When the economy gets a little rough and gas prices go sky high (among many other climbing expenses), people tend to increase their negativity.  They pay more attention to the negative things around them.  They get bombarded by media and practically everyone around them.  Many change their spending habits, cut unnecessary expenses, and do everything they can to survive without going under.

Right now, media keeps focusing on home foreclosures, job losses, oil going up, the stock market going down, food prices going up, and just about anything else that can cause someone on a tight budget to get depressed.  It is very easy to get caught in the trap of focusing on the negative and feeling like everything is “gloom and doom” and everything is going to get worse.  These ideas, thoughts, and feeling are exactly the WRONG way to be thinking………

Believe it or not, if you are reading this blog, most likely you are “RICH”.  Let me explain…….

If you have a computer, you are in an elite group.  Only about 5% of the world population has a computer.  Think about a few other things that you probably have…….

Do you have a roof over your head?

Do you have a car?

Do you have food in your kitchen?

Do you have …….  and so on….

Think about the things that you DO have in your life.  There are so many other people that have a LOT less than you.  They would love to be in your shoes.  They would appreciate having what you have and being in your situation.  Do you appreciate what you have or are you focusing on what you don’t have and how bad things are?

Do you have kids?  Do you focus on how they don’t clean up their room or all of the noise they make?  Do you focus on how much of your time it takes to take care of them or what you wish they did differently?  Or, do you focus on the joy they bring to your life - all of the times they laugh at silly things you do or when they pat you on the back or jump in your arms to show how much they love you?  Be thankful for your children.  They are a blessing from God.  Many other people long to have children of their own but can’t due to physical or other situations - and they would love to have a child that would mess up their room, make a lot of noise, and take a lot of their time.  To these people you ARE rich.  It’s all a matter of perspective…..

Do you have a home?  Do you complain about how much work it is to keep clean?  Do you complain about mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, and cleaning every nook and cranny just to do it all over again the next day?  Or, do you focus on the fact that you have a home that you can relax and feel safe in?  Be thankful for your home.  It may not be a mansion, but their are countless people that wish they had a home.  They would gladly mow the lawn, do the dishes, do the laundry, and clean every nook and cranny and anything else they would need to do just to have a home.  They would be so thankful.  To these people, you ARE rich.  Are you thankful for your home?  Again, perspective…….

Take note of the positives in your life and focus on what you DO have.  Focus on how things will get better and look for the good in everything.  It is there if you look for it.  You will be much happier if you do.  Even in a rough economy, you are RICH.

Put your focus where you should.  Be appreciative.  It is all perspective.  Have a positive one and enjoy life….

- Hill Robertson

This is a video that shows how to be a little bit more secure using Microsoft Windows based web development tools by using them on a Mac (using OSX Leopard) which is much more secure than Windows. Windows has many more vulnerabilities than UNIX based operating systems such as Apple’s OS X and Linux. The security level of Linux and OSX is far superior to Windows and we can add a layer of security by running the Windows OS within VMware.

The Windows based web development tools can still be used (such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Photoshop, etc.) to build the website files but then instead of transmitting the files using the less secure Windows (and possibly having key logger malware spying on every key that is typed in the Windows environment such as user logins and passwords), we can drag and drop the files from the virtual machine (using VMware Tools) directly to the Mac.

You may get some other ideas as well after watching this video. On another note, you should notice the quality of these videos getting better as I figure out better ways to encode them.

Also, don’t forget to sign up for announcements on this blog to be notified by email when I post updates. I even occasionally post private password protected posts that only subscribers will get. It is absolutely free to subscribe and I will never give your info to anyone. I hate spam myself. So please sign up at the top right of this page.

Enjoy!!!!!

