Residual Money Through Online E-Books and Reports

Throughout the dot.com meltdown of 2001 through 2003 and lately in the turbulent times since then, many of us have had to scramble.

We've seen our once relatively stable and somewhat lucrative jobs turned into outsourced, offshored, sweatshop-style nightmares. Many of our professions are no longer as respected and profitable as they once were during the boom years between 1994 through 2000, nor are our jobs as interesting and fun as they had been in the rip-roaring 1970s and 1980s....

With this in mind, I've decided to go in a whole 'nuther direction. One that I've talked about, fussed about, and written about throughout the past 4 or 5 years.

I believe I've finally gotten the experience and knowledge to pull this thing off.

Namely, creating a residual income through developing information products (such as reports on certain medical conditions--a few of which I am now experiencing first-hand) as well as creating a totally-online business for my photography hobby and my preference for editing projects rather than writing projects.

(Of course, I'm still working on my novel <have been for the last few years--have a lot more time now! :-) > )

I'd like to offer these options to you as well. Many of you viewing this Squidoo have a particular expertise in something--your hobbies (mountain biking, Sierra Club, or salt-water aquariums, for instance) and your extra-curricular activities (neighborhood orchestras, motorcycle roadtrips, or church choirs, and such)--any of these can be developed to become an extra-income source for you (and one a whole lot more fun than that regular drudgery that we must commute to).

My experiences with selling cars (during a long dry-spell between tech writing gigs!), selling insurance (yech!), selling prepaid legal services (not bad, but no cigar!), and other residual-income-producing endeavors (some more successful than others) gave me some insights that as a biologist, school teacher, and tech writer I'd never discover.

Many more ideas came to me while reading Bob Bly's books (Secrets of a Freelance Writer, Selling Your Services, Copywriter's Handbook), Peter Bowerman's Books (The Well-Fed Writer, TWFW: Back for Seconds), and other writing/marketing experts-- the other reading (that I've been recommending others to read as well) included Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich-Dad/Poor-Dad" series and Charles Given's "Financial Self-Defense", and Venita Van Caspel's "Money Dynamics" series.... these books have solidified a new paradigm for me.

Some of these books were so shocking, so astounding, so earth-shaking, that they brought tears to my eyes that I hadn't read them earlier--and UNDERSTOOD THEM EARLIER--when I didn't have to struggle with carpal tunnel syndrome and gout and other health problems... yeah, I've discovered that I'm falling apart... too quickly to suit me... aargh!

With being a contractor tech writer and having jumped from job to job over the past 25 years, I have no retirement, to speak of. I was starting one at Cisco starting in 1998... but the dot.com bust in 2001-2002 destroyed that. The 401k sort of plummeted and dissolved. So much for investing in Worldcom and Enron, eh?

Some of you are my age or older--if you are set up to live well in the next two or three decades, great. If not, you may want to consider reading the books I've mentioned above to change directions quickly before the coming economic mess (when all the still-employed babyboomers start retiring and causing a run on taking funds out of the stock market through their "mutual fund-401k" retirement plans)...

Those of you younger whippersnappers out there... cool, you've got more time to read up on the above referenced books and get some background to head in new directions before the big mess coming down
the chute.

What got me started on this tome?

Recenly I got an invite to buy a special report...

This is no great news, because I seem to get offers like this all the time based on many of the e-zines and job-search engines I've subscribed to over the past 4-5 years of this new job paradigm we're going through.

Occasionally I succumb and buy the offered reports just because I've learned that education is not cheap... but ignorance is way more expensive. Most of the time, however, I ignore the offers and delete them from my In-Box.

However, this report is different.

Most people viewing this Squidoo came here because they want to make money from their writing and I'm guessing that you are no different.

This report focuses on one thing and one thing only - how to write short reports (under 30 pages) and profit from them. The report cost just $7 and was full of excellent information.

Although I was somewhat skeptical, I decided to go for it-- nothing ventured, nothing gained. Besides, I used to spend more for lunch at the company cafeteria when I was employed... now I figured I could at least claim the expense as a "business expense". (Remember, I've always written that even those among us who are captive employees as tech writers should have a side-business... just in case the job goes sayonara on us or for the extra moolah when things are tough...). And yes, I've been a sucker and have purchased bunches of other "references" over the past few years. Yet, I may have learned something even from that experience.

However, after reading this report, it seemed to make a lot of sense and I've decided to follow the information outlined in it to start my new directions. What I like is that the tools required to do this are included inside the report--at no extra charge!

However, there is one caveat... the report gives information on how to get e-covers for your reports produced... and recommends a person who charges $67 per cover. If you know someone who can use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator (or if you are good at it yourself) you might get a better deal! Then again, it  might just be worth it to go with the guy who has a bunch of experience doing it, eh?

And, if you want to write, program, or design for other clients as a freelancer, you might wonder where you would find these clients... the service from the banner displayed below can provide you with leads to freelance gigs that pay nicely for your work. Check it out!

Squid graphic courtesy of Squidoo Squid Graphics For Your Lenses! by GreekGeek.