1. Sell your expertise. Whether you are a business consultant or a horse trainer, you can use your website to promote your services.

2. Sell your artwork or handicrafts online. People sell everything from home-made soap to dog clothing to paintings to photographs on the Internet.

3. Write an E-book and set up a website where you promote and sell it as a downloadable product. You can create your own best-selling information product - even if you're not a writer. How? Just put it out for bid on www.elance.com.

4. Create a high-traffic website and charge people to have their links to their websites on your website.

5. Create a high-traffic website and capitalize on the pay-per-click advertising revenue. This is one of the easiest ways of making money on the internet. It is common for people to make $100 a day. In fact, some people make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year doing this.

6. Sell other people's products on your websites. This is known as affiliate marketing. Commissions can range as high as 75 percent. This is how affiliate marketing guru Rosalind Gardner of Penticton, B.C in 2003 made a whopping $657,000 marketing other people's products. Today she earns over $100,000 a month.

7. Sell products on Ebay. A recent newspaper article stated that over 250,000 people make a living marketing products on Ebay.

8. Take a sales copy writing course and write sales copy for Websiteowners who need great copy to promote their products. You don't need to be a born writer. To be a great copywriter, you just have to enjoy writing - and understand the principles that go into making strong copy.

9. Create a newsletter on a niche topic and charge people to subscribe to it.

10. Write and sell articles. There are several websites where people place their articles for sale. Complete rights for a particular article are sold at a higher price than than that for an article that is sold repeatedly on a one-time non-exclusive basis.

An estimated 950,000 Canadians would like to start a business within the year says research done by RBC Financial Group.

40% of Canadians think entrepreneurship is the most rewarding career option, according to a 2005 poll by Leger Marketing.

There are 2.5 million businesses in Canada. 97% of them are small businesses. Plus, 56% of Canadians work for Small to Medium sized companies, all of this according to Stats Canada.

Self-employment is growing fastest among young Canadians (age 15-24) and older Canadians (age 55+), says Stats Canada.

'Seniorpreneurs' account for ¼ of self employed people in Canada, and 30% of the total workforce over 55.

Growth in small business at 3.7% annually, is outpacing the economy as a whole. The strongest growth for small business is in urban areas, and more than 60% of small businesses are in urban centers.

In the next decade, there will be a 10-20% increase in the number of small business firms in Canada.

Original Message -----
From: David3830@aol.com
To: vip-books@telus.net
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 10:33 AM
Subject: laid off

I have just finished your book Real Success Without a Real Job and have enjoyed it immensley.

Now as I have been toying with an idea for several years,I am now going to go ahead and do it.

Now I have a question,the quotations shown in the book, can they be freely used by another? or do I have to get permission from the writer.

This is a new line for me and I have no idea how these things work.

Hope fully this year I will be able to join your for a latte this year, but not to early.

Thank you.
David

----- Original Message -----
From: Raul Gonzales
To: vip-books@telus.net
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 11:37 PM
Subject: Joy of Not Working and Real Success without a Real Job

Dear Mr. Zelinski,

I just want to thank you so much for the insight these 2 books (The Joy of Not Working and Real Success Without a Real Job) have given me. I read them both in the last 2 weeks. I happened upon Real Success Without a Real Job at Barns and Nobel one day and purchased it and could not put it down, and with all the references to The Joy of Not Working I ordered that one on Amazon and promptly read that one very quickly as well!

I know I am enjoying and getting allot out of a book when I can read them so quickly I too was laid off at a Mortgage company in March of 2005 after working there for a second stint 5 years straight, I also worked there pre college for 3 years in the early 90's! I am 37 years old, still single but looking for the girl of my dreams, but also in a quandary of what to do to make a living, but have the leaserly lifestyle!

Soon after being laid off I also determined in my mind not to find a job again, but try various businesses, I had some real estate I was renting out, but was only covering my carry cost monthly but did have some 401K money I cashed in and a layoff package I cashed in, I enrolled in a stock trading course which in hindsight was way too expensive 20K all on the MasterCard.. and will finish the last class this week in Chicago (The Trading Pit) but nevertheless, trading for the last year and a half has now left me without any more cash flow, I have one more position I am hoping will return some income. Much more on this year and a half period later.

The position I am in now, is that I am selling my primary residence in Cedar park Texas on Nov 1st to an Australian couple who were the only offer on the house, I will gain about 12500.00 in proceeds of which I will pay my folks back about 3000.00,,,, I have the (dreaded) interview for a job on Tuesday morning before I fly out to Chicago for a firm that places people in Accounting jobs (40) hours / week type positions. However I do not look forward to get back to the corporate world! I have started a blog to get into the habit of writing to someday produce an ebook or books like yours to self publish. http://tradersjunction.blogspot.com/

I guess the questions I have are (HELP), I don't want to get into accounting field anymore....? I am over 120,000.00 in credit card that I cannot service any longer and am considering CH 7. I really hate to do this.

Also, was considering taking some of the proceeds of the sale of my house and buy a used 35 mm camera and start a business of some sort. (landscapes) framed
and market on ebay or to corporations. I have no experience but love to drive out to the Texas hill country and explore the areas!

I just seemed to have struck a rock and a hard place of generating income,,, My trading has come to a halt but know that I want to try again one day when the funds are available.

I know this is long, but hope to begin some kind of dialog and advise or mentorship you may offer?

Thanks once again for the great books! I read every line, front to back!!!

