Author Archives: Guus

Earning as a blogger

Today I got an e-mail from Alden Tan as I get many. Often even e-mails with the same text with a different title, ‘as that works’ according to him. And his e-mail was about the commercial side of his blogging, the commercial side of blogging in general. That most bloggers earn from advertisements and people clicking on links. And ‘that works’. And I don’t mind, as I also earn from some of my sites, our sites (as most are earned by the company of me and my partner). And the last year the income from these sites were very welcome, looking at the financial status I am still in.

And his e-mail made me think, again, about this site. And yes, I know it has become some kind of personal diary, often of my problems and stuff, maybe even a site with my complaints, with me sometimes or often feeling a victim. So maybe my writing is not always that good, maybe it doesn’t really help people, maybe it isn’t all useful. But especially in the beginning I did my very best to also put more useful content, especially in the form of pages related to stuff I learned from the Principles of Success as described in Think and Grow Rich. And I started the IFS Tools, on my own in the end, as I couldn’t find any programmer to help me with it. And yes, I know they are kind of a draft, far from perfect and I guess for them being really useful they would need to be extended a bit. But when is good good enough?

Ah, and yes, I send a daily quote, now to around 150 e-mail addresses, partially from my initially entering e-mail addresses I had and found, but more recently from people signing up, as it is supposed to be.

So no, until now I didn’t earn anything with this site. And that bothers me. As either it is useless, except maybe for myself, or people just don’t care about the people behind many things like this blog, as ‘everything internet’ is ‘free’. And yes, I am also guilty of that, of using all kinds of stuff for free. As that is how the market works, first giving things for free, and in a later stage charge. Or just charge for additional stuff.

Well, the above makes me think again. As I still don’t understand how Facebook e.g. works. How can so many people use a system so much for free, presumably hardly clicking on advertisements, and Facebook still making a profit? Yes, maybe I still don’t fully understand what is real ‘mass production’ or ‘mass use’, the benefits of millions or billions of people using something. And even so, are we still willing to use services by paying for it indirectly, to especially the large companies paying for their advertisements to be put? Is this really the way how we want it? Should I really start putting advertisements here ‘because that is how the market works’? I don’t think so, but sometimes it is frustrating seeing ‘successful people’ and ‘successful companies’ earn so much, where I also do my best to put some value, even if it were just by sharing my thoughts.

P.S. I guess my request for a camera is still some kind of begging and maybe I should rephrase or just buy one, but is there really no one out there having some few years old decent camera he or she doesn’t use anymore and willing to send it to me?

Last thing of the day

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Well, it’s a bit late again, so I guess this is about the last thing of the day, even though I still have to send the second batch of the daily inspirational e-mail and maybe one or two other little things. But I think I am basically finished with what I had planned for the day and it is about time also, as it is already past 2 am.

So not really sure what else to write here, as I’m a bit empty from everything I did today. A day that ended pretty well, even though I couldn’t get started (where the Universe seemed too agree with something like ‘stop’), my computer didn’t want to start, one of the major internet connections in the house broke down, and more like that.

But in the end everything went pretty okay, so I guess right now I’ll stop here and just check my list for today if there are no major things I forgot, but I don’t think so, even though I think I forgot some follow up calls. Or actually I am sure of that. But also there, somehow it must not be the time, as the Universe said ‘stop’ around lunch. And recently I listen better to those messages and often that turns out well.

So yes, make sure to listen to that inner voice. And act upon it. It is there for a reason and often, or I even believe always, has the best in mind for you. Like I find recently that delays just put me in touch with the right people at the right time.

Coincidence, I don’t think so

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Last time I extended my planning, a bunch of dated scratch paper in a folder, extended up to a specific date like September 30 or so, somehow the date I had in mind or something. And I did the extension from a pile of scratch paper that I slowly added without a date or anything in that folder. So for today I had planned to extend my planning up to October 31, 2014 and while doing it of course I was wondering if the Universe had somehow matched the prepared empty scratch papers with only holes in them. So I started putting dates on the empty scratch papers and added them in the right place in the folder (there are some planning papers further in the future) one by one. And getting closer to the date of October 31, 2014 I realized that the scratch papers were not enough to reach that date. So I ran out of paper at October 28, 2014, meaning I needed three additional scratch papers (as October 31, 2014 was already there). So I was kind of laughing at myself, like how could it be possible to have the exact amount of scratch paper to reach the planned extension, as that pile of prepared scratch paper is just randomly extended whenever I have suitable scratch paper on my desk.

So I was standing up, laughing, to find some more scratch paper. And then I realized I had separated the pile of scratch paper in two parts, as there were some things from previous days I wanted to copy to the new planning. And imagine, that second pile consisted of two pages I had used for previous days and, yes, three empty pages that would exactly extend my planning up to October 31, 2014.

