brainstorm1
Senior Member
- Jan 13, 2012
- 889
- 330
I've been a member on BHW for a long time, but haven't posted much recently. Like many IMers, I'm spending time with my nose to the grindstone or enjoying the life I have built for myself. That being said, it's time to give back a little.
Goal: My goal by the end of 2015 is to be making $20,000 per month working approximately 10-15 hours per month. The key caveat is that I want the work to be enjoyable. That is key. I only live once and there is no point in working hard to earn money to buy things that really don't make me happy. The work itself must make me happy.
Achieved to date: Right now I'm at a steady $7-8k per month and I'm spending 20 hours working. Most of it comes from affiliate offers, but a small chunk comes from writing content for BHW members (there is something about researching / writing random topics that keeps me happy). Whenever the writing load gets to be too much, I just scale back a bit.
I don't have anything flashy to show you because I don't buy that garbage. It all goes into re-investment and/or savings. Mostly re-investment at this point. That being said, I recently had a vacation to Alaska for 7 days, a vacation to Seattle for 3 and I'm planning a few more vacations in the coming months.
==============================
What follows is a comprehensive post about how I managed to make $7-8k per month over the past 3 months and how I'm going to continue all the way to $20k per month.
This has nothing to do with the method I'm using to make money, but the other aspects involved that is most often forgotten in this journey forum! Not only do I feel slightly uncomfortable sharing some of the methods, but I also think there is a part missing, which I can fill.
==============================
Part I - Lifestyle
If you have tried your hand at the internet marketing lifestyle, you already know that making money online is hard f*cking work. You aren't going to find a lot of shortcuts even if you get a lot of help from great people along the way.
Making money is hard enough on its own so why have poor lifestyle choices that make it even worse? Sometimes pleasure and long-term goals require sacrifices in lifestyle (such as sleep, diet etc.), but there are some simple ways to keep things on track a lot better.
Intermittent Fasting
It seems counter-intuitive, but intermittent fasting has helped me to utilize my morning hours with more energy and focus than I ever have before. It takes a little bit of getting used to (if you eat breakfast), but it will definitely improve mental capabilities. The first couple of weeks were a tad difficult, but it was a lot easier after a month. Just don't eat anything after you wake up until around 11-12pm.
If you are going to start with intermittent fasting, I suggest you use tea in the morning and drink a lot of water. If you get straight to work and don't waste time in the morning with breakfast and whatnot, you are going to have a much more efficient and productive day.
Recommended reading: Ultimate Guide to Intermittent Fasting , A Beginner's Guide to Intermittent Fasting
Sleeping
One of the things I heard most growing up is that you need 7-8 hours of sleep in order to be properly rested and not feel tired the next day. While I understand the sentiment, there are a few specifics that can optimize your time and allow you to work a lot longer without feeling tired.
Sleep quality is a big factor when it comes to sleep. If you sleep for 7 hours when you are healthy, it is a lot better than when you are sick and congested, right? The sleep quality is different between the two. Even when you are not sick, you can improve your sleep quality by simply trying to go to sleep and wake up at the exact same time every single day. Therefore, 5 hours of sleep on the same schedule as every other night is going to give you better sleep quality than 5 hours with a weird schedule.
Are there going to be times when you get off-schedule? Of course. If you want to enjoy life and go out with friends / socialize, it is going to happen. The idea is to minimize it to once a week or so. Stay awake more often? Priorities, dude...
Also, humans tend to sleep in 90 minute cycles. Sometimes I feel more alert when I wake up after only 4.5 hours than 7 hours because I have a cycle interrupted in the latter scenario (7 hours) vs. coming to an end organically in the first scenario (4.5 hours).
Food Choices
Put bad fuel into a car and you're going to get a poorly functioning automobile. You need good food choices if you want to be focused on your work and running optimally. I started to eat more along the lines of the Paleo / Primal diet about 2 years ago and I have never felt better.
Cooking does not have to be a time consuming chore. If you do intermittent fasting like I suggested earlier, you can easily survive on only two big meals a day. I'm 180 lbs and mostly muscle and I can still gain muscle mass / strength with 1800 kcal or so.
If you really are in crunch-time with work, cook a single meal once a day and save two portions (one for lunch, one for dinner). That's a single 30 minutes or whatever and your brain is going to function 10 x better than some fast food or crappy processed snacks. One trick I love to use is getting a baked potato by putting it into the microwave for 3-5 minutes. Voila.
Also, doesn't taste good? Again... priorities, dude. Eat some dark chocolate at the end of the meal. Healthy and tastes delicious.