Yours truly,

Raul Gonzales
Cedar Park, Texas (near Austin)

raulgonzales@hotmail.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Morris, David
To: vip-books@telus.net
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 10:34 AM
Subject: Real Success Without a Real Job

I just wanted to let Ernie know I finished this book and I had found it absolutely incredible! I can't even put into words how much I enjoyed reading his book and there were times I didn't even want to put it down. I am not one to send e-mails or write reviews so for me to be this moved my hat is off to you. I wish I could write more but I have to get back to the grind - for now.

David Morris
charles SCHWAB
Senior Retirement Plan Consultant
Schwab Corporate Services

Visit one of Ernie Zelinski's Blogs:

Retirement Quotes for Retirement Planning Blog

Ernie Zelinski's Redroom Blog

Ernie Zelinski's Blog on Morgan James Publishing

The Real Success Resource Center Blog

Ernie Zelinski's Blog on Arizona Central

Ernie Zelinski's Blog on USA TODAY

----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Yu
To: Ernie Zelinski
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 12:26 PM

Hi Ernie,

Thank you for your letter of August 21, 2006, and your book, The Lazy Person's Guide to Happiness.

My wife, Katie, was really surprised that you had personally responded to my letter. Actually, I was too. That letter was the first letter I had ever written to an author.

After reading The Joy of Not Working several times, my favorite chapter is Financial Independence in Less Than $6,000. I agree with your thoughts and ideas as to the definition/interpretation of money, and the role it plays in our lives. In this capitalistic society, we are bombarded with advertising and media that success means to make (or have) as much money as possible. Recently, I have realized that all we need is enough money to satisfy our basic needs and a few life pleasures. Speaking from a personal experience, trying to accumulate more money than you need leads to more stress, unhappiness and ulcer.

Lastly, it would be my pleasure for you to place my letter (or any parts thereof) on your website or in your books.

Take care,

Steve H. Yu

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shely Skye" <shskye@cabrillo.edu>
To: <vip-books@telus.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 4:57 PM
Subject: thank you letter

Ernie,

Writing to you from Santa Cruz, I wanted to thank you for writing such funny and inspiring books. I have read the The Joy of Not Working and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. Both are a validation of the choices I have made over these last 20 years.

I am, by profession, a counselor in the community college system in California, USA. I am fortunate to have worked for the last 17 years on a part time basis, usually about 21 hours a week for 8 months a year. I say fortunate because I am able to live on my income, put away some money for retirement and have lots of time off. Because I am a temporary
employee, I also get to apply for unemployment during the times I don't have a contract to work for the school. Thus getting paid to look for work at other community colleges that don't have work for me either. An awkward sentence I know but a sweet deal none the less.

Actually, I never wanted to work. I hated the idea I would have to go somewhere and be trapped there, whether or not there was something for me to do. Finally, after I graduated from college with my degree in American Studies, I did succumb to the whole idea of employment and got a full time job for 5 years. At first it was ok to have enough money to
not have to worry about running out of toothpaste or toilet paper (my personal fears). Soon however, I began to feel dead and hated the whole thing. Two weeks off a year? That's crazy. Plus my work was boring. I finally quit that job, took my retirement money out and traveled around the US and Canada for 6 months. I didn't know what I was going to do but I swore I would never get into a trap like that one again.

During the next couple of years I did this and that, finally realizing if I got my graduate degree in Counseling, I could work for the community college system and only have to work 165 days a year. Plus make a salary that was plenty of money for me. (Did I mention that I am also very good at this work?) I did attend University and complete my graduate education, got a temp job at my current college but never did get that permanent position. This has been somewhat of a professional disappointment to me but on balance, a better choice not to work full time, even if only 8 months a year. Thus I have been, in effect semi-retired for the past 17 years.

I am now looking (longingly) towards retirement. Due to the lack of a health care system in the US, I don't see how I will be able to retire and have enough money for health care. Because I live frugally I will be able to live on my small retirement and pay my bills but as a temporary employee, I will have no access to health benefits as a retiree. I am considering moving to Mexico when I retire as the Mexican government has a health plan that non-nationals can pay into and it is affordable, at
this time about $500 a year.

I'm not sure why I am writing this to you except that many of the examples you highlight in your books are of people who live in countries that have national health care systems that pay for citizen's health
care needs. As a US citizen, I don't have access to any reasonable (i.e. affordable) health care and don't know when I can retire because of this concern. Of course, I could always just throw caution to the wind and hope I don't get sick until I reach the age of 65, when Medicare (for those older retirees) kicks into play.

If I chose to do this, I have 7 more years of part time work to do until I am able to retire at age 60. I have good health as of this time, probably due to not working too much! I backpack for fun and exercise, read and have a couple of book ideas of my own under my belt. I love alternative everything, from green building to living arrangements to lifestyles. I never have fit into the mainstream of western culture and doubt I ever will. More power to us, eh?

So, I just wanted to thank you again for giving voice to those of us who can't, or don't chose to make money in the standard way. If you can find a way to address the issue that US citizens deal with regarding health care it would be enlightening for others I am thinking. Many people have the idea that we, in the middle part of North America, have it made.

Frankly, it isn't what it seems. In fact, it is kind of bizarre to be living in such a wealthy country and not be able to afford health care.

The reasons for which are a whole other topic, which I won't get into here.

I hope this letter finds you still avoiding employment but full of energy to write and create up a storm.