- Hill Robertson

I hope everyone had a great Father’s day. I sure did. I always enjoy spending time with my family. My family is the primary reason I build my internet businesses. It gives me the freedom to control my own success. A job will not allow you to control your own success (or freedom). A job will keep you enslaved to your employer. Your employer will dictate how much money you make, when you have to work, and how long you have to work. If you think about it in a different way, you employer tells you how little money you make (just enough to get by - if even that much). They tell you when you can’t be spending time with your family and they tell you how much time you can spend with your family. On top of that, they can lay you off at any moment regardless of your situation.

I recently had some friends of mine told that they were no longer needed at their place of employment. They had worked hard (and did an excellent job) for many years and made the business what it was for their employer. They made many sacrifices along the way for the sake of their jobs and in the end, they were just let go. This seems to happen more and more these days.

The best way to be successful and in control of your own freedom is to have a business of your own that you control. An internet business is an ideal way to accomplish these goals. All you need to do is find out what people want and are willing to pay for, create the product, and sell it. It’s really pretty simple. It may not be easy, but it is a simple formula.

What are you interested in? Do you have a hobby? What do you know a lot about? You are an expert about something. If you know more about something than a majority of other people, you are an expert to them. They will want to know what you know. Just think about how many times someone asked you advice about something. You were an expert to them about whatever they were asking about. There are MANY more people that would ask you the same type of questions if they knew you could help them and a percentage of those people will pay you for your information.

So, get started and set up a blog or some other internet presence about yourself and your “expertise” and let people know about you. This is just the beginning of a successful business that can help you can gain financial freedom and success.

- Hill Robertson

Here we go with the geeky info……I uploaded my first video to YouTube so it may not be perfect but it is a start. The video gives a little bit of information about virtual machines.I boot up a Windows XP virtual machine using VMware fusion on my Mac Pro and show you how to run Internet Explorer on a Mac (sort of).

This is one of the tools I use to do my website development for my internet businesses. It allows me to test my websites on multiple configurations with different operating systems and in different browsers. By using the VMware virtual machine software, I can do all of my testing on my Mac Pro system without having to physically have several different computers to test with.I can run multiple versions of Windows (XP, Vista, etc.) and I can run multiple versions of Linux while running on my host Mac OSX system. It gives me the best of all worlds and a lot of flexibility.

VMware can be run on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. It is a valuable tool in many ways for many people. You can find it at http://vmware.com .

- Hill Robertson

Some of the biggest complainers these days about the higher cost of gas, food, and other basic essentials have been those that claim to be on a “fixed” income. The truth is, there is no such thing as a fixed income. Now, you may have a fixed income for a particular job that you have but you are free to generate more income in other ways. So, fixed incomes are a myth.

Many times, people who complain about their fixed income are either lazy and just vegetate watching television all day or they come up with every excuse in the world as to why they can’t earn additional income. Even people with some kind of handicap can create additional income if they really want and focus on what they CAN do instead of feeling sorry for themselves and focusing on what they can’t do.

It is all a matter of attitude and actions. Anyone with the right positive attitude with the right focus and actions to accomplish their goals can be successful in anything they set their mind to.

- Hill Robertson

Most business people hate this time of year and hate dealing with doing their taxes. Most “average” people with a J.O.B. love this time of year because they think of it as time for getting their “free” play money. They don’t realize that it was their money in the first place that the government took from them and is only giving back a small portion of it.

I wish withholding tax didn’t exist and everyone would have to actually write a check this time of the year to the government. It would give a big wake up call to a majority of Americans in realizing how much of their paycheck goes to the government. The truth is, most people wouldn’t have the money to pay it and there would be a large outcry about how high taxes are and there would by scrutiny of where every tax dollar is spent. It would be a very good thing to happen to the country. However, the IRS knows this too and that is why the system is the way it is and most people don’t know any better.

Entrepreneurs and business people of all kinds understand the way the tax system works since we must pay estimated taxes and all kinds of employment taxes (if we have employees) as well as setting up employee social security, withholding, and other taxes. It can be a big headache. But that is a just part of doing business and another reason why the other 98% of people don’t get into business for themselves.

