After publishing the guide on how to get rich online, I’ve shared it with some of my friends, peers and business partners. Some of them wanted to talk more about the topics and ideas I presented. Some of their comments blew my mind, and some of them made me realize I need to expand my first post. The post I published, originally had more than 4000 words, and I touched on some topics that could have as much text as that entire first post (which could easily be turned into a workshop or a small book). I had to cut corners somewhere.

So, I’ve updated that post and decided to write about one key breakthrough I’ve head a year ago. I think it is an essential part of the “getting rich online” mindset.

“There is no spoon”, and there are no problems

I was reading a book How to think like an Einstein by Scott D. Thorpe and the number one realization by far I got from that simple book is that problems don’t exist.

Trust me, I totally understand it’s extremely hard to wrap your head around that idea, especially after years and probably decades of hating problems. What helped me is the fact that I read a lot of books so I am used to finding outrageous ideas.

Let me explain what do I mean by “Problems don’t exist”.

Problem is a word or a concept that humans created in order to better explain something as an obstacle. Something that is getting in a way, and stopping us in achieving something we want. In return, we use this term each time we want to feel sorry for ourselves or put on a disempowering position.

This could happen with our finances, romance, friendship, business, health, anything. Furthermore, “a problem” is defined by the person experiencing this “situation”. We all like black and white distinctions, it’s easier for the brain.

A problem for you, may not be a problem for someone else

Good situation, no problem. Bad situation, problem. This is how we subjectively perceive things and situations that we are in. I say subjectively because something that is a huge problem for you (OMG car problems, I don’t have $100 to fix my car) is not a problem for Bill Gates.

This works even if you are not Bill Gates.
Me: OMG, my faucet is leaking like crazy, what am I supposed to do now?
Plumber: Oh, a faucet is leaking, no problem.

How we subjectively perceive things and situations that we are in

Let me ask you this. Have you ever thought something was great, and then later, that great thing turned into an extremely bad thing? A good friend becomes deceitful and stabs you in the back, for example?

Or have you ever had a problem in your business, solved it, and got $10,000 because of it? Was it really a problem if you got $10,000 afterward? As you’ve seen in the “How to get rich online” guide, internet entrepreneur with an “acne problem” is now making thousands of dollars per month because of this acne “problem”.

Some of you are screaming, that wasn’t a problem, that was an opportunity? Oh, was it really? Tell it to the teenage girl with an acne problem.

…for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

— William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Einstein’s greatest discovery wasn’t E=MC²

In case you missed my earlier articles, I love to make an analogy with the movie The Matrix, so here’s another one. You know that scene at the end of the movie (The Matrix) when Neo dies, and then Trinity does this monologue where she explains how the Oracle told her she would fall in love with the dead man, and that the dead man would be the one? Further explaining how Neo can’t really be dead because he is the one.

It’s exactly the same with problems! If a problem leads you down a path where you make a $10,000 it’s not really a problem.

The trick here and this is where Einstein was a genius, is to figure out how to turn a problem upside down. He would ask himself crazy questions like “What would happen if I ride a beam of light?”

He tried to picture (some call this visualization) what it would be like to travel so fast that you caught up with a light beam. If he rode alongside it, he later wrote, “I should observe such a beam of light as an electromagnetic field at rest.”

Yes, E=Mc² is one of the most important discoveries of mankind. But, to realize nobody has problems? This is like Neo looking at the code at the end of the movie The Matrix!

How do I make a switch from “problem” to “no problem”?

This is also something absolutely everybody can use every single day of their life! I’ve always been a practical man. Spacetime sounds super exciting to me, but that doesn’t move my life at all. Having a radically different belief about problems, and turning them upside down, this has the ability to change my life!

Which bring us to the peak. How do we make the turn, and flip a problem upside down, Einstein-style? How do we see past our limitations? How do we find a solution to a problem we think we can’t solve?

Why are questions important if I want to just get rich online?

The questions we constantly ask ourselves is how we evaluate current situations. Sometimes, we are not even aware of the questions we are asking ourselves! You probably heard it a million times. “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.“. Why not? That is a great question to ask yourself when you are in a tough situation.

Here’s an example of one such question. Ben Horowitz in his book Hard Thing About the Hard Things told a story where he found himself asking a different question, which ultimately leads him down a very different road.

First, he asked a disempowering question, the one we all asked at least a hundred times in our lives. “What is the worst thing that could happen?”. Since our brain is like a missile seeking mechanism, it will be able to cook up such horrible situations that the movie Halloween will feel like a comedy. The worst thing that could happen, at least he thought so, was to go bankrupt.

