Category: Life

This is the last tattoo idea I’ll be doing in the Philippines. It will be a full sleeve tattoo encompassing my entire right arm and chest. I will do it at Needlepoint Tattoo. It will be done by Mards. It will also be a black and grey tattoo. This post states how well a similar tattoo will age.

1. Upper arm:
   • It is inspired by this tattoo.
   • A few changes will be implemented: Next to the staircase, have a heart and brain floating above the pillars to symbolize a journey to mindfulness. A good example of floating heart/brain is here. Note: Work REALLY hard with Mards on ways to make the heart/brain tattoo to last longer. Because ironically enough, the two most smallest parts, are also the most important parts. Why? Because they mean the most.
   • Alternatively, I was inspired by this vid, but have a brain and heart balance beneath Marcus Aurelius at an equal balance.
   • Instead of Zeus, add Marcus Aurelius who practiced mindfulness. A good tattoo picture of him is here, here, here, and here.
   • On the stairs, add an arch with a water drop in middle which signifies balance. Example of arch here.
   • Or simply just add a water drop.
2. Bicep: Atlas tattoo. He represents persistence. Have it as a connecting half sleeve. Example here. Have a band around the Earth that says “Steep is the way to mastery,” or alternatively, like in this tattoo, replicate the style on “In Actis Esto Volucris” beneath Atlas. Whatever the artist thinks will look better.
3. Outer forearm: A sword balancing a heart and brain. An example of sword design is this. An example of sword with balance is this.
4. Inner forearm: Janus, the Roman god of decisions, with the body of Hecate. It will have two heads, one man and one woman. They will be holding six items which represent something.
   • A seashell which represents love.
   • A US dollar sign which represents money.
   • An eagle which represents power.
   • A mirror which represents outer aesthetics
   • An olive branch which represents inner peace.
   • A cross which represents God.
   • ALTERNATIVELY: Have the traditional Michael slaying the devil tattoo, which signifies defeating evil in my life.

5. Chest: A quote on my left chest which quotes Marcus Aurelis: “You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

Stages of design: Upper arm -> bicep -> inner forearm -> outer forearm -> Shoulder/chest

Combine this image and have it go up my heart. Design geometric shapes for heart and combine it with this image to create heart design.

Freelance Writing Job Boards

Elna says it’s best for beginner freelance writers to look at job boards first and foremost. In my situation, I think it’s best if I get 5-10 projects done on a job board before switching to cold emails to companies for work.

Since I’ve already read the article, I believe it’s best if I exclusively look at free freelance writing job boards for work. And not premium ones. Especially since I already have experience in the tech niche.

What boards will I peruse first?

IMPORTANT: Pro Blogger, Freelance Writing, and Blogging Pro. If I can find enough work, stick with those three.

Using Social Media

Social media is a hot topic for a lot of freelance writers. Some say it’s a waste of time and highly distracting. Others say it’s a goldmine for freelance writing work.

Elna agrees with the latter. In her first two years as a freelance writer, she landed gigs on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Pinterest. And they’ve been some of her best clients to date. Because of her strong presence on social media, clients were able to find Elna and work with her.

In this lesson, she’s going to go over finding clients on Twitter and Facebook. These are her two favorite social media sites to find work. For me, I’m definitely going to add LinkedIn, probably as a replacement for Facebook.

A Simple Tactic to Using Social Media to Find Leads

To get noticed by my ideal client, I should try to work in-front of them. With repeated exposure to my name, face and content, over time, the fact that I’m awesome at what you do is going to eventually stick with prospective clients. When the time comes that they need to hire a freelance writer, they’re more likely going to think of me over someone else that pitched to them one time.

And this is why social media is a great way to find clients – by connecting, sharing and engaging with my ideal client I’m making them warm up to me and my services.

This is called warm pitching and it’s highly effective (more so than any other pitching method in this course).

The goal is to find these editors or business owners or marketers – i.e. my target audience – follow them and engage with them. Look at what they are sharing. Let’s say content manager A shares a lot of posts from Fast Company.

IMPORTANT: I can also engage with them on social media. For example, if there is a small business that I’m interested in writing for them, I can follow them on Twitter and start sharing their blog posts. Sometimes this is enough to get on their radar.

