediocre or bad photo of a product you are supposed to be marketing. For you to keep the contracts coming in future, you need to play your role as an ambassador for a given product effectively and uphold the expected standards.

You are free to add some personal touches to the photo and in fact, you should. You don’t want your followers to feel as if this is just one of those advertisements they would spam so easily if they weren’t following you. Your followers need to relate with your image on a personal level.

Turn your many followers into Customers

1) Point followers to your blog or site; you should have a link to your company's or personal website or blog always on your Instagram profile. As you continue to gain more random viewers or followers, traffic to your site will also increase. Emphasize on your skills. You can showcase your abilities and talents on Instagram, including fashion, web development, photography, and several other fields. Update your current projects and latest work on your Instagram feed always. Remember to Use hashtags to attract potential buyers to your image.

2) Take your product’s photos. If you run a business that deals with physical items like vehicles, cupcakes or whatever, one of the best ways to advertise your merchandise to new people is through Instagram. Take photos of some of your latest products, then make sure you use hashtags to entice more followers. Some hashtag examples include product name and use, your company name or slogan. If you have a store page, make sure you link to the product's image comments. Remember to submit the nicest photos you got of the product and avoid those low quality cameras at all cost.

Offer Brand Takeovers

You can earn some good money by doing an “Instagram takeover” as a substitute for sharing sponsored posts on your own account. It’s exactly what it sounds like and is all about posting photos on another person’s Instagram account. Either you can get temporary access to the person's or company’s account or you can be asked to supply photos, additional descriptions and hashtags to them. This works especially well for travel accounts, “We supply 5-7 amazing images to a company or tourism board and they feature our photos showcasing how we see the destination,” says Bouskill, an instagrammer.

Sell Your Account

You can sell your account for profit once you have a tremendously successful account. You can even get a six digit for selling accounts that have 500,000 to a million followers.

Key point

Stay active on Instagram to get as many followers as you can, upload quality images of what you are selling, set up an online store, market your great skills to companies, and then turn your devoted followers to customers. Do “brand take over” or sell your account if you please. Don’t forget to put the links and the hashtags on your Instagram images or comments. When you do that, you can watch your bank account swell in due time.

How to Build Your Instagram Followers

“The secret to getting results from your social networking is to act like a member, not a marketer”

- Mari Smith

By now you are aware that your followers are everything when it comes to making money on instagram. Keep in mind that you need to be constantly engaged with your audience and show them that you are a real person and not a robbot and that their feedback matters. Here are possible and simple ways you can get new or increase on your current followers.

Follow similar accounts

You have to act as part of the Instagram community and fully participate. This means you need to interact and not just upload photos. Follow the accounts of people who are posting pictures that interest you. You will be able to see their latest photos on your feeds. To avoid overloading your feeds, don’t just follow people you see on Instagram blindly. Only follow those accounts that are most interesting.

Comment on and like pictures

You should take some time to like and comment on photos uploaded by the people you are following. Apart from this making the other person feel good, it will also make people see your comment or name and possibly check out your profile. You can get a steady stream of new followers if you stay active consistently.

Reply to comments on your own photos

Don’t just read comments then ignore them or forget to answer back. If you want to maintain your follower base, it’s very important for you to interact with followers. You must read and respond to any comments you find interesting and even thank your followers if they throw any compliments your way. Take the time to answer properly every intriguing question your follower asks.

Ask your followers questions

Use the photo caption to ask your followers some questions. Your comments section will be more active, therefore draw in new viewers to your photo.

Think about having a call-to-action, such as "Share your story" in the comments" or "Double-tap if you found this funny”. This will assist you to increase community interaction with your photos.

Connect your Facebook account

Facebook is currently the owner of Instagram as you read earlier so if you haven’t connected your Instagram account to Facebook already, you are definitely losing out on more more potential followers. You will get a double exposure because all of your Instagram posts will be reflected on Facebook as well. Click on Instagram Settings menu to connect your accounts.

Fill out your bio

Don’t overlook your Instagram bio like most people often do despite it being a very important part of your Instagram account. By letting people know who you are, it gives them a reason why they should follow you. Include a couple of hashtags related to your bio content and place a call-to-action on your bio as well.

Purchase Followers

1) Find a good seller

Definitely, many websites can offer you followers for some cash. If you have employed all the other tricks in this book but still find yourself desperate for more followers, think about purchasing some which may help kick start your Instagram account. Just ensure that you read reviews of the services before picking the one that suits you best. You don’t want a raw deal! Fiverr and other marketplaces have many of these service providers.

2) Select the followers you want to purchase

Most services let you opt from a range of packages, varying from 100 to 1 million followers. Select the package that suits your needs and budget best.

3) Make your account Public

With a private account, you cannot buy followers so make a point of making your account publicly visible. Go to your Profile page tap "Edit your Profile" and change your account visibility settings.

4) Understand the shortcomings

You can get a quick boost from purchasing followers but not without some drawbacks. There is a great likelihood that these acquired strange followers will never interact with your photos or leave comments so your photos can stay a bit bare. You will turn people away if they notice that you have lots of followers but without activity.

Here are few tips on how to use Hashtags

Do your research

Do some research on popular hashtags that fit your niche. Hashtags are short phrases and words that explain and classify your image and they are important marketing tools. An image with a hashtag is easier for people to search and adds your image to current trends. If you want to reach a large number of audiences, you should use hashtags. You can copy and paste the most popular categorized hashtags from websites such as ‘TagsForLikes’, but don’t overdo it. You can use Instagram as a tool to find the most popular trending tags. Most of the time, the most trending tags are "#me", "#love", and "#follow".

Limit the hashtags on each image

Find and add the most relevant hashtags to your image. At most, your image should have 3 hashtags. If you have too many hashtags on one image, your followers may feel like it’s somehow spam. So be careful not to overdo this!

Create your own tag

If you have a huge bunch of active followers, you can come up with your own hashtags. This could be your company slogan or name that relates to most of your photos. You will be able to brand your Instagram account, and have a more cohesive community presence.

Geotag your photos

Your fellow Instagram users are attracted to photos from familiar locations. In addition, other photos from that location will emerge automatically as you post geotagged photos. Your pictures will also be seen by other users posting photos from the same location and they may follow them to your account, adding to your exposure and possibly getting you new local followers.

Use "Like for Like" hashtags

You can make use of some of the trendiest like-trading hashtags, such as "#like4likes" or "#like4like”, if you want to try to boost your likes; just ensure that if someone likes your picture, you actually like his/her picture as well. This tactic is considered a "dirty" tactic by some people and you may end up losing some followers if you excessively tag this. Yes, this tactic will lead you to new followers, but be aware that they may not be genuine in their interest and could be following you for the selfish motive of getting more likes on their own photos.

Key point

Follow people of interest, comment on and like photos, reply and ask questions, create a portfolio, connect to Facebook and even buy followers if all these fail.

How to Post Memorable Content

“Create your own style...let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others”

-Anna Wintour

You need to create posts that will stick in people’s minds for a while. Here are some ways you can do this:

Take unique and interesting photos

This may seem so obvious, but simply taking good pictures is one of the best ways to get followers on Instagram. Instagram is flooded with pictures of people's cats and meals, so have well-shot photos to set yourself apart. Let the pictures you take relate to your audience fully. People are hesitant to follow you if you always post images they can’t relate with. It doesn't have to be a "perfect" photo to be good. Good photos are more human and any imperfections make them more so.

Put a boundary on "selfies". You can post some ‘selfies’ on Instagram but don’t let them dominate your account. Your followers don't want to see you but rather want to see your photos. You can seem narcissistic if you post constant selfies and this can put off many followers. Sad as it may be, there is an exception to this if you are very attractive. Posting attractive pictures of your gorgeous self can drive many followers to your account. Still, don't let this take over your content!

Post Every Day

You need to have a new post everyday and post several reasonable times if possible. Your presence must be felt all the time. With this your followers list will grow every day.

Add filters

Instagram became so popular because of the filter options. These filters fine-tune the color of your photos and give them a more "real" feel. There is a variety of filters available on Instagram, so feel free to try out several until you identify the one that works well with your photo. Don’t use the same filters too often or your images will start to seem too similar. #nofilter is a popular hashtag on Instagram; if the picture is too striking to even need a filter, use it!

Place captions on every photo

You will be amazed how fast you can turn an okay photo into a remarkable one with a good caption. Your viewers’ attention is grabbed by using a caption. The more people you make smile or laugh using a caption, the more you’ll retain them as followers. Cute captions or jokes are particularly trendy.

Utilize apps for extended editing control

While you can slightly edit images on Instagram, there are many apps for both Android and iOS that can provide a lot more tools. Use these apps to darken, brighten, crop, add effects, text, and so much more.

Popular editing apps are Afterlight, Photo Editor by Aviary, Bokehful and Overgram.

Create collages

A fabulous way to show a collection of images or progression is to make a collage to post on Instagram. You can do this using several apps including InstaCollage, PicStitch and InstaPicFrame.

Post your photos at a good time

Since Instagram is an extremely popular service, your followers' feeds are probably constantly updated. Post your photos at the right time for them to be seen by as many people as possible. Make sure you post photos in the morning and after the end of normal work hours. Instagram photos normally stay around a person’s feed for 4 hours so if you want your followers to actually see your images, avoid posting them in the middle of the night.

Post Beautiful Photos

Not only do you need to post consistently but you also need to post beautiful images, which are instrumental to increasing your Instagram followers. You can even be featured in media houses for the outstanding photos. You need to inspire people through your photos and not shock them out of your account.

Avoid Posting All Your Photos at Once

The necessity to post photos regularly does not mean you post all the photos you have taken at one go. If you want to post more than one photo a day, make sure they are spread out in the day. Share one photo for every three to four hours. You don’t want to make your followers oversaturated with images-keep them yearning for more. Don't just dump all of your photos at the risk of making your followers to start passing over them.

Pick up an Insta-Style

Like most successful Instagrammers, you need to develop a signature style for your photos. Whichever technique or filter you choose, make sure your photos stand out from the crowd.

Extra Tips

In order to have more followers, you need to follow Shoutout accounts on Instagram. If you like one of their photos or follow them, they normally award a shoutout to your account.

Use tagsforlikes hashtags. You can install an app on your Android or iPhone that illustrates a list of hashtags that you can add on your photos in order to get more likes. Make sure you check out the profile of whoever comments on one of your photos or likes your photos, and leave a nice comment or a like on their photos as well. By doing this, you will increase the chances of them following you or leaving more likes on other photos. Just make a point of not posting many photos at a go with random hashtags.

In your Instagram bio, state that you’re 'Following Guidelines'. For example, if you mention something like "I am a mega fan of Tailor swift!” chances are you will get many people with similar interests as your followers and then you'll most likely get a whole heap of Tailor Swift lovers following you. The real Tailor Swift might join your list of followers if you are lucky enough.

Follow users most probable to follow you back. For instance, fresh Instagrammers will likely follow you if you happen to follow them. Just make a point of finding out the number of posts in their feeds. If you find one with less than 10 posts, it’s likely this person is a newbie who would appreciate an extra follower very much and will probably receive you with open arms.

People will most likely follow you if you have equal (or less) following and followers. With way too many ‘following’, you might be mistaken for a new Instagrammer and people will less likely follow you.

Don’t let people mistake you for a bore; put more tags and posts for your followers more often than just once every 12 hours.

Try to take advantage of peak traffic times on Instagram. Don’t wait for people to fall asleep; who will follow you during sleep?

Make a point of asking all your real life friends and family to follow you.

Key point

You need to post interesting unique photos then add filters and captions on them and make a collage of photos. Post everyday at the right time and one at a time, have your own style and limit on selfies. With this, people can't have enough of you!

Basic Photography Tips

“A photograph shouldn’t be just a picture, it should be a philosophy”

-Amit Kalantri

After getting a nice camera, don’t expect it to work magic for you just like that. You need to make the necessary adjustments to the camera and position yourself correctly for you to produce quality photos. Here are a few basic tips you can begin with:

Keep It Simple but Stylish

Once you are set to take the photo, don’t forget that in photography, less is more. Instagram is fast and fleeting just like all kinds of social media. The attention span of your users is short which means your photo has only a few seconds to grab their attention. Don’t even try to achieve too much in one photo for you may end up accomplishing none of them.

Concentrate on One Focal Point per Photo

Focus on the specific subject you want your viewer to see; it could be an open notebook, a female model, a coffee mug, a swing set at the park and so on. Viewer’s attention among multiple subjects is divided by clutter and it ebbs out their interest on the photo. Move closer to the subject to ensure they cover the whole frame. For a wider shot, you need to position yourself in a way that only the fewest elements possible are present in the photo. Make sure you get rid of any distractions at the background of your photo.

Throw Away Your First Few Ideas

Creativity is a key part of photography. Every shot you take is an idea and it requires a lot of creativity to make it work. Before you find the one that best suits your idea, you have to take like a dozen shots. It’s rare that you will hit it in the first time around. That’s why for any idea, you need to toss away the first, the second and even the third shot. Ideas that pop in your mind so easily are more often than not the most generic, most clichéd, and most typical. Have you seen any photos on latte art? Of people gazing at their feet while lying on a beach? Of bathroom selfies and boring sunsets? Add a twist when approaching any photo whose subject is commonplace. Try different locations, angles, props, and even colors. There has to be something new and unusual about your photo for it to stand out.

Watch the Lighting

When you are taking your photos, pay attention to the light and note how much light is in your photo and where it’s coming from. If you are shooting outside, don’t take photos of a subject when the sun is at their back. If you are taking a photo in front of landmark or monument but can’t adjust your position further, just use the camera flash to cover the shadows.

Watch Your White Balance

The white balance is set automatically in most digital cameras based on the type of light you are shooting under. If you find your camera has problems detecting the type of light when you are shooting under mixed lighting, you can manually set the white balance to make the photo look more natural. You need to have the appropriate light balance to get good-looking photos.

Learn the Photography Rules

“Anyone can write, but not everyone is a great writer”. Never forget that this philosophy applies to all areas including photography. You need to have the most basic skills to take a great photo. Make a point of researching online on more basic guidelines when it comes to photography.

Practice Often

Remember that nobody is born as a top-notch photographer-it takes skills, time and practice. For you to take stunning photos without them looking so amateur like, you need to experiment and practice often. Take many photos and add something new to each of them every time.

Don’t Give Up

Don’t expect an overnight success with your Instagram photos; over time, you’ll get better. More people will begin to notice your photos everyday and one day, you will realize your dreams of taking great unique photos.

Key point

Keep photos simple but trendy with a twist, discard your first few shots, watch the lighting, keep learning, experimenting, and practicing and most importantly, never give up!

How to Apply What You Have Learned

By now you must have learnt something about Instagram and how you can use it to make money and stay ahead of the game. Just as a summary, here is how you can put what you have learnt down to action.

Build a large active following using the tips provided then smartly turn your followers into customers. You need to constantly engage with people in order to close a sale or get a sponsorship deal and this can apply to all businesses. Sell your skills or products to your customers and relevant companies. Whether you are a ‘real’ photographer, a fashion designer, a writer, or a quality analyst, post your progressive portfolio on Instagram and let the community know what skills and knowledge you have. Also, give your contact details for interested parties to reach you.

Take great unique photos and sell them to related agencies and get a commission for it. Get affiliate links and connect with Facebook. For Amazon, for example, create a link for a product with good shots on Instagram then, you will get a commission every time there is a sale. If you love travelling, you should Instagram good shots of places you visit, and then market yourself as a local ambassador of famous spots or as a tour guide. You can apply this trick to shopping malls, restaurants, and so on.

Remember to use the Instagram and available apps to make your photos great; add filters, captions, and hashtags and edit photos using Instagram or extra tools.

Like in Instagram, make sure everything you do in life is unique in order to set you apart from others-you need to add a little twist and have your own style to always stand out. Learn more and practice often to be good at what you do. Your time and effort will pay out eventually.

How To Make Money Online

Table of Contents

How Will This eBook Help You?

Why You Need Extra Money

The Internet is a Money Garden Waiting for You

Before You Go Full Throttle: Learn to Protect Yourself

Value in the Smallest Efforts

Pay-to-Click Sites (PTC)

Paid Surveys

Social Media Advertising

Get Paid for Your Reviews

Turn Passion to Profit

Blogging

Freelance Writing

E-Book Publishing

Handmade Love

Kicking Things up with Kickstarter

Why Not Sell Yourself?

Technical Knowledge Need Not Go to Waste

Web Industry Freelancing

The Art of Domain Flipping

The Era of Mobile Apps

Bookkeeping

Stock Trading

Look Around You: Offline Items for Online Profits

If You’re Done With It, Sell It!

Space is Money

No Errand Too Small

How to Apply Key Ideas for the Best Results?

How Will This Book Help You?

Money does not make the world go round, but it sure does help to oil its gears. Depending on our living situations, sooner or later there comes a point in our lives when we do realize that money is essential for survival and maintaining the quality of life for us and our loved ones.

Back in the day, society judged those who chased after money as greedy fools, or materialistic people. However, modern living conditions have drastically changed throughout the years, with the gap between the cost of living and wages getting larger and larger with each passing year.

While getting a job is definitely a responsible way to earn money and establish a living, sometimes it’s just not enough, and more and more people are realizing that. The internet is fast becoming a great alternative because the only investments you really need are your internet subscription and an inner motivation to earn.

This book will guide you through the vast array of options available and how to make the most out of them. You’ll be amazed by the many ways that you can make use of your talent, passion and time to earn extra bucks for you and your family. Some people even turn these into full-time jobs and earn more than their eight-hour office routine! This might just be the break you were looking for. Go on and discover a whole new world of profit!

Why You Need Extra Money

“I have ways of making money that you know nothing of.” – John D. Rockefeller

Tuition fees for the kids, monthly payments for mortgage, bills, car, insurance, not to mention that big vacation coming up for your wedding anniversary, plus the daily allowance of everyone in the house for food, clothing, transportation and other lifestyle needs—these are just some of the things that occupy our budget lists on a daily basis. Most of the time, what we earn with our daytime jobs just isn’t enough. As years pass by, the gap between your needs versus income will only grow bigger as the kids get older and as the cost of living rises.

Even if our earnings can supply for our main survival needs, who doesn’t want to save a little extra for some treats? And what happens when an emergency arises? Whether we like it or not, having an extra source of income allows the creation of a buffer for unexpected events so as to provide a better sense of security for the family. It also guards your savings against the biggest thief—inflation. Working on having improved cash flow will help you to stand stronger against the rise of prices of daily commodities that slowly but surely eat up an increasing share from your budget.

