In no particular order…

1. You don’t have to be rich, but it’s necessary to have enough. Deprivation and poverty aren’t anyone’s idea of success. The key is to be satisfied with enough and make wise financial decisions. Think before you buy; learn to control your “wanter.” Remember, too, that the direction you are going in is more important than where you have been.

2. Have meaningful relationships. Many people work long and hard at their careers or running a business. If only this much effort goes into their relationships with the people who matter! Learn to communicate. Say the things you should say. Make time for people. Make memories with people.

3. Be benevolent. Volunteer. Mentor. Invest your time and money in something you believe in. People who are involved in humanitarian causes are more satisfied and have an easier time seeing the big picture.

4.  Be trustworthy.  Keep your word; honor your commitments.  Then people will respect and honor you.  This is key in having a successful life.

5. Live on purpose.  Too many people live without thinking and end up somewhere they do not want to be because they neglected to think about what they really wanted.  Too many commitments, the wrong career,  wasted time and money- all because they never stopped to consider why and what they were doing.  Live consciously.  Periodically evaluate your life and then make adjustments.

6. You need time.  Everything in our life takes time.  Many people never get around to doing the important things because they were too busy.

Success is living a satisfying, fulfilling, meaningful life. In all aspects. Balance.

A successful man must dress the part.

Of course it should go without saying that a successful lady should dress for success as well, but I have to address the men here. For one thing, I am a man so I’m able to address the problems I see with men. The second thing is there are some major problems with men’s dress these days! (Ladies, not so much. Many of you look great.)

The specific problem with men is that they appear like boys or slobs. But rarely do they dress like they should dress. I’m thinking of business settings right now, but in general society today, men dress horribly.

For a while now I’ve become reluctant to wear a baseball cap (I have a couple). When I wear one, I feel like I should be holding my mommy’s hand – men shouldn’t wear baseball caps unless they’re playing baseball, pretty much. And now that I look around and see grown men wearing them, it seems wrong.

For some contrast, take a look at almost any Hollywood movie made up until the early sixties and you’ll see how a real hat changes a man’s appearance. So, I say we bring back the hat. Personally, I like fedoras or trilbys or flat caps. But not a ballcap, unless the occasion calls for mowing the lawn or throwing a ball.

I recently went to a meeting of many hospitality/hotel/restaurant workers and business owners. At this gathering, I saw a lot of bad fashion among men. Lots of ill-fitting polos with embroidered logos, and lots of short-sleeved button-up shirts paired with clip-on ties. But there were a few guys who stood out – for all the right reasons! They wore distinguished-looking tan suits and leather shoes – what you would expect a Southern businessman to wear back in the old days, almost.

Scanning the crowd, I could pick out the guys who were dressed well and the shlubs. (And a lot of attractive ladies as well, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.) It was like there were a bunch of Dwight Schrutes, and a handful of Don Drapers.

Who do you think is going to get the business, and make the money? The guy who is dressed as if he cares.

I’ve never considered myself a slob, but the whole observation made me realize how it’s actually very important to present yourself well – no matter how “shallow” or just plain wrong that may be. It’s the reality of the business world. And if you plan on being successful, men, “act as if”. (See: Boiler Room).

That means you need to look the part. So let’s do it.

“Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.”

- Charles Caleb Colton

You may have heard this quote before, and I’ve seen it mis-quoted as

imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

The idea is that by imitating a company, you are paying them a compliment. It could also mean you are trying to show them a better way to do something – and often, the imitator really does know more or do it better.

But how does all this relate to business? Here’s another quote that might be more apropos:

“Good artists copy; great artists steal.”
- Pablo Picasso

If you want to make money at something, you can either be a great innovator or a great thief – but most likely you’ll be a little of both. If you look at all the great business leaders of the day, you’ll see that they took an existing idea and improved upon it’s original purpose or implementation.

Want an example? Apple is a prime example (Steve Jobs, specifically). There are many “improved” products from this company, but the most obvious is the iPod. MP3 players were around for quite some time before Apple decided to take all the best ideas, simplify them, and package all the existing ideas into a sleeker (sexier!) package. It became a best-seller.

There’s really nothing new under the sun (to quote Solomon). What sells is when you do the same thing as everyone else…better. Or make it seem new. It happens in everything from music (remember when Nirvana became popular?) to coffee (Starbucks) to clothing (styles often come back when a designer “refreshes” a look).

So what can you do? Stop trying to think of totally new concepts, and – instead – think of something that already exists and see if you can do anything to either…

• make it lookfresher
• make it sound fresher
• make it seem exotic
• make it more exclusive
• make it do more

It can simply become a matter of combining the functions of two or more products. Or, it could be a matter of simplifying a product to do only one thing – but do it well. (37signals is the master of doing this.)

So, next time you think “I should make one of those. I can do it better…” remember: Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

Not many weeks ago, I read a little book that impressed me greatly – which means a lot, since I’m a book addict. The good ones tend to stick out, and this one was good – it’s called The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and the Middle Class. It took me a couple of hours (tops) to read, cover-to-cover. It’s a brief, simple book and was written by what appears to be a simple but good man – who happens to be a millionaire.

