One of my goals in the next 5 to 10 years is financial independence. To get to financial independence, I’m doing different side hustles (consulting, blogging, podcast, and a subscription kit) to increase my income and help me save more ... Read More

I’m incredibly bullish on digital real estate and looking to build, create, and sell websites.

While I love the physical real estate, ended up being very successful the last 3 years house hacking, and fantasize about the idea of someday owning a commercial building, there is something about creating and owning online assets which makes me super excited.

It’s never been easier to learn new technologies, create content, and publish your ideas and build a brand.

How to Sell a Website for $500,000 with Vital Dollar – Episode 8

My guest today is my friend and fellow blogger, Marc. Marc has been self-employed since 2008 and during this time he has been very successful online through building, running and selling websites and businesses. During the last ten years, he has been very successful, with some of his big wins coming from selling a blog for $500,000, a digital product website for another $500,000, and an Amazon business for over $200,000.

On today’s show, I’m excited to chat with Marc about the process of building digital real estate – from the idea, to the branding and creation, to monetization, and finally, the sale, how he goes about this work, learn how to sell a website, and look to gain insight on the world of internet marketing.

Check out Marc at his site, Vital Dollar.

With all episodes, I want to leave you with some takeaways for you to improve your life. For this episode, I have a few takeaways:

* Consistency is key

* Marc spent 5 years full time on his blog he sold for $500,000. Things don’t magically happen over night – it takes a long term view to accomplish big things.

* There are many things to think about when preparing to sell a website:

* Be realistic to prospective sellers – look at a website like Empire Flippers to get a feel for how much your site is worth

* Outsource work to virtual assistants

* Depersonalize your site if you want to sell – since you are going to be working on it anymore, you don’t want the buyer to think YOU are the one reason why the site is successful.

If you are an iTunes or Stitcher person, The Mastermind Within Podcast is on those channels as well!

I’m incredibly bullish on digital real estate and looking to build, create, and sell websites. While I love the physical real estate, ended up being very successful the last 3 years house hacking, and fantasize about the idea of someday owning ... Read More

I met my girlfriend through this blog.

There I said it.

I wrote an incredibly silly blog post about wanting a wife to reduce taxes, and she commented on it:

Creativity is a funny thing.

I spent less than an hour writing that post, and yet it is my most viewed post with over 60 comments and thousands of page views.

Living with an abundance mindset and being open to new opportunities and possibilities lead me to blogging. After I started blogging, putting myself out there and taking risks lead me to meeting some fantastic people. In particular, now I can say and share with you that I met my girlfriend blogging.

How I Met My Girlfriend Blogging featuring Fiery Millennials – Episode 7

My guest today is someone who is very special to me, my girlfriend Gwen. She has a blog called Fiery Millennials, has been featured on MarketWatch and US News, owns a rental property, and also has an amazing podcast called The Fire Drill Podcast.

I’m excited to talk to her and share with you how we met, why it’s so important to being open to finding someone who aligns with your goals, purpose, and dreams, and what tips and strategies you can apply in your life for success in your relationships.

Check out Gwen at Fiery Millennials and her podcast at FIRE Drill Podcast.

With all episodes, I want to leave you with some takeaways for you to improve your life. For this episode, I have a few takeaways:

* Be open to new possibilities and opportunities

* Unless you put yourself out there into the world, you will never know what will come back to you!

The word mortgage is derived from a “Law French” term used by English lawyers in the Middle Ages meaning “death pledge“, and refers to the pledge ending when either the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure.

Literally, mortgage = death pledge.

“A man in debt is so far a slave.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Debt is horrible: it is mentally draining, financially draining, and affects your entire life if you are weighed down by the large barbell of debt.

The main benefit to paying down debt is increased cash flow. No more giving your hard earned cash to those pesky lenders!

If you choose to pay down debt, you will want to put extra cash towards your debt each month. This will increase the speed at which you pay down your debt. By sacrificing short term and putting extra cash towards your debt, you can eliminate those debts in a much shorter time frame. In addition, by paying off your debt faster, you will save money on interest!

Let’s have an example together.

Let’s say you have a $20,000 loan with a 6% interest rate and a 10 year term. Using an online calculator, your monthly payment will be $222.04. Over 10 years (120 months), this will cost you $6,867.01 in interest. If you pay $100 extra a month, you can cut the time you are paying off your debt to 6.25 years (75 months) and you will pay $4,008.09 in interest. By paying an extra $100 a month, you will save yourself $2,858.92 and will be debt-free 3.75 years ahead of schedule!

As shown above, by paying extra each month, you can save money and reduce the amount of time you are paying off your debt. In addition, once the debt is gone you effectively give yourself a raise; you have more money falling to the bottom line each month for you to save, invest, donate, spend, etc.