Making extra money is also a productive way to spend your time and improve your personality. Instead of spending the whole day watching videos of cute dogs and catching up on the latest gossip, working on something you actually like while earning at the same time is obviously a better way to spend your day. Not only does it earn you extra, it also gives you a sense of achievement at the end of the day.

It’s not uncommon for people to find themselves in jobs they don’t like, forced into it by mere circumstance or the need to survive. It tends to feel depressing because you feel like you’re living ho-hum lives with boring routines and awful conditions. Looking for extra work can serve as a great diversion from your day job as you can finally work on things that drive your passion and make you feel alive. The options you’ll find in this book will help you decide on where to invest your efforts and your time because yes, there’s definitely something for you out there!

Improving your cash flow can affect all areas of your life; do it not just for yourself but also for the people you love.

The Internet is a Money Garden Waiting for You

"Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." – Andy Warhol

The world wide web is a massive network that has seems to penetrate almost every aspect of our lives. We go to social media for keeping in touch with people, YouTube, iTunes, or Spotify, for our daily dose of entertainment, Google for education and random inquiries, Amazon for shopping, and much more! A great number of websites, infographics and articles are set up every day that teach people how to cook, how to talk to their boss, how to grab a date, how to tie their shoes—the internet is now teaching people how to live!

Recent studies show that 2.4 billion people across the world are certified internet users, and the top reasons people have for going online are as follows: research, banking, shopping, meeting people, gaining health information, entertainment and making travel reservations. The internet has managed to make itself relevant in every aspect of life, and people keep consuming everything that it could offer—the good, the bad, the useful and the worthless.

A larger percentage of these users are contented to be in the consuming end of the internet spectrum. These are the people who simply make use of the available services and consume content; but did you know that you can actually move on to the other end and take a better advantage of the online scene?

People favor an increase commerce and industrialization in their own states because it is able to offer more services and more jobs. This goes the same for the internet, as it is fast becoming a commercial super highway for various goods and services. The number of services it offers is proportional to the number of jobs it provides to the people behind it.

On average, 140,000 websites go live each day, so just imagine the number of opportunities this provides to the people behind it! Keep in mind that the extent of its reach is not limited to your town or your country; it actually covers the whole world!

Online jobs are steadily increasing in popularity as the number of people looking for online jobs is matched by the increasing number of companies and individuals who now prefer to out source their services online.

There’s surely a spot out there waiting for you! All it takes is for you to find the right opportunities and seize them!

The internet is one of the major commercial, super highways of the world; be sure to take advantage.

Before You Go Full Throttle: Learn to Protect Yourself

“Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don’t.” – Pete Seger

The previous chapter has shown you just how huge a market there is for online jobs and services. However, just like in a lot of things in the ‘real world’, there will always be people who will try to take advantage of the gullible and those who are too eager for their own good. The cloak of anonymity that the internet provides makes these criminals more confident of their evil deeds, and if you are not careful, these people can strip you of your hard-earned cash before you know it. Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind in order to keep yourself safe online.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. This is an age-old mantra for protecting yourself against scammers, and it definitely applies here.

One red alert flag would have to be the ‘No experience needed’ tag and not providing a set of qualifications. For any job, there should be at least a required skill set or screening process before one is accepted. Unless you’re applying for a no-brainer job, do not fall for these antics.

Another would be guaranteeing you thousands of dollars for a week or a month for simply clicking links or doing menial tasks. If you feel that the pay seems way too large compared to the task that you are required, be extra careful as it may be another scam.

Companies that require an advanced fee before you are able to register. If you really think about it, it doesn’t make sense that you have to pay a group so they could pay you. However, these scammers advertise themselves in such a convincing manner that you can’t help but think that ‘maybe this one is different’—only to find out later on that you just got duped.

Rochelle, a mother of three, was looking for ways to earn online and registered for a translator job and paid a certain fee. It promised a 100% money-back guarantee with zero spam so she gave it a try. After the login, she found the interface too difficult to navigate, and found it hard to look for jobs. Everyone she connected to wouldn’t respond, and if they did, they never gave her a job. She decided to get her money back but alas, no one was there to attend to her concerns. In the end, she just got cheated out of $30.

Do not give away your credit card or other financial information via email. Email is a highly unsafe medium that can be accessed by hackers, phishers and whatnots. There are safer methods to provide payment like PayPal or a sign-in page that shows a padlock icon to indicate security. Always read the address bar to ensure that you are keying in important information on the same website and not on some unsecure pop-up window.

Do not entertain requests from companies you don’t know or to complete strangers. If you don’t remember submitting your resume to a particular company, and yet they call you pretending you’re they’re applicant, be extra cautious and do not give in right away.

Keep your firewall and antivirus software updated. Companies are making an effort to periodically provide updates that protect your from viruses, malware and trojans that may attempt to steal your information and cause distress. Take time to update these for your own good.

The internet is a huge jungle of opportunities. Protect yourself to make the most out of it.

Value in the Smallest Efforts

“Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Companies spend a great bulk of their budget on advertising, and will go to great lengths just to extend their brand reach and to understand how their consumers perceive their products. This concept has driven an online industry that allows people to earn dollars by doing very simple tasks like clicking links, answering surveys, viewing advertisements and the like. Many people are flocking to this kind of industry because of the promise of earning with very little effort.

As attractive as it is, this type of industry is also one of the most prone to abuse and scams, and must therefore be examined carefully before getting involved. If you feel like the pay is way too large for the equivalent effort required, follow your gut feel and check if it is a scam.

Nevertheless, there are legitimate companies who really use these methods as part of their advertising, and it’s a great deal for people who want to earn extra bucks for a couple of minutes. If you can spend a whole hour watching cat videos, then the idea of answering a 15-minute survey for five dollars shouldn’t be a bad idea, yes?

Read on to learn more.

No effort is too small for the internet. Everything has value.

Pay-to-Click Sites (PTC)

"Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Winston Churchill

Clixsense, Probux, Neobux and Fusebux are some of the most trusted online sites when it comes to pay-to-click industries. This is by far the easiest way to earn money in the internet. It basically starts with you clicking the "Register now" button and signing up for their services, then you start to familiarize yourself with the website interface while earning. It will not require you to pay upon registration though some of them may require an optional ‘investment’ for you to grow your earnings faster, although you’ll do just fine even without availing of this option.

The main mechanism of earning is by clicking and watching 30-second ads for and quickly moving on to the next, depending on how much you intend to earn.

Pros: This is the easiest way to earn on the internet, no experience or necessary skill sets are required, and you decide how much time you are willing to allot. They also design the site and advertisements well enough to keep you engaged and entertained during the whole session.

Probux also has a community forum where users can share ideas and help in navigating the site, which makes it all the more legitimate because you are confident that other people are really using and getting paid with it.

These companies also make use of PayPal, Payza, Perfect Money, SolidTrust Pay, and Ego Pay, which allow users to receive their payment without really revealing too much financial information.

Cons: In as much as they provide the easiest ways to earn money, they also have the lowest rates of payment. Clixsense has one of the highest payouts which is $0.02 per click.

These sites also have a minimum payout threshold, meaning you have to accumulate a certain amount before you are able to withdraw to your account. Clixsense has a minimum payout level of $10, which means you’ll have to click through the ads 500 times before you are able to withdraw. That’s about four and a half hours of viewing ads! As you see, it may take a long while before you are really able to withdraw a substantial amount.

Other sites offer a smaller payout threshold like Neobux that only requires $2, and Probux for only $5. However the rate per click is also lower.

Earning by PTC ads is a great idea only when you intend for this to be an additional activity while browsing the internet. You’ll also need to be extra patient with it because it will take a while before you are able to really earn.

Pay-to-click sites offer very low earnings but can still be a great way to spend your time.

Paid Surveys

"Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forfty percent of all people know that." – Homer Simpson

In any company, the biggest chunk of the budget almost always goes to marketing and advertising. This is because image plays a huge part when making a decision to buy or not to buy a product. Because of this, companies hire the best advertising companies and personnel to ensure that people are aware of their brand and that their customers maintain a positive perception of it.

So how do they know if their advertising and marketing efforts are effective? One method is by growth of sales and purchase behavior, but another more targeted approach is by performing market research.

Market research can be done for two reasons: to learn if a certain marketing strategy is effective or to gain an idea for a future project. A lot of information can be obtained from surveys such as demographics, behavior per age group or location, purchase preference, family background of targeted customers and many more. The standard methods for this type of research involves performing surveys on actual experimental groups. A cheaper and faster way to do this is by conducting paid surveys.

Surveys used to be done for free but companies realized they weren’t getting enough volunteers so they decided to pay for it to gain more information. This spurred the growth of hundreds of sites recruiting people to sign up and answer surveys to get paid. This requires a little more effort as compared to PTC sites but it also pays considerably higher. The activity itself is also more entertaining because you get paid by simply expressing your honest opinion.

Some of the popular survey sites include iPoll, Global Test Market, Opinion Outpost, Survey Spot, and National Consumer Panel. All it takes is to look up their webpages and sign up for their services.

Some sites are exclusive only to a particular location like the National Consumer Panel, which is available only to residents of the United States. Survey questions may also be limited depending on your location, age, or industry. This is how companies limit their research participants in order to obtain highly targeted results.

Again take note that the legitimate ones will never ask you to pay for anything before signing up or before receiving any surveys. It is also recommended to join sites that allow withdrawal of points via PayPal, Payza, and similar services in order to protect your financial information. Another tip is to subscribe to several legitimate survey sites at once in order to take advantage of a wide array of markets that require surveys in order to maximize your earnings.

Pros: Answering surveys can be a fun activity for anyone as it allows you to express yourself while earning. It also offers a great insight on the qualities that matter to brands and companies. Some sites can give a $5 incentive for signing up alone, which isn’t bad at all. Rates can range from $2 to $50 per survey, though majority of them will be in the $2 to $10 range. If you’re really into it, you can spot quality high-paying survey panels that can earn you about $300 in a month.

Cons: One cannot really expect a regular payout for surveys. It depends on the demand and on the category of the individual. Meaning if you’re male, you cannot access those that are specifically for women, or sometimes surveys are exclusive to people who belong to certain industries. It can also get tricky to spot high value surveys that have better payouts.

A minimum cash threshold also applies for paid survey sites before you can withdraw your earnings. This can range from $15 to $50. Other sites choose to provide earnings in terms of points, which is in turn convertible to cash. Make sure to compute the equivalent dollar amount of these points for you to have a better idea of their payout rate, as sometimes this can be used to hide the fact that the rate per survey is actually very low.

Taking paid surveys is a fun way to earn, just take time to sort out the best ones and you can actually make decent cash.

Social Media Advertising

“Social media allows us to behave in ways that we are hardwired for in the first place—as humans. We can get frank recommendations from other humans instead of from faceless companies.” – Francois Gossieaux

There are a great many ways to earn money through social media. What we’ll discuss for this chapter are the more straight forward methods of making money from your social media accounts.

More than 50% of all internet users all over the world go online for social media. This goes without saying that websites like Facebook and Twitter are huge opportunities for advertising and marketing, and many have taken advantage of the situation by allowing people to earn by displaying advertisements on their profiles.

This is especially profitable for people who have large networks and can be considered ‘influencers’. Influencers are those who have a great number of followers and therefore have more powerful recommendations.

Earning can work several ways. Once you display a Facebook ad, you can earn when someone clicks on the link, makes a purchase and leaves their mobile number or email address. Amazon Associates is a great example, though not necessarily limited to Facebook alone. You can display referral links on your timeline and get commissions from sales of your recommended books.

One can also go for paid tweets such as SponsoredTweets.com. As the name suggests, you get paid when your followers click on promotional links via Twitter.

Pros: Displaying Facebook ads can give you around two cents per click, depending on your arrangement with the advertiser. Sponsored tweets can earn you $6 for one tweet for 2000 followers, and can reach up to $1000 for those with a massive following. Given the amount of time that you actually spend on your social media accounts, the rate is fair enough.

A good thing about displaying ads is that you are totally in control of the content that you wish to display. This is also an opportunity to help your followers by making quality recommendations while earning at the same time.

Cons: What seems to work for social media ads can also work against it. Most people really don’t like ads, and so coming up with advertising links that are catchy enough to warrant attention may be tricky. Too much hard selling can also turn off some of your followers. It may not be as effective for people who have not yet established a large network of followers.

Social media advertising can be a very lucrative venture, however, it also highly depends on the extent of your social network.

Get Paid for Your Reviews

"You get to make a living; you give to make a life." –Winston Churchill

Do you remember spending a whole day debating with girl friends on the phone on which makeup was better or what brand of shampoo was the best? Looks like you can actually earn from it!

Again, it all boils down to marketing and advertising. Companies would love to know what you think of their product and are willing to pay you for your opinion.

Vindale Research is an online shopping site that pays you for posting reviews about items that you have bought from their site. You can expect to get paid up to $75 both for answering reviews and surveys on their site. You can make withdrawals via PayPal to ensure security of your information.

Other websites pay you to review other items like User Testing for website interface reviews ($10 per review), Shvoong for reviews about newspapers, academic papers, books and random articles (payout depends on revenue of the product).

Review Stream is another popular pay-for-review website that pays $2 for every review on hot topics and also gives additional points when people rate up your review.

There are a great many legitimate sites that offer payment for each review you give their products; now isn’t that a better way to spend all that energy with raving or ranting about various consumer products?

Pay-for-review is another targeted approach for earning extra money. It is a great feedback system that the common consumer can use to reach out to retail companies in order to improve the very products we use.

Getting paid for sharing what you think about your latest purchase seems to be a neat idea, yes?

Turn Passion to Profit

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” – Aristotle

”What do you really want to do?”

This is one of the most daunting life questions that hits us some time in our teenage years and stretches up until forever. Some people find the answer sooner, and others never really find out. Circumstances often lead us to doing things that we’d rather not, and necessity tells us that we cannot always do what we want because the cool things don’t always bring food to the table.

What if life finally granted you the opportunity to work on what you’ve always wanted?

The internet is a world without boundaries. It finds value in the smallest of things, rewards your grandest efforts and grants you the possibility of reaching out to all corners of the earth. What may not work in your town may be a hit on a city that is miles away from you. This is a stellar opportunity to finally explore what you’ve always wanted, feed it to the world wide web and even earn from it! All in the comforts of your home!

Many people have followed their passion and have now gone on to become professional artists, writers, consultants and the like. Do not hesitate to explore your own!

Blogging

“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” – Brian Clark

Blogging is one of the most common platforms for web content on the internet and can be done by almost anyone. It is a form of social networking that allows you to create your own comprehensive content where you can showcase whatever you wish.

Blogspot and Wordpress are some of the leading blog hosts where people can sign up for free, and it allows anyone to publish their content online. If you have a knack for writing, this one is for you. You can post a wide array of content, from blow by blow accounts of how your day went, reviews of the latest movie you watched, opinion about current events, social commentary, book reviews, advice for mothers, shared experiences about pets and many more. Writing can be done for self-expression or to share experiences that you believe can help other people.

As fun as it sounds, establishing a blog isn’t a walk in the park because you will need time and commitment to update it with quality content to keep readers coming back. Junk content that is simply copied from other web pages will easily be disregarded as plagiarized content and will not help the reputation of your site. It is also recommended to find a niche topic that you can focus on so as to target a specific brand of readers and establish a regular following.

A golden rule for web content: quality is king. If your readers find that your website offers something that they cannot easily find with other webpages, they will keep coming back. More readers mean a better reputation for your blog and therefore, higher potential earnings.

Earning through blogging can be done by leasing your webpage space to advertisers, by writing sponsored reviews or blogposts about particular companies, or by selling actual products.

When you gain a following, people keep coming back to your page. The more traffic you get, the more attractive your page becomes to advertisers because they would want to take advantage of your page views and use it to advertise their product.

Using this concept, various sites offer bloggers the ability to display advertising banners on their webpage and get paid for it. There are hundreds of sites that offer these services, and some of the most popular are Infolinks, Sitescout (formerly Adbrite), and Clicksor.

You can get paid from $0.01 to $2 per click depending on the value of the banner. The more traffic you get, the higher chances of people clicking on the banner link, and therefore the more money you get.

Other companies pay for impressions, meaning visitors really don’t need to click on the ad for you to earn, they simply have to ‘see’ it. This has much lower payout rates but is also more convenient to use. Bloggers strategize on the placement of their ads to come up with more clicks and more impressions.

Google Adsense is one of the leading providers of blog advertising. They are the most popular, they provide the highest payouts, but are also the most strict. It is recommended that you purchase a top level domain (www.ebook.com instead of www.ebook.blogspot.com) for them to approve your request. They also go for topnotch quality as all pages with traces of plagiarism or copied content are immediately disqualified. They also strictly screen the nature of content that they approve to ensure that it only provides quality information for potential readers. If one passes through the rigorous screening of Adsense and keeps working on improving their blog quality and traffic, they can expect earnings of $0.15 to $15 per click, with most getting up to $48 for 1000 visits, the highest among all advertisers.

For those who have established a reputation with their blog—if you are a mom known for providing valuable baby-care advice, a girl known for fabulous taste in clothing, or a guy popular among bloggers for keenly observing gadget updates—some companies may want to bank on your influence in the blogosphere by sending you free products to review or by asking you to create a write up about their brand for a fee.

This can be a tricky line to tread however, as some readers may get ‘turned-off’ when they find that you are being paid by companies to make positive reviews. A good way to work around this is by providing ‘full-disclosure’ to your readers by telling them if a particular post was sponsored by a brand. You may also want to keep your tone from getting too patronizing to keep your blogger integrity intact. This way, the trust system between you and your reader is maintained. Another great thing about blogging is that the manner in which you create your posts and how you build your reputation is entirely up to you. Therefore, anything that happens is really under your responsibility.

Another great way to monetize your blog is by selling products. You may have some handmade crafts that others may find useful, or a friend who knows a great supplier of accessories and clothing. Instead of renting an actual physical store, you can just post your goodies on your blog, advertise it in your social networking sites and receive orders from people. Selling with this method normally involves having the products delivered to your customers, so make sure that you also know the procedure for shipment.

A lot of people have earned a living by selling online products and relying on social media and word of mouth for their advertising. It’s a pretty hassle-free method because your online space is mostly free, and you invest on your product and seller reputation alone.

Amazon Associates can also be used on your blog as you get commissions for every purchase that an item has gotten from your page.

Blogging is a great way to earn money online, but it takes passion and commitment to keep it going because the internet is flooded by all types of bloggers and sometimes it takes a special flair to stand out.

Blogging is not as easy as it seems, but if you’ve got what it takes, it can also be the most rewarding.