Sincerely,

Shelly Skye
> Santa Cruz, California, USA

----- Original Message -----
From: "cashews1" <cashews1@telus.net>
To: <vip-books@telus.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 8:23 PM
Subject: I finally found something I can relate to

Hello Ernie:

Just about finished your 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting and am loving it. ( I did skim to the end ahem.)

I think I will definitely have to take this book with me when I retire and purchase my motorhome.
(Should there really be a space in motor home?

Just doesn't look right lol. I don't think I could possibly remember everything you have said in this book so I'm sure it will be well read (and worn out) over the years.

Thanks for the write.

Sincerely,

Kathryn

One of the Many 5-Star Reviews of The World's Best Retirement Book on Amazon.com

* * * * *

I purchased and borrowed several retirement guides in the months just prior to retiring. As I read the other books, I kept returning to How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free for the author's good, down to earth suggestions.

Most of the other books focus on finances and second careers after retirement. While both of these subjects are important issues, they are not the only concerns you have as you prepare for that big step into the future. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free covers it all.

Those worries you may have about what to do after retiring - this book has lots of great, affordable suggestions for you. Taking care of yourself, continued learning and travel are all addressed. You will not be a bored retiree. Also enjoyable are the readers' letters to the author that are interspersed throughout the book.

Ernie J. Zelinski's upbeat book [ How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free ] is highly recommended as you prepare for that next important chapter in your life. With this book in hand, you will be ready to enjoy your retirement years to their fullest!

- Review of The World's Best Retirement Book on Amazon.com

Over 90,000 Copies Sold
Published in 7 Foreign Languages

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski on Amazon.com before you submit your retirement letter with this direct link:

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com

In September 2007 the mayor of a city in Russia issued a list of excuses that he will not tolerate from civil servants. Alexander Kuzmin, mayor of Megion in western Siberia, said that officials must stop using phrases such as "I don't know" and "it's lunch time".

Mr Kuzmin said city officials should help improve people's lives and solve their problems, not make excuses. The mayor's press office said the list consists of 27 forbidden phrases. Here are seven of them that you may find useful in your workplace:

Seven Banned Excuses

* What am I supposed to do?
* I'm not dealing with this.
* We're having lunch.
* The working day is over.
* Somebody else has the documents.
* I think I was off sick at the time.
* There's no money.

Mr Kuzmin warned in a statement that "the use of these expressions by city administration officials while speaking to the head of the city will speed their departure." He said he was taking action as he was tired of civil servants telling him that problems were impossible to solve, rather than offering practical solutions.

Also See:

How to Write Retirement Letters Using a Retirement Letter Samples

How to Write a Retirement Letter

How to Write a Retirement Letter to Help You Retire Happy

If You Recently Got Fired or Laid Off from Your Job, Your Good Luck Has Just Begun!

Ernie Zelinski's Books on Self-Publishers Place

The Retirement Letters Café - A Comprehensive Collection of Retirement Letters: Whether a Letter Retirement Sample, an unique retirement letter template, a great example of a retirement letter, a inspiring sample retirement letter, a special retirement letter format, tips on writing a letter of retirement or how to write a retirement letter, The Retirement Letters Café has it.

Retirement Letters from Readers of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Retirement Jobs - The traditional Top Ten Retirement Jobs and the Top Ten Cool Retirement Jobs

Free Retirement Speeches - "There are always three speeches," stated Dale Carnegie, "for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave." On this website you will find the free retirement speech you have been looking for. Along with more than one free retirement speech, you will find quotations about speeches that are great tips for writing and delivering your own retirement speech. There are also retirement articles by various writers about making retirement speeches that will help you enhance that free retirement speech.

1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement - After you have drafted your letter retirement sample, 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement will help you join the group of retirees who are satisfied and happy to be retired. This lens is adapted from my book 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement, which has not been published in English. It has been published by French, Korean, and Spanish publishers, however (the cover of the French edition by my Paris pubisher Groupe Eyrolles is shown on the left). Since the book has not been published in English, I will eventually post content from the whole book here.

The Joy of Not Being Married - There is nothing unusual in being single - 48 per cent of Britain's population say that they are not currently in a relationship. The Office of National Statistics says that the number of Britons living alone has almost doubled in the last 30 years to 10 million. And, by 2010, the single population is expected to hit 16 million.

The True Spirit of Mother's Day - Tell your mother the truth about Mother's Day and you won't have to spend money on Mother's Day flowers, Mother's Day candy, or Mother's Day cards to help her celebrate her special event of the year. Heck, you don't even have to buy her a copy of one of my books as a Mother's Day gift.

Best Places to Retire in the World - This Webpage has information on the best places to retire in the USA and where to retire in the world including where to retire in California, cheap places to retire in California, and the best places to retire in Mexico. Also Retirement Planning Tips on the Best Places to Retire and Where to Retire in the World.

The Best Retirement Gifts - The retirement gift ideas on this webpage are chosen to make the best retirement gifts to be given at retirement parties. Retirement party gifts can be either serious or humorous. But as Kevin Stith states, "Retirement gifts always make a retiree feel very special."

Best Retirement Poems - The Retirement Poems Webpage brings you the best humorous retirement poems and inspirational retirement poems for retiring men, women, teachers, nurses, soldiers, government workers, policemen, firefighters, and more. If you would like a poem for a Retirement Speech or a Retirement Letter, this webpage may be of some help. Of course you can always pen your own funny retirement poems. Retirement poems, whether humorous or serious, should express affection for the person leaving and recognition for their contributions.