Mustard Seed Money Paid Off his $400,000 Mortgage in 7 Years, Could You? – Episode 6

My guest today is my friend and fellow blogger, Rob. Rob is a successful accountant who paid off his $400,000 mortgage in 7 years, saves nearly 70% of his income each year, runs a blog which receives over 100,000 page views a month, and is active in his community teaching individuals and couples about how to reach financial independence.

I’m very excited to share with you today’s episode where we chat about how and why he paid off his mortgage in 7 years, how being debt free is incredibly freeing, what saving 70% of your income each month looks like, and talk about his involvement in the community and how everyday people like you and me can improve our financial literacy.

With all episodes, I want to leave you with some takeaways for you to improve your life. For this episode, I have a few takeaways:

* Being debt free is a freeing feeling. The word mortgage literally means death pledge (in Latin). Work on becoming debt free, and I won’t be surprised if you become much happier.

* Look for deals at the store to reduce your expenses. Buy in bulk, and cut coupons. Some of this is pretty obvious, but many people don’t do it!

* Personal finance is just that, it’s personal – it’s starts with you and your goals. How are you spending your money? Is it on things that improve your life or not?

Check it out here, or on iTunes or Stitcher!

For more information on Mustard Seed Money and Rob’s story, check out his site here: Mustard Seed Money.

Pinterest is one of the biggest social media platforms and one of the best places to advertise your business online.

Wait, what? Pinterest is an advertising platform

As someone who is 1. a male and 2. not a graphic designer, when I went to Pinterest the first time, I was so confused. There is so much to learn and understand about the platform – but I know I need to be on there since it is so massive.

With The Mastermind Within podcast, I’m looking to feature some awesome people doing awesome things, but also, look to dive in to the HOW and WHY people are doing what they are doing.

In this episode, episode #5, I want to dig into a topic which is more targeted towards marketing and how to grow your businesses traffic through the Pinterest platform. I’ve been messing around on Pinterest for about 3 months now, and I still don’t really know what I’m doing.

Since I don’t know what I’m doing, I asked a Pinterest expert to come on the show.

How to Drive Massive Traffic on Pinterest with Millennial Boss – Episode 5

My guest today is J, a blogger, podcast host, marketer and real estate investor who is constantly looking for ways to make more money online. Her blog, Millennial Boss, receives nearly 50,000 page views a month, makes over $20,000 a year, and she successfully launched the FIRE Drill podcast in 2017 and gained over 100,000 downloads in the first 4 months.

I invited her on today though to talk about her tips and strategies to send thousands of viewers a day to her blog, what technologies she is using, and how she got to over 6000 followers. Most importantly, she is going to share with us how to drive massive traffic on Pinterest to your blog and website.

Some takeaways:

* First, your pins are the most important piece of the puzzle.

* Your pins represent your brand – if your pins are not visually captivating and do not inspire the user to click on your pin, then you will not be successful on Pinterest.

* Seasonal content is key to Pinterest success.

* Pinterest is a visual search engine and if you have great performing pins, Pinterest will continue to show your pins.

* One way to make sure you have great performing pins is to pin seasonal content in addition to your typical content.

* Freebies do very well on Pinterest

* Include some text on your pins saying “Free guide!” and link to your landing page with your freebie offer to capture leads.

* Analytics

* Research what is working, and what isn’t working. Make sure you are pinning and re-pinning what is working – and don’t be afraid to delete pins which aren’t working!

Check out the episode below, or on Stitcher or iTunes. Enjoy!

This week, I want to talk about the something incredibly important in business and entrepreneurship: sales.

More importantly though, the thought process behind successful selling and connecting your amazing product and brand with a potential customer.

First though, with sales, it’s important to remember who the buyers are: they are humans and humans like when other people are nice, likeable and trustworthy.

I liken sales to going to the bar and meeting other people (or women in my case). In college, I was a social mess – I would go to the bar, try some cheesy pick up lines, and fall flat on my face (figuratively). I got a lot of no’s, but it was okay. I was experiencing failure, and to succeed, it’s crucial to fail.

As I kept working on myself on the side, I noticed that I started to become better over time at interacting with other people. I was more confident. I was able to walk into a room, smile, and welcome people into my life easier than before.

Being open to welcoming other people into your life is the essence of sales. Being able to open up, and allow another person to enter your life so that you can identify their problems and provide them with the service and products they need is what successful sales people do.

First, it’s getting into the right mindset: sales is about HELPING PEOPLE. Selling is not about making a quick buck – it’s about creating a lasting relationship.

Selling Your Way to Wealth in all Areas of Life featuring Wealth Well Done – Episode 4

While I’m getting better at sales, I still have a lot to learn. I know a few great sales people, one of them who has a business which grosses $300,000+ in annual revenue.