Freelance Writing

“Freelancing is tough. It can be very difficult, in fact. It can wear people down, making them lose sight of what they used to love because they have to do everything else just to get by.” – Mason Hipp

Freelance writing is another way to earn online through the power of the pen—or in this case, the keyboard. Several bloggers venture to freelance writing and vice versa, while a lot of them actually juggle being both. The key difference between blogging and freelance writing is that with the former, you are in full control of the layout and content, and you write for your readers on your terms. Freelance writing on the other hand is pretty much like outsourcing your talent for their purpose, and therefore all articles are written on the client’s terms.

It may be easier, or harder, depending on which side of the fence you’re on. But freelance writing will definitely give you a more reliable stream of income once you’ve gotten a hang of it. Beginners can start on sites like Odesk.com or Elance.com, where potential clients and freelancers can meet to discuss terms and gain an interface for communication. The more experienced ones eventually gain contacts of their own and can get projects for higher rates.

Articles can range from simple 400-word description of products or 30-word description of hotels, to 4000-word essays, or long sets of blog posts. Formatting and tone of writing can also vary, which will require flexibility and good writing skills. A strong command of grammar and spelling is a basic requirement, along with the ability to consistently meet deadlines. This also includes the patience required for hours and hours of research.

Freelance writing can be as demanding as a day job or even more. However it still allows you to manage your own time and decide which projects to accept and which to set aside for a later time, as long as you meet the expectations of your client.

Beginners can earn about $30 to $50 an hour, while the more serious ones can earn as much as $80 for an hour and even $2000 for a month. 

While these sound like really good money, one must be aware that the life of a freelance writer is anything but easy. Here are a few tips that one should bear in mind when aspiring to become a freelance write.

Get ready for rejections. Because of the increasing level of competitiveness that this industry requires, one must be ready to experience multiple rejections of their articles. Remember that they are not rejecting you as a person, only your work. Only when you are able to resist from taking rejections personally will you be able to hope to make a living out of freelance writing.

Keep your reputation clean. Your reputation as a freelancer can either make or break you. Being able to consistently submit deadlines, work according to your agreement with the client and provide quality work are sure-fire ways to boost your chances of being referred to a new clients.

Socialize. Go out, meet people and socialize. This is another way to develop networks and attract potential clients. Learn to market yourself.

Set your goals. Are you content with making $1000 a month, or would you like to earn $2000 or more? Set your goals according to your family situation, if you find that you can alot more than 8 hours a day for freelance writing and that you would like to earn a significantly larger amount, then you should go for higher paying clients and better writing gigs.

Seek help. Hundreds of websites are available for freelance writers who would like to improve their craft or would like to get a hang of the technical matters involved in the trade. Take advantage of these groups in order to meet fellow writers and keep your self motivated.

Self-discipline, persistence and passion are all needed to survive the world of freelance writing. Are you up for the challenge?

E-Book Publishing

“If there’s a book to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison

If you are a book lover or enthusiast, at one point of your life, you may have dreamed of publishing your own book and being a world-renowned author. You might have sniggered at the thought back then because getting published seemed too far-fetched and ambitious. What if you learned that you can now be a full-fledged author of your own book for real?

The landscape for book-reading has changed quickly since 2012, when e-books outsold hardbound covers for the first time. More and more people have been turning to e-books because of their easy accessibility and portability. In no time, self-published authors gained popularity as well. Digital publishers are making it unbelievably easy for people to publish their own books, and many are taking advantage of this opportunity. Several authors are finding themselves easily selling a thousand e-books a month and are definitely outselling their hardbound counterparts.

If you have an idea sitting in the dark corners of your mind for quite some time, now is the best time to write that e-book, and who knows, it might just give you your first million! Here’s a rundown how:

Write. There’s an initial draft that is basically your brain spilled over pages of chaos, a review draft that finally organizes your thought and develops what you really want to say, and the polished editorial draft ready for publishing.

This is of course the most important part of the process because without publish-worthy content, your book will not sell a dime. Focus your thoughts and define your goal straight up—would you like to entertain, to inform or to inspire?

Formatting. This involves making use of the digital publisher format for your e-book and coming up with a cover. The design of the cover is critical for people to take interest in your e-book. Take note that it also must be attractive even as a thumbnail because that’s how your e-book will initially be presented.

A lot of self-published authors try to design their own covers with awful results. It is recommended to hire a professional cover designer to create a more polished look for your book. If you’re going to earn thousands of dollars from it, you might as well invest, right?

Publish and Promote. Head over to your digital publisher, login to your account and follow the pre-defined steps to publish your e-book. You must have your tax info ready for royalties and legality purposes.

Pricing is a very important aspect. Most e-books are priced at $2.99 to $9.99, however, it is found that most readers buy e-books at the $2.99 to $5.99 price range. Price it too high and no one will buy it, but if you price it too low you may not gain enough profit.

There are many digital publishers out there like Nook, iBooks, and Smashwords, however, the leading e-book publisher is Amazon because they have already established themselves as one of the most credible sites for online transactions. The intensive feedback system is top of its class, and they help to extend the reach of your book even to people who have no idea who you are.

Promoting the book is critical to the success of your e-book because no one will buy it if they don’t that it exists. Make extensive use of social media, offer incentives for every purchase, or advertise it in online forums and blogs. Take advantage of the digital nature of e-books to spread awareness. It may take a lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it.

Publishing e-books is a great way to leave a legacy on your passion or expertise. Now is the best time to do it!

Handmade Love

“That's the thing with handmade items. They still have the person's mark on them, and when you hold them, you feel less alone.” – Aimee Bender

In an era of everything instant and digital, handmade items are regaining their charm and making a comeback. Handmade and custom made items are cool because one knows that they are almost always made with love and are very unique. If you are the kind of person who loves to tinker with things to come up with grand creations, the good news is you can finally sell it somewhere else aside from your garage.

Etsy.com is quite like an indie-store for everything handmade, vintage and awesome. It sells items ranging from paintings, jewelries, accessories, custom-made clothing, vintage toys, craft tools and a whole lot of whatnots. All are vintage, custom-made and lovable. It has created a niche of its own because it can be quite difficult to sell these items on other online shops considering the overwhelming competition with goods that aren’t even in the same category. Etsy screens the items that they sell in order to stay true to their niche, making it easier for sellers to find their real market.

Other stores where you can sell handmade goods include BigCartel, Ribbon, and Project Wonderful.

You can of course also use social media to advertise your creations and get orders for them. Facebook pages are now very popular not just for companies but also for independent sellers because of its extensive reach. You can also use your page to advertise garage sales if you insist doing it old school.

Handmade love can actually earn you more love in return. In cash and in kind.

Kicking Things up with Kickstarter

“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.” – Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO

In 2009, three people launched an online phenomenon that helped bring back faith in humanity—a crowdfunding venue called Kickstarter. In a nutshell, the creator turns to his audience to fund his project and shares it to them as it launches. It’s that simple!

Let’s say you had a particularly interesting product, movie, video, book or game in mind; you take the proposal to Kickstarter including the target budget, then you come up with an awesome marketing pitch and finally encourage people to fund your project. All who fund your project will get tangible rewards or experiences in return. Getting more funding means that more people would like to see your project come to life and will pay for it when it is released.

The competition for funding is definitely tight, and so the most successful projects are the ones that capture the imagination of the people and drive innovation.

Since its launch, Kickstarter is known to have launched 135,000 products and gathered up to $1 billion in pledges. Some of its most popular projects are Pebble the smartwatch, Amanda Palmer’s album "Theater of Evil," a rare specimen museum, the Veronica Mars movie, a portable 3-D printer pen called 3Doodler, and a hoodie that claims to last ten years. The wide array of projects that can be funded has sparked a flood of innovative ideas as people now have hope that their ideas can come to life even without the backing of huge sponsors.

Similar crowdsourcing groups can be found like Indiegogo and GoFundMe.

Crowdsourcing has its own troubles, as delays in hitting the deadlines may prevent the release of the funds, and failure to follow the strict guidelines may cause disqualification of the project. However, all things considered, it is still one of the most desirable models for launching that big idea that you may have been toying with for quite a while.

Crowdsourcing allows you to dream big with the whole world behind your back.

Why Not Sell Yourself?

"Everyone has talent at 25. The difficulty is to have it at 50.” – Edgar Degas

Before your mind fills with images of a red light district, that is not the kind of selling that you will learn here.

Some people are good in writing, others are master creators, and thus they have products that they can package and sell. But what if your ‘product’ is yourself? You may be a singer, a dancer, an actress, or a highly reliable consultant or agent. While others may make use of real companies to propel themselves to greatness, the increasing appeal of the internet can help you to package yourself and offer your talents to people armed only by a working internet connection and your wits.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Youtube have been instrumental in making a name out of entertainment greats like Justin Bieber and Boyce Avenue. If you are passionate about performing, then you can take videos of yourself, with the help of friends for production value, and publish it on Youtube. Google Adsense can be displayed on YouTube videos to earn a couple of dollars when viewers click on ads while viewing your video. The competition is stiff as almost everyone has a YouTube account, but the quality of your videos will spell the difference. Of course if your videos go viral, you might even find yourself in TV shows and gain more performing gigs in the future.

Monetizing with Google Adsense can also work for tutorial videos. This is for people who would like to share how-tos to people who are too lazy to read the manual or for other technical matters. In fact, a growing number of lecturers are now uploading their tutorials on YouTube for everyone’s consumption. You can also take advantage of this medium to recommend any upcoming book or training session that you may have in order to generate more money.

The way you package yourself is very critical when your selling point is your personal services and talents. Your image must be consistent to your brand and you must be able to utilize all forms of media in order to generate more views and traffic.

There is never a lack for people who pay for great talent. Believe in yourself!

Technical Knowledge Need Not Go to Waste

“Concern for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.” – Albert Einstein

So you earned a bachelors degree, yet you find yourself doing a clerical job. You are raring to go out and put your education to good use because what would all those sleepless nights and sky-high tuition fees be good for? The internet offers an opportunity to make use of your technical knowledge while keeping your current job. That is one of the beauties of freelancing.

There is a great demand for people who are able to breakdown highly technical matters in layman terms or those who are able to provide financial services to people managing small businesses. Since small and medium industries are also on the rise, they would want to outsource some of their highly technical works to freelance consultants who will not charge as high as professional consulting firms. This is a highly targeted market and therefore will have less competition as compared to more general freelancing fields like article writing.

This is also a great opportunity for you to brush up on your technical know-how while earning from your less-challenging-but-higher-paying-job. Once you have established your reputation as a technical freelancer, you may find yourself earning enough to work on it full time.

Read on to find some types of technical knowledge that can be put to use for earning extra money online.

The more specialized your field, the more profitable it becomes.

Web Industry Freelancing

“Content doesn’t win. Optimized content wins.” – Li Evans

With almost all stores and transactions now going online, there is a great demand for people who are able to deal with the more technical aspects to securing their online presence. Web professionals are quite like the carpenters, civil engineers and architects of the online world. And so if you have a good command of this field and would like to earn extra online, here are a couple of things you can do:

Create tutorials. There are alot of web enthusiasts who would love to learn how to set up a website, create a good blog design or deal with servers. One can set up a blog and provide quality and targeted tutorials and earn by blog advertising, or readers can also pay a fee for your expertise. Just make sure that people get what they pay for. Earnings can range from $50 to $150.

Design web pages and blogs. The design of a website goes beyond what it ‘looks like’, but also deals with the interface and ease of navigation. It takes technical knowledge to correctly configure these. You can offer these services to aspiring bloggers or start up companies.

Selling templates, patterns and icons. If you have a great eye for design and love tinkering with patterns and graphics, you can put up some of your designs for sale. Sites like Themeforest allow you to post your original works, and interested users can buy it directly from the site. This is a great way to produce passive income from your creativity.

Keep in mind though that coming up with profitable designs takes years of experience to pull off as it involves an intricate play of shapes, colors and lines.

Finding bugs. In an era of increasing cybercrime, larger companies are realizing the value of fool-proof software that can prevent hackers from taking advantage of their efforts. Because of this, they offer a hefty amount of cash for people who find vulnerabilities in their codes.

James Forshaw was rewarded $100,000 by Microsoft in 2013 for finding a potential security flaw in one of their softwares. Bugcrowd is a community of similar people specializing in finding coding glitches. It’s pretty much a positive reinforcement for people who have incredible skills in order to put their talents to good use instead of resorting to hacking.

There’s always been a basis to the saying "Geek is the new sexy."

The Art of Domain Flipping

“Everyone lives by selling something.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Think of ‘domains’ as addresses to a house. This refers to the site address of your webpage like www.ilovethisebook.com for example. However, to get this address for yourself, you will have to buy it from web host and domain providers so you could own it. This prevents someone else from the opposite side of the world from putting up a page named www.ilovethisebook.com because that domain name is already yours.

So what if you have gotten so successful and realized that you would like to rename your site to www.ilovethisebooksomuch.com? You will have to buy this domain again and leave your former webpage address to expire. This will allow the happy lady from the opposite side of the world to finally own a website named www.ilovethisebook.com.

Domain flippers work in between these transactions to make profits. You can go through a list of unregistered domain in sites like GoDaddy and look out for expired domain names that may be of great value for someone you know. You can purchase www.ilovethisebook.com for about $70, then send an email to a happy lady who would gladly pay you $200 for it. Bravo! The profit is made!

The key in earning through this method is being observant of current trends and insightful for things that may spark interest among people, purchasing domains while their value is still low, then selling it at a great price when you find it most profitable.

It definitely involves risk as you may encounter having to sell domains for zero profit. However the rewards you get in the process may make this worth a try.

Domain flipping is pretty similar to buying and selling real estate properties.

The Era of Mobile Apps

“Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a primum mobile with an original movement.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

The smartphone and tablet market is now saturated with apps of all shapes and sizes. While smartphone designs and capabilities are all the craze right now, mobile apps are quickly catching up because they allow you to use your phone for several functionalities that the manufacturer wasn’t able to include.

There’s an app that measures your heart rate, an app that reads your horoscope for the day, an app that gives directions, an app that plays dice and not to mention the gazillions of games that are available both in Android’s Playstore and Iphone’s Appstore. The most successful of apps are known to be earning thousands of bucks per month out of user purchases, and believe it or not, Candy Crush is actually earning $947,000 every day. Incredible!

What attracts alot of people is that it is open to everyone with the right amount of tools and knowledge. In spite of the saturated market, people still love to create something that others can use or have fun with, quite similar to publishing e-books. And there’s always that hope of being the next viral thing and waking up a millionaire the next day. Remember Flappy Bird?

Creating a mobile app entails a complicated web of wire framing, data integration, user-interface development and design, server-side logic and user management among others. But the bottom line is to create an app that can delight, entertain or be greatly useful for specific applications.

The interface of the app must be designed in an appealing and engaging manner following the modern laws of design and user-friendliness. It has to be comprehensively tested and refined with zero to minimal bugs.

Android will let your apps launch untested in the Playstore while iPhone requires all apps to undergo a review process that takes about a week. Once it’s out there, your apps will be tested through user reviews and purchases.

One thing that developers forget though is to advertise their apps. This is essential if you really want to earn.

Mobile apps are the next best thing to coming up with your own custom made gadgets, do you agree?

Bookkeeping

“Accounting does not make corporate earnings or balance sheets more volatile. Accounting just increases the transparency of volatility in earnings.” – Diane Garnick

Another technical skill that could be put to use is bookkeeping. This basically entails keeping a clean record of all the cashflow details of a particular company or individual. This includes keeping track of all invoice, receipts, earnings and payables. This is gaining increasing momentum in several countries because more and more entrpreneurs are trying to enter businesses without knowing how to streamline their cashflow. This is critical to businesses because it allows you to keep track of your collectibles and your deadlines. Unmanaged finances will only cost a business more money and bad reputation in the future.

This type of industry is good for people who don’t get bored with numbers, have an eye for detail and an integrity to keep records clean. Various online courses are now being offered for people who would like to get a hang of the industry, but one may require a couple of years of actual training before gaining enough reputation to work as an independent bookkeeper.

Armed with sufficient storage, reliable accounting software, and a great ability to organize, bookkeeping can be a great work-at-home job for people. The average bookkeeper earns $25 to $40 per hour but can also increase depending on work load and location.

Adding tax preparation services can also increase your value as a bookkeeper, and so does an accounting background. Having business cards and referrals from former satisfied clients will also boost your reputation.

Bookkeeping lets you use your love for numbers to save someone else’s business.

Stock Trading

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett

If you find yourself with more saved cash and an appetite for risk, stock trading may a good venture for you. To put it simply, stock trading involves buying shares of certain companies for a particular price, then selling them afterwards for a profit when the value of these companies rise.

While it does sound easy, a comprehensive research must be done before one engages in stock trading as it’s not uncommon for people to lose their hard-earned money when the economy stumbles and the prices of companies suddenly crash. Smarter traders can get profits of as much as 600% in three years, but this is backed by long years of experience and ‘feel’ of the stock market.

Here are a couple of tips to earn extra money from stock trading.

Be in it for the long haul. Patience has always been a virtue, and the same holds true for stock trading. You will need to learn to apply the “buy at the low and sell at the high” law, and it requires alot of patience to keep yourself from buying just because everyone else is buying because chances are the price may be a little too high, and it will affect your profits.

You also cannot expect a 30% profit right away in your first year of trading, as it may take five years for you to truly realize your profits.

Buy great companies. One of the things that make stock trading a hit is the fact that your earnings depend on how well your company performs. That being said, a great deal of research must be done on a company before you decide to buy a piece of it. Does it have a good management team? Does it have years of experience to show for it’s stability? How profitable is it? Many experienced investors say that you should only buy a company that you truly know about for you to understand how it will be affected by key events.

Diversify. Another good tip is to not keep your eggs in the same basket. Do not focus all your investment on a single company to keep yourself from crashing with it when unexpected events take place. It is always a good practice to invest in various industries to create a buffer of your investments.

Stock investing is for the bold of heart.

Look Around You: Offline Items for Online Profits

“The most unprofitable item ever manufactured is an excuse.” – John Mason

Think all the previous ideas in this book are too hard for you? The following chapters will lead you to finding more ways to earn good cash online without having skill sets or talents required.

How could this be possible? Well look around you. That old china from your great--grandparents. Do you really need that? You think someone else would love it?

How about that extra room that no one’s been sleeping in for the past ten years because your son has already moved out of the house? Would you mind ‘renting’ it out?

Or would you mind buying a random stranger a cup of coffee?

The outrageous connectivity that the internet allows us also brings forth great innovative ways for people to earn money by performing the most mundane tasks. Go on and read about these novel ideas!

Once again, no effort is too small for the internet.

If You’re Done With It, Sell It!