If you were to distill this book down to it’s vital pieces, it would end up being a ten-point list. I won’t get into all ten points here (that’s for another day), but there is one particular point he makes in his book that applies now more than ever. It is one of the most glaring distinctions between “those who never make much money” and “those who enjoy significant gains in wealth” and it might sound counter-intuitive…but it apparently is a cornerstone of not only gaining wealth but of good karma. It’s simple: giving to others. To use the author’s words…

“Millionaires believe they must be generous.”

Now, my question is: What do you believe?

Do you believe in generosity? Do you have the same millionaire belief about giving? Or…are you a real-life, actual Scrooge? Seriously. What are you, and what do practice? Because if you want to become a millionaire…you should do what the millionaires do.

Now… let me tell you a story.

There was a little boy, and he liked to play. Just like any four year old, he loved his mommy and daddy and he even loved his brothers and sisters – all five of them! Because he had a good family, life was full of learning and fun and happiness and love. And the little boy was full of laughter.

But one day the mommy and daddy noticed something unusual about the little boy. Their son wasn’t acting like himself – he wasn’t the happy little man he usually was. He wasn’t laughing as much as he used to.

“It looks like he’s got a bad sinus infection,” they thought, like most parents would think. But the little boy had something far more serious than a sinus infection. They soon brought him to the hospital to see a doctor.

The doctors knew they had to test the Little boy, Kendrick, and find out exactly what type of illness he had. They performed a CAT scan. When they got the results, the doctors flew him to Cook’s Children’s Hospital in Texas. The doctors at that hospital subjected Kendrick to more tests. They performed an MRI. Then, they performed surgery.

Allen, Alicia, and Kendrick Little

Kendrick Little, the little boy, was very ill. The doctors – some of the very best at what they do – found (and removed most of) something called an Intrinsic Brain Stem High-grade Glioma. It’s a very serious cancer of the brain stem, and in Kendrick’s case it was graded at a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-4.

These doctors say that Kendrick has about a year to live.

This is where my story ends, for the moment. And there’s something I didn’t tell you: Kendrick is now five years old. He just had his birthday. In the hospital.

Kendrick with Santa - Cook Children's Hospital

So, dear reader, you may be asking a question like: “Why did Shawn share the story of Kendrick Little on this blog?” or “Why isn’t this article about online marketing or making money?” or “Why did this guy write such a sad story that made me cry?”

The answers (in order) are: 1) Kendrick’s dad, Allen Little, is a friend of mine – and I care about this family deeply. 2) This article is actually about the concept of giving, which does relate to the theme of this blog. 3) And I wrote a story that I can only hope made someone cry…so they react – and give some money to the Little family. Yes, I know I tried to manipulate you and pull at your heart strings. But I am serious about giving to them, because they have a serious financial need right now.

I am so serious in fact, that I am going to start off what I hope is a trend of giving by sending the family a certain amount of money via PayPal, tonight. I won’t tell you readers exactly how much – except to say I was planning on buying an Xbox 360. But I figure that since the dad hasn’t been able to work for a few weeks, and his kids deserve a good Christmas, I’d like to give them that money. And I plan to give another chunk of change to them after Christmas, as well. (So there goes the Rock Band 2 package I was planning to get.)

I’ve known Allen Little for years, and he is one of the most giving people I’ve ever met. So I don’t feel bad at all about giving to him, his family, and especially little Kendrick. In fact, I feel honored to be able to do it. I believe I should be generous, in fact. And I hope you do, too.

If you want to give to them, I have set up a donation button linked to Allen & Alicia Little’s PayPal account. If you give to them it goes right to their account. They will receive it and be able to spend it on the things they can’t afford right now. I’m sure they will be thankful and surprised! (And BTW – no, they did not ask me to do this.)

Let’s make it a little merrier of a Christmas than what it would otherwise be…just click the button below.

If you want to read more about Kendrick Little, or if you want to send the Little family your regards or Holiday wishes, here are the two places to do so…

Kendrick Little CarePage (at Cook Children’s Hospital)
Kendrick Little Facebook Group

Oh…and back to the premise with which I started this post: yes, the book is excellent and most millionaires put a priority on giving. And who knows, maybe what goes around comes around. But generosity is a good thing to practice whether it makes you a millionaire or not. So do what the millionaires do – and give to others.

If you’re an online entrepreneur, you might realize that you need multiple streams of income to significantly make money online. Just like having multiple hooks in the water increases your chances of catching something when fishing, having multiple websites increases your chances of making some money via the internet.

This blog is but one of many online ventures I have, and it basically relies on AdSense to make a few bucks each month. But it’s not a real money-maker. I have a few sites that are far uglier and far less interesting…but far more profitable. In fact, I would never sell them or the domain names – because they are established money-makers for me.