Meditation
A lot of people think it is woo-woo and don't want to try it. Suit yourself. I do 30 minutes of meditation as soon as I wake up and it keeps me a lot more focused and sharp. Most of all, it improves willpower, which comes in handy during the late nights and grueling hours of work while friends are inviting you to go do other things.
You don't need to turn meditation into a big ordeal, but if you can manage to do 20 - 30 minutes a day, you might find that the rest of your day is a lot more efficient and focused. Sacrificing 30 minutes for that improvement has been worth it for me.
Part II - Nootropics (Smart Drugs)
If you have most of the lifestyle issues taken care of, the "secret sauce" for my ability to work longer, smarter, and more efficiently is definitely nootropics.
Ever seen the movie "Limitless"? Well, there is nothing out there exactly like that (believe me, I've tried!). However, there are a ton of different nootropic compounds and "nootropic stacks" that have helped me over the past 2-3 years.
It isn't just me who is taking nootropics. Here is an article about Wall Street execs using smart drugs, another from the BBC about improving exam scores, from Time magazine, and another experiment on the Huffington Post.
Yeah, it's mainstream shit. Get on it.
Here are a few of my recommendations and some of the experiences I've had with them.
Caffeine + L-Theanine
I doubt there are many IMers who have not experienced caffeine, but there is a trick that can make it even more effective. L-theanine is an amino acid found in green tea and it helps to improve alpha brain waves, which are known to improve relaxation. Combined with caffeine, they actually increase the positive effects while decreasing many of the negative consequences (such as feeling jittery).
The L-theanine powder or pills are definitely helpful, but I found a sublingual solution of L-theanine even better. I just drink a cup of black coffee in the morning and then put the L-theanine solution under my tongue and let it go immediately into the bloodstream.
CILTeP
For improving focus and attention, a lot of people use Modafinil or even Adderall. Neither of which are really safe or legal to get in the USA without a prescription. Cognitive advantages are great, but they should not come at the detriment of long-term health. After all, Adderall is an amphetamine. Big no-no.
Instead, I opt for CILTEP which includes Forskolin and artichoke extract (both are naturally derived from plants). This doesn't make them inherently safe, but it is a potent combination. The only problem is the cost. I gave it a try and loved it, but I'm not willing to pay the cost associated with it for only 20 days use. Definitely better than Modafinil or Adderall, though.
Oxiracetam
There is a huge amount of discussion in the nootropics community on the efficacy of piracetam for enhancing cognitive abilities. It was found in the 1970s and studies show it is definitely an effective memory booster (among other things). However, oxiracetam was a home run for me. Taking this in the morning was like taking a stimulant that made everything a lot clearer and brighter. That isn't just a metaphor; when I took oxiracetam in the morning, colors became a lot more vivid and creativity was working on overdrive.
Because I limit myself on the nootropics I take per day or how often I take any one, I would actually save creative work to be done when I took oxiracetam. It was probably one of the bigger reasons why I found so many breakthroughs with internet marketing.
If you are going to get oxiracetam (or piracetam / aniracetam / phenylpiracetam etc.) I highly suggest looking for a third party certificate of approval. The link I put for oxiracetam has a third-party lab test the contents and they provide the results. Because this is an unregulated substance (still legal to use, though), it is better to get a safe, tested option.
Creatine
Yup, you heard me right. Creatine isn't just for the big muscle-building gym-rats. For the same reason it makes them a lot stronger, it can actually make you a lot smarter. It improves energy levels in the brain and the oxygen flow, which allows for a wide range of benefits. I just felt like I had longer days of work and more mental energy in general.
I just took 5 grams a day for a few months and was good to go. Creatine is not as useful when you start to eat a diet higher in meat, but if you are a vegetarian, this is a MUST for improving brain function and energy.
Fish Oil
I don't think I have to go into all the advantages of fish oil. It's amazing and if it is taken on an empty stomach in the morning, it can be used as energy right away without causing you to fall out of intermittent fasting.
Part III - Getting Started
So now you have a bit of information about what I did to go from a student to $7-8k/month. How exactly do you implement it all?
For the lifestyle items, it is a good idea to start as many as you can at one time. The diet is definitely the most important, but simply not eating until noon (intermittent fasting) is so much easier and better. It's what I call an "easy win". Internet marketing is hard enough - take the easy wins.
For nootropics, you might want to consider getting the L-theanine sublingual solution to add to your daily coffee. It will feel a lot more potent and useful for focus and it isn't going to overload you with too much extra in your system / brain.
If you are feeling adventurous, the oxiracetam is also a great choice as well. It's a relatively safe nootropic so you should be fine so long as you have a reputable vendor as indicated above.
Vegetarians should take creatine immediately, ASAP, pronto! Everyone can take fish oil and see the benefits.
