In a world where unsolicited advice is welcome and even tolerated… I received THE most amazing email via the contact form on this blog awhile back. I was actually going to publish it as a separate post and then write my comments or even reply to the guy publicly. I saved it as a draft post and forgot all about it and just found this gem while cleaning up the back end of WordPress for this site. Check out this email I received!
Subject (optional): Long Tail Pro article
Comment: Mr. Allen it is showing histories about you. Almost certain you struggle with English Composition when going to school. It’s obvious because it shows inside your writings. I do not claim to be an expert, as I struggle too, but I learned the basic to write in a style that average person could understand. You need to work on the ‘basics’ regardless why you can’t meet goals of desire like money, it’s not the programs, it’s you write in a poor style. Thus failure to capture audience attention; plus, think of this – No matter what business you’re involved with if you cannot keep the customer you will not make the potentials in your business.I noticed where you listed many website platforms, and those are not the ones you want to focus upon because once they have your link for “one time” commissions, that’s it they now own your customer, and guess who put out the expense and time for them? You did!
Work on basics – Keep the customer – Be Happy you’ve meet your goals of desire.
I’m not 100% sure – but I think this guy was slamming me for being an affiliate marketer. Well… this was after he took a stab at criticizing my English writing skills. About the only thing I could say to this was… “WOW!!!” This was EASILY the very best (unsolicited) advice I have ever received.
This reminds me… I still need to fix the contact form on my site so I can receive more awesome advice like this! Lol.
The Featured Image
I took a picture of this billboard along I-96 between Grand Rapids and Muskegon, MI one day. Interesting statistic and I wonder where they got it. I can’t help but think… if 83% of consumers say that they look at billboards – who are the other 17%? A very small percentage of the population is blind… so that can’t possibly account for the other 17%. Perhaps bed-ridden people, people in nursing homes, hermits and others like them make up the rest of that 17%. Were these people polled for this statistic and do they consider themselves consumers? Very interesting to ponder, indeed.
Matt’s Dumb Ass Weekend Update
I started this blog in May of 2012. I really had no idea what I was doing back then. That’s right… I was a dumbass! Lol. I started to categorize posts as I wrote them. Over the years, I added more and more categories. Then I started adding subcategories to parent categories. I started several different ‘case study’ type projects and each of those got it’s own category with subcategories.
Now, seven and a half years later – I’m in the process of revamping and recussitating the blog and I wanted to clean up my WordPress. Ideally, these days, I prefer to keep my number of categories on a website to just a handful that make sense for the overall niche. Come to find out – I had accumulated 48 different categories on the Dumb Passive Income blog! Dang dude…! That was way too many.
I wanted to place ALL of my old blog content in one category and just call it Blog Archives – then start new with all new blog content going forward and use just a few general categories. If I were to use just the default options in WordPress to recategorize all of my old content – I would have had to manually edit all 147 published posts. Manually unclick all of the current categories and manually add all of them to my new Blog Archives category.
No way man. Not happening. There had to be an easier way. So I hit up the Google and found this review post on WP Newsify for a nifty plugin by Code Canyon called WP Real Categories Management. It cost me a mere $19 – but saved me several hours of time. I was able to remove categories from ALL of my blogs posts (and delete those categories) and add all of them to my new category in less than 30 minutes.
Special thanks to people who create WordPress plugins to make other peoples lives easier!
The Words Written in Red
Whether you are a Bible believer or not, you can’t deny that the Bible is the greatest history book that has ever been written. What other book (or collection of books) has survived and thrived throughout the centuries despite the challenges involved with print production and preservation – especially in those early centuries.
One thing that you may or may not be aware of… Jesus often taught in parables. Meaning that he would tell simple stories, that people during that time could relate to, in order to drive home a more powerful message. Here is one example that I am fond of…
“Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”
Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.“
John 10:1-10 MSG
That last line (John 10:10) is the one that I like to focus on. So many believers and non-believers have the common misconception that being a true follower of Jesus means that you have to give up your life and many of the pleasures that you enjoy. True Christians must live dull and boring lives. They go to church on Sunday and stick up their noses Monday thru Saturday with holier than thou attitudes.