Which brings me to today’s topic. What if I bought other people’s websites in order to increase my online portfolio? There are some interesting reasons for doing so…

• The owner might not have time to maintain his site
• The site might be one of many sites the owner has, and he wants to clean house
• The site might not have been profitable for the owner
• The owner might have simply grown tired of keeping up with the site
• The owner might have moved on to other vertical markets (niches) and wants to sell off certain sites
• The owner might have tried making money with the site, but simply didn’t know how

There are many possible reasons why someone might sell their web site – just like with any business. Your job, as the prospective buyer, is to buy smart and buy something that can make you money. You might not know how to get there though…so here are some things to ask when considering purchasing someone else’s website…

Why are they selling?

This is the first thing you need to find out. What reason do they have for trying to dump a website onto the market? Is there something wrong with the site? Or, is there something else going on with the site owner? It can make a huge difference in how you bargain for the site when you are discussing the price with the owner. If they need to sell due to some outside factor, they might be a “motivated seller” and you might get a great deal. Or, they might have created the site solely with the goal of selling – and you are being set up! Another possible reason they might be selling is that they were doing some unethical promotional techniques for their site, and got de-indexed by Google. (Awwww…boo-hoo!) There are all sorts of possibilities – in your favor or against you – so you must find out why they want to sell and what is prompting them to put their site on the market. Be wary of the “profitable, established” sites for sale on eBay. Be wary of people who are asking ridiculous pricess for a “so-so” website. Why are they selling…and how did they arrive at their asking price? Find out. (The value of a site is only what a buyer is willing to pay, by the way…there is no formula for calculating a site’s intrinsic price value.)

What is the state of the site?

This ties into my last point, in that you must investigate the site’s state of health before even considering a purchase. Whether the site is indexed or not is one issue. Also, you’ll want to find out how the site ranks for it’s main keywords – is it in the top 10 or 20 results, or is it off the radar for Google searchers? What does the traffic look like for this site, and how long have the numbers held up? I would personally ask to see their server stats as well as their Google Analytics or StatCounter numbers. (Preferably I would want access to log in and look for myself, but most people are gonna want to send you screen shots probably.) Hey, if you’re going to pay them money – perhaps a lot of money – for a property, you need to have access to look around first. It’s only reasonable. You should also check the PageRank, the backlinks, and if the site sells something you should get the stats on their sales. You should look at the age of the site. How long has it been around? Look at the archives of the site. How long has it looked the way it does? Oh…and look at the actual coding of the site too – is it sloppy, or well-coded? These things matter to a smart buyer.

What is the ROI for the site?

You’re not in this business because it feels good or because it’s helping change the world. You’re trying to make some cash. If you’re an affiliate marketer like me, you might sell everything from stupid blankets that people wear like Jedi robes (have you seen these hideous things?) to cell phones for the elderly (named after a dance they used to do back in the olden times) to other stuff you might actually be interested in yourself. I sell web hosting, domain registration, vintage pin-up images, SEO software, ummm…”plant seeds”, baby and toddler clothing, trendy t-shirts (you know, like da college kids wear), books, DVDs…you name it, I’ve probably tried selling it via an affiliate program at least. But all I’ve ever cared about is pretty much one thing: is this campaign or site or product converting? And, how much money am I making? For the things that are profitable, I keep ‘em. For things that are dead – I abandon them, and if a domain name is involved I turn off automatic renewal and let it expire (in most cases). I believe every site should pay for itself, and if that means I make a measly few bucks with AdSense and that’s all…well, fine. But I want to know how much a site makes. If it’s ZERO, it’s worthless. So…I said all that so you make sure and find out how much money the site will pay you. You don’t necessarily have to get rich off the site, but you should see a return on your investment within a reasonable amount of time. So let’s say the seller wants $1200 for their site, and the site sells propeller beanies for $10 each. You look at their sales records, and see that they sell an average of ten per month. The numbers are consistent, and there have been two years of records. Based on those numbers, you can feel pretty confident you’ll pay for the site in a year, and then it’s all profit. Make sense? You need to see the ROI and know how long it’s gonna take to pay for the site.

Now, some final website-buying advice. If you find an acceptable site to purchase…

• Don’t pay the asking price…but just like buying a car or a house, make an offer you can live with and that is fair to the seller. If you try to low-ball them, you’re being unfair. And if they’re trying to ream you, they’re being unfair – don’t entertain their rudeness.
• Try to keep as much as possible the same. This means content, design, web host, contact info, registrar, and whatever else can change. The reason is so you don’t upset the site’s rankings. (Unless the rankings stink, then who cares – you’re starting from scratch anyway.)
• Use a third-party escrow service if you don’t know/trust the seller. The two best and most well-known are Sedo and Escrow.com. (Here is an article about a teen who sold a site using Escrow.com. His site was about the Zune, which sucks, but it sold for $62k!)

So, if you’re planning on updating your “online real-estate” holdings by buying sites, I wish you the best and I encourage you to do it smart and ask the right questions as you make your decisions.