Fools and Their Money - Why Americans and Canadians Are Fools with Their Money

If You Recently Got Fired from Your Job, Your Good Luck Has Just Begun!
Whenever friends or acquaintances tell me that they have either got fired or quit their conventional jobs, my response is, "Congratulations." After I said this to a friend who quit his job during an economic recession not so long ago, his face lit up, before he started laughing and remarked, "You are the only one who has said this to me. Everyone else is asking me things like 'How could you during a recession? Jobs are so hard to come by!' or 'How are you going to survive?' "

I congratulate people who have quit or lost their jobs because I know that for people who want real success in their lives, unemployment is an opportunity for them to go on to something better. In fact, if you have been in the workforce for over twenty years and have never gotten fired and experienced unemployment, you are likely not a risk taker or all that creative.

Indeed, some of the most creative and famous people in the world have got fired. In 1978 Lee Iacocca was fired from his job as president of Ford Motor Company by Henry Ford II, who told Iacocca, "I just don't like you." Soon after, Iacocca became the chief of bankrupt Chrysler Corporation and made it profitable for years.

No doubt, getting fired and being faced with unemployment can be distressing, as it was for me when I got axed from my engineering position over two and a half decades ago. But it wouldn't have been distressing at all if I had known at the time that I was destined for much greater things. Indeed, if I had known where I would be twenty-five years later - experiencing career success without a real job - I would have been profusely thanking my boss the second he fired me. What's more, I would have had a celebration that day as expensive and as big as I had twenty-five years later in honor of my twenty-five years without a real job.

As an author and occasional professional speaker specializing in helping people be happy away from the traditional workplace, I have had an interest in good quotations about work and the workplace. It naturally follows that interesting anonymous comments about the workplace in the form of graffiti also get my attention. Thus, I put together a collection called Graffiti for the Employee's Soul. (It's free - just like all the other best things in life! You can download the e-book in PDF format at Creative Free E-books ) The following twelve items come from the e-book:

Workplace Graffiti to Remind You of the Typical Workplace

• Working here is a nightmare. You want to wake up and leave but you need the sleep.
• I owe. I owe. And off to work I go.
• The thought of suicide has helped me get through many days at work.
• Teamwork magically inspires our group to come up with solutions that are consistently and considerably dumber than any one of us.
• My job is a big secret. Even I don't know what I am doing.
• As long as we continue to work here, happiness is just an idea.
• Can I trade this job for what's behind door Number 2?
• I'm just working here till a good fast-food job opens up.
• Like to meet new people? Like a change? Like excitement? Like a new job? Then screw up
  just one more time!
• Around here, "progress" is everything getting worse at a slower rate than it used to.
• I just took a self-improvement course and discovered I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise myself - unless I want to keep my job.
• My work cubicle is just a padded cell without a door. I want my freedom and I want it now.

If you have just been fired from your job and are considering another job like it, the above comments may motivate you to consider something different that will lead to real career fulfillment. Whenever you catch yourself yearning for the benefits that your old job provided, it's best to look at the other side of the coin. It's like reminiscing about an old love affair. We tend to remember the good things much more so than the bad ones. So when you feel a little dejected because you miss the routine of your old job, consider all the things that you didn't like about the job.

The reality is that many hugely successful people have been fired at one time or another - sometimes several times - and gone on to better things. Most of these people admit that getting the ax placed them on a fast track toward career fulfillment. Indeed, it was the best thing that ever happened to them. For some, losing a job was the incentive they needed to open their own shop so that they didn't need to work at a job they hate ever again.

Years after working at an occupation that he hated, Leonard Lee, owner of Ottawa-based Lee Valley Tools and Algrove Publishing, told a reporter with The Globe and Mail, "No amount of money is worth doing a job you hate. It rots your soul. It destroys you." So why do so many work at a job they hate if it destroys their souls? Who knows? Perhaps they don't value their souls.

Many people do value their souls, however, and are not willing to sell out to the corporate world ever again once they get fired. Instead, they pass up even the most prestigious and high-paid positions, often for much less prestigious unreal jobs and lower pay, so that they can avoid working for a corporation.

Getting fired along with unemployment, as I found out, is the universe's way of telling you that you were in the wrong job in the first place. It is also the universe's way of testing you to see whether you can take advantage of the adversity that comes with unemployment and create some opportunity out of it, such as starting your own business. Put another way, unemployment is an opportunity to develop real character and true wealth.

If you are up to the universe's challenge, miracles will come your way. Money isn't as important as you may think it is. Many multimillion dollar businesses were started on kitchen tables. Passion, purpose, and dedication will take you places where money won't.

The reality is that great corporate jobs are hard to come by in today's world anyway. "The traditional admonition of one generation to the next, 'get a job,' has been replaced with a more complex mandate: 'Go out and create a job for yourself,' " George Gendron, editor of Inc. magazine, recently told Publisher's Weekly.

Being fired is an opportunity to create a job for yourself instead of finding another corporation that has a ready-made job for you, from which you can be just as easily fired some time in the future. A corporation can take away your job and your job title but it can't take away your talent and creativity. By firing you, the corporation may be doing you a great favor inasmuch as you now have an opportunity to fully utilize your creativity and talent.

Getting fired is a great opportunity to rethink where you are, what your priorities are, what's important to you, and whether or not you are in the right career. Getting another corporate job may only result in treating the symptoms - damage control, in other words. It has been my experience that the best way to fully utilize one's creativity and talent is to shun a real job and create one's own unreal job. If you can be successful at an unconventional job that involves self-employment, you won't get fired ever again because you are the boss. Above all, getting fired is a great opportunity to pursue the unreal job that you have dreamed about pursuing for some time.