The rest of this thread will be comprised of a few things:
Goal: My goal by the end of 2015 is to be making $20,000 per month working approximately 10-15 hours per month. The key caveat is that I want the work to be enjoyable. That is key. I only live once and there is no point in working hard to earn money to buy things that really don't make me happy. The work itself must make me happy.
Achieved to date: Right now I'm at a steady $7-8k per month and I'm spending 20 hours working. Most of it comes from affiliate offers, but a small chunk comes from writing content for BHW members (there is something about researching / writing random topics that keeps me happy). Whenever the writing load gets to be too much, I just scale back a bit.
I don't have anything flashy to show you because I don't buy that garbage. It all goes into re-investment and/or savings. Mostly re-investment at this point. That being said, I recently had a vacation to Alaska for 7 days, a vacation to Seattle for 3 and I'm planning a few more vacations in the coming months.
==============================
What follows is a comprehensive post about how I managed to make $7-8k per month over the past 3 months and how I'm going to continue all the way to $20k per month.
This has nothing to do with the method I'm using to make money, but the other aspects involved that is most often forgotten in this journey forum! Not only do I feel slightly uncomfortable sharing some of the methods, but I also think there is a part missing, which I can fill.
==============================
Part I - Lifestyle
If you have tried your hand at the internet marketing lifestyle, you already know that making money online is hard f*cking work. You aren't going to find a lot of shortcuts even if you get a lot of help from great people along the way.
Making money is hard enough on its own so why have poor lifestyle choices that make it even worse? Sometimes pleasure and long-term goals require sacrifices in lifestyle (such as sleep, diet etc.), but there are some simple ways to keep things on track a lot better.
Intermittent Fasting
It seems counter-intuitive, but intermittent fasting has helped me to utilize my morning hours with more energy and focus than I ever have before. It takes a little bit of getting used to (if you eat breakfast), but it will definitely improve mental capabilities. The first couple of weeks were a tad difficult, but it was a lot easier after a month. Just don't eat anything after you wake up until around 11-12pm.
If you are going to start with intermittent fasting, I suggest you use tea in the morning and drink a lot of water. If you get straight to work and don't waste time in the morning with breakfast and whatnot, you are going to have a much more efficient and productive day.
Recommended reading: Ultimate Guide to Intermittent Fasting , A Beginner's Guide to Intermittent Fasting
Sleeping
One of the things I heard most growing up is that you need 7-8 hours of sleep in order to be properly rested and not feel tired the next day. While I understand the sentiment, there are a few specifics that can optimize your time and allow you to work a lot longer without feeling tired.
Sleep quality is a big factor when it comes to sleep. If you sleep for 7 hours when you are healthy, it is a lot better than when you are sick and congested, right? The sleep quality is different between the two. Even when you are not sick, you can improve your sleep quality by simply trying to go to sleep and wake up at the exact same time every single day. Therefore, 5 hours of sleep on the same schedule as every other night is going to give you better sleep quality than 5 hours with a weird schedule.
Are there going to be times when you get off-schedule? Of course. If you want to enjoy life and go out with friends / socialize, it is going to happen. The idea is to minimize it to once a week or so. Stay awake more often? Priorities, dude...
Also, humans tend to sleep in 90 minute cycles. Sometimes I feel more alert when I wake up after only 4.5 hours than 7 hours because I have a cycle interrupted in the latter scenario (7 hours) vs. coming to an end organically in the first scenario (4.5 hours).
Food Choices
Put bad fuel into a car and you're going to get a poorly functioning automobile. You need good food choices if you want to be focused on your work and running optimally. I started to eat more along the lines of the Paleo / Primal diet about 2 years ago and I have never felt better.
Cooking does not have to be a time consuming chore. If you do intermittent fasting like I suggested earlier, you can easily survive on only two big meals a day. I'm 180 lbs and mostly muscle and I can still gain muscle mass / strength with 1800 kcal or so.
If you really are in crunch-time with work, cook a single meal once a day and save two portions (one for lunch, one for dinner). That's a single 30 minutes or whatever and your brain is going to function 10 x better than some fast food or crappy processed snacks. One trick I love to use is getting a baked potato by putting it into the microwave for 3-5 minutes. Voila.
Also, doesn't taste good? Again... priorities, dude. Eat some dark chocolate at the end of the meal. Healthy and tastes delicious.
Meditation
A lot of people think it is woo-woo and don't want to try it. Suit yourself. I do 30 minutes of meditation as soon as I wake up and it keeps me a lot more focused and sharp. Most of all, it improves willpower, which comes in handy during the late nights and grueling hours of work while friends are inviting you to go do other things.
