It's that time of the year, where I think there's nothing more important than looking on the whole year in hindsight and relook at firstly what happened with the world and what I can learn from others.


Financials
Firstly there was the spillover from the 2008 subprime collapse which sent many stock markets spiralling downwards but only to rebound on huge optimism of successful (but still debatable) government bailouts. The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange index rose from a March 09 low of 836 points and now hovering at the 1271 points.

But more importantly, this was a worldwide phenomenon. I for one, had huge skepticism of the markets (no thanks to a few of my pessimistic friends who subscribed heavily to extreme news views) and expected it to fall even further to the 700 levels then hit it big into the market. The sad part was, my own research indicated a likely rebound - which it did! Indicators already determined that it was basically 'low enough'. From here, I learnt an invaluable phrase called
My mistake is, this cat wasn't dead but had a good and constant supply of nutrition from everywhere. Next year, I shall be more vigilant in getting my sources.
One of my alternatives that I've been emplying is the self-study of Technical Trading. One of the best sites I've been frequenting would be none other than StockCharts.com. (5/5 stars)

Michael Jackson
Yes, he is important enough for one whole paragraph for the King of Pop himself. But imo, the real MJ 'died'  when the mainstream media and corporations began to milk him for all he's worth. After all, pain and humiliation is unofficially part of their business model, isn't it? But back to the man himself, watching the movie 'This is it', I saw the inner workings of this truly amazing man. Despite his misgivings, he left a precious message through one of his most remembered hits - that change will begin with the Man in the Mirror.

Tiger Woods
On the 27th of November, my twitter accounts started buzzing with tweets saying "Tiger Woods injured in car accident". Now, this was only two days after I read about the social media revolution where I found out that Twitter is now the source of breaking news - unverified or otherwise. So I was pretty much excited watching this phenomenon prove itself yet again as searches of "Tiger Woods accident" on google still pointed to his sporting news.

Then, tweet after tweet the message started to get awry with fiery allegations of sexual misconduct. Now, barring the details from the Tiger-hungry media, Tiger has now 'suspended' his professional career in golf putting the entire industry into jeapordy similar to the downfall of the NBA when Jordan left. Wonder whether he might pick up golf though.

It's a cruel 2009, honestly. Not much good news that went around if you think about it. Or maybe it's because my theory is true that the media is constantly searching for negativity which makes more money? Dayum.

I did it!

NO, I haven't mastered Dreamweaver as I mentioned a few days ago.. but I'm getting there! It took me several days to scour through the likes of HTML and got to the basics of it. But I'm feeling a little funny as I'm sure you're feeling a little clueless as to why am I suddenly into all this. So in all fairness, I will backtrack a little and tell you about what suddenly got me into this whole internet craze.

How it all started
Two weeks ago I attended a Global Internet Seminar which brought a whole bunch of millionaire webtrepreneurs to stage showcasing their methods of internet success ranging from 'instant web page creation systems' to 'mailing list generation' to making money from Twitter! (Yes, it really can happen)

Of all the systems, the one that got to me was Twa.lk, created by Shaun Stenning. (who by the way made his millions from Twitter alone and was named Australia's #1 Twitter user).

Twa.lk is basically an online platform that links to Twitter as an API (Application Programming Interface) and can help you (almost) automate your account by automatically growing your followers for you, posting new and article links for you and placing your own ads. If you want more information, just go to twitter and search for 'twa.lk' and click their links. Here's the catch; on the first day he told the audience that if he doesn't make $10,000 USD within the 3 day seminar, he'll wear a pink dress and dance around the hall for us.

Back to my story
Anyway, so here I am, trying a more manual method of working on the internet as my additional source of passive income. And me being me, I wanted to prove that you can get all the information you need if you have enough determination and willingness to be learn.
For example, I've discovered some fantastic forums and resources that enable you to learn as a newbie.

• Warrior Forum - A forum where internet marketers gather and discuss and share techniques that work, explain technicalities and show some serious money.
• Google Zeitgeist - Zeitgeist is German for 'the spirit of the times'. As we all know, all businesses and plans start with concrete market research and identification of trends. Zeitgeist offers very valuable tools especially if you're a US citizen! I use this all the time when it comes to getting insights and I'm such a nerd for numbers and analysis.. :)

Overall, I reckon it's a worthwhile investment and I hope to be able to create my money making machines (MMM) from my internet marketing systems in at least six to nine months. Reason being - the ROI is really good considering you have almost zero capital investment!

The half-baked product
The site is called fashionstudio54 and inspired by Studio54, a world famous disco in the 70s and early 80s. We sell everything from clothing, shoes to facial products. It might seem like 5 minutes work, but trust me, for beginners, just changing the background took me half a day to master!

Will keep you guys posted on the progress!

Hi guys,

I just thought I'd share my excitement. Since I'm aiming for a full-fledged home-business, passive income seeking lifestyle which for me (I realized) is heavily dependant on picking up on my trading skills and fully-understanding the internet, I've just decided to pick up web-design by myself.

So I'm currently reading the e-book 'Teaching Yourself Dreamweaver CS3 Visually'! (and attempting the almost-impossible)

P.S: For the uninitiated, Adobe Dreamweaver is a web-design software for pros.

Wish me luck!