“Salesmanship is limitless. Our very living is selling. We are all salespeople.” – James Cash Penney

One of the things that we have to deal in life is clutter. No matter how we try to clean and reorganize, life just has a way of filling our houses with so much clutter we can hardly move. Sometimes clutter is related to the personality of the owner, as the more sentimental ones are less likely to let go of their old items.

Decluttering your room feels like decluttering your own life and is highly recommended especially for people who are going through rough patches for its therapeutic effect. A very profitable way of going about this is to actually sell your pre-loved items over at the internet. Well if you could actually earn from it, then you wouldn’t need to go through periods of drama just to get rid of junk, right?

Amazon , e-Bay and Craiglist are some of the most popular sites to sell your second hand goodies. To maximize your profits, you wouldn’t want to just throw it over the web. Here are some tips that you may want to keep in mind:

Sort your clutter to things that are plain garbage, worthless and those that may have a considerable resale value. Does it work? Is it intact except for a few millimeters thick of dust? No matter how old it is, someone out there may make good use of that.

Take note of the pricing. Check out how much it costs brand new, how much it costs used and then base your pricing from there. Restoring the item to a good condition may allow you to add a couple of dollars to the price.

Gadgets and electronics are best sold in the Amazon Marketplace. The same goes for home appliances. Just keep track of the cut that Amazon may take during pricing, as it can be pretty steep.

Textbooks can also be sold in Amazon Marketplace and Ebay, but more targeted buyers can be found at Chegg and Half.com.

Do not forget to keep in mind shipping costs during pricing, and ensure to keep your goods in good condition prior shipment. On time delivery and quality will improve your reputation as an online seller.

Sometimes the best way to let go is to find your treasure a new owner.

Space is Money

“Come live in my heart, and pay no rent.” – Samuel Lover

To again prove that you need not look far to make money, several people are now discovering that they can go online to offer their spare rooms for people who cannot afford to rent hotels. Airbnb is one of the leading sites offering this service, and if you do have a spare room, you might just make money out of this one. This is profitable for people who live in the city or in known tourist destinations and is another way to earn passive income for rent without necessarily purchasing a brand new home.

However, online renting can be risky for users because the actual scenario may turn out differently from what was agreed on their lease. Airbnb tries it’s best to provide safe transactions between lessor and lessee, however, this is still the internet, and sometimes people just can’t keep their word. This is where the feedback system helps alot, in order to warn people of unpleasant incidents and the like. Here are a couple of tips to ensure a good reputation as a host and gain more earnings from leasing your space online.

Grant your guests complete information. Directions on how to get to your place, or even tips to the must-see places, give plus points to you as a host.

Keep it tidy.  Guests would want to see their room just the way they saw it in the internet, so cleanliness and tidiness is a must. A trashbin for their use would also be appreciated.

Comfortable rooms. It’s very stressful to find yourself rushing to the bathroom in the middle of the night only to realize that it’s too disgusting to use and does not have a tissue. Simple things like this make all the difference to a guest.

Guest space. Your place may not be a hotel, but you’re still making a business out of accomodations, so at the very least you may want to designate their space in the kitchen, the fridge and make sure that they’re comfortable.

Transparency. If you are going to convince anyone to live on your place, you first have to show them that you can be trusted. This can be achieved by using a legitimate photo for your profile and listing down as many items as possible about your room for rent to paint a complete picture.

Safety. You are allowed to refuse guests if you’re not comfortable about them. At the end of the day it’s still your place, and you have the right to protect what’s yours.

You can also find spaces for rent on Craiglist and other websites. Park In My House and Park Let are similar services that rent out parking spaces instead of rooms.

Renting out space can be a great way to maximize your home and earn passive income.

No Errand Too Small

“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

The last in our list deals with something so mundane but is very much a part of our daily lives—errands. These are the small tasks that we need to accomplish regularly to keep a household or a sane life going. With an increasingly fast-paced world however, some people find themselves too busy with their schedules to even care about cleaning their house, paying their bills, fixing their faucet or the like. These people are actually willing to pay for someone else to do it so they could move on to more things that are way up in their priority lists.

That’s where you come in; he get’s his errands done while you walk away with extra money. Everybody happy! This trend is also becoming a hit among elders who need extra help to go about their daily activities.

The average pay for this service is about $20 to $40 per hour. Some errand-runners can even earn as much as $200 a day for these.  Another good thing about it is the fact that gaining good reputation as an errand-runner can also earn you referrals for higher paying jobs.

Websites like TaskRabbit provide a place where potential employers and errand-runners meet and negotiate. However, this is still limited to cities in the United States. Even if you do not live in these areas, you can still post the services you offer in social media sites or via Gigwalk.

Beyond the triviality of these tasks, it is the fact that you are able to help others carry on with their lives that make these gigs interesting.

How to Apply Key Ideas for the Best Results?

The possibilities for earning on the internet are practically endless. Depending on your personality and interest, one or more of these options will surely work for you. Go on and explore!

Look up websites that reward small tasks like pay-to-click, pay-to-review and paid surveys. Compare rates, user interface and customer feedback to filter through hundreds of options. Once you have signed up for three to five sites, make it a habit to allot at least 15 to 30 minutes per day to view ads and answer surveys. These may give significant earnings at first, but your daily efforts will eventually accumulate to something more.

Exercise your writing muscles; start up a blog! This is a great way to reacquaint yourself with the idea of regular writing, and once have brushed up on your grammar, skill and the various formats of web content, you can start signing up for freelancing sites and explore the world of freelance writing. Who knows; you may even move on to write your very first e-book!

Come up with a list of your talents and activities that you love doing. If you have some hidden masterpieces in your bedroom that you think could make some cash, take a good photo of it and post it on Etsy.com. Or maybe take a video of yourself grooving to the latest dance craze. It may feel silly, but hey, just have fun!

If you are equipped with technical training from various fields, try to look over at Elance.com or Odesk.com and check out people who might be looking for people of with your qualifications. Help them solve their problems, and you might just enjoy earning from it.

Look around you and sort out some valuables that you no longer use. You might just earn a huge amount from disposing all those dusty furniture and appliances that you never use anyway.

Help people out. It’s not bad to ask for a fee for helping especially when you’re asked to do it regularly, and you’re not over-charging anyway. It might even pave the way to bigger and better gigs!

How To Make Your Own Video Game

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

Your Debut Into The World Of Making Video Games

Laying The Foundations: The First Stages In Video Game Conceptualization

From Conceptualization: Mastering The Art Of Choosing A Video Game Creation Software/Engine

Building Your Characters And Environment (The Actual Creation)

Debugging Your Game

How To Publish And Market Your Indie Video Game

How to Apply What You've Learned

How Will This Book Help You?

Game development is an industry on its own. Did you know that? Most people think that the gaming industry is still in its infancy. Actually, the gaming industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world thanks to our sedentary and lonely lifestyles; we would rather play video games than spend time outdoors or even talk to strangers on our morning and evening commute! Did you know that 58% of Americans play video games? Did you also know that the gaming industry in the world has more than doubled to close to $100 billion in the last 3 years?

The truth is that Americans spent close to $30 billion on video games in 2014 alone. Actually, America stands in the shadows compared to Asia. You can only guess the stats for this region (hint: it is more than double of the US figures). All this is well and good. So, what does this mean for the budding video game maker programmer? It means an audience is waiting to try out your games, it means that you can make money from selling video games and it means that you can develop a large fan base in the process. So, how can you make your own game when you have never made one? This book will teach you everything to get started in making video games. You will learn:

How to conceptualize your video game (laying the foundations)

In this step, we shall learn that full steam ahead is not necessarily the best approach to creating good video games. Creating a good video game will demand some conceptualization time. I have to point out that you may already have a visual concept you want to turn into a game and may see this point as an unnecessary one. However, it is a point I would not recommend skipping; it may be the master key in your video game creation success.

Choosing a video game creation software/engine

After we are through with the conceptualization, we shall then move to learning all about video gaming software. Which one is best suited for your game creation? I have included this chapter because in a world of many choices, it is easy to get confused. I should point out that you do not have to restrict yourself to the recommendations in this chapter. Remember that video game creation is all about being intuitive and experimentation.

Building your characters and environment (the actual creation)

This may as well be the crux of our book. Here, we shall look at how to do the actual creation. We shall also look at what you need to have in mind and, what it takes to create an awesome video game that gamers around the world will like. After we are done with this, we shall swiftly move to:

Tinkering with the game (debugging and other important things)

In this corner of our learning process, we shall look at the importance of debugging your video game before publishing. We shall look at some of the more fundamental things you need to do to make the game stand out amongst many.

How to publish and market your indie video game

Here, I will show you all the steps involved in self-publishing your indie game. I will also touch on how to market your video game to increase your user base and dollars in the bank.

Your Debut Into The World Of Making Video Games

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.”

– Joseph Campbell

I am very tempted to tell you that the video game industry is a gold mine waiting for you to prospect, and indeed, it is. I am also tempted to tell you that video game creation is only a success story only for big game companies, but alas, I will not. Why? Because I would be telling you a lie. In the interconnected technology driven world, which is where we live, anyone, and I mean anyone can create a video game.

Do not get me wrong; I am not necessarily proclaiming video game creation success to all. I am merely stating a fact that thousands of people across the globe have been able to make their own games. Here is another fact; long gone are the days when video games had only two platforms: computers and gaming consoles. Today, with the advent of mobile technology, video gaming has gone mobile. With 98% of the world’s population being owners of a mobile phone, it is only right that the video game industry would take advantage of this. Again, today, there are more mobile phone based games than there are computers or gaming consoles in the world. What does this mean?

It means that the fruits are ready for the picking and that the pickings are in plenty. It means that if there ever were a time to get into video games production, now would be it. Contrary to popular belief, and media hype, you do not need to be a geek with ‘mad’ coding or programming skills to create a video game (this does help though). Anyone, even you, can create a video game. All that you require to create a game today is a bit of knowhow, a lot of passion, and tons of patience. I am not promising that your video game will be an overnight sensation. I am also not promising that the journey will be easy. In fact, it may be very hard. What I am promising you is that by the time we are through, you will be in a better position to create video games, and well on your way to making some money from your video game creations.

*Key point/action step

Although it is possible to make your own video games, you need creativity, passion, and patience if you are to become a success story.

Laying The Foundations: The First Stages In Video Game Conceptualization

"Stay a while, and listen!"

- Diablo II

Before you get started, you need to conceptualize first. What is at the core of your game? What platform bests suit you? These are just a few of the questions you have to ask yourself and answer them before you can get started. As stated earlier, you may find this step unnecessary especially if you are not in it for the long haul or if you are just looking for a new skill to learn. However, if you intend to let your game out into the world, you cannot overlook this step. Why? Because this step is the one that will give your game some uniqueness or competitive edge. Additionally, without this building block, it is easy to fall prey to the natural human trait of second-guessing your substantially game changing video game ideas. I do not have to tell you that once you fall into a second-guessing rut, you can remain there for a couple of years.

Conceptualization is not a foreign concept, nor is it synonymous with video game creation. It is an accepted way of creating things. To conceptualize your game, you need to visualize the kind of game you want. Of course, you must compound your visualization to your skills as a designer. On the other hand, I have to point out that limiting your conceptualization may limit your creativity. Therefore, let the creativity run wild. If there are some things you find you cannot create, you can always outsource them to freelance developers. At this point, I feel it is only right to point out that in the beginning, keep your expectations in check. Do not expect to create video graphics or 3D graphics and worlds that can rival your favorite video game. To be perfectly honest with you, at this point, there are a few things definitely out of your reach.

The conceptualization stage is the correct time to map out some of the inner workings of your game. In this stage, you must set out the kind of game you aim to create (will it be a single shooter, RPG, Race, Adventure?). You must also determine your budget (do you intend to hire someone to help? If so, how much are you willing to pay?). You may also want to write down a basic plot of your game. How long will it be? How many stages/levels will it have? The basic plot of your game does not have to be 20-page manuscript; it can be a simple but succinct document detailing the goal of the game. While conceptualizing, you must also take into account your skill level. As I have already told you, at this point, there are some video game creation aspects still out of your knowledge base. However, I must point out that skills vary in different people. If you have some coding skills, you may be in a better position to create more involved, graphic and function intense video games. Use the conceptualization process to define your current skill sets and the skill sets you may need to acquire to create a vibrant marketable and downloadable game.

In the conceptualization stage, what I prefer to call the laying the foundation stage, one of the more difficult tasks you must accomplish is choosing a genre. I would say that the difficulty emanates from the fact that there are many genres to choose from and most of them are very profitable. This makes it a bit difficult to zero in on one. Fortunately, you can make the process easier by doing tons of research. In general, and despite the fact that each game has its own special niche, games fall into about 14 categories. Research all this niche markets and look at what other people in the segment you choose are doing with their games.

Like building the foundations of a skyscraper, the conceptualization process of a video game is a very long one. After you map out the concept of your game, do not relax just yet; there is still some more work left in conceptualization.

Next, you have to zero in on a platform. Unlike in former years where you could create video games for two platforms i.e. video game consoles and computer, today, you can create a video game for many platforms. However, I must point out that most platforms have different creation developments. The platform you opt for will dictate the development of your game. This is because the platform you choose will influence factors such as the graphics of the game and how users control it. Typically, most smartphones operate using touch or tilt; computer games use keyboards and mouse, while video consoles use a game pad. 

Here is something I feel you should also know. When you are brainstorming your video game concept ideas, you must make sure that your concept has some features. In my own view, and as someone who has been creating video games for a living for close to 3 years now, features make your games unique amongst others in the same category or genre. Remember that your game must progress in stages. Each stage is itself a concept on its own. Therefore, you explicitly must define the feature of that concept. To make a comprehensive game, you should aim for not less than 5-15. Once you have a visual of the concept and the features, jot them down as actionable sentences. For example:

Concept: Create a weed farm

Feature: Create and manage a thriving Marijuana farm.

Concept: Damage from Marijuana loving caterpillars

Feature: Struggle to survive the Caterpillar invasion while trying to save your crop.

I hope you get the general picture. Writing down the concepts and features will help you flesh them out individually when you get down to writing your design document. It also helps keep your ideas towards a central goal. This eliminates side concepts and features from creeping in.

*Key point/action step

After this hard work, (conceptualization is the hardest part) breathe a sigh of relief. Take some time off. Place the entire concept document out of sight and think not about it for a period. This step is a necessary one. It gives you some fresh perspective, which helps you analyze the viability of your concept

From Conceptualization: Mastering The Art Of Choosing A Video Game Creation Software/Engine

"To put it boldly, it is the attempt at a posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization"

- Albert Einstein

After writing up your concept, hashing it out, and reflecting on it, it is time to fuel that enthusiasm train. Unless you are a serious video game creator with a few thousand dollars to fork out, and some experience in pro programming, Unreal 4 Engine is not for you albeit being one of the best video game creation engines. For the rest of us, who do not want to start from scratch, neither do some serious coding, we must rely on the help of software. Fortunately, the web is full of free and premium video game creation software. What I have found is that in a world of choice, most people are unsure of what to choose. It is important to point out that most of the software available each has different features, merits, and demerits. Your choice software is entirely dependent on your game creation needs and level of expertise. I must also point out that you can do much using the available software that we will discuss shortly.

Before we move on to that, you are probably wondering why you should use an engine. Why not program the game by hand. I can give you a couple of reasons. However, I shall give you just one substantial reason. Engines provide a host of developmental tools, which aid and simplify the creation process. Furthermore, they are time efficient and less complex compared to hand programming. An engine also makes it easier to manipulate your AI (artificial intelligence), sound, and graphics.

Before I give you that list of software, I have to point out that some software are best suited for 2D graphics while others work best for 3D graphics. Above all, and regardless of your engine choice, most engines do come with tutorials to guide you in usage and creation. Here are the engines you can try to use.

Game maker: Platform-Windows and Mac OS X

The game maker engine is a product from YOYO games. It is a comprehensive engine well suited to help you create, beautiful games without necessarily being a programming whiz kid. However, the program does require some getting used to (learning curve). Fortunately, the program does have a tutorial, manual, and a very vibrant user base and community ready and willing to provide you with answers to pressing questions. Unfortunately, only the light version, which does not allow for more robust features such as export, is free. For the premium version, you may have to pay up in upwards of $500. Additionally, I have found the engine interface to be a bit lacking in terms of design. One of the more outstanding features of the software, both the free version and the premium version, is that you can port your game to different operating systems such as android, iOS, desktop, and HTML 5 (Web) with no basic knowledge in scripting or coding. This makes it an outstanding tool for a beginner.

Construct 2: Platform- Windows

If you liked Game Maker, then you will most definitely like Construct 2. Like Game Maker, Construct 2 is also a premium engine that comes with its own user base, tutorials, manual, and active community. Unlike Game Maker, Construct 2 does not offer a free version. Instead, they offer a free 30-day trial of the full engine. Because the engine base is HTML 5, it is the best alternative to web animation tools such as Adobe Flash or Java. Using this engine, you can create beautiful 2D games that you can easily port to Windows, Linux, and Mac PC’s, as well as Firefox Marketplace, Chrome Web store, and the iOS and Android app stores. This means your games can be available on many different platforms. Unlike Game Maker, Construct 2 has an appealing and robust user interface. Additionally, the engine has an in-built event system that allows you to instantly program actions and movements. The premium software costs about $120. However, if you want to use the commercial package of the engine, you will have to pay $400.

Stencyl: Platform- Linux/OS X/Windows

Stencyl is probably the most popular engine. More than 120,000 developers, with over 10,000 games published games across the globe used it. In its simple form, the engine does not require any programming skills. However, if you are tech-savvy, you can write code within the program to create more advanced features and functions. The engine has a drag-and-drop feature that adds to the easy use of the engine. Unlike all the other engines we have looked at thus far, Stencyl is not an all-out by. Instead, it works on a subscription basis, a $200 annual subscription basis; the $200 is for the most expensive (and comprehensive) package.

The engine offers cheaper discounts for students and game design experimenters. Because of the subscription nature of the engine, developers tout it as the easiest way to make some quick money (this means that the engine is commercially driven), rather than it being a fun way to experiment with video game designing. This does not mean that once you create your game, you have to submit it to them for sponsorship (which they offer)!

Flixel: Platform-Open source

Flixel is an open source video game creation engine. This means that regardless of how you intend to use it, (for commercial or personal purposes) it is completely free. This engine is very versatile. You can use it to create a wide range of 2D vector animations. The software itself runs on the backbone of ActionScript 3, an object-oriented programming language. ActionScript 3 adds a wide range of development tools to the program. These tools allow you to customize the engine. If you are looking to create filmstrip games or ‘epic’ 2D animation with side-scrollers, this is the ‘it’ engine. However, I have to point out that despite its versatility, Flixel cannot handle 3D modelling. On the other hand, I also have to point out that the tile-maps at your disposal in the engine are fulfilling and intuitive. Additionally, the engine has a plethora of camera functions; the in-built save game function and the path finding design all make this software one worth trying. Because the software is open–source, it has a bit of a C-style programming learning curve. I must point out that this should not stop you from using the engine. Why not? Because the open-source nature of the platform also means it has a wide user base and a thriving community.