But then he got smart and asked a different question. If we go bankrupt what would I do then? He then had an idea about a software company. This leads him to another great question. How can we do that, without going bankrupt?

List of other great books that can change your life.

How to yay without boo?

This reminds me of one of the best titles in Internet Marketing history. At least according to Frank Kern in his book Convert. Essentially you want to present your clients with a great benefit (that’s the yay) without the biggest pain (for all you that are keeping score, that’s the boo).

Imagine headlines like “How to get the latest iPhone, for the fraction of the full price?”, How to grow a million-dollar business, without losing your family? How do I keep track of all my websites, without spending a fortune on monitoring?

Instead of just using this question to create compelling titles, you can use it to solve your challenges. When presented with a problem, ask yourself, how do I yay, without boo?

Here are 10 more challenging questions so that you can get rich online

1. If I had an eyesight problem and couldn’t use the computer for a month, how would I work?
2. If I was diagnosed with some weird medical condition, and could only work a couple of hours per day, what would I work on?
3. If I was diagnosed with some weird medical condition, how would that change my diet? (I watched Super Size Me (again) last night, definitely consider this question)
4. If there was a war in my country, what would I do to save my business?
5. If I sold 10 things I don’t use (stored in a closet somewhere), what would I do with that money?
6. If I had to pick only one action that I am currently doing, in order to save my business, what would it be?
7. If I have $100 million dollars, what kind of a project would I start?
8. If I have only 6 months of life left, would I still live like this?
9. If this same thing / person / situation keeps happening for the next 10 years, would I still be OK with it?
10. Which millionaire habit can I easily replicate and repeat every day?

BONUS QUESTION:
I just finished reading “The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan” and within that book lies a single question that could change your life, if you answer it with your actions appropriately.

What’s the ONE Thing you can do so that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

Have this question in your mind when you are starting your day in the morning or when you are planning your week. Sooner or later, the dominos will start to fall.

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” -- VoltaireClick To Tweet

Who knows what is good, and what is bad?

If you are into Zen or to be precise Taoism (which shaped Zen), you probably heard of the “Who knows what is good, and who knows what is bad” story. This traditional Taoist story illustrates it’s teachings.

“When an old farmer’s stallion wins a prize at a country show, his neighbor calls round to congratulate him, but the old farmer says, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?”

The next day some thieves come and steal his valuable animal. His neighbor comes to commiserate with him, but the old man replies, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?”

A few days later the spirited stallion escapes from the thieves and joins a herd of wild mares, leading them back to the farm. The neighbor calls to share the farmer’s joy, but the farmer says, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?”

The following day, while trying to break in one of the mares, the farmer’s son is thrown and fractures his leg. The neighbor calls to share the farmer’s sorrow, but the old man’s attitude remains the same as before.

The following week the army passes by, forcibly conscripting soldiers for the war, but they do not take the farmer’s son because he cannot walk.

The neighbor thinks to himself, “Who knows what is good and what is bad?” and realizes that the old farmer must be a Taoist sage. ”

(From “The Tao Book and Card Pack” by Timothy Freke)

The one takeaway from this article

If you remember one thing from this get rich online post, let it be this. Destroy your limiting belief that “problems” are a bad thing. You can call it optimism or overly-simplistic, but find the strength in your heart or intelligence to ignore your old belief and install this new one.

If you practice any religion, trust this force and path set in front of you and make the most of it.

With decisions like this, you will start a new journey. You will create the proverbial lemonade, even if life, God, Universe or whatever you believe, will send you lemons. I don’t have scientific evidence to back this up, but I am talking from my own experience. I am sure you can relate to this on some level.

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.

— Tony Robbins

Speaking of Tony Robbins, here’s a great excerpt from his book Awaken the Giant Within, that further illustrates this point.

I discovered that I had a belief that was underemployed. It was the belief “There’s always a way to turn things around if I’m committed.” When I look at my beliefs, I thought, “This is a belief that needs to be strengthened and turned into a conviction.” I’m so glad I did because only about a year later that conviction was a life preserver that pulled me through one of the toughest times, a time when everything around me seemed to be sinking. Not only did it buoy my spirit, but it also helped me deal with one of the most difficult personal and business challenges I had yet faced. This one belief, this sense of certainty, enabled me to find ways to turn things around when everybody around me said it couldn’t be done. I not only turned things around, but I also turned my biggest challenges into my biggest opportunities – and so can you!