This misconception couldn’t be further from the truth! The Bible verse referenced above is just one of many examples where Jesus explains that being his follower means that you will have a joyful and abundant life – a better life than you could ever possibly dream of!
It’s funny – Jesus continues in that story to give specific examples of what it will look like if you follow Him – ‘The Good Shephard’. After his parable – this is how the verse continues…
This kind of talk caused another split in the Jewish ranks. A lot of them were saying, “He’s crazy, a maniac—out of his head completely. Why bother listening to him?” But others weren’t so sure: “These aren’t the words of a crazy man. Can a ‘maniac’ open blind eyes?”
John 10:19-21 MSG
Let that one sink in for a little bit. When Jesus was walking the earth, a lot of people thought of him as a crazy person – a maniac! They thought he was a total nut job! Lol. An unconventional savior, indeed.
Well… This is a ‘Passive Income’ Blog
I really should talk about passive income more on this blog. I talk about a lot of things. But I don’t talk enough about the ultimate goal in life – which is passive income. Check out this quote…
“He who makes $25,000 annually through passive income is more enviable than he who earns $100,000 annually through a salary.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
I have no idea who that guy is – but it’s a good quote. If you think about it – most ‘regular’ people get a job and go to work for 40 or 50 years and stash money away in a retirement savings plan. These ‘regular’ people have one goal in mind… Retirement. So they don’t have to work anymore.
And how are these people able to retire and stop working? They have built up enough savings that their ‘passive income’ from their investments is enough to cover their living expenses. You see! Even the average and ordinary person ultimately has a ‘passive income’ goal – whether they realize it or not.
Those of us with a little more ambition just have a different timeline. We want to create enough passive income to more than cover our living expenses long before they typical retirement age.
As for me…? I’m doing both. I still work a full-time day job as a trucker and I contribute to my 401k plan weekly. It’s a solid backup plan that will allow me to retire as a multi-millionaire in my old age, even if my side hustle endeavors don’t get me there sooner.
I Can’t Stop Buying Stuff on Amazon
My oldest son, Ethan, got a Nintendo Switch gaming system for Christmas this past year. We purchased whatever Nintendo’s version of the game pass is so he could have access to more games somehow. Come to find out, this game pass thingy includes a whole bunch of classic Nintendo games that I spent many many hours playing when I was a kid! A few of my favorites include…
- Super Mario Bros (the first version for the original NES system)
- Double Dragon
- Excitebike
- Ice Hockey
Just to name a few. I did encounter a challenge though… I could not play the games as well as I remembered using the little controllers that come with the Nintendo Switch. We looked it up online and, sure enough, they make a classic Nintendo controller that connects to the Nintendo Switch system via bluetooth! Now I can play some of my old favorite games exactly the way I remembered! I purchased this thing from Amazon and had it delivered within 2 days and now I can beat Super Mario Bros with ease just like I used to!
[amalinkspro type=”showcase” asin=”B07L9Z33MH” apilink=”https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L9Z33MH?tag=&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1″ new-window=”true” addtocart=”false” nofollow=”true” sc-id=”4″ imgs=”LargeImage” link-imgs=”false” specs=”This bluetooth gamepad is for Switch online game.~~~Has turbo and home buttons.~~~Equally compatible Switch online~~~Compatible with 8BitDo NES retro receiver (need update receiver firmware).~~~Support firmware update.” btn-color=”#ff9900″ btn-text=”View on Amazon” alignment=”aligncenter” hide-prime=”0″ hide-image=”0″ hide-reviews=”0″ hide-price=”0″ hide-button=”0″ width=”750″]8BitDo N30 Bluetooth Gamepad for Switch Online Game Support Turbo and Home (Nintendo Switch Online)[/amalinkspro]
Products You Want but Probably Don’t Need
If you’re not aware – there are a few different ‘deals’ features on Amazon. I’m guilty of browsing through the ‘Lightning Deals’ every now and then and I’ve been burned before (in a good way). It’s been known to happen that I might stumble across a product that I kind of want but maybe don’t need. Some of the deals are just too good to pass up! Especially in the ‘Lightning Deals’ section, where the discounts are very time-limited. Click the button below to see what’s on sale today!