Unity: Platform- OS X/Linux/Windows

If your aim is to make outstanding 3D video games on a budget, Unity is the choice for you. Unity is an outstanding fully-fledged design/development suite. The engine has a free version for personal use. However, for the commercial version, you must pay $1,500 i.e. if your aim is to create commercially viable games. Let not the money worry you, as the free version of the engine is something to behold too. The software, even the free version, can port to up to 10 different platforms not limited to mobile and desktop. It is also capable of delivering crispy clear video and audio.

*Key point/action step

Regardless of which engine/software you opt for, you will need to familiarize yourself with it fully if you really want to derive the most benefits. Therefore, I recommend you create your video game with a starter mentality. Additionally, if there are functions you are not sure of, turn to the online user community. They (community members) have a wealth of knowledge and are always willing to share

Building Your Characters And Environment (The Actual Creation)

"You cannot forge yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one"

- Henry David Thoreau

Now that we have looked at some of the software/engines available at your disposal, it is time to create your game. I will presume your engine of choice is one you can comfortably use. This is very important because creating the game will demand a lot of practice, tweaking, re-tweaking, and implementation.

If you are a video game enthusiast, you know this: video games operate under the shadows of characters and interactive environment. What does this mean? Let me give you an example using the concepts and features examples we created earlier. In the Marijuana garden concept and feature example we used earlier, the environment is the garden, while the character is the ‘weed’ farmer and any other character you may choose to introduce. In a more popular game like Mario, Mario is the character and the environment is where the game play takes place. Each of your characters and environments must have a specific purpose and design. This is important because as the user moves from stage to stage, they have to see changes in the environment and difficulty.

In reality, each video game developer has their own way and standards of designing a memorable cast and environment. Regardless, the simplest way to create characters is to sketch them out in rudimentary form. This is the first step before creating hashed-out characters in a more graphic intense software such as Adobe Photoshop.

I must also point out that hashing out your characters and the art that accompanies them will depend on the scope of your game. Some games will require intense character defining sessions while some characters could be easy to create. In addition, characters that integrate color will definitely take some time to create. Because you are an indie game designer, keep your expectations in check (unless you value yourself as the next Christian Allen, the creator of Halo: Reach and Ghost Recon). You must also accept that as an indie creator, creating a complete, operational game will take time in comparison to a team of video game developers. On the other hand, if you are not feeling inspired to create your own assets (I do not see why you should not be), you can opt to use a variety of free-to-use assets available on the World Wide Web and many game development communities. If you opt to follow this path, ensure that your use of the asset does not violate the free-to-use terms or someone’s copyright.

After you create your assets and their playing environment, you need to integrate your audio into the game play. This means that if your game has some special effects, you need to record those. Again, if your game does not require many specialized audio effects, you can troll the internet for free resources.

Have you ever played a video game that does not integrate sound? Well, boring does not even begin to describe it! Sound plays a central part in making your video game more friendly and fun. Therefore, you cannot and must not, overlook sound. Additionally, how you choose to use and present your sound is also important. Sound does not only mean the background music; it also means the character’s speech, and the fighting effects (e.g. whoosh for a sword). Fortunately, you do not require complicated studio equipment to record quality sound effects. You can use free but powerful music creation software.

With your characters, environment, and sound ready, there is nothing else left but to glue them together into a symphony of art. Chronologically assemble your game and get playing. As you tie your game together, play it. Notice where there is a problem within a game, fix it then go on with playing (this is known as debugging; we shall look at that shortly). If some sounds or some environments do not feel right, remove them. If some areas need better graphics, go back to the drawing board and make them better. Refine everything with precision to make sure that everything, including levels, environments, characters, and sound complement each other and work well together. Your game has to flow from beginning to end. As you are going through this stage, consult your goal statement to make sure that game progression especially in terms of development does indeed match your overall goal (it is very easy to negate from the main goal). More precisely, you should check to make sure that your game adheres to the feature list you created.

Play, tweak, re-play, and tweak your game, until you can see no other tweaking areas.

*Key point/action step

Character, environment, and sound effect form the foundation of game creation. Make sure that you create or use awesome graphics that tell the story of your game and connect with the game user.

Debugging Your Game

" It's not at all important to get it right the first time. It's vitally important to get it right the last time"

- Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

Many game developers will tell you that debugging their game is the least favorite part of game development. Nonetheless, it is the most important part of video game development. Part of the reason why most developers loath it is because it takes time and some coding expertise. Before we head into the debugging part of our learning, I hope you have taken some time off after finishing the game you created in earlier chapter. If so, let us jump right in.

Debugging is the process of finding flaws in the game play and code, and fixing it. Do not think that your game does not have code just because you created your video game in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) environment. It does. In fact, the truth is that the environments we have seen do the coding behind the scenes. Once you save the game, you can access the code. Debugging in this case is similar to the tweak and re-tweaks we performed in the chapter above. In case you are wondering what these bugs are, bugs are vulnerabilities within any software, program or code. You can go about debugging in many ways. You can opt to send the game to a community of programmers. You can opt to do the debugging yourself, or you can opt to hire someone with some experience in coding to help you. Either way, coding is necessary before you publish and market your game. Here are a few reasons why you cannot overlook the debugging part.

#- Bugs within the game compromise usability. Therefore, finding them before you publish your game is important to make sure that your users have sound and exciting interaction with the game.

#- Finding bugs is more or less like finding a needle in a haystack (I have never tried it but your guess, on its difficulty, is as good as mine). When you do find these little bugs, the sense of accomplishment that washes over you cements your believe in your ‘mad’ game creation skills.

#- Debugging helps you identify possible revenue loopholes.

#- It also helps you weed out and protect against worms that search for vulnerable systems for exploitation. In the same breath, debugging helps protect your game from the ever-present threat of viruses and malware.

#- Debugging your program also helps protect your reputation as a game developer. How so? When you create bug-riddled games, your customers i.e. user base will take to the internet to complain about it. This can damage your reputation as a video game designer and have an impact on your sales and downloads.

*Key point/action step

Some bugs are hard to find in the first try. Some only manifest after hours of game play. If you do not find any bugs after debugging, launch the game and debug as you develop the game some more.

How To Publish And Market Your Indie Video Game

"Marketing is a contest for people’s attention"

-Seth Godin

With more and more developers publishing games out to the hungry lot of gamers, generating downloads and sales for your games is harder than it has ever been. Do not despair; here are some tips to publish your game and get it noticed.

Publishing your game

Like any other store in the category of apps, your best chance for success in publishing your app is variety. Depending on the platform of your indie game, submit it to as many stores as you can find. This will ensure that more people get a chance to view or download it. Additionally, when publishing your video game, make sure that you fill out every single detail.

When you visit a store for submission, there is usually a game heading (what most of us call Meta tag), a game description, and overview. Make sure to fill out all the fields. Also, make sure that you fill everything out correctly using keyword rich sentences. What do I mean? If you are filling out the heading of your game, make sure it is something relevant to the scope of your game. If you are filling the description and overview field, view it as a marketing platform. It is your chance to tell users why they should download or purchase your game and what makes it different. Publishing your game is very standard and uncomplicated.

A key point you must note, and a mistake that many developers make is that they fail to post their game in the right category within the store. If your game is a racing game, make sure you specify the category to increase your chances of discovery.

Marketing your game

Marketing your game is more difficult than it sounds. Moreover, it is the single most important thing to do if you are not creating video games for the fun of it. Therefore, you must create a marketing plan. A video game marketing plan is no different from any other product-marketing plan. You must set out well-defined goals and timelines by which you want to achieve those goals. You must also set out a marketing budget and resources (time, workforce etc.). If you do not have the money to hire someone to market the game for you, here are a few things you can do to enhance your total download and sales revenue.

Use social media- Social media is a vibrant market place that may have great positive effect on the total sale and download of your game. If you have many friends on social media, share the game with them first and ask them to share the game with others. This is especially effective if the game is a free version. If your video game has a price tag on it, share the link to the video game to all your friends and ask them to download. Additionally, social media also has very many developer groups. Join a few of them and contribute to topics. When you have racked up some points, tell the members that you just developed a game and you would love their support. In most cases, programmers are supportive of each other and you will get some sales.

Use Forums- Forums are also another way to drive up your sales and downloads. They are especially effective because they provide a dedicated user base. For example, if your game is a racing one, you can join a developer’s forum that caters to the racing niche. Here, you will find many people willing to download and try your game.

Create a website- This is very critical to your marketing. Most users will often times visit the website of a game they want to buy before they download it. They do this so that they can get more information on the game. Additionally, owning a website dedicated to your game sends a message of professionalism. Additionally, a website gives you more play with keywords and search engine optimization. This can be a gold mine for download and potential sales.

*Key point/action step

If you are developing a video game for fun, you can simply publish your game and wait for users to try it. However, if you are doing it for a piece of the $97 billion, you must invest some money into marketing).

How to Apply What You've Learned

We have learnt a lot. It is relatively easy to forget what we have learnt. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to simplify all the above chapters into five actionable steps you can follow and apply what you have learnt.

Be patient- Conceptualizing a game is only the first step. After this comes all the other stuff you will need to make your game run well. Therefore, do not be in a rush. The billion dollar industry has nowhere to go but up. Take you time and check your enthusiasm and expectations.

Choose an engine you can comfortably use-The type of software you opt for depends on your level of expertise. However, the engine you choose to work with is crucial to your game development. If you choose a software you cannot use comfortably, you are shooting yourself in the foot even before you begin.

Create vibrant characters and exciting environments- Your game characters and environment will be the main interface users will interact with every time they load the game. To impress the users and keep them interested, ensure that your assets, environment, sound effects and levels are all creatively created to enthrall the user.

If you fail to debug, you are setting yourself up for failure- Debugging your commercially viable game is akin to taking an insurance policy. If you fail to debug the game, expect some serious complaints from the unfortunate few who buy or download it. If you are not a skilled programmer, hire someone to debug the video game. This way, you are sure your video game has no revenue leaks.

Market the heck out of it- In the digital world we are living in, marketing does not have to cost you a fortune. By using the free resource that you probably use on a daily basis, such as social media, you can give your video game the extra power it needs to stand out from the competition and curve a niche for your games. For some extra push, invest in your game by splashing some money on marketing.

How To Start Your Own Business Without Capital

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

So you have an idea. That’s all ‘ya got?

Method 1: Bank Financing

Method 2: Credit Cards

Method 3: Crowdfunding

Method 4: Venture Capital

Method 5: Friends and Family

Method 6: A Second Mortgage

How to Apply What You've Learned?

How Will This Book Help You?

From no matter what angle, businesses will always need capital. It is the one main obstacle that prevents any idea from taking flight.

The struggle of finding capital is just as complex as managing an already-established business. There are many factors to consider, obstacles to overcome, requirements to obtain, paperwork to finish so on and so forth. These variables can be very confusing and may often intimidate some of the most motivated people.

But for the truly determined, such as yourself, there is always a way. You’re looking at that way right now.

This book is a guide through some of the common ways through which entrepreneurs secure capital so that their projects take flight.

When you look at capital from a larger perspective, it’s a small stepping stone to even bigger possibilities. The problem only lies in how you want to go about it.

This book will show you how to go about raising funds for your business. Fast.

We all know that time is of the essence. The more time you take brooding over the possibility of failure, the sooner other people will get their own ideas in the air and probably profit off of what should have been your brainchild!

Luckily, you’ve already done the first step of your grand business plan; which is to read this book. From it you will learn what it takes to get the money that you need for lift off. When that happens, the rest is history; rich history.

Each chapter will discuss a source or method of obtaining capital for your business. There will also be discussions about what you need to do in order to take advantage of these sources. Be sure to take notes and stop once in a while to customize the information in this book to your business model.

At the end of each chapter is a question which will help you synthesize the information you’ve just received and turn it into an applicable game plan for your situation. Be sure to give the question some thought. It will help you better digest the information in the chapter that follows it.

The author would also like to point out that the methods of raising capital inside this book are not the only ways to start a business without capital. There are a lot of other methods available to the determined business owner. The methods listed here are known to be the most popular and safest ways.

Happy reading!

So you have an idea. That’s all ‘ya got?

"Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard."

- Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki couldn’t have said it better. Humans generate ideas all the time. You must have had a hundred ideas over the course of the day. Some might have come up in the shower. Other ideas may have come to you on the way to the office. Some might have even showed up right in the middle of “taking care of business”.

As you read this book, you already have a business idea in mind. There’s no doubt about it. And it can also be assumed that you’re pretty excited about that idea.

Whatever that business idea is, it’s not enough. Don’t misunderstand, though. Every business all started with an idea. But before you can turn that idea into profit, you need a few more things.

Capital is one of them.

Unless you already have the money in your hands, you’re going to need investments, donations or even pledges in order to fuel the fire that is your ambition.

Most successful businessmen use the term “bootstrapping” to refer to the act of self-financing. It’s not a bad way to go as well; as long as you already have the resources. But what if you don’t?

What do you have that’s going to connect your idea to the money you need for take-off?

A proposal, that’s what you need.

Remember, you’re the only one who believes in your idea at this point. There is no doubt in your firm belief on how good it’s going to be.

So the next thing you have to do is to convince other people that your idea is good! People with the money to start your idea.

This is where your implementation comes in. The only way to present a business idea to business-oriented people is through a proposal.

A proposal could be anything from a business letter to a Powerpoint presentation to bunch of figures written on paper in a coffee shop. Proposals happen when a person with the business idea (you) approaches the people with the means to make that idea workable (them).

But no matter what the venue of your proposal may be, you can bet your million-dollar idea that every proposal has a certain set of characteristics in order to convince your potential source of capital.

The elements of a proposal

A proposal should be customized. Investors and businesses hate generic approaches. When you give them a generic letter, you get a generic answer. Those answers are usually negative in nature. When you’ve found a source of capital (there’ll be more of that later), you need to do your homework. Who are they? How do you think your idea is going to benefit them? What can they possibly get out of funding your idea? How different is your idea from anything else they’ve seen? What they’ve done? The responsibility of due diligence falls on the entrepreneur’s shoulders. When you have a customized approach, your potential investors will see how determined and convinced you are of your idea. They’ll have no other choice but to agree with you on the point that your idea is a profitable one!

A proposal should be quantifiable. Business is all about money. Money is all about numbers. Therefore, your proposal should have numbers in them. In fact, your whole business idea should be translated into numbers. Using your knowledge of your potential client, you should be able to show them how much money they can make out of your idea. That means you should already have a prepared expense sheet to let them know where their money is going. On top of that, you need to be honest about your costs so that things are transparent. Avoid using vague and descriptive terms like amazing and wonderful and profitable and wealthy. The best way for a business-minded person to see your point is if you show them exactly how much you’re talking about.

A proposal should be specific and straight-to-the-point. Face it. People in business have heard all the sales talk in the world. The most successful business owners might have done some selling on their own. They know it when someone is trying to sweet-talk them into a deal. That will make your proposal insincere and devious. At best, simply state what you plan to do and let their imaginations do the rest. “Here’s what I do. Here’s how much you can make. Here’s what I need to make that happen. I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.” Simple. Powerful.

While you don’t have any investors to impress at the moment, the best thing you should do is to work on your proposal. This will give you a better image of what you have to offer. It will also show you the weaknesses of your idea and provide you some time to work out those bugs.

One important thing you have to remember is that the goal of a proposal is to get your investors to have the same enthusiasm you have about your idea.

*)When you have a great idea, you need to give it form and shape. The best form to give an idea is the form of a proposal that is customized, specific and quantifiable. The best way to create such a person is to ask yourself “Would I want to fund my own idea if I had the money?”

Method 1: Bank Financing

"A boy becomes a man when he stops asking his father for money and requests a loan."

- Unknown

Usually, the first place to look for money is a place that lends money to people. What better place to look for than a bank?

But with culture and neighbor’s stories and TV news, banks haven’t had a very good reputation for the striving entrepreneur. There’s a lot of good and bad going around and it is quite difficult to make heads or tails of whether or not to go to a bank for a loan.

Allow the author of this book to put this out in the air: A bank is a business.

Banks operate in order to make money, not give money out. That’s what charitable foundations are for. Going back to your idea, ask yourself this question:

“Is my idea supposed to make me money?”

If the answer to that question is yes, then a bank is a good place to go to for a loan to make your business idea take off. Get rid of the notion that banks are evil and just want to take all your money. There are laws that stipulate what banks can and cannot do. They are business establishments just as much as any other company out there in the market right now.

How does it work?

Different banks have different loan programs that are designed for people who want to start their own business. One thing that you have to remember that for whatever type of loan you’re going to apply for, you’ll always need a proposal.

You may not directly have to make an appeal or proposal to the bank. In most cases, you have to go though the SBA. That’s known as the small business association. This organization will take care of approving you for a loan. These are the people who need to see what you have under your sleeve. Time to whip out that proposal!

Don’t get your hopes up too high though. It’s very rare that the SBA approves the full amount that you need. The highest you can get is about 80% of what you’re asking if you get approved. That isn’t bad though. That only leaves you to find another source for the remaining 20%.

Another good thing about going through the SBA is that you’ll get a good idea of how business organizations and investors will see your proposal. Think of it as a dry run of your business idea. They may be able to tell you what other people might see as problems with your business model which will help you improve on your idea.

When the SBA approves your loan, they’ll give you documentation that authorizes you to apply for a bank loan. The next step after that is to apply for your loans from an actual bank. When the bank approves it, you get the money.

Upon the release of the capital, you’ll have to pay them back. Depending on the interest rates, you’ll be paying them more than what they lent you in the first place. The sooner you can pay them back, the lower the interest you have to pay.

Advantages

Other sources of capital force you to surrender part of your ownership to them in exchange for their money. This is known as equity. This may cause your idea to change in ways that you might not have thought of, or approved of. You won’t have full control over how your business is run and you’ll have to share your profit. Through a bank loan, you get none of that. All you have is a time frame within which you have to pay back your debt.

Disadvantages

Bank loans can be double-edged swords if not used wisely. With a loan comes debt. This could happen if your idea does not sell. If the business flops, you’ll end up with a debt that you may not be able to pay with your current job. That may put you in a worse position from when you started. And even when your business takes off and you start seeing profit, most of it will go to paying off that loan. That means a delay in your ROI or return of investment.

*)A Bank loan is one of the most direct ways to raise funds for your business. It can also be a gamble. Are you confident enough in your idea to take out a loan?