My guest today is Bill, a writer, salesman and real estate investor who loves giving his time and efforts to inspire others in their pursuit of success. He was recently featured on CNBC and has a successful blog at Wealth Well Done. I’m very excited to have him on to talk about his writing and talk sales and real estate.

I felt inspired walking away from listening to Bill speak. There were a number of great takeaways:

* Extraordinary comes from ordinary people doing ordinary things.

* Selling is about building relationships with clients and finding a result which is win/win for both parties.

* Networking and meeting people will result in improved relationships and connections (funny, I remember episode 2 talking about networking for success!)

Check out the episode below, or on Stitcher or iTunes. Enjoy!

Turn simple disciplines into massive success and happiness.

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” ~ Albert Einstein

You have complete control over the direction that the rest of your life takes.

Humans are creatures of habit. Every day, we make simple decisions: what to eat, should we exercise, should I call my parents, should I read my book, etc. Are the decisions you are making helping your life? Or are they detrimental to your life? Are they bringing you closer to your goals? Or are you still a long time away from achieving those goals?

I’m going to share with you a simple formula for success , and my life philosophy.

Back last February, I read the book, The Slight Edge.

Essentially, the slight edge is your philosophy of life. The slight edge is your driving force; your philosophy creates your attitudes, which creates your actions, which creates your results, which create your life. You should live your philosophy each day. By performing tasks which will are located on the path to your goals, you can achieve anything.

In the past year, I’ve achieved wild success. I earned $107,000 in 2017, I’m growing my blog, my actions are aligned with my values and purpose, and I’ve never been happier.

The Slight Edge principles are so simple, and yet so difficult. Consistency is key!

Practicing Simple Daily Disciplines to the C-Suite with Gen Y Finance Guy – Episode 3

I’ve been successful applying The Slight Edge principles, but I’m just one person. That’s why I’ve invited the person who suggested the book to me on to the show – to share his experience applying the same principles.

My guest, Dom, is a highly motivated individual who has chosen to be the VICTOR, not the victim. He has climbed the corporate ladder and became a C-suite executive by the age of 30 by applying the Slight Edge principles, has a successful blog at Gen Y Finance Guy and is shooting for a $10 million net worth!

I really enjoyed having Dom on the show. There were so many great takeaways from this conversation:

* Providing immense value will lead to increased compensation. Also, it’s important to ask for more money!

* Make your world so big that everyone and anyone in your life can have whatever they desire.

* Look and be open to opportunities where we can take calculated risks and execute for the reward.

* It doesn’t matter where you start – it matters where you end. Each and every day, we have an opportunity to become better.

You won’t want to miss this episode. Have a listen here or on your favorite podcast platform.

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How Do You Start a Podcast and What Does it Take to be a Podcaster?

I still can’t believe I started a podcast.

I’m still learning lots, but I’m now on iTunes and Stitcher! I’d appreciate if you left me a review as this is how I’ll rise up in the ranks and get more views!

Welcome to The Mastermind Within Podcast!

Are you a mastermind? Would you like to unlock your full inner potential?

With your host, Erik, blogger, entrepreneur, investor, and consultant, you will learn various tips from his experience with personal finance, self-improvement and entrepreneurship. In addition, other highly successful and motivated individuals will be included on the show – and you’ll be introduced to many ideas to implement in your life.

I STARTED A PODCAST!!!

My entrepreneurial itch needed scratching.

So naturally, I did something crazy and probably a little bit irresponsible given all of my other side hustles and responsibilities!

Last night, I made a guest appearance on a friends podcast, and I really had fun. I had just bought a headset and was feeling really good about myself.

I can start a podcast, how hard could it be?

Make 1 episode a week, and feature awesome like-minded individuals on here? I think that is doable.

This podcast will feature stories, interviews, guest appearances, and how-to audio sessions.  I don’t want to lock myself in to one style, but want to experiment with a new content medium while also opening up another avenue to make connections.

My Values and Purpose – Episode 1 of The Mastermind Within Podcast

In my first episode, I wanted to dive in to my thoughts on why exactly I’ve been feeling the way I’ve been feeling.

I’m itching to go out on my own. I have a few side hustles, and a blog which is doing well, but I want it all the time and full time.

I wrote out a number of questions for myself to answer and comment on:

* What are your values and what is your purpose?

* What actions are you taking because of those values?

* Why do you want to scratch the entrepreneurial itch?

* What’s stopping you from scratching the entrepreneurial itch?

* What is your goal with The Mastermind Within Podcast?

I’m feeling better than ever right now. I’m super excited to get this podcast thing going!

Please let me know your thoughts and feedback, good or bad! Enjoy!

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