Justin

The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
~George Carlin (1937-2008)

I just watched a PBS Special commemorating the great comedian George Carlin and there was something that struck me about this evangelical hippie. It's not about George's ability to conjure show-stopping ideological ironies that he manages craft into utterly rhythmic and poetic monologues, neither it is about his sharp wit that turns seemingly ordinary thoughts into extraordinary brain droppings as he'd call it.

The part that caught me was about his discipline on his passion. At one part, Jon Stewart (host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central) talked about his opportunity to meet the man before hosting '40 years of comedy with George Carlin'. He flew out to California to meet George and didn't know what to expect.

So when he met George, he was expecting to watch the master at work - getting inspiration from being up in Aspen Colorado while relaxing and having some drinks. But what he saw when he entered Carlin's office was just a desk and a computer. Jon was amazed at how this anti-establishment mind - whom judging by his reputation had probably already gained his fortune in comedy - punched-in everyday and sat in front of his desk and worked. What most thought was a life of fame and fortune sat this blue-collared guy behind his desk who was dead serious about his passion. And when they headed to the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, he saw George pacing back and forth rehearsing his routine about advertising one after another. 40 years in comedy and he was still choreographing, presenting, drafting and perfecting it.

Ask ourselves, how many of us would have done that? (Particularly those who're working from home and who are still stuck at dreaming about our fortune)

One thing for sure that we can all learn from the great George Carlin is his discipline that he put to his passion. It doesn't matter what he did, and who you are, if you want to be truly successful (and more importantly stay there) - there's no break from your passion. You gotta 'do your time' like any other person and there ain't two ways about it.

(Of course the difference if you were in George's shoes would be that you'd be worried about different things - like censorship! lol)

I'll end this with a very apt monologue from Mr. Carlin entitled 'The Modern Man'.

I recently attended a seminar by T.Harv Eker called "Millionaire Mind Intensive". I didn't expect too much as I attended the seminar for free (as with the other approx. 80% of the attendees) and I attended with an open mind.

Most self-help enthusiasts have probably been exposed to so many seminars be it attending live, webinars, preview courses or even Youtube that you will indefinitely find half of the stuff repeated; the jumping, the clapping, the dancing, the incantations. They all work and are good but at some point you've got to have had enough. So my principle for seminars (free or otherwise) is as long as I discover my needle in the haystack - that one thing that could make the difference between 4 and 5 digit incomes - it's simply worth it.

Part of the seminar, one of Harv's assistant speakers was promoting a book called Speed Wealth. He claimed that one of the principles helped him realize what was missing and the rest was history. I was intrigued and bought the book.

He was right.

One of Speed Wealth's principles was that in order to make a lot of money, you must build your Money Making Machine (MMM), emphasis on the word machine. One of Speed Wealth's principle goes
I used to work in a tobacco company and they own machines that can produce more than 10,000 sticks a minute. The question is, how much sticks do you think the machine could produce if a human were needed to simply press a button every 5 minutes? I'll bet my bottom dollar that it's much less then 10 million sticks. (10k x 60 x 24 = 14.4 million, lol) In other words, human touch is overrated!

Whatever you're doing, you have to think about how do you get maximum leverage out of your business and get out of the rat race, which you pray wasn't custom designed by yourself!

Click links below to preview these books:
SpeedWealth - How to Make a Million in Your Own Business in 3 Years or Less
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

It's true what you've heard, Jim Rohn has passed away approximately 3 hours ago from the time of writing. According to his official site, he has battled with Pulmonary Fibrosis (scarring through the lungs).

A vision is one's ability to project our thoughts into the future with positive expectation while totally ignoring its viability and the ability to find a purpose that's larger than life.

All successful people are visionaries. When they speak, they speak little about the current issues, but more importantly they tell you to "look at the big picture". Like an Everest climber's constant obsession of the peak that lets him forget the temporary pain for the bigger (or higher) pleasure! It's even in the bible termed as faith defined as "blessed are those who believe yet have not seen".

A case in point - Donald Trump. Our beloved tough-talking, egomaniacal billionaire speaks about the importance of vision in the introduction of Trump University's latest book Entrepreneurship 101.

"In 1974, I looked at the old Commodore Hotel, next to Grand Central Station in New York City. I did not see a huge, dilapidated nearly empty building in a seedy neighborhood. I did not see a bankrupt city or the New York real estate market, struggling to survive. I saw a magnificent first-class convention hotel complex - grandiose, luxurious, and noteworthy. I was a young man of 27, and my vision felt rightsized."

If I had that power, I'd be unstoppable too.




The seemingly unstoppable search giant
I was watching TV recently and there was a documentary about Google. The vision of Google and their founders was that one day the world of technology would need nothing more than 2 basic elements to fufill their everyday needs -  an internet connection and their browser. Affirmative, no more programs, no more installations, no more CDs. Today, those that would have ridiculed the idea a mere 5 years ago, would stand corrected (and probably poorer) as the concept is being fulfilled more and more everyday.


One thing's as sure as the sunrise - Every entrepreneur that has ever made it would attest that they went through an inevitable period of both internal and external ridicule. When an entrepreneur's takes his bold step out of his comfort zone - even if it began in the mind - his/her ability to use his vision to "push through" is the ultimate test.
 MDH uber-recommended.