Method 2: Credit Cards

"Procrastination is like a credit card: it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill."

- Christopher Parker

Separate from banking, credit cards are another way to secure the things that you need in order to get your project started. Instead of taking out a loan from the bank, you charge your business expenses to your credit card.

During the period of 1990 -2000, one of the largest IT companies in the world was started using credit cards. It was Google. The two founders built an empire on a good credit rating. The results are as you see today. During the foundation of the company within their garage, the founders maxed out their credit cards and made good use of the purchases they made. This helped them recover from their credit card bills and create a business that would later become a household name.

How does it work?

It’s just as straight-forward as taking out a bank loan. But this time, you do all the spending on your own. You buy your materials, you take out cash on credit to pay for labor as well as hire your own people. Just like any other expense that your credit card can cover, they will also be subject to the laws that credit cards have. The longer you take to pay the charges, the higher the interest rate.

There is also a limit to the amount that can be charged unto a card at a certain time. This amount strongly depends on the kind of credit card you have and your credit score.

Your credit score is a rating provided by the Credit Bureau to rate how good of a debt-payer you are. The higher the credit rating, the more credit you can use. Think of it as buying for things using your reputation. When you fail to pay your credit card bills, this affects your credit score. A bad credit rating means that you’re not allowed to use credit and you would need to reestablish yourself with a good payment history. That can take some time. Try to consult different credit card companies and see what sorts of business cards they can provide you with.

Advantages

This is one of the quickest ways to get started as you don’t need anyone else’s support. You only have your credit score to help you. If you already have a credit card, you can get started on getting the things you need to start your business. There’s no equity, you can keep all the profits that your business generates and best of all, you don’t share control with anyone.

Disadvantages

While there is convenience in using a credit card, that convenience comes at a steep price. Credit card companies use higher interest rates compared to bank loans. You’re looking at rates that go above 20%. That means you’ll be paying exponentially higher bills if you pay them off at a later date. You would need to get your returns and profit sooner if you want to settle your bill. Most experts advise that you keep this method as a last resort if your other efforts to secure capital prove fruitless.

*)Operating on your credit score, you can amass the necessities you need to get your idea to materialize. When was the last time you checked your credit score? Try applying for a credit card and see what the credit card companies have to say about your credit score.

Method 3: Crowdfunding

"People paying you for doing what you love is different than finding more people who love what you do."

- Jack Conte

This new and interesting way of getting funding still hasn’t reached its boom yet. But from the way that crowdfunding is getting great ideas out in the open, it’s sure to get its time soon enough.

How does it work?

Traditional methods of getting loans and investments have people making proposals to one investor at a time, asking for a large amount of money to cover all the expenses. With crowdfunding, you do the same things in reverse!

Ask for small amounts of money from many people

One large question a lot of people ask will be how to do such a thing. If you tried crowdfunding before the advent of the internet, it would have been almost impossible and impractical.

But through the reach of the internet, creative people and entrepreneurs are now placing their projects on an online platform to share their ideas with people who want to back them up. And they’re getting things done.

There are a few websites through which you can do this. There’s Kickstart and Gofundme. These websites offer a space through which people share their project ideas and ask to support their efforts.

All users have to do is to create an account and place their proposals there. Given that this is the internet, proposals go a lot differently. Instead of displaying long texts and Powerpoint presentations, people now use visuals and Youtube videos to show what they want to achieve. When it comes to marketing over the internet, you want to keep things short and loud. You may want to start developing your video editing skills if you want to give this a try.

These websites offer donation and pledge methods that will allow most users to make payments towards these projects. In exchange for donations and pledges, users can select rewards from the entrepreneur based on how much they donate. These rewards are usually product samples of the project idea.

Each project is given a time-frame and a goal before it receives payout from the funding.

Instead of getting loans and grants, you get donations, pledges and payments. These will come in very small amounts and they will come one at a time. That’s the reason it’s called crowdfunding. You’re getting funds from a crowd.

Advantages

Unlike other traditional methods, this fund raising method doesn’t cost as much. All you need are a few samples and you can entice people to back your project. If you’re planning on selling products, you can reward your investors with samples and freebies and discounts.

You’ll also be reaching a lot of people in shorter spans of time. If you understand your target market, your product and your goals, you can go beyond your targets.

Despite these advantages, the best thing about crowdfunding is that if your idea is good enough and your presentation is convincing, you may end up with more capital than you initially thought you wanted. Some of the best Kickstart projects went way over their initial asking price and are now big names in their industries.

Are you familiar with the Pebble Watch? That Bluetooth-capable watch that synchs with your smartphone or iphone and can use different watch faces? That was a Kickstart project. The amazing thing about this story is that they only needed an initial start of $100,000. They ended up with $10,000,000.

Another popular product of crowdfunding is the Occulus Rift. This is a virtual gaming system that promised to give games a full 3d gaming experience that immerses them right into the action. When this project started, they only asked for$250,000 but they ended up raising $2,000,000 by the time their funding ended.

There are hundreds of other examples out there, waiting to be discovered. Your idea might just be the next big thing on the internet.

Disadvantages

Although the internet can be a great place to start, it can also be a great place to fail. Because of the anonymity that the internet provides, your idea could fall prey to people who simply want to put you down. Your project may get the limelight or the harsh criticisms of netizens who might not be as enthusiastic about your idea as you are. There’s also the possibility of you not being able to make your target amount by the time your campaign ends because of lack of interest and buzz.

Basically, to do business on the internet, you need to create a buzz for your idea. You have to get people to start talking about it. Unlike traditional methods wherein you only had to convince a small group of people or even just one person, crowdfunding puts you up on a stage for the whole world to see. This is done through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. And you have to get everyone’s short attention long enough in order for them to give you a second look. In short, it all depends on the likability of your idea and the attractiveness of your presentation.

*)Raising capital through crowdfunding uses the myriad contributions of plenty people in order to come up with a sum large enough to start the business. How much money do you think you need to start? From what kinds of people do you think your project will gather the most attention?

Method 4: Venture Capital

"Remember that nobodies are the new somebodies."

- Guy Kawasaki

You hear this term a lot during seminars and entrepreneurial conventions. It’s an interesting industry that involves people who want to make money and people who have ideas that are going to make money.

How does it work?

Venture capital is referred to as investments made by venture capitalists into start-ups that show potential. In short, it’s where the entrepreneur and the creditor both benefit from the partnership.

Also called “co-founding” in some instances, venture capital doesn’t only put money and ideas together. In other cases, entrepreneurs also come after the expertise of the venture capitalists when it comes to management and business development. With that said, venture capitalists are entitled to equity shares of the start-up.

What makes venture capital different from other forms of fund raising is that the venture capitalist can have more than one venture under their sleeve. They choose the businesses they want to help and they assist in helping them grow. They do this not just with their money but also with their knowledge and manpower.

There are numerous VC firms and specialists out in the market right now. You can freely do a Google search and pull up a long list of names of people you might find willing to help fund your project. Don’t forget to customize your proposals and presentations for them. They can smell a generic and lazy presentation from a mile away.

Some of the more known names in the market include Guy Kawasaki and Saar Gur:

Lately, it has been noted that venture capitalists prefer investing in ideas with the following characteristics:

Innovative technology – Take note that these people are game changers. They are thrilled by ideas that can disrupt the current system and bring about great improvements to society. This makes IT projects very attractive to them. If your idea has something to do with technology, you have a good chance of getting venture capital.

Potential for rapid growth – After seeing so many business models and failures and successes around them, venture capitalists have developed a nose for ideas that have the potential to boom in the market. Even if your idea is turned down by a venture capitalist, you’re sure to get expert opinion on making your idea more irresistible.

A well-developed business model – If there’s one thing that business-minded people hate, it’s getting down and dirty with the details. They want to make a big decision and have their people take care of the nitty-gritty. If you approach a venture capitalist with a great idea but a vague model, they won’t waste time making a model for you. You need to figure out a working system that benefits both you and your co-founder in order to get a ‘yes’ from them.

Advantages

As said earlier, you don’t just get capital to start your business. You get expertise. You’ll be dealing with people who see more than 15 proposals before coffee break on a bad day. No amount of capital can match that kind of knowledge helping your business grow. On top of that, dealing with venture capitalists will give you a good idea on the possible demand for your product. That kind of insight only comes with time and exposure, something a start-up doesn’t have.

Disadvantages

This is a model that entails equity. You’ll be giving part of your control over to someone else besides you. The problem with this is that people can change. Your preferences and ideals might change as well. You might end up having more disagreements than agreements with your co-founder and you might just end up giving 15% of your company away on the market. You could have had that share to yourself.

On top of that, approaching venture capitalists can be a bit tricky as well. The research involved is no joke. You’ll have to look at who they handled, the kind of industry their firm specializes in, what they’re looking for, what their business strategies are and a lot of other factors that can either make or break your proposal.

*)With venture capital, both you and your co founder are going to engage in a relationship wherein you provide the idea, they provide the capital and knowledge. How big of a portion of your equity are you going to give your co-founder?

Method 5: Friends and Family

"I know I can always count on my family."

- Homer Simpson

Ideally, the best people to help your business grow are the people who want to see you grow personally as well. This is where your friends and family come in. There are plenty of businesses built upon a family with shared investments in the business. Many experts say that they’re a good place to start if you have nowhere else to go. Don’t overlook it!

How does it work?

Simply enough, you just have to explain your idea to your family and friends and show them what they can get out of it. Remember, you’re convincing your loved ones. They’ll know if you’re sincere or not. If you have strong faith in your idea, then they will feel it and know that you’re on to something.

Advantages

One of the most obvious benefits of raising capital from family and friends is that you’re more comfortable talking to them about your ideas. Your thoughts will come across better if you speak to people who know you inside-out. They’ll also be able to give you their honest opinions about your plans.

On top of that, you’re also exposing yourself to different points of view from different people. Depending on which industry your relatives work for, you can get perspectives from all kinds of directions.

Finally, the success of your idea will not just benefit you, but your whole family. Their investment in your idea will also help them financially and emotionally.

Disadvantages

If the gains are big, so are the risks. Mixing business matters in family discussions can be frustrating. Talking about money within the family also puts undue stress on your loved ones.

When your business hits a low, you can be sure that your family and friends are going to feel it. You may be a part of the family, but they’re your investors nonetheless. Your failures become their failures. Even when you incur losses due to factors that are out of your control, you’ll still feel responsible for not putting their money to good use.

In order to lessen the burden, be sure that you’re borrowing disposable income instead of savings. That way, the burden is lighter and you feel less stressed when your business hits lows, especially in the earlier stages after take-off.

*)Raising Funds through your family and friends is one of the most accessible options you have as an entrepreneur. Will you convince them the same way you would an investor? What things would you change?

Method 6: A Second Mortgage

"There are mortgages on every castle in the air."

- Unknown

You may have thought about it already. It’s not a bad idea. Getting a second mortgage on your house could be the idea that you’re looking for.

For the beginner, mortgages are a type of loan that you get in return for your house. You don’t necessarily have to move out when you get it, but you have to pay it off in due time lest the creditor seizes your home.

But when it comes to business, some people find it worth their while to get a second mortgage if it means they can get their idea of the ground.

How does it work?

You can also call them home equity lines of credit. Instead of giving up the equity of your potential business, business owners can choose to give up a portion of their property instead of a portion of their company.

Advantages

One of the brighter sides of this is that you’ll enjoy lower interest rates. Take note that you’re not running on your credit score. You’re betting on your actual property that your idea is going to be a hit. When it does happen, you’ll have less of a mortgage to worry about.

The lower interest rates come from the fact that the creditors can seize your home if you fail payments, so be careful.

Another good thing about this is that because you’re not offering up equity in exchange for capital, you’re going to own 100% of your company.

Disadvantages

As mentioned earlier, you’re putting your property on the line. This still represents a risk. If you’re willing to take the risk, make sure you have a back-up plan.

On top of this, you may not get as much as you would have hoped for. For second mortgages, creditors may only end up giving you as low as three-fourths of the market price of your property. Although this may put you in a rears a bit, many have been known to start businesses on a second mortgage.

*)Getting a second mortgage means putting your property in the hands of your lenders. If you were to take out one, how much would you think you would obtain from such a transaction?

How to Apply What You've Learned?

Go over the methods and see which one fits your business idea best. Be sure to take a look at these considerations:

Will the people I’m approaching be receptive to the way I present my ideas? What is the best way to show them that my idea will work?

Depending on my target market, which investor/fundraising method will work best for me?

What resources do I already have? Do I need a lot more or do I simply need a little more push in the right direction?

How much am I going to need? Do I need plenty of equipment? Am I going to have to hire people to work for me? How much am I going to pay them?

How profitable is my idea? How soon can I expect a return on my investment?

Answering these questions will give you a better insight as to how your potential investors will respond to your proposal.

The information provided for each method is merely the tip of the iceberg. Depending on the investor/institution/firm you approach, you might encounter new ideas and methods or even obstacles that will either help or hinder you from raising the funds that you need. Be sure to observe and take plenty of notes. This is especially handy after a discussion with an investor. The more information you have, the more educated choices you can make in the future.

Finally, keep in mind that rejection is part of any struggle. As much as you would hope that your idea will take flight immediately, you are going to meet resistance. Plenty of it. There will be people who are not going to agree without and there are people who are going to de-motivate you. Some will even mock you for trying. What’s important is that you still persist.

Most venture capitalists find themselves disappointed by the lack of persistency coming from entrepreneurs. After 12 months of not having answer, they quit their efforts and waste even more of their time. Any business expert will agree with you if you say that persistency is the key to business. You will definitely get your share of hard times. It’s how you respond to these challenges that make you a worthy investment.

How To Value a Business

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

What Is The True Value Of Your Business?

Why Sell Your Business?

Understanding The Asset Approach

The Market Approach

The Income Approach

Using the Income Approach

Using the Asset Approach

Using the Market Approach

Improving Your Business

How To Apply What You’ve Learned

Conclusion

How Will This Book Help You?

First time business owners can relate to the feeling of owning a business is akin to having your first baby. It becomes their source of pride and for most, an obsession.

You spend so much time conceptualizing the business, making business plans, picking out a product, allocating people and so much more. After you’ve established all that, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty and work on the day to day operations.

As time passes you become fonder of the business and in effect you and the business become identified as one entity. This has also led to the blurring of the lines between the separation of the business owner and the business. As such, it has led many business owners to make decisions which are not economically sound. Making such decisions may prove detrimental to your business.

Just recently, there have been changes in the economy which have forced many business owners to abandon their posts and either return to the work force, or pursue a different type of business. Some business owners have held on tenaciously to their business and in the end failed to revive it, leading to major losses. Still, others have made the decision to sell their business at an incorrect value which may lead to major losses or dissatisfied buyers.

This has led to an increase in a need for business valuators. Business valuators assess a company’s total worth and assist in placing a proper price tag for both the seller and the buyer. There is a science involved in performing this task and may be done over a period of a couple of days or several months depending on the amount of data available for them to work on.

Now this type of service does not come cheap. Business valuators often end up taking a percentage of the total sale price from the seller. This book will help you assess your business’ value without depending entirely on your business valuator.

There are simple action steps that you can perform on your own business. And whether you intend to sell or not, this book will help you place a proper value on your business and see it for what it truly is: as an income generation machine.

Take note: this does not mean you can totally do away with your business valuator’s services but it can help you understand your business more from a valuator’s standpoint.

What Is The True Value Of Your Business?

“The only way to know how customers see your business is to look at it through their eyes.”

- Daniel R. Scroggin

Nowadays, the business of selling your business is considered as hot business. This is one of the main reasons why you need to know the true value of your business whether you intend to buy or sell.

In the past, creating a business was done with one’s own two hands. This was then nurtured, developed and eventually passed down to the younger generation. This also meant that the business usually stayed within the family.

Nowadays, businesses are like hot commodities. You take an idea and run with it, create a brand and make it wildly popular. You develop it well enough with massive campaigns and the brand sticks in the minds of people. Now you just give it enough time before selling your business for a profit, and then move on to the next venture that you can sell.

These two ways of going about business is quite different and none of these are bad ideas in running a business. None of these are bad ideas in passing a business from one set of hands to another either.

Studies have, on the other hand, shown that businesses that have had a longer tenure continue to perform better. Businesses that were created as a way to hype up popularity may do well at first but in the end flail around and wither.  Although it sounds like a generalization, it is true.

This is the reason business valuation exists.  Although this process has existed for a long time, it is only just recently that it has risen in popularity.

Business valuation is a process of determining the actual value of your business whether it has been in existence for a couple of decades or just a few years. By incorporating the methods used in providing the true value of one’s own business, both the buyer and the seller are left with a sense of satisfaction that they got a fairly good deal.

There are three very basic ways to assess a company’s worth. Number one, check the assets. Number two, check its market value and last but not least, check its ability to generate income. Although these may seem very basic, it is a fast way for you to have an idea of whether to buy a business or not. There are of course many other factors that you should consider before you buy or sell your business like reasons for selling but these three pretty much covers the most crucial questions asked.

Now although we said that most new and hyped up businesses did not last long after being sold and businesses that have flourished over the decades continue to do so, there are exceptions. Some new businesses do surprise their new owners by performing better than their previous years. Other more established businesses can also fail upon being handed over to the next set of owners. In the end, a business in whatever industry it may be in, will flourish if managed and developed well.

Using business valuation can also help you continue to ensure that your business is doing well. By employing what we will be discussing in the next couple of chapters, you can both be the buyer and the seller of your own business. Only by knowing the true value of your business will you be able to honestly say that you are doing as well as you think you are.

Action Steps:

Understand Business Valuation and what it can do for your business.

Find a firm that will assist you in putting a value on your business to guide your decisions.

Use the three fundamental approaches to assess your business’ value:

1. The Asset Approach.

2. The Income Approach.

3. The Market Approach.

Why Sell Your Business?

“The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers!”

- John Egan

There are many things that lead business owners to consider selling their businesses. The most common reason is of course to profit from all the years of developing their business to pursue another line of work.

Recently, those reasons have changed. The economy has taken a huge hit and everyone from all of walks of life is affected by this. Although this may seem like it is negative to our economy, it also opens up a whole other lot of opportunities. This is in reality the best time to sell your business.

The studies done on the negative impact of a downswing in the economy, shows that there is a direct relation to a lack of employment that leads to more businesses opened up or sold to other businessmen. As a businessman it is imperative that you know of this and can adapt immediately to these dynamic shifts in the economy.

Knowing the relevance of your business to the general public will allow you to assess if it is time to move on to a different venture or to capitalize on the lack of competition and continue on with your current business. Knowing the value of your business also allows you to connect with a customer base that is willing to buy it from you.