[amalinkspro type=”cta-btn-css” ctabtn-id=”0″ asin=”1612680194″ apilink=”https://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=gbps_ftr_s-5_0f49_dlt_LD?gb_f_deals1=dealTypes:LIGHTNING_DEAL,sortOrder:BY_SCORE,dealStates:AVAILABLE%252CWAITLIST%252CWAITLISTFULL%252CEXPIRED%252CSOLDOUT%252CUPCOMING,includedAccessTypes:GIVEAWAY_DEAL&pf_rd_p=56beed47-26cb-401c-95f5-738a157f0f49&pf_rd_s=slot-5&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_i=gb_main&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=XMR426QYZSVJTFRTRY3C&ie=UTF8&_encoding=UTF8&tag=&linkCode=ur2&linkId=b70ce3200e54dc5a0c91b2044e4fd322&camp=1789&creative=9325″ addtocart=”false” new-window=”true” nofollow=”true” alignment=”aligncenter”]???? Lightning Deals on Amazon ????[/amalinkspro]
McDonald’s – I’m Lovin’ It!
My daughter, Elena, is standing right next to me as I write out this section of this post. Today, I am going to feature Elena’s typical order at McDonald’s – in her own words. Here is what she almost always gets…
- One Happy Meal
- 2-pack fries
- 4-pack chicken nuggets
- a toy (for girl)
- chocolate milk
Products That Don’t Compare
A few years ago, my wife (Susie) and I got into selling stuff on Amazon via FBA. I blogged about it a little and I created a page with a guide to items that Amazon FBA sellers need. I included affiliate links on that page to those products on Amazon. At the time, I was using Easy Azon to insert my Amazon affiliate links. I recently reworked the page to remove all of the Easy Azon links and replace them with AmaLinks Pro links. I also created a nice ‘comparison’ table so readers can easily see some of the details for each product.
This is just one example of how product ‘comparison’ tables can be used – even if you aren’t necessarily comparing products.
[amalinkspro_table id=”7946″ aff-id=”” new-window=”on” nofollow=”on” addtocart=”off” /]
Keepin it Real Estate
Here’s a little teaser for you. In future updates, I will be writing more in this section. Real estate has always been my long term plan for passive income – long before I stumbled into the world of making money online. I sort of put my real estate ambitions on the back burner – but I recently started taking steps to get back into the real estate game.
I’ll put much more time and focus into this subheading in future updates. For now… I’ll just show you one book that I read this past summer that helped kickstart what I am doing now with real estate…
[amalinkspro type=”cta-btn-css” ctabtn-id=”0″ asin=”1979137641″ apilink=”https://www.amazon.com/dp/1979137641?tag=&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1″ addtocart=”false” new-window=”true” nofollow=”true” alignment=”aligncenter”]Check it out on Amazon[/amalinkspro]
Fortnite, Fortnite – Let’s Go!
I didn’t really play Fortnite this past week. I really don’t spend THAT much time playing video games. But I did get in a few classic Nintendo games. I showed my son how to get the unlimited free extra guys in Super Mario Bros and I played one game of Double Dragon.
Last night, my 3 kids and I held a double-elimination tournament in Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Switch. That was fun. Ethan won.
AmaLinks Pro is Cool – Just Trust Me on This ????
All of the links in this post that lead to Amazon were created and inserted using AmaLinks Pro – a premium WordPress plugin for Amazon affiliates. Full disclosure… I am the co-founder of AmaLinks Pro.
If you like the elements on this page that link to Amazon and want to be able to create them super fast and easy on your own WordPress site – check out AmaLinks Pro.
The End
This concludes this mid-January weekend update on the Dumb Passive Income blog! Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to comment on anything below.
Matthew Allen
Matthew Allen