So again, don't look at unemployment as all that bad of a thing. Your good luck may have just begun, particularly if you decide to make the great escape from the corporate world to pursue something totally unrelated to the field in which you were. You may feel that you have touched bottom, when, in fact, you are already headed upward. In the words of motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, "See you at the top."

Note: This article is adapted from the book: Real Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations by Ernie Zelinski. The book has been published in Spanish and Russian and has now sold over 10,000 copies.

Download the Free E-book (in PDF format) with the first chapter of Real Success Without a Real Job : The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations at:

Free Downloadable Ebooks at The Real Success Resource Center

Purchase Real Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations by Ernie Zelinski at:

Real Success Without a Real Job at Amazon.com

Real Success Without a Real Job by Ernie J. Zelinski reads like a conversation with an old friend. The author found success in an unconventional way after losing his job as an engineer and has come to understand that the true path of happiness, contentment, and satisfaction lies in the discovery of one's ture passion or calling.

While pointing out that it may not be for everyone, the author proceeds to tell us of exciting realities that await those who dare to dream of a life lived on their own terms. We, not some faceless corporation, decide on the hours, vacation time, with whom we want to work, and what we are going to do today. To be able to say, "I love what I do and I have my freedom," is priceless to those who are not the corporate type.

Zelinski reminds us that real success is not measured merely by the 'all might dollar' but more so, by having a few good friends and the time to spend with them. He wants us to seriously consider if what it is we 'do', is what makes us happy and if it isn't, why not consider 'doing' that which does make us happy.

The book is 'peppered' with quotes from people like Henry Ford, Jerry Garcia, Mother Teresa and Mad Magazine that give us an inspiring look into the mindsets of all these successful people and ideas. A quote by William James encompasses the central concept of the book, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life by altering his attitude."

One thing all these people seem to have in common is a committment to their vision. 'Work' isn't where they go each day. The task at hand becomes something to accomplish that will bring their dream closer to fruition. When you have an idea and exert the effort, success will follow.

Real Success Without a Real Job by Ernie Zelinski is a pleasure to read and its positive, up-beat message is full of hope and encouragement for those who are ready to become their own boss.

Download the Free E-book (in PDF format) with the first chapter of Real Success Without a Real Job : The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations at:

Free Downloadable Ebooks at The Real Success Resource Center

Purchase Real Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations by Ernie Zelinski at:

Real Success Without a Real Job at Amazon.com

or

Real Success Without a Real Job at BarnesatNoble.com

Life of Ernie Is Wild and Free

From the National Post

To say Ernie J. Zelinski has taken the road less travelled would be a large understatement. Quite simply, the author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and other self-help best-sellers has taken the road never before travelled, living a life designed on his own terms.

In How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get From Your Investment Advisor, he writes: "The way I see it, you will have attained true freedom in this world when you can get up in the morning when you want to get up; go to sleep when you want to go to sleep; and in the interval, work and play at the things you want to work and play at -- all at your own pace. The great news is that retirement allows you the opportunity to attain this freedom."

Zelinski, 58, a professional engineer by training and subsequent MBA graduate, has been mostly semi-retired since 1980 and has not missed the corporate grind one bit, living his particular kind of freedom for almost 30 years.

"I semi-retired when I was $30,000 in the hole and I've been semi-retired ever since," he says over the phone from his home in Edmonton. "Even if I made $10-million or $20-million, I still think I'd want to be doing what I'm doing because I really like doing what I'm doing."

Yes, but what exactly does a semi-retired self-help author do to make a living and live his version of happy, wild and free?

Zelinski, a bachelor, is a night owl, usually not retiring to bed till 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. He gets up at 11 or 11:30 a.m., goes for a run or bike ride or exercises at home for up to 90 minutes, gets to the coffee shop around 3 or 3:30 p.m., reads the papers, talks to people and maybe does a little work on his laptop. Around 8 p.m. he might join friends for a drink at a local lounge. Then he comes home, does some work, reads more papers and goes to bed.

This semi-eccentric semi-retiree's "work" of about three or four hours a day has paid him an average income of more than $100,000 over the past five years. But financial success was a long time coming for the erstwhile Alberta farm boy and was very hard-earned.

"Remember, there were years when I was living below the poverty line," he says, "though I never considered myself poverty stricken."

He had self-published his first self-help book on creativity, The Art of Seeing Double or Better in Business, in 1989 after almost a decade in which he had been fired from his engineering job for taking unauthorized vacation, took two years off, earned his MBA, taught at a private school, became a motivational speaker and generally tried to find his way toward a satisfying, if youthful, semi-retirement. The book sold 2,000 copies.

But his 1991 book, The Joy of Not Working, published in the midst of the recession, struck a chord with readers and sold 10,000 copies a year for the next five years. "Everyone's writing about how to get a job and I came out with The Joys of Not Working," he says. "It did really well."

That it did really well caught the attention of Ten Speed Press in California, which picked up the title in 1997 and has since been Zelinski's partner in other ventures. Today, The Joys has sold 250,000 copies and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free has had sales of 75,000 [90,000 counting foreign sales]. It is the No. 1 retirement book on Amazon.com and Zelinski is aiming to sell half-a-million over time as the Boomers retire.