Having said all of that, one of my goals every year is to pay more taxes. I hate paying taxes and don’t want to increase paying taxes for any reason other than it means my income is increasing. Of course, it could also mean the tax system or rates changed for the worse even with my income staying the same. But in general, if I am paying more taxes, my income increased. So, I hope my taxes go up every year based on my income going up every year.

Do you want to pay more taxes because you are generating a lot more income? I wouldn’t mind paying an additional $100,000 per year in taxes if it means my income increased by $250,000. I would still be ahead by $150,000.

- Hill Robertson

I love to observe people. I really enjoy watching how people react to different situations and what type of attitude they have. One of my favorite times to do this is around Christmas time when the malls are flooded with people rushing around to get the hottest toy for their kids of the perfect gift for their spouse. It brings out the best and worst in people.

I like to go to the local mall and sit in the food court area. I usually get honey chicken with fried rice at the Chinese place. They use to have awesome wontons there but they got rid of them once they changed ownership. Anyway, I’ll sit there and nibble away while observing people complain about the long lines or that the one specific gift they came to get was sold out. Usually, the attitude that is displayed with these type of comments is a very negative attitude that points the finger at everyone else. Their attitude doesn’t make the lines any shorter or help them find the sold out gift. All it does is make everyone else around them more negative.

If you look carefully enough, you will see the more positive site of people too. While I sit there savoring my last few grains of fried rice, I see happy people with positive attitudes and a smile on their face as they enjoy the time of the year and enjoy spending time with family. They have to wait in the same long lines and don’t get that sold out gift but they have the proper perspective and they are upbeat and positive. They make people around them happier.

So, people are characterized by their attitude. What is your attitude? Are you portraying a positive or negative attitude to others? Do your customers dread calling you because you are grumpy and have a bad attitude? If so, they may not be your customers very long and they certainly won’t recommend you to anyone else. Or, do your customers enjoy talking with you because you have a positive attitude and they feel better about themselves after having a conversation with you? If so, they will be long lasting customers and they will recommend you to others they know and your business will grow.

Remember, business is all about people. Without people, you have no business. With a bad attitude, you have no business. Everyone has an attitude the portray - whether good or bad. Your relationships will be based on attitude. Be sure you have a positive one if you want a successful business and a happy life.

So I spent about 30 minutes the other day writing a new blog entry. I did all of the normal things I do for each. I quickly wrote it without losing my train of thought just to get the content down before I forgot it. Then, I previewed it by clicking on the preview link (in another tab of my Firefox browser). I saw a few spelling errors and a couple of things I wanted to explain a little better so I clicked on the edit button to go back to the Wordpress administration area of my blog and made the changes. After checking a few more things and updating the entry to my liking, I posted the blog article. Everything looked good on the blog and I was ready to move on. I started browsing around other sites and doing my normal routine. Then, I came back to my blog and found my new blog entry was GONE! What in the world happened? I knew I had posted it. Where did it go? Did I accidentally delete it? Did I save it instead of publishing it? What went wrong?

I went back to my blog admin area and found the article still there but in a “saved” state and not published. Was I going crazy? I knew I had published it. Well, it was pretty late at night (actually early in the morning) so I guess I could have made a mistake. So, I published it again and everything looked fine. Until…… A few minutes later, my post vanished again. Now I’m getting really confused. I went back to the admin area and the same thing had happened. So, I went to my saved entries and then republished it once again. Then, I realized what was happening…..

It turned out that I had one of my browser tabs still opened on my Wordpress blog in the admin area (for writing) on the new blog entry. One of the features of Wordpress is an autosave feature that automatically saves your blog entry at regular intervals as you are writing it so if something happens while you are writing your entry, you will not lose all of your work. This is what was causing the problem. Even though I published my article (in another browser tab), when the refresh cycle came around in the other tab, it would “autosave” the article back to a saved state instead of a published state. Also, if I had made any edits to the article in another tab, the could have gotten lost when this browser tab autosaved.