So whatever the reason you may have to sell your business today, the importance of business valuation is crucial for you to be able to get a good price on it and make a profit from all your years of hard work.

Action Steps:

Understand why you need to sell your business.

Assess your business’ relevance to today’s market.

Know your business’ value before placing a price tag on it and completing the sale.

Understanding The Asset Approach

“Becoming wealthy is like playing Monopoly.. the person who can accumulate the most assets wins the game.”

- Noel Whittaker

One of the things you need to understand when putting a price tag on the value of your business is to incorporate the asset approach. This is probably the first and most natural step to take in assessing your own company’s value.

Anyone who goes into business knows that to know how well they are performing, they need to know their assets and liabilities. This involves identifying your tangible and intangible assets. As a recap, tangible assets include current and fixed assets. This means it includes all items that you can see and touch. For example: Your inventory is part of your current assets, while your building is part of your fixed assets. We’ll go over that a bit more as we continue.

Your intangible assets however are non physical but are nonetheless just as important to your company as your tangible assets. This category includes copyrights and trademarks as well as computer programs. We’ll also have a longer list to define that later.

Knowing all of these things will help you assess your company’s total worth. Assets are often overlooked if not properly catalogued and this could lead to a misrepresentation of your company’s value.

On the other hand, not all assets are valuable to your end goal which is putting a price tag on your company. You need to assess which assets to declare and which ones to write off as a loss. To do that, assigning proper half lives to company assets is important. Half lives help you determine if the asset you had procured has served you well during its tenure. A computer for example can have a half life of two years. By basing its price value at the time of purchase and then dividing it equally for 24 months, you will be able to determine the half life value. If at the end of two years it is still functioning but has already served its term, then you can decide if you are going to upgrade to new equipment. You can then liquidate the obsolete (but still performing) equipment and add the profit to the company’s coffers as liquidated assets.

Action steps:

Understand the Asset Approach method.

Assess your tangible and intangible assets.

Define a value for all assets in your companies possession.

Assess all your liabilities.

Determine which assets can be written off as negligible to improve your business’ value.

The Market Approach

“Being able to touch so many people through my businesses and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing”

- Magic Johnson

Like men, no business is an island. Businesses are very reliant on other businesses that may operate in a similar way or in the case of others, in a complementary way. Take for example: A logistics company may operate primarily as a way to deliver products or goods to people or other companies. Indirectly, it affects many other companies like the automotive industry for their vehicles, paper product companies for the promotional and packaging materials they use as well as other logistics companies like airlines, buses and shipping lines.

To sum it up, no business operates in a vacuum.

The market approach focuses on what your business is worth to you as well as to the general public.

Do you provide a unique service? Is your business relevant to society? How much would it cost to come up with and operate the same type of business? These are questions you should be able to answer before you put a value on your business.

Action Steps:

Understand the Market Approach method.

Determine your business’ relevance in today’s market.

Improve your business’ relevance in today’s market through concentrated promotional and marketing campaigns.

Place a value on your business’ relevance to society.

The Income Approach

“A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable. A visionary company doesn't simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme.”

- Jim Collins

This is probably the most nerve wracking of the three basic processes in business valuation. All businesses are created to generate income. This also means that you will have to put into consideration all the income you can possibly generate by forecasting using existing data from your years in operation.

The true value of a business is thus summed as its ability to continue generating income with an incremental growth as tenure is gained. Although changes in performance may be acceptable, with proper data management, gains can be improved while losses minimized.

A business that cannot generate income or has lost the ability to gain income is considered a major loss. Although this state can be reversed, it may take a certain time to regain its ability to generate profits.

Much attention should be given to these types of business and improving the bottom line should be the major focus if you own this type of business or are interested to procure one.

Action Steps:

Understand the Income Approach method.

Collate all your financial data.

Use all the control data you have to forecast future income for presentation purposes.

Place a value on your business according to the income approach method.

Using the Income Approach

“It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating”

- Oscar Wilde

The Income Approach to Business Valuation is probably the most commonly used approach. This is because it is much more direct process which usually falls on the business’ ability to generate income and continue the profit making ability.

Let’s face it, the only reason any businessman in his right mind would acquire another business is to improve his income stream. This is the one thing you should keep in mind when selling your business using the Income Approach.

There are two ways to go about the Income Approach, there’s the capitalization route and the discounting route. Both are approximately the same if we base it on the formula:

CR = DR – EavGr

Or

The Capitalization Rate is equal to The Discounting Rate less the Estimated Average Growth

(Capitalization Rate = Discounting Rate – Estimated Average Growth)

The difference between these two is the way it is calculated or assessed. Capitalization Rate uses the single income measure based on the average earning over a time while Discounting Rate is based on multiple income over a set projection period (for example: a year).

Now which one should you use?

If your business has been in existence for a couple of years and the growth rate of your income is steady, the best route to go for is the capitalization rate. If you have a new business which is slightly more dynamic with its peaks and volleys, then the best method to use is through the discounting rate.

To put it simply:

Capitalization Rate is about a third of your business’ worth. Let’s say you place a value of 100 to it, by simply multiplying the income by three you’ll reach an approximate of your capitalization rate. That’s why it’s best if there are no major fluctuations during your business’ tenure.

Discounting rate on the other hand is based on a forecast of the growth you’ll achieve within a set period of years. After that you can predict how to reach the target income on time.  And finally, you determine what the business will be worth after the projection date. So in essence, you’re placing a price tag on the business (based on factual data, of course) today and what it will be worth after you’ve achieved your goals.

This type of business valuation can also help you in the end if you choose to keep it. With all the data you’ve collected and proper forecasting done, you will be able to properly benchmark your success rate from date of valuation to present date based on your forecast.

To put it simply, if you performed the proper valuation today, by this date, in the future, you’ll be able to see if there is any growth in your business’ profit or an improvement in your business’ bottom line. This is a win-win scenario for you.

Action Steps:

Determine which rating system to use (between capitalization or discounting).

Collect all necessary data needed for the selected rating system.

Proceed to calculating the data based on the capitalization rate or discounting rate.

Using the Asset Approach

“We want these assets to be productive. We buy them. We own them. To say we care only about the short term is wrong. What I care about is seeing these assets in the best hands"

- Carl Icahn

A business whether it is a single proprietorship or a corporation has assets, both the tangible and intangible kind.

Simply put, the asset approach sees your business for assets and liabilities. This is best done with a certified public accountant. Now we’ve already discussed assigning half lives to your assets and this is essentially how you will determine the total value of your business based on what you have that’s of value and what’s not.

The basic formula used in the asset approach is to sum up the total worth of your valuable resources less the liabilities. This is a very sensitive issue since what may be valuable to you may not be as valuable to your intended buyer.

It is now the job of the valuator to place a price tag on your assets, whether tangible or intangible before coming up with the total value of your business.

When it comes to intangible assets, it becomes even trickier because there is no set price value for these. These usually come in the form of copyrights, training materials, promotions and others. This can be discussed with your buyer for more adjustments.

Action Steps:

Assess all assets, both tangible and intangible and sum up the total worth.

Subtract the liabilities from the final price of the business.

Determine the true value of your intangible assets and what it’s worth to your company’s success as well as to the buyer.

Using the Market Approach

“This market right now is moving on nothing more than emotions. Guess what? It almost always moves on emotions.”

- David Bach

The market approach is probably the most unstable approach amongst the three approaches discussed in this book. For one, the true value of your company now lies in the public’s perception and your social and economic worth.

The market approach relies on proper benchmarking of your business against your perceived competition. This fundamentally asks the questions: Who are those around you that are in a similar line of work? Are you competitive enough? Are you unique enough?

There is no defined formula for the market approach and it often borders on a gut feeling when assessing your business in this manner.

To assess one’s business using this approach, researching on your business’ social and economic impact is a necessity. Conducting a survey is perhaps one of the most efficient ways to reach an approximation.

Action Steps:

Observe Market trends and react accordingly.

Perform a survey to check on your business’ relevance in today’s market.

Perform marketing and promotional activities to raise awareness of your company’s presence or brand.

Do proper benchmarking against companies that provide a similar service to yours and see if you are providing the same quality of service or products to your shared target market.

Find out how your business affects other businesses which may be complementary to the service or products you provide.

Improving Your Business

“Whether we're talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.”

- Warren Buffett

Everyone in business knows the age old adage to buy low and sell high. You don’t even need to be a business graduate to understand this idea.

As a business owner intending to sell his or her business, this is one thing you’d want to avoid. Although you might have a reason to sell your business due to economic pressures or a change in priorities, there is absolutely no reason to undervalue your business. Just think about all the hard work you’ve put into conceptualizing, research, development and the actual day to day operations during your business’ tenure. This is an intangible aspect of your business but it’s just as important when placing a price tag on the result of your blood sweat and tears.

As you perform an internal business valuation it is inevitable that you will find flaws in your company. Before you sell, it will be in your best interest to improve these weaknesses as well as your strengths.

Is your business’ ability to generate income flagging? Improve your outcome.

Are you losing your foothold in today’s market? Raise awareness through marketing and promotional activities.

Are you unaware of your assets and liabilities? Perform a proper inventory.

As you can see, these major concerns can be addressed immediately with a direct action. All you need to do is make the proper decision to solve any issues and avoid using stop gap countermeasures to improve your business’ performance and in the end its value.

Action Steps:

Determine your business’ issues and concerns by properly analyzing your collected data.

Respond with direct countermeasures to provide a proper solution.

Avoid using stop gap measures to address issues and concerns.

Perform additional marketing and promotional activities to raise awareness.

Improve the quality of service you provide as well your products to better compete with the market.

How To Apply What You’ve Learned

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.”

- Kofi Annan

Although this book focuses on Business Valuation from a single proprietor viewpoint, the points you’ve read here can be applied to businesses built on partnerships or even corporations. The differences between these three may vary slightly, and the decision making process won’t fall directly on your shoulders.

Business Valuation for Single Proprietorship companies

This is by far the easiest (relatively) to perform a business valuation on. A company which has a single owner listed as the executive officer removes all the intricacies of having to consult with partners and other entities.

Although the decision making process may be simpler, the business valuation side may prove a challenge if there has been no proper documentation of all the assets and liabilities your business possesses. Marketing and Promotional activities may also be hampered by the lack of personnel resources.

Since Single proprietorship businesses are usually placed in the small business type ends, this may not pose much of a problem. That is of course until the business picks up and there is a need to change the business type into either a partnership or a corporation.

Business valuation for these types of businesses can be done easily with the help of a certified public accountant. The utmost cooperation from the business owner in presenting all logs and data for proper accounting will also help immensely in speeding up the process.

Action Steps:

Properly document all purchases you make from day one.

If Proper documentation was not performed at the onset of your business’ existence, backtrack.

File all tangible and intangible assets documents and sort accordingly for proper cataloging.

Present all necessary documents to accountant to expedite proper valuation.

Once proper valuation has been performed set a value to your business.

If unsatisfied with the valuation work done towards your company, improve the business by using all the steps discussed in this book.

Business Valuation for companies under partnership

Companies under a partnership agreement are usually the step up from the most basic business which is the single proprietorship.

This type of company is run by two or more people who make crucial decisions regarding running the operations for the company. As such, there may be some compartmentalization of the business info and it is important that there is proper communication between all parties.

Now it may sound more complicated but here’s a trick: Think of your partners as extensions of yourself. So you’re in essence just a person multiplied by the number of partners you have.

This also means that the need for utter transparency is needed. To get all your data, you will need to be open across the board to your partner/ partners.

Action Steps:

Treat the partnership as you multiplying yourself across the board.

Promote company-wide transparency.

Use action steps used in single proprietorship regarding proper documentation and valuation of your business.

Improve the business if value set is not satisfactory according to all parties involved.

Business Valuation for corporations

So now you’ve entered the big leagues! A corporation is a definite step up for any business owner. This also involves a lot more restraint when dealing with this type of company.

A corporation, by definition, is a company which is treated as a different entity. As the business owner you may or may not be the executive officer. Think of it as a more organized form of partnership. This time you will have a board of trustees helping you make decisions as to the direction of where your company is heading.

The lack of utter control may be nerve wracking for most business owners but if you look at it from another angle, your company is now treated as a separate entity from you. This means your company now has its own assets and liabilities. If there are any litigations or payments for damages incurred, your company pays for it and the money is technically not coming from your own pockets.

Business valuation performed on a corporation can also be tricky. However then, you won’t have to worry about producing the books yourself, since your corporation is now entirely responsible for its own accounting. All assets and liabilities are also owned by the corporation and that means all of your personal assets are entirely separate from it.

Action Steps:

Treat your corporation as a separate entity.

Ensure proper documentation of all assets and liabilities.

Allow proper valuation (if you are the Chief Executive Officer) at regular intervals.

Improve the business if valuation is unsatisfactory.

Push for transparency among all levels.

For other business types:

There is another type of business that is also becoming a bit more popular nowadays: The Multi Purpose Cooperative. This is a hybrid of sorts between the Partnership type of company and a corporation.

Multi Purpose Cooperatives came into existence as a means to bridge the gap between partnerships and corporations. These types of companies involve more people than a partnership company without the intricacies of being in a corporation. Like a corporation though, all parties have a stake into the company and the success of the company falls on the shoulders of all members.

There are also small franchises nowadays that people usually snap up for reasons of partnering with more established brand names. These are usually the businesses sold under the market and income approach.

Owning a franchise helps business owners who are just starting out to have a business with a set formula for success. These types of businesses do have some pros and cons attached to it. By owning a franchise, it is easier for you to succeed just by following the formula set by the mother company. The cons, it means you are not entirely responsible for your business’ success and may be subject to rules and regulations set by the mother company.

Since these are businesses as well, business valuation can be done on both if the owner or owners find it necessary to sell or move on to a different line of work.

Use the income and market approach for both of these businesses to correctly come up with a value for selling.

Action Steps:

(For Multi Purpose Cooperatives) Arrange a meeting with your business partners regarding valuation of the business.

(For Franchises) Discuss options with the mother company if there is a need to settle anything before selling your business.

Conduct proper valuation by using collected data.

Set a value to the business.

Conclusion

To conclude, business valuation if done correctly can work in your favor. That is also true for the intended buyer. Business valuation can be done in house or through the help of certified public accountants and business valuators.

It is also very important to discuss matters about selling your business with people around you (business partners, work mates and family members) to help you cement the idea. Once a business changes hands, it is permanent until the current owner decides to sell again.

Placing a value on your business and eventually selling it off is the culmination of all the years, tears and hard work of building the business and running its day to day operations. Some business owners are anxious about separating themselves from their own business. In the end, through proper business valuation, you will be able to see your business as it is. It is just an income generating machine that you built and developed.

Remember that although this book provides you with the basic knowledge on how to place a value on your business’ worth, the need for professional business valuators and certified public accountants is still necessary. The practical knowledge that they possess concerning this aspect of the business is one gained through constantly perfecting their craft.

This book aims to open your eyes to what goes behind the scenes during these transactions and help you understand the business valuation process. The simple action steps provided in each chapter and subchapters are there for you to perform on your own business.

Finally, it is imperative that you are keen on the details of your own business and are meticulous about keeping records. These records will help you find the true value of your business!

How To Write A How To Book

Table of Contents

How Will This Book Help You?

Understand the Purpose of How-to Books

Differentiating the Types of How-to Books

Select Intended Readers

Evaluate Resources on Hand

Define Terms

Limit the Scope

Research

Organize and Present Data

Write On!

Review the Work

How to Apply What You've Learned?

How Will This Book Help You?

This eBook will help the reader by enabling him to grasp and understand the purpose of a how-to book and use it in organizing his thoughts to ultimately produce an effective “how to” book himself!

“All things are created twice; first mentally; then physically. The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blue print of the desired result.”

— Stephen Covey

Understand the Purpose of How-to Books

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

- W. Edwards Deming

In order to write an effective how to book, one must first understand his purpose for writing it.

When certain goals seem to remain hopelessly unattainable due to the absence of common sense, stock knowledge or easy instruction manuals on how to achieve them, well-written “how to” books offer deliverance by providing a chance for their realization. 

While writing effective how to books can boost a writer’s ego or provide opportunities for profit due to an increased market demand, such reasons are only secondary to its core purpose, which is to educate readers and help make a difference in their lives.  Alternatively known as self-help or “do-it-yourself” books, “how to” books are intended to assist their readers in working out their own problems—from operating a machine to boosting their self-confidence.

Some of the most famous self-help books of all time include The Art of War by Sun Tzu (1910) which was originally an instruction for warfare but was later on adopted and applied in business strategies and in dealing with personal relationships. Another is How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie (1937) which teaches positive social interaction. The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck (1978) guides individuals in obtaining serenity, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (1989) which grooms the individual to attain success both in business and in life, and many others.

In general, a “how to” book describes a process. It is written mainly for the purpose of teaching or instructing readers to perform certain actions in order to achieve an end result.  A “how to write a how to book”, therefore, specifies the steps needed in order to create a book which teaches exactly that.  In other words, a how-to book does not aim to show what the writer knows, but to show others the way to know something.

*) The writer must acknowledge that the purpose of a how to book is to serve as a learning material for the reader.

Differentiating the Types of How-to Books

" Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."

- Francis Bacon

In order to produce an effective how to book, it is important to distinguish between different types of subjects in order to be able to use the appropriate approach of instruction.  “How to” books usually cover two types of subjects:  technical and intellectual.

Technical How-to Books

A technical how to book directs or teaches an individual how to perform a process.  You need to write how-to books in a straightforward and logical manner so readers can understand and follow the instructions easily. 

It may deal with tangible or abstract processes.  Tangible processes are those that you can handle physically such as operating a computer program or manufacturing a piece of equipment.  They are usually in the form of instruction or user manuals.

Abstract processes, on the other hand, are those that undergo a series of steps without the use of tangible objects.  They include office procedures such as verification and approval of transactions and policy creation.

Technical how to books are generally about subjects requiring procedures that make use of skills, which may be either general or specific.  General skills are those that you can use in the efficient performance of work in general while specific skills are those that require proficiency in a particular field of work.

General skills may include those that you need in employment in general such as effectiveness in oral and written communication and other multi-tasking skills.  Specific skills are those that are required for a specific job like technical know-how for computer programmers, production skills in manufacturing, technical skills in science-related jobs, cooking skills for chefs, musical skills for musicians and drawing or painting skills for artists.

Thus, technical how to books generally direct readers to perform actions on technical subjects such as the production or manufacture of certain products, the creation, selection, assembly, use, repair or upgrade of machinery or equipment and other actions pertaining to the handling or management of such subjects.  In spite of the technical procedures and terms, the most important part is creating a logical structure for the presentation of the process.