I can start a dialogue and go from there. Find out more about the business, keep sharing their blog posts, tag them if I find relevant content and then approach them.

IMPORTANT: To recap, warm pitching entails on Twitter:

• Following my ideal client on social media
• Sharing their content
• Responding to their tweets or saying how great their post is
• Engaging with them if they ask a question on social media
• Tag them if you find a post that’s relevant for them
• Reach out to them by direct messaging them on Twitter if they need a writer (if you can’t direct message them, contact them via email or their contact form)

Using LinkedIn (Optimization + Leads)

IMPORTANT: Out of all the social media sites out there, I personally believe I’d have the best chance landing a gig on LinkedIn. So let’s focus extra close on this module to learn as much as humanly possible.

I already have a LinkedIn account fully optimized for my software developer career. All I have to do now is re-write a few bits so I re-engage my audience as a freelance writer. Now, will I get LinkedIn Premium? There’s no need in my opinion.

When I start my career as a freelance writer on LinkedIn, it’s best if I connect with tech brands or people who work with those brands.

IMPORTANT: Another thing I can do to help my brand is change my background photo on LinkedIn. An amazing tool to do this is canva.com. It’s a free editing tool that allows me to make my own background image.

IMPORTANT: A change Elna made recently which had a HUGE impact was cramming her title with as many keywords as possible. For example, “✨ B2B SaaS and Digital Marketing Writer 💫 Web3 + NFT writer • Email Copywriter with Hands-On Experience, Youtuber, Trainer 📕 Award Winning Blog 6 Years in a Row • American living in Canada”

The two biggest keywords in Elna’s opinion was SaaS and copywriting.

As a new freelance writer, Elna recommends hyping up my niche and my services. In my case, I think it’s best if I hype up the fact I’m a former software engineer with hands-on industry experience.

Now, I may not have much experience as a new freelance writer, but if I land a guest post, it’s best if I post it on LinkedIn.

IMPORTANT: There is a BIG downside to LinkedIn. When it comes to finding jobs, they’re all locational. What does that mean? It means depending on where you are, that’s what jobs you’ll get recommended to you. For example, I live in the USA… I’ll get jobs in the USA. Not in Europe or other countries I may want to net clients. If I want to bypass this, try using a VPN.

IMPORTANT: I found a great video which details how to get clients on LinkedIn. Use this as a reference since Jessica Foster specializes in it.

Elna recommends going on LinkedIn once a day or every other day to interact with posts written by companies I want to work for.

What’s the most important thing to focus on, though? According to Elna, an optimized header. This includes title, background image, etc.

IMPORTANT: Elna recommends a Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook page. Twitter and LinkedIn are most important.

Connection Template

When I want to connect with another freelancer or business owner, here’s a template to use instead of clicking connect with no message.

Hey,

Thanks for viewing my profile. I see you work at (x). Trying to expand my network and would love it if we could connect.

Thanks & take care,

[first name and last name]

If you wan to be a little more forthright you can send this message instead:

Hi,

My name is [first name and last name] and I am a freelance writer specializing in producing digital marketing content for blogs, newsletters and landing pages. I’ve really been enjoying the blog posts on [your website] and was wondering if you’d like to connect.

Once they connect they may seek out my writing services!

Optimization Tactics

On LinkedIn, I want to connect with:

• Marketing directors | Content directors | those in charge of marketing content | Editors
• Business owners
• Other freelance writers who you can send work to and receive work from

On LinkedIn, I want to start following the businesses or people I want to collaborate with.

I can find these businesses from job ads I’ve pitched to, on Twitter or social media, or doing a Google search of businesses.

I can then go to LinkedIn and search for those companies and view who is working for that company.

This can let you know quickly if that business has a marketing team.

Or, do other tactics if I want:

• Engaging with the company’s LinkedIn posts when possible. Have a meaningful conversation. This can help me get on the radar of the marketing director (or owner) who is probably managing the content on LinkedIn.
• Share relevant content – ideally guest posts, blog posts or client pieces – and call out my potential client. Use the suggested hashtags LinkedIn gives me.