There are 200,000 books published every year in the United States and Canada, about 50 of them about retirement. Ninety-five percent of them sell fewer than 5,000 copies.

Zelinski's books strike a happy balance between light reading and enlightenment, with the author's cheeky observations and many famous quotations helping the mix.

Also key to the books' success is Zelinski's talents at marketing and promotion, mostly through the Internet. Readers are drawn to Web sites with marketing offers that often translate into sales.

Ironically though, even more key to his success is Zelinski's dogged work ethic. He may spend only three to four hours a day working, but you can bet he's thinking about his tasks -- and thinking smart about them--in his time "off."

In his research about retirement, what strikes him the most is the fact that so many people have saved so little for their later years. "I know money can't make you happy," he says, "but a lack of money can make you very, very miserable."

What can also help make people happy in retirement, he adds, is to retain the three things that they lose when they stop work: Purpose, sense of community and structure. "You've got to put those things back in your life."

Ernie J. Zelinski, while taking the road never travelled, has seen to it that he has maintained those bedrock facets of life in a remarkable span of "semi-retirement." He has lived his self-help message and is living proof that one retirement does not fit all.

"I've learned to live very basically," he says. "I don't need what other people need."

By Bill Hanley



5 Stupid Reasons Not to Read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

1. You think that all you need is a lot of money to be happy in retirement.

2. You don't think there is any more to retirement than being able to watch a lot of TV, being able to go to the casino a lot, and being able to sleep when you want to.

3. You have read another retirement book already and you didn't like it.

4. You are in the retirement industry and although you will likely learn a lot from this book, you are envious of the fact that it has sold over 85,000 copies and been pubished in 7 foreign languges. (You know that if this book has been this successful, it is a great book - in fact, you wish you would have written it.)

5. You find it uncomfortable to read books that challenge your beliefs even though deep down you know that people who challenge your beliefs are often right and can offer you a lot of wisdom about how to retire happy, wild, and free.

The Author of This Book Promises You . . . This!

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free reveals the secrets to a happy retirement like no other retirement book does. This is the reason it is the bestselling non-financial retirement book on Amazon.com.

So often, the secrets to happiness are all around us, but it isn't until much later that we realize their significance.

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free reveals the 'invisible' secrets to you and opens doorways to your retirement future that will otherwise stay locked up until it is too late.



Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com with this direct link:

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com

Author Ernie Zelinski working, or not, at the Sugar Bowl Cafe Photograph by : John Lucas, The Journal

EDMONTON - For a man who's relished the joy of not working for 25 years, Ernie Zelinski's been pretty busy.

The Edmonton author and world-class idler has just published his 15th book Real Success Without a Real Job (Ten Speed Press, $21.95), which touts the benefits of jumping off the corporate treadmill and restructuring your life so it has meaning, direction ... and joy.

The premise is that you can't be genuinely prosperous unless you have personal freedom, Vipbooks author Zelinski says.

"You will have attained true freedom in this world when you can get up in the morning when you want to get up, go to sleep when you want to go to sleep, and in the interval work and play at the things you want to work and play at -- all at your own pace."

And how do you achieve this lofty goal?

By not having a real job, and creating your own "unreal" job instead.

That way you work for the best boss in the world, yourself.

The book, aimed at people who are tired of corporate politics or are just burned out, will also help retiring babyboomers who want to do something fulfilling, Zelinski says.

"It's not so much a how-to book, although there is some of that in there. It's more an inspirational book so people can make major changes in their lives."

While one chapter contains a comprehensive list of "unreal" jobs, the most exciting new area is information, Zelinski says.

"You don't need a lot of capital, and while it's true there is a lot of information already out there, the key is in how you present it."

Intellectual property, as he is finding out with his books, is a good way to keep getting paid for something you created, Zelinski says.

While it may appear Zelinski's literary output has put a lie to the premise of his The Joy of Not Working, which has sold 200,000 [now 225,000] copies in 17 languages over 15 years, he still has essentially the same leisurely daily routine he perfected after being fired from his engineering job for taking unapproved holidays.

He rises at about 11 a.m., rides his bike in the river valley for an hour, and then wanders down to a southside bistro for coffee and conversation, and to write on his laptop for three or four hours. The rest of the day he's busy doing nothing.

"I'm not lazy per se. I actually do run a company, and make a living at it. Sometimes I work seven or eight hours a day, and some days I don't work at all. The key is that it's my choice."

The frugality that's allowed him to do this is still evident in his 12 year old Toyota Camry, which he rarely drives, modestly furnished apartment and limited wardrobe.

He does spend money at favourite Edmonton restaurants - and tips well, he says - and visits friends across the country.

It's just that he doesn't put much stock in material possessions.

He estimates everything he owns, including the Camry and his beloved vintage MG sports car, is worth less than $20,000. But on the other hand he has no debts, not even a mortgage.

He has no new projects in the pipeline right now, and will spend the next months marketing the new book, and his previous volume How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free, which has already sold 45,000 [now 90,000] copies.

Zelinski produces a letter from a 39 year old Los Angeles lawyer who wrote that he was burned out, and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free inspired him to change his life for the better.

"It's those kinds of letters and e-mails that make what I do so rewarding."

© The Edmonton Journal 2006

Real Success Without a Real Job by Ernie Zelinski is a pleasure to read and its positive, up-beat message is full of hope and encouragement for those who are ready to become their own boss.