Intellectual How to Books

Intellectual how to books make use of reason in order to achieve certain goals.  It applies cognitive science or analysis based on the logical functioning and scientific mechanisms of the mind thereby enabling the explanation of social, emotional, psychological and philosophical processes.

Social processes involve understanding oneself in relation to interacting with others and understanding others in order to improve oneself.  These may include leadership skills.  Emotional processes, on the other hand, involve understanding the cause of one’s emotions in order to deal with them appropriately while psychological processes involve understanding one’s thought processes in order to determine whether they are usable to solve his issues or whether he must seek the help of experts.  Finally, philosophical processes enable one to understand the complexity of life and enable him to have more wisdom.

How-to books may also cover obscure topics. Topics like how to handle negative people (social), how to recover from heartbreak (emotional), how to deal with anxiety (psychological), and how to live in a world without God (philosophical).  Since these subjects deal with the understanding of certain concepts in life, they are therefore dealt with reason unlike technical how-to books that are more mechanical in nature and involve the use of action more than reason.

As in a battle, one must know the territory before engaging in war.

*) The writer must identify the type of how to book he intends to write.

Select Intended Readers

"All men by nature desire knowledge."

- Aristotle

After determining the subject matter, the writer must proceed to select his target readers.   While all men are naturally inclined to seek knowledge, not all of them seek the same level of knowledge.  Thus, it is the writer’s task to identify the readers to accommodate. 

How to books may cater to three categories of readers:  beginners (they who know nothing), amateurs (they who know something) and experts (they who know many things).

Writing for Beginners

By definition, beginners are individuals who have just begun or started to learn the basics of a certain process.  They are assumed to be unfamiliar with terms used by professionals in the said field.  Beginners read how to books in order to teach themselves or at least have an idea of what the subject is about. 

Writing for Amateurs

Amateurs are individuals who pursue a certain course or activity without professional training.  While they may be familiar with some terminologies used in the field, they may not be fully aware of all the procedures and techniques practiced by professionals.  Their purpose for reading how to books is usually to acquire more knowledge about the subject.

Writing for Experts

Since experts are those who already possess mastery of skill or authoritative knowledge of a particular subject, they usually read how to books which aim to improve their craft, advance their knowledge or evaluate and criticize techniques.

The task of a writer is similar to that of an actor who must please his audience.  One who wishes to share his knowledge must share it with the right people.  Otherwise, no one will care to know what he knows.

*) Choose a specific category of readers and write for them accordingly.

Evaluate Resources on Hand

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination."

- Tommy Lasorda

Before getting started, one must first evaluate his resources on hand.  He must be aware of the extent of his knowledge, experience or expertise on the subject matter and acknowledge his limitations as well.  In order to do this, he must make an objective assessment of his capability of writing the book by taking into account both the type of how-to book he intends to write and the needs of his readers.  For instance, writing a technical how to book for beginners is possible with basic knowledge of the subject matter in addition to further research.  On the other hand, writing an intellectual how to book for any reader is possible with adequate logic and wisdom from parallel experience.

In any case, a writer’s lack thereof should not prevent him from writing.  In fact, even technical how-to books may be written by anyone—whether experts or ordinary writers.  What is important is that readers are able to understand the particular instruction that the writer is trying to convey.  For instance, a writer can convey the process as successfully as an expert can if he researches on the topic well and presents it in an organized manner.  On the other hand, an expert can convey the procedure as poorly as an ignorant person can if he cannot express himself logically or clearly.

After all, men who have lost their hands have learned to paint with their feet.

*) One must evaluate his resources in order to determine how far he has to go and not how soon he must end in order to write what he must.

Define Terms

“The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”

- Socrates

Regardless of the set of readers towards which it is directed, a “how to” book must begin with a definition of terms.  This enables everyone to align themselves with the writer’s language or choice of words.

The definition of terms must include a definition and description of the subject matter, the different categories under it and the detailing of the procedures that the reader needs to take in relation to such.

For instance, in writing a technical book on how to use a dictionary, one must first start by defining what a dictionary is and include all other terms that will be used in explaining how to use the dictionary like entry words and guide words.  Then the writer must proceed to explain every procedure such as: determine the page where the word you are looking for is found.  Turn to the page and look for the word in the alphabetically-arranged list.  Select the meaning of the word in relation to its significance to you.

For intellectual how to books, the same is also required.  For instance, in writing a book on how to overcome fear, one must first start with the definition of fear as well as the other categories that belong to it—emotional fear, psychological fear, physical fear, etc.  Then one must proceed to enumerate the procedures that must be followed in order to overcome the specific categories of fear.  By doing so, the writer is able to cover all aspects of the process.  In other words, he must break down complex subjects in order to be able to come up with understandable and effective procedures.

In the end, nothing can be understood except in terms.

*) In order to explain how to do something, the thing must be first defined.

Limit the Scope

“Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind.”

- Cicero

Limiting the scope involves setting boundaries on the release of information.  While a how-to book is already limited in terms of being instructional in nature, its scope is usually determined by the broadness of the subject matter where what is not excluded must necessarily be included.  For instance, if the book is about how to clean fish, the book must cover instructions on the entire process of cleaning all kinds of fish.  However, if the book is about how to scale fish with cycloid scales, the book is limited to two things: 1. teaching the reader the specific process of scaling and 2.teaching the reader to scale a specific kind of fish—those with cycloid scales such as salmon and carp.

Moreover, limiting the scope also entails considering other factors such as the type of readers, the writer’s expertise and the subject matter.

Considering the Readers’ Level of Knowledge

As explained in the previous chapter, a how-to book must consider the readers’ level of knowledge where more specific details must be explained to beginners while common information need not be repeated to experts. 

Writer’s Expertise

In terms of the author’s expertise, a writer should refrain from explaining something he himself does not understand.  Otherwise, he will not be able to explain it to his reader clearly.  Instead, he may opt to recommend further reading by enumerating authoritative materials such as published books, abstracts and journals especially if he does not wish to assume responsibility for uncertain recommendations or advice.

Subject Matter

Finally, one must remember not to stray from the subject and to enumerate procedures relevant to achieving the goal of learning it.  For instance, in writing a book on how to plan for a wedding, the writer must avoid complicating the subject by adding other courses of action which are not related to the wedding such as buying a home, filing a joint income tax statement and having children.

After all, the mind is but a finite thing.

*) One must instruct only in as far as he can teach for the reader can learn only as much as he can learn.

Research

“Data is like garbage. You’d better know what you are going to do with it before you collect it.”

- Mark Twain

Depending on the extensiveness and difficulty of subject matter, the writer may have to gather relevant information he does not have.  However, he must know exactly where and how he should use them.   Research may either be theoretical or empirical.

Theoretical research

Theoretical research is generally used in intellectual how to books, specifically in the fields of philosophy and psychology.  It makes use of findings based on existing ideas or theories. Reliable sources of theoretical research are in published books and academic journals of experts or authorities on the subject matter while unreliable sources include websites since anyone can put information in it that cannot be ascertained.

Through theoretical research, the writer can instruct the reader to use pure reason and create an entire process based on it in order to attain learning.  Some examples of this are books about how to gain wisdom or how to attain inner peace.  Using recorded historical documents or events as examples may also be used to show how one can achieve related goals.  For instance, using the teachings of Buddha and the Dalai Lama to show how one can attain inner peace can be a theoretical framework for the said book.

Practical or Empirical Research

Practical or empirical research consists of first-hand information and makes use of findings based on the writer’s personal observations, experiences, experimentation, surveys and interviews.  They are generally used in technical how to books, specifically in the fields of science, sociology and practical arts. 

Information acquired through practical or empirical research may be either taken as reliable at face value, or subjected to statistical tests to check their reliability.  For instance, information on how to get rid of cockroaches may be taken as reliable pronouncements if the author guarantees their effectiveness based on his actual experience.  On the other hand, information acquired from statistical methods such as sampling and surveys in order to demonstrate processes pertaining to topics like how to market products or how to create demand may be subjected to further tests in order to check their reliability. 

In any case, the writer must gather and present only data which are relevant to the subject matter.  Otherwise, superfluous knowledge can deceive him into believing that he already knows everything.

*) One must gather and present data only in so far as they enable the reader to learn the subject.

Organize and Present Data

" When introduced at the wrong time or place, good logic may be the worst enemy of good teaching.”

- George Põlya

How to books must be organized and presented logically.  It entails the arrangement of ideas or procedures in an orderly manner.  The best way to do this is by following an outline detailing all the steps pertaining to the instruction of the subject matter.  Any step that falls out of context or sequence tends to inhibit learning instead of promoting it.

Like research papers, how to books must be presented logically by using a title page and an introduction before detailing the main parts and establishing the conclusion.

Title page

The title of the book must be catchy yet as specific as possible in order to attract the intended readers at once.  It may be written in several forms such as: how to + specific goal form as in How to Preserve Mangoes, gerund + noun/noun phrase form as in Developing Self-Confidence or noun phrase form as in The Art of Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement).

Introduction

The introduction must explain the purpose and importance of the writer’s work so that the reader may align his expectations accordingly.  Some “how to” books are broad enough to include all possible methods in achieving a goal.  However, “how to” books which use a specific kind of approach must identify the method used at the start so that readers may be aware of any limitations that may accompany the instruction.

Main Parts

The main parts consist of all the steps necessary to reach the ultimate goal of the book.  Present them in a logical manner in order to be understandable and produce the desired result.  Logical presentation entails classification and sequential order.

Classification

Classification means grouping ideas according to their common characteristics and giving them a particular name or heading.  In order to do this, one must first sort and categorize all his available data.

Sorting Information

Sorting involves going through the data and grouping them according to their type.  Some may be grouped according to source or according to their relevance to a given procedure.  Sorting data according to source simply requires separating them into primary and secondary sources.  Primary sources are those which come from books and published academic journals while secondary sources are those from newspapers and magazines.  Sorting them according to their relevance to a particular procedure involves putting them in the specific process where they might belong.  This type of sorting is more useful in how to books.

Categorizing

After sorting, they are categorized.  Categorizing involves explaining the sorted data in terms of their relationship to the subject or problem such as cause and effect or problem and solution.  It is necessary in order to avoid the mistake of simply enumerating suggestions which is typical in many magazine articles which mostly aim to inform or entertain instead of teach. 

For instance, a magazine would most likely present the main body of the subject on how to mend a broken heart by simply enumerating palliative measures in this manner:  go out with friends, indulge in productive activities and pamper oneself.  A how to book, on the other hand, should present it in this way: Chapter I-Release Emotions with subheadings such as grieve and indulge, Chapter II-Analyze Events, Chapter III-Accept and Chapter IV- Move On.

Thus, classifying means finally organizing the data so that they may be used effectively in teaching as an effective system of data classification enables the reader to receive and understand the information more easily.  It involves dividing ideas into subject headings and subheadings.  Subject headings usually cover general concepts while subheadings focus on a more detailed aspect of the subject.

When classifying, it is important to have subject headings and subheadings which are of the same division.  More specifically, all subject headings must be of the same category.  In a technical how-to book, if one chapter is a specific step, all other chapters must likewise be in the form of steps. An example would be:

Book Title: How to Cure Arachnophobia

Introduction-Purpose of the Book

Chapter 1-Definition of Arachnophobia

Chapter 2-Importance of Curing Arachnophobia

Chapter 3-Causes of Arachnophobia

Chapter 4-Curing Arachnophobia

Conclusion-Live Free of Arachnophobia Forever

Finally, they must be arranged or presented in a sequential order.  Sequential order involves the arrangement of procedures according to the order in which they must be followed in order to produce the desired result.   For intellectual how to books, they are arranged in a manner which allows the mind to think logically and clearly.

Conclusion

Unlike conclusions in other types of books which require confirmation, the conclusion in a how to book must simply summarize all the necessary procedures in order to reach the desired result.  The purpose of a how to book is not to prove a hypothesis, but to provide ways of solving a problem.  Thus, it must contain nothing more than that in order to avoid confusion.

One reason why some “how to” books are not effective is that they provide other insights which tend to be inconsistent with their scope which make the reader lose sight of their goal.  The conclusion of a how to book must be able to help the reader solve his problem by motivating him to act on it based on the steps provided.

An effective how to book does not demand the reader to follow it to the letter but must propel the reader to solve his problem by using the provided information in a manner relevant to him.  Summarizing is important because the reader may have lost sight of the entire picture after reading the specific details of every step explained in each chapter.  Thus, summarizing enables him to visualize the entire process in relation to solving the problem as a whole.

After all, a soldier who marches out of line is likely to march towards his death.

*) The writer must ensure that all information is in its proper place and presented accordingly in order not to ruin his teaching.

Write On!

“Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.”

- Sun Tzu

After following the procedures stated, the writer can then proceed to writing his book.  In writing a book, style plays a great role in enabling readers to understand the writer’s instructions.

Determining the writing style

Writing style is defined as the manner in which words are composed to accommodate a specific set of readers or to achieve a desired outcome.  Producing an effective work using one writing style does not necessarily guarantee the success of another.

In general, two styles of writing may be used in how-to books:  academic writing and expository writing.

Academic writing

Academic writing is characterized by a precision of information on the subject matter and extensiveness which may, however, include relevant opinions of other authors.   While it is mostly undertaken by students as part of their academic requirements, its use is not limited to research papers.   It may also be used to create an impression of authority in writing how to books.  It includes citations from other references which ensure reliability, objectiveness and accuracy of information.  It also reflects the effort on the part of the writer to go through a great deal of lengths to impart information on the subject matter.

Expository Writing

Expository writing on the other hand, relies heavily on information consisting of facts and figures about the subject and excludes the use of opinions—whether his own or that of others.  Expository writing for how to books are often written in sequential form (for step-by-step processes), comparison and contrast form (for topics on how to make decisions), cause and effect form (for how-to topics involving prevention and treatment) and problem-solution form (for other topics such as how to budget income).

Writing styles are further enhanced by several factors such as point of view, voice, choice of words and sentence fluency.

Point of view

There are three points of view-the first person narrative, the second person point of view and the third person point of view.  The first person narrative style uses subjective pronouns such as I and we.  It is particularly used in teaching a process which the author has proven to be effective based on his personal experience.  It is also more interactive as it enables readers to feel that they are completing each step together with the writer.  A second person point of view addresses the reader as you.  It is particularly effective in writing technical how to books which require a high degree of instruction. Finally, a third person point of view tends to be more objective by addressing the reader as an individual referred to by the pronoun he.  This style is particularly effective for readers who do not want to feel intimidated or overwhelmed with instructions as they are not addressed directly.

Choice of Words

Writing an effective how to book entails appropriate choice of words.  This entails the use of the precise word to mean exactly what the author wishes to convey.  First, they must be suited to the intended set of readers.  For instance, the use of jargon and abbreviations must be avoided (or at least, defined or explained) in writing for beginners since they are still unfamiliar with it.  How to books rely more on active verbs and specific adjectives, especially in explaining procedures which require physical action.  The use of figures of speech such as similes, metaphors and metonymies should be avoided since they are not exact descriptions or explanations of a certain word.

Sentence Fluency

Sentence fluency refers to the flow of sentences in a paragraph as well as the transition from the last sentence of the chapter to the beginning of the next.  Each sentence must be related to the next without being redundant.  They may either give a definition, explanation or example for the previous sentence.

All in all, it is in how a writer puts his thoughts in writing that determines the effectiveness of his work on his readers.

*) A writer must choose the most effective way among the many ways of teaching a particular subject.

Review the Work

“‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end; then stop.’”

- Lewis Carroll

Upon reaching the conclusion, the writer must not stop.   He must continue to review his work and re-write it if he must.

While effective how to books are usually written by experts and polished by editors who are able to identify the readers’ needs and see lapses which the experts themselves may have overlooked due to their over-familiarity with the said procedures, a determined writer may be able to do the same by earnestly reviewing his work.

In reviewing one’s work, one must go back to each chapter and determine its consistency with the entire book by answering the following questions:

Was the purpose of the book stated clearly?

A clear statement of the purpose of the book serves as the only determinant of the effectiveness of the book.  In other words, the entire book will be judged based on its ability to serve the purpose for which it was written.  For “how to” books, it is simply to learn the proposed objective.

Is the type of book consistent with the process used?

Given the different types of how-to books, the writer must ensure that he used the appropriate method of detailing the processes involved for learning.  For instance, even if a writer succeeds in explaining the process of glass-blowing by the mere use of reason, it would still be inappropriate and insufficient for the reader to learn.

Were the needs of the readers addressed?

In relation to the previous question, the writer must consider the needs of his intended readers. How much information did he give?  Information must not be overwhelmingly threatening or insufficiently boring but adequately enlightening.

Were the appropriate resources used?

In considering the needs of the intended readers, the writer must also review the resources that he used.  In all cases, he must have communicated reliable information.  Otherwise, beginners will never learn, amateurs can never improve and experts will definitely be insulted.

Is all the information relevant?

In reviewing a how to book, the writer must patiently go over all the information he presented, adding courses of action which may have been overlooked and eliminating those which are irrelevant.

Are all the terms used clear and consistent?

Similarly, the writer must extend his patience in reviewing the terms used.  Clarity means that no term must be left unfamiliar or ambiguous to the reader while consistency means that the terms were constantly and coherently used in the book.

Is all the information within the defined boundaries?

Ensuring that the information is within the defined boundaries or scope leaves no room for confusion as it steers the reader directly towards the exact thing he wishes to learn—nothing more, nothing less.

Is the presentation logical?

Reading his work over and over enables the writer to detect any incompatible reasoning or illogical flow in the details of his work and revise it accordingly in order to produce the most comprehensible version.

Did the reader learn from it?

In order to ultimately determine whether a reader learned from his work, a writer must present his work to several impartial readers and consider their observations or criticisms.  By revising his work to suit their needs which he might have failed to meet, he shall be well on his way to produce the best how-to book ever.

And that’s how he does it.

*) A writer’s work is done only when his reader has learned.

How to Apply What You've Learned?

*) The writer must acknowledge that the purpose of a how-to book is to serve as a learning material for the reader.

*) The writer must identify the type of how-to book he intends to write.

*) Choose a specific category of readers and write for them accordingly.

*) One must evaluate his resources in order to determine how far he has to go and not how soon he must end in order to write what he must.

*) In order to explain how to do something, the thing must be first defined.

*) One must instruct only in as far as he can teach for the reader can learn only as much as he can learn.

*) One must gather and present data only in so far as they enable the reader to learn the subject.

*) The writer must ensure that all information is in its proper place and presented accordingly in order not to ruin his teaching.

*) A writer must choose the most effective way among the many ways of teaching a particular subject.

*) A writer’s work is done only when his reader has learned.