Leads May Start Approaching You

By being consistent using these strategies, Elna started to receive leads. I’m sure that if she continued this process she would receive more leads.

But realize it’s my title that will get the right clients in front of me.

IMPORTANT: Cold pitching is the next section. Since it’s SO IMPORTANT for me to learn this, I’m going to devote an entire blog post to it.

Send them “How To New Programmers Can Land Their First Developer Job Faster”. Include tips like have a time management technique, have a schedule, etc.

I’ve already written the four blog posts required to meet my quota. What’s next? Here’s what I’ll do in order:

1. Get rid of my Medium article on TRT and programming.
2. Go to the Good Man Project and read their editorial requirements. Make changes to my TRT/programming blog post to satisfy said requirements.
3. Before I submit the article, I need to draft an author bio. I will write it on my blog before submitting it on Good Man Project.
4. Submit the article.
5. Once I submit the article, it may take a while to get approved. Since this may be the case, my next objective is to format my freelance writing website.
6. IMPORTANT: Before I find ANYONE, write up a big draft of what I require.
7. Find a web site designer and send them my requirements.
8. Each day send 10-15 cold emails. After I hit 100, see how successful I was; if I get enough responses, resume my pitch; if not, change it. The optimal response rate is 5%. In a matter of fact, instead of doing Pomodoro. Send out 10-15 cold emails. Once I’ve done that, I’m finished for the day.

I want to leave the United States ASAP.

It’s best if I leave with 15 – 17K in the bank.

Big expendatures:

1. Plane ticket to Cebu:
   • June 9th: $1,075
2. 3 months rent in Cebu paid off: $900

Total initial cost: $2000

Our Basic Strategy

How We Make Money In Real Estate

1. Cash Flow: This is what I typically think of when it comes to making money in real estate. Let’s say I owe $600/month in my mortgage. However, I rent out my house for $1,500. I’d make $800/month profit. That’s an example of cash flow.
   • While we’re at it, John mentions leverage. Leverage is pretty much the amount you borrowed on a property = less cash flow. For example, I want to pay 15% down. I’d get less cash flow overall since my monthly payment is going to be higher.
2. Principle Paydown: Principle paydown is self-explanatory. Principle is the amount you owe on a house before interest. The more you pay down your house, the more money you get overall. The reason why this is great is because if you have tenants, you’re paying off the loan without paying out of pocket.
3. Depreciation: Depreciation is how the house ages over time. You can deduct it on your taxes when tax season comes up. You can deduct structural damage as a loss, which decreases your taxes owed.
4. Appreciation: Specifically leveraged appreciation. This is the property value going up over time.

Buy Properties that have Good Cash Flow

Why do we need properties with good cash flow? Because it’s easier for us to make payments on the house and therefore, we get higher leveraged appreciation.

What’s important is high cash flow, low prices. I think I’ve found a few real estate assets in Sedalia which fits what John is stating.

Get Long Term Fixed Loans to Reduce Risk

We don’t want to do interest only loans, variable interest rate – no, the basic strategy is to do a very stable loan. This is usually a 30 year fixed loan. A big reason why we do this loan is because we want to reduce risk as much as possible, especially during market crashes and similar conditions.

Utilize Leverage to Grow Wealth in the Long Term

The big thing we want to do is to utilize leverage to put down as little as possible to net a little money or break even… and the long-term strategy is that over many years is that property value goes up. The goal is to get a ridiculous return rate.

However, if you want more cash flow, pay off a higher down payment (ie. 20%). If you want more leverage, pay lower down payment (10%).

If possible, try and buy a property every year.

Create Passive Income By Utilizing Management

A lot of people think real estate investment is a lot of work and maintenance. However, we can turn it into a mostly passive income if we use property management. Is is strongly recommended you do NOT manage your own property.

In John’s experience, he has to deal with property managers MAYBE once or twice a month. Even then, it’s usually a quick email or quick phone call.

Convert Leverage to Cashflow For Passive Income

What we inevitably want to do is convert leverage to cash flow for passive income. Eventually, once we get enough net worth, we want to convert these net worth properties to cash flow. We can do this in a few ways: A 1031 Exchange, sell the property and take capital gains, pay off the principle, etc.