Download the Free E-book (in PDF format) with the first chapter of Real Success Without a Real Job : The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations at:

Free Downloadable Ebooks at The Real Success Resource Center

Purchase Real Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations by Ernie Zelinski at:

Real Success Without a Real Job at Amazon.com

or

Real Success Without a Real Job at BarnesatNoble.com

Here is another great advantage of Google Alerts. I have placed an alert for my name. Today Google alerted me by e-mail about the following review in a publication called Business Line in India. Without the alert I likely would have never known about this short review.

Work for the Best Boss

If, at work, you don't feel listened to, your work is unappreciated, you are underpaid, and you have been overlooked for a promotion while someone less creative and productive has been awarded the job, it is quite likely that you may begin to wonder why you are there.

In which case, you may be a prime candidate to join the league of the self-employed, and start working for 'the best boss in the world,' suggests Ernie Zelinski in Real Success Without a Real Job ( www.macmillanindia.com ). "As long as you work for someone else, regardless of how much money you earn, you will never be truly free," Real Success Author Ernie Zelinski's bemoans. "Contrary to what a lot of people believe, self-employment does not mean that you have to live in poverty. In fact, there is opportunity to end up being better off financially than 99 per cent of corporate workers."

Zelinski cites studies to state that individuals who go into business because they want to perform a service they love performing or selling a product they love selling make more money in the long term than individuals who go into business just to make money.

Persuasive enough to help you quit your job painlessly.

NOTE: I am presently rewriting this book and it will be re-issued with a new cover under the new title and subtitle Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations. The cover is shown above.

Ernie Zelinski hadn't quite gotten up when I called him early one Friday morning.

"I usually get up about 9:30," he mumbled. Around 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon, he'll get in a couple of hours' work, writing on his laptop at a favorite coffee shop, and maybe a bit more in the evening.

You have to keep to a grueling pace like that to write a book called The Lazy Person's Guide to Success: How to get what you want without killing yourself for it (Ten Speed Press and Vipbooks)

Work really can kill. You may have read last month about the Finnish researchers who followed 812 healthy men and women for an average of 25 years and found the ones who had the most job stress were more than twice as likely to die of heart disease.

I'd bet money we're more stressed out here than folks are in Finland. The St. Petersburg Times surveyed the statistics and reported a soaring number of people calling in sick or taking more vacation time than they are due. The cost to employers of unscheduled absences reached a record this year and is 30 percent higher than it was two years ago.

Every statistic pointed in the same direction. A survey by the Conference Board this year found 50 percent of workers unhappy with their job. And, not surprisingly, prescriptions for antidepressants are way up.

Something is amiss, and Zelinski thinks he knows what it is. You probably know too.

Many people have given up control of their lives to the pursuit of money to buy stuff that they don't need because they are bombarded by messages that tell them everyone else has it, and they'd better get it too.

Too many people work for security, when security is not ever a sure thing. A lot of people have been thinking about that after Sept. 11 and while watching their investments shrink, but it's hard to get off the treadmill. A person still has to eat.

Zelinski thinks people would be happier with less stuff and more time. We'd be happier if we defined success for ourselves rather than wearing an off-the-rack definition that doesn't fit.

Success for him means doing work he enjoys and feeling he is contributing something to society. He'd also like to make The New York Times best-seller list some day, but he's done all right. This is his eighth book (published by Ten Speed Press - in Berkeley, of course), and he says he has $200,000 in the bank. He lives in a duplex in a nice part of his hometown, Edmonton, Alberta, and his time is his to do with as he pleases.

Zelinski, who is 53, was an electrical engineer once. "I did well in university in courses but never liked it. I went into it because they told me I should because I was good at math."

He was promoted quickly, but his heart wasn't in it. He was putting in the time, though. He'd gone nearly three years without a vacation when he decided he wanted to take two months off. The company said no, but he went anyway. They fired him.

Zelinski still wanted a job. He got an MBA and thought he might teach, but nothing came along. "I thought, 'Well, I could become a public speaker.' But you need credibility. A book gives you credibility. So in 1989 I did a book on public speaking.' "

Bingo, instant credibility. He made a living speaking but kept on writing, too. When he realized he could make a living writing, he stopped speaking. Less stress, more free time.

He also learned about and adopted the 80/20 principle, which says the first 80 percent of our productivity comes from the first 20 percent of our effort.

So a person could dispense with the 80 percent of effort that is mostly busywork and still do a good job.

Work smart, not hard. Tell your boss that, or your co-workers.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, our society has been preaching industriousness as a moral virtue. People think they need to be busy all the time. But, Zelinski says, do the essential things well and forget the rest. Use the saved time to play with your kids or have coffee with a friend.

Maybe you'll make less money, but what's more important, money or time?

Zelinski did have that year when he was $30,000 in debt, when a cubicle started looking good, but he stuck it out.

That's easier for a single guy, but he says you can be responsible and still have balance. What good is a family, he asks in the book, if you never see it?

He's not anti-work, anti-stuff, or anti-money. It's just a matter of who's in control of your life - you or those other things.

Too many people, Zelinski says, sacrifice their present working toward a future when they'll be able to enjoy life. That future isn't guaranteed to anyone.

Everybody already knows this stuff, Zelinski admits, they just need to be reminded. They need someone with credibility to say it's OK. And Zelinski gets more credibility all the time.

By Jerry Large

Excerpted from the Seattle Times

Note: Check out:

Ernie Zelinski's Book Tour
Ernie Zelinski on You Publish
Vipbooks by Ernie Zelinski on The Library Thing

I will be the first one to admit that I am not a great writer. As I have indicated previously, by the time I realized how bad of a writer I was, I was too successful to quit.