So, be sure you do not do the same thing with your blog. It can really be mind boggling and frustrating when it happens if you don’t realize what is going on when your blog entries mysteriously start vanishing. Do all of your work in one browser and with just one tab without opening other ones. Or, if you like using multiple browser windows and tabs, be sure to keep track of them and don’t fall into the same trap.

- Hill Robertson

Many people I know seem to live by the motto of “working for the weekend”. They go to their JOB Monday through Friday and put in their time. They practically proclaim that they have no fun and don’t really “live” until the weekend comes and they don’t have to work.

People with job mentality tend to think a JOB is the way to success. They either jump from job to job every few years looking for happiness and maybe a little bit more pay or they work hours and hours of free overtime trying to impress their management to rise up the corporate ladder thinking that it is a path to success. They never really think about building their own business and creating their own success and freedom. They typically think that anyone that becomes successful in their own business had different circumstances than them or had some advantage that allowed them to be successful.

Why just work for the weekend when you can work for freedom? You can have the freedom to do what you want to do when you want to do it. If you can eliminate the things and activities that are robbing you of your valuable time and you focus on things that can make you productive and successful, you can determine your success in life whether it be monetary, physical, or spiritual. It is your choice. You can make the decision and take the action to make any of your wildest dreams come true. Make wise choices.

So, are you working for the weekend or are you working for freedom?

- Hill Robertson

We seem to be taught our entire life that to be successful, you need to get an education, earn a degree, and get a job . However, getting a job is not going to let you achieve financial freedom. It will barely keep you treading water until some unexpected expense comes up that wipes you out. Not only that, but a lot of your time is taken away from you. As many entrepreneurs will tell you, J.O.B. stands for “just over broke”. It is just enough to get by.

Sure, you may be able to survive working a typical JOB and then plopping on the couch to watch some mindless brain numbing television. But you will probably work like that your entire life and retire with almost nothing and just barely surviving. You have the choice to work at a JOB and live with these results. Or, you can start your own business and work it consistently until you are financially free and can do what you want when you want. You can even do it while you still work at a JOB.

Think a little bit about what your future expenses may be. Do you have kids? What will their education expenses be? Do you have girls that one day may have wedding expenses that you are expected to pay? Have you thought about what kind of taxes you may have to pay? (They seem to go up every year whether federal, state, property, or anything else the government decides to tax). As for me, my kids go to a private school and my tuition keeps skyrocketing every year. If I only had a J.O.B., I would not be able to even afford the tuition, much less save for college or anything else.

I’m sure your pocket book is getting too light too fast right now with gasoline well over 3 dollars per gallon. Also, many of the basic food necessities have jumped in price as well. Just the normal living expenses have been climbing and the dollar is weakening. What are you doing to combat it? Are you trading more of your time for money? Many people that I know are just working extra hours for a little bit more pay. However, they don’t usually realize that they may be paying more taxes on the overtime and getting less take home pay per hour. Back to my main point; the time is much more valuable than the money.

If your time is invested wisely in your own business and the right systems are put in place, you can make MUCH more money than at a JOB. You can also build it where you invest the time creating a product or service ONCE and continue to get paid without having to put in more work. This is the essence of a freedom mentality instead of JOB mentality. My biggest successes in business have been my service businesses where I spend my focused work efforts creating the product. Then, it is just a matter of making it available, writing good copy (which I am admittedly not very good at yet), and getting traffic. After that, the sales start coming in and the money comes in every month. I’m generating a very generous income without even being good at writing copy. I’m still learning the ropes in this area. The point is, you don’t have to be great or even good at everything to make money. Just start your business and work at it. You will make mistakes but you will learn as you go. You will get better and better. I didn’t know squat when I started, but I learned along the way and it has paid off. I’m still learning in a lot of areas (and will never be an expert at everything).

Don’t live your life thinking you must have a good J.O.B. to be successful. That is what we are taught but it is not a path to freedom. Stop trading your time for money. A J.O.B. is a path to slavery to your employer - until they don’t need you anymore…. Start a business of your own and pave your path to financial freedom.