However, for most people, it’s going to be the long-term strategy to get the cash flow from.

The reason why John says this, is because once you pay off properties, you’re still going to get a nice cash flow from rental income.

What Kind of Returns Can We Get on Real Estate

Simple Math

Most people think real estate investment is high risk. It’s not. People don’t go over the math as to why real estate investment is so good. Let’s go over it now:

You buy a property for $100k. You put 10% down. If your property goes up 3.5% per year, the amount of money you’re going to make off that profit is going to significantly outweigh the amount you put down.

Getting Started (take personal notes)

Identify Your Criteria

First and foremost, I need to find out how much I have in my bank account to invest. That is the most critical thing. If you have $20K and if you’re looking at a $200K house, you have to invest at least $20K for 10% down. But realistically, you’re going to have closing costs and other expenses.

IMPORTANT: I want to have $15K to invest starting off. This means I need to find a home that is $60K-$70K and putting down 15%-20%.

John recommends talking to a mortgage broker and look at the options. See what percentage down I could do.

For example, I could call a mortgage loan (ie. HomeReady or Home Possible) and see if I can put down 10% and let them cover the rest. I will have to do more research on them, though.

Next, find out what type of property I’m looking for. Do I want to buy a single family house? Do I want to buy a condo? John personally doesn’t care. I, on the other hand, want to start with the most common property type, which is single family house.

When John rents out a house, he prefers the bigger the deal, the better it is. His reason for that is because it takes a lot of work to buy properties. To find them -> to negotiate the deal -> to get a loan on that, etc.

For example, let’s say John has 100K to invest. He would not want to do 5 deals where he’s putting 20% or 20K down for each one. That’s too much time and effort. Instead, he’d rather take that 100K he has to invest and see if he can find one or two deals. To John, that makes much more sense.

Let’s look over the criteria again: How much money do I have to invest? What is the price of the property? What is the property type?

If John had to meet with a real estate investor he’d say, “Hey, I’m looking for a property I can put down 5,000 – 10,000 dollars. I’m looking for single family properties only. And I want them to be in decent neighborhoods, not in crappy areas.”

Remember: If something is too good to be true, it probably is.

IMPORTANT: Rely on real estate investors – NOT WEBSITES – to find properties you’re looking for.

Identify a Market

The next step after I’ve defined my criteria is to identify a market. As far as John’s preferences, he prefers investing in a local market, but remote is totally fine. This is particularly true if you’re in a big city – they’re just too expensive!

IMPORTANT: After going through a few websites, I’ve determined the best market to be Memphis, TN, Montgomery, AL and Birmingham, AL and. I’ll be buying my first property over there. They’re incredibly low price.

What I’m going to be looking for when I’m browsing markets is looking for properties close to the 1% rule. What’s the 1% rule? The rent is 1% of the purchase price. For example, if I buy a house that is 70K, the rent is $700.

Everything John is saying isn’t scientific. One thing he recommends is to STOP OVERANALYZING THINGS.

It doesn’t matter if I get the absolute best deals or not. Why? Because we’re making money off of the leverage appreciation that’s a pretty steady number we can count on over a long period of time.

Contact a Real Estate Agent

The next step after identifying a market is to contact a real estate agent. Note: This may not happen immediately since I want to save 15K before I do so.

In the market I identified, look for real estate agents in the city. If I can find a real estate agent that specializes in investment properties, that’s probably even better. However, before I do so, look at their reviews.

IMPORTANT: When I contact a real estate agent, tell them what my criteria is. “Hey, I’m a remote investor looking for properties. Since I’m starting off, I’m looking for a price point at about 50,000 – 70,000. And for a down payment something I can put down for 10,000 dollars. I’m looking for single family properties only. And I want them to be in decent neighborhoods, not in crappy areas.”

This shouldn’t be hard considering I’m investing in either Memphis or Alabama.

Be sure to ask for daily emails listing properties with my criteria provided.

To-do: Hold off on this course until I have 13K saved up. Once that happens, head back to the course and start calling real estate agents.