In spite of my bad writing, it still has resulted in hundreds of positive letters, e-mails, and phone calls about my books from readers. This is one of the magical rewards that come with being a writer - knowing that people are benefiting from your books.

Here is an e-mail that I just received from Deepal Peiris in Sri Lanka.

Dear Ernie J. Zelinski

My good friend Anil Fernando now living in Edmonton sent two of your books How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting, with your personal endorsement addressed to me.

I am not an ardent reader but I finished reading both your books and now have taken to reading as a hobby.

Your letter to your mother that you placed in the chapter called Thank Your Mother a Lot While She Is Still Alive in your book 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting is extreamly touching as my aged mother now 89 is hoping to celebrate her 90 th birthday in December.

I gained a lot by reading your well written books and I shall continue to "LIVE" without simply "EXISTING".

Thank you Ernie and I wish you all the very best and hoping to read more of your books.

May the Good Lord bless you!!

Deepal Peiris,

Mologoda Estate, Mologoda 71016, Sri Lanka

Note: Here are some other chapter titles from 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting,

• One true friend is worth more than 10,000 superficial ones.


• Good deeds are seldom remembered; bad deeds are seldom forgotten.


• The surest way to failure is trying to please everyone.


• Your past is always going to be the way it was - so stop trying to change it.


• A walk or run in nature is the best medicine for many of your ailments.


• The shortcut to being truly fit and trim is long-term rigorous action.


• Compromising your integrity for money, power, or fame will come back to haunt you.


• If the grass on the other side of the fence is greener, try watering your side.


• No matter how successful you become, the size of your funeral will still depend on the weather.


• Be happy while you are alive because you are a long time dead.

Purchase 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting (Vipbooks) at:101 Really Important Things at Amazon.com
or:101 Really Important Things at BarnesandNoble.com

About the Author

Ernie J. Zelinski is a leading authority on early retirement and solo-entrepreneurship. He is the author of the international bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor), which has sold over 90,000 copies sold and has been published in 7 foreign languages.

Ernie is also author of the unconventional Real Success Without a Real Job (The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations). His latest work is 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting.

Download the Creative Free E-book Editions of Ernie Zelinski's The Joy of Not Working and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free at:

Creative Free E-Books

This is a photo taken by a fan of both Ernie J. Zelinski, author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor and Jack Canfield, author of The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. The photo was taken at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta.

Ernie Zelinski's Top-10 Specialties

1. International Best-Selling Author - His books Have Sold Over 550,000 Copies.

2. Early Retirement - He Semi-Retired When He Was 30 Years Old and Broke!

3. Solo-Entrepreneurship - "Secure Career" Is Not Part of His Vocabulary!

4. Self-Publishing - All of His Best-Sellers Including The Joy of Not Working (Over 225,000 Copies Sold) and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (Over 95,000 Copies Sold) Had to Be Self-Published.

5. Book Promotion - Specializes in Using Free Creative E-books for Viral Marketing.

6. Foreign Book Rights Sales - He Has Negotiated 95 Book Deals in 25 Different Countries

7. Public Speaking - Only When He Feels Like It, Gets Paid to Fly Business Class, and Gets to Stay at the Ritz-Carlton!

8. Living the 80/20 Way - Working 3 or 4 Hours a Day and Still Earning a Great Living.

9. Outwitting Corporate Life and Wearing a "Corporate Employment Is So Last Year" T-shirt with Pride.

10. World Class Leisureologist - Leave the Relaxing to Him!

Like The Bible, The Joy of Not Working tells you everything you need to know to resolve your Life crisis, but doesn't exclude humor in its presentation. Check Chapter 7, "Lighting the Fire Rather than Being Warmed by It", pages 118-120, for a list of 200 activities for your consideration.
- Helga Roberts writing on AuthorsDen.com

Purchase The Joy of Not Working on BarnesandNoble.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on BarnesandNoble.com

Purchase The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com

The Alberta Career Education Network has asked Ernie Zelinski to make a keynote speech about The Joy of Not Working at their Annual Convention.

The Alberta Career Education Network Conference (SUMMIT 08) is taking place October 6 & 7, 2008 at The Red Tail Landing Conference Facility (near the Edmonton International Airport).

Summit 2008

Connect with key people, share information and effective practices, and optimize resources. ACE Network conferences, forums and learning events ensure that participants/members are kept up to date with the latest thinking and trends in the career education and development field.

The Summit will be attended by teachers, career practitioners, counselors, sales managers, campus coordinators, government, employment specialists, principals, superintendents, business sector, community relations, executive directors, presidents & ceo's, consultants and school staff.

Even The U.S. State Dept LikesThe Joy of Not Working

This short review of The Joy of Not Working comes from the United States Department of State.
"A delightful indictment of workaholism and ways to counteract it. The author views unemployment as a true test of who one really is." - U.S. Department of State Book Reviews

Leisure and Retirement Resources by Ernie Zelinski on His Websites, Blogs, and Article Websites

• Retirement Sayings on The Retirement Quotes Café


• Jobs During Retirement at The Real Success Resource Center


• Free Retirement Speeches on The Retirement Speeches Café


• Retirement Letter Samples on The Retirement Letters Café


• Retirement Humor at The Retirement Jokes Café


• Retirement Poems at The Retirement Poems Café


• 1001 Ways How to Retire Happy


• Retirement Gifts at The Joy of Not Working