Here are five fun and easy steps you can take to move yourself closer to looking at your checking account in the morning and discovering that checks were flowing in while you slept:

1. If you can, find a few minutes to take a walk with a notebook and pencil and noodle around the following questions as you stroll, jotting down ideas as they occur to you. This is a magical way to invite great ideas into your head. Walking through nature (and especially near water) works even better. If you can’t make time for a walk, just wash the dishes without the radio on—that works, too. Now ask yourself:

· Where do my talents, interests and strengths meet other people’s current and future needs?

· What specific group of people or organizations that I am or have been a part of would be most helped by my product or service? (These are the groups you will understand the best, so stick with them.)

· How can I learn more about what they’re looking for now and where to reach them? (For instance, as Tim Ferriss suggests in The 4-Hour Workweek, what niche magazines do they read? Get and read the ads in those magazines. Find out the number of subscribers and repeat monthly ads.)

· Is this a group with some money to spend on what I’d like to offer?

· How can I reach out to and help the most people within that specific group (making you the most money for your efforts)?

· Is this a venture I can launch from home without having to leave my current job to get started (more than doubling your chances of success)?

· Can all or most of the actions needed to run this venture, eventually be systematized and handed off to other people or technology? (How can this venture lead to passive income?)  [More on this in future posts…]

2. Keeping those questions in mind, write down 3-5 new ways you’d like to start bringing in income that you can initiate. (Hint: You’re more likely to act on these fast if they seem FUN!) Number your ideas in the order you’d like to start doing them.

3. Write down 3 action steps you can take to start Idea #1.

4. Make a written commitment to do the first step with the date it will be completed in the comments below (even if it’s just doing a Google search about your idea and potential competitors). Taking this action step does NOT commit you irrevocably to this project – it does get you from thinking to action, so do it for yourself and your financial freedom.

5. Let me know when you get that step done and how it went for you. I’ll send the first person who does so a free copy of Barbara Winters’ book Making a Living Without a Job.

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