You don't need to turn meditation into a big ordeal, but if you can manage to do 20 - 30 minutes a day, you might find that the rest of your day is a lot more efficient and focused. Sacrificing 30 minutes for that improvement has been worth it for me.
Part II - Nootropics (Smart Drugs)
If you have most of the lifestyle issues taken care of, the "secret sauce" for my ability to work longer, smarter, and more efficiently is definitely nootropics.
Ever seen the movie "Limitless"? Well, there is nothing out there exactly like that (believe me, I've tried!). However, there are a ton of different nootropic compounds and "nootropic stacks" that have helped me over the past 2-3 years.
It isn't just me who is taking nootropics. Here is an article about Wall Street execs using smart drugs, another from the BBC about improving exam scores, from Time magazine, and another experiment on the Huffington Post.
Yeah, it's mainstream shit. Get on it.
Here are a few of my recommendations and some of the experiences I've had with them.
Caffeine + L-Theanine
I doubt there are many IMers who have not experienced caffeine, but there is a trick that can make it even more effective. L-theanine is an amino acid found in green tea and it helps to improve alpha brain waves, which are known to improve relaxation. Combined with caffeine, they actually increase the positive effects while decreasing many of the negative consequences (such as feeling jittery).
The L-theanine powder or pills are definitely helpful, but I found a sublingual solution of L-theanine even better. I just drink a cup of black coffee in the morning and then put the L-theanine solution under my tongue and let it go immediately into the bloodstream.
CILTeP
For improving focus and attention, a lot of people use Modafinil or even Adderall. Neither of which are really safe or legal to get in the USA without a prescription. Cognitive advantages are great, but they should not come at the detriment of long-term health. After all, Adderall is an amphetamine. Big no-no.
Instead, I opt for CILTEP which includes Forskolin and artichoke extract (both are naturally derived from plants). This doesn't make them inherently safe, but it is a potent combination. The only problem is the cost. I gave it a try and loved it, but I'm not willing to pay the cost associated with it for only 20 days use. Definitely better than Modafinil or Adderall, though.
Oxiracetam
There is a huge amount of discussion in the nootropics community on the efficacy of piracetam for enhancing cognitive abilities. It was found in the 1970s and studies show it is definitely an effective memory booster (among other things). However, oxiracetam was a home run for me. Taking this in the morning was like taking a stimulant that made everything a lot clearer and brighter. That isn't just a metaphor; when I took oxiracetam in the morning, colors became a lot more vivid and creativity was working on overdrive.
Because I limit myself on the nootropics I take per day or how often I take any one, I would actually save creative work to be done when I took oxiracetam. It was probably one of the bigger reasons why I found so many breakthroughs with internet marketing.
If you are going to get oxiracetam (or piracetam / aniracetam / phenylpiracetam etc.) I highly suggest looking for a third party certificate of approval. The link I put for oxiracetam has a third-party lab test the contents and they provide the results. Because this is an unregulated substance (still legal to use, though), it is better to get a safe, tested option.
Creatine
Yup, you heard me right. Creatine isn't just for the big muscle-building gym-rats. For the same reason it makes them a lot stronger, it can actually make you a lot smarter. It improves energy levels in the brain and the oxygen flow, which allows for a wide range of benefits. I just felt like I had longer days of work and more mental energy in general.
I just took 5 grams a day for a few months and was good to go. Creatine is not as useful when you start to eat a diet higher in meat, but if you are a vegetarian, this is a MUST for improving brain function and energy.
Fish Oil
I don't think I have to go into all the advantages of fish oil. It's amazing and if it is taken on an empty stomach in the morning, it can be used as energy right away without causing you to fall out of intermittent fasting.
Part III - Getting Started
So now you have a bit of information about what I did to go from a student to $7-8k/month. How exactly do you implement it all?
For the lifestyle items, it is a good idea to start as many as you can at one time. The diet is definitely the most important, but simply not eating until noon (intermittent fasting) is so much easier and better. It's what I call an "easy win". Internet marketing is hard enough - take the easy wins.
For nootropics, you might want to consider getting the L-theanine sublingual solution to add to your daily coffee. It will feel a lot more potent and useful for focus and it isn't going to overload you with too much extra in your system / brain.
If you are feeling adventurous, the oxiracetam is also a great choice as well. It's a relatively safe nootropic so you should be fine so long as you have a reputable vendor as indicated above.
Vegetarians should take creatine immediately, ASAP, pronto! Everyone can take fish oil and see the benefits.
The rest of this thread will be comprised of a few things:
- Me answering questions about lifestyle + nootropic hacks
- Other nootropic experiences / anecdotes
- My continued experiments of nootropics to see what works