Coincidence? I don’t think so. It seems the Universe is really telling me that I am on the right way or something, with all kinds of amazing things that are happening to me recently, since I am starting to be myself, live my own life, do my own things instead of listening to others ‘how to live my life’.

Thank you, Universe (or God or Infinite Intelligence, or whatever you believe is what goes beyond our understanding).

Suddenly I believed

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This morning I had quite an interesting experience. As I suddenly believed that I will really have my black Pajero. And it was a very strange feeling, as until now I just tried to imagine it by surrounding myself with photo’s and such and yes, also writing to Mitsubishi about my wish, my dream. And yes, sometimes while going up to Malasag on a habal-habal or at other times on or in a vehicle I try to imagine myself at the steering wheel of my black Pajero. So yes, I am following the instructions of e.g. the ideas about repetition of thoughts from Think and Grow Rich. But until today it never really felt like it worked, I never really believed. But somehow today it was different, somehow I really saw my black Pajero coming to the house, being brought to me, through the gate. And it had all to do with the progress I am making with my project, my projects about improving internet in The Philippines and improving life in Cagayan de Oro City.

And some other things became very clear to me, as e.g. while working on my presentation for the Mayor of Cagayan de Oro City I realized that statements like ‘poverty alleviation’ are fully missing the point. As what do they emphasize? Yes, poverty! So I thought that it would be better to use something like ‘riches awareness’ or ‘wealth awareness’ than ‘poverty alleviation’. And all of this is related that especially for the last months I am constantly evaluating my thoughts. And I found that many, many of my thoughts are negative, or maybe better stated limiting. And looking back also this process took me a long while of, well also some kind of repetition, checking my thoughts on whether they help or or just push me down.

So yes, I can certainly recommend again to buy Think and Grow Rich. But don’t only buy it, read it, keep reading it, and work from it, do the things that are suggested, even though they don’t always may make sense to you. And don’t give up, as I realize more and more that virtually nothing can beat persistence, not by reading it, but by experiencing it, especially with my ‘impossible projects’. As somehow my project, my projects are starting to come alive. And indeed, as per ideas of Abraham Hicks, you can’t force things into place, you need to come from a place of no resistance. Or as Napoleon Hill mentions Infinite Intelligence as some greater force, which is basically the same idea. And that is also what I am starting to feel, that if I do my part, the Universe and all people around are starting to cooperate. And yes, I believe action is needed, but that is not the only thing. It indeed needs to be inspired action, which is sometimes difficult to explain.

So yes, just start, somewhere, and don’t give up!

Jealous

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Somehow I am still jealous at people who are successful at very young age. Recently I checked the story of Chris Colfer, a big star of Glee, or maybe even the biggest. I mean, he is 24 years old and it seems he has achieved many, many more successes than me, being 51 years old now. And yes, I am also convinced now that almost any famous or successful person has some kind of supporter, someone who believes in him or her and brings someone to the next level, just makes it possible for him or her to follow his or her heart or explore his talent to the fullest. And I think in the case of Chris Colfer I think that is or was Ryan Murphy. And Leonardo DiCaprio is also a famous sample for me to be jealous of.

And yes, I know many actors and probably other rich and famous people don’t have a smooth ride and may be as happy or unhappy as any of us. But I still believe it is easier to be unhappy in a Mercedes or Rolls Royce than without a car or other means of private transportation.

And yes, I was also thinking about outlook on life, on work, on career. As I realize my main outlook on work, on jobs is ‘losing my job’, fear of losing my job. And of course that type of outlook does not really help to be successful. And I still don’t fully know what’s the origin of that outlook. Yes, I know that it started when I was fired from a company in I think a very unfair way at a relatively young age. And yes, I understand now more how that happened, what was the background, what were the reasons of my boss and the management. But I also know many people are afraid to lose their job, as in 2014 that mostly means losing your income, losing your status, using your ability to do things.

And right now I am trying to change that. As I believe it can be different, should be different, than just judging people on how they do their work, their job. And making peoples standing depend on career, income, job performance. Because aren’t we much more than ‘performance’? Aren’t we all humans, all different, each with our own color? So why give so much benefits to people who ‘work’, who do their job ‘fitting in the system’, even while they don’t like it or don’t agree with the system?

And yes, I know I am part of the system. I know that I judge people the same way, often on performance, on job performance. And while thinking right now it seems ironic, as I seem to judge people on ‘success’, financial success, success in career, on being famous, being adored.

So let’s be careful judging people, maybe even most being careful judging ourselves. As we are all beautiful people, but I mostly see that in other people, not in myself. What about you?

You are beautiful, just the way you are. Just know that!