Donkey in the well

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried terribly.

Then, to everyone’s sadness, he quieted down. They thought he gave up and died. A few shovel loads later, the farmer got the courage to finally look down the well and was astonished at what he saw.

With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off again and take another a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey leaped over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Moral of the story: Life is going to shovel dirt on you. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles (or as some call them problems) are a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up. ~Source~

Why is this important for making money online?

If you read How to get rich online guide I wrote, you saw that I proposed some outrageous ideas myself. Ideas like making $17.857 every month. On your journey, you are going to experience a lot of these “who knows what is good and what is bad” situations. You are going to experience a lot of, to use your old vocabulary … problems.

“Six thousand years of recorded history reads like this: opportunity mixed with difficulty. It isn’t going to change. ‘So,’ you ask, ‘how will my life change?’ When you change!”

— Jim Rohn

In the past Chinese word for “crisis” was mistranslated. For decades people were saying that in the Chinese language, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other, opportunity. Now, we learned it literally means “danger at a point of juncture“. Juncture? Could be good, could be bad? Who gets to decide if a crisis becomes good or bad? If you ask Joe Dispenza, we are the ones who get to decide! We are the ones who create our future.

Why am I talking about Dr Joe Dispenza and about changing myself? Well, as you’ve seen with the word “problem”, we are the ones who define what this situation or problem means. Is it an opportunity, or a problem?

If you want to make the $17.857 every month, you literally have to change. Or as Dr. Joe Dispenza would say, you have to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One. You have to change your perception, your skillset, the people you spend time with.

Let that sink in for a while.

Problems are opportunities, now what?

Horses, donkeys, problems, I thought this blog was about becoming an internet entrepreneur and becoming rich online!? If that’s what you are thinking keep reading, you still have to learn a lot.

Here’s the thing. Making money online is simple. Just like losing weight. Eat a plant-based diet, drink a lot of water, avoid ingesting everything else and exercise for 30 minutes three times a week. That’s it! The global wellness market is the size of about $4.2 trillion but at the same time, it fits into that single sentence!

So until you get your head straight on what’s possible and what YOU can achieve, there’s no point in trying something. You are just going to look for reasons why you are going to fail!

I am too old. I already have a job. I don’t have enough money. I failed a dozen times. I tried this already. AdSense is dead. Money is in the crypto. Crypto is dead. Flash games are dead. Flash is a dead technology. Affiliate marketing is a scam. This is a scam. You are a scam. I got scammed. I am tired. I have two kids. I am single.

Fill in the blank. So, how do you move away from there? You have to ask yourself better questions, and as I mentioned in my last post, you just have to have a reason that moves you.

Get rich online? No problem! So, how do I make money with my websites?

I’ve listened to dozens of podcast episodes, watched dozens of youtube videos, talked with dozens of internet millionaires, I’ve read dozens of blog posts and countless other things. They all say pretty much the same thing. Earlier I gave you the recipe for losing weight, here’s the recipe for making money with your websites.

1. Find a niche that is growing, not dying
2. Find keywords with low competition, but at least some search traffic
3. Hire writers and other content creators to create content that’s better than the current best content for those keywords
4. Promote that content in any way possible
5. Be patient and track your progress (everything needs time to grow)
6. Rinse and repeat
7. Bonus: Split test your call to action, and optimize

Is this simple? Yes. Is it easy? Probably not, at least not for the majority of people. Particularly early on, when you have to take a leap of faith and put in the work without any promise of getting paid.

In Napoleon Hill’s book The Law of Success there are 15 lessons that will ultimately lead you to success. Lesson number eight is the habit of doing more than paid for. In case you decide to dive into this book, a little warning. This is a giant 640 pages book, formerly a series of eight books, now combined. I am on page 564 myself, so I haven’t read it yet. But I did pass lesson 8. I finally read it, and still alive to tell the tale.

There are ten weaknesses against which most of us must guard ourselves. One of these is the habit of trying to reap before we have sown, and the other nine are all wrapped up in the one practice of creating alibis to cover every mistake made.

— Napoleon Hill

This weakness has been one of my biggest problems as well. Just as Bane (from the movie The Dark Night Rises) told Batman “Victory has defeated you”. As soon as you start making some money, you start disliking work without any promise of monetary reward. You start thinking “why work on this if there’s no guaranteed reward?”. Why create content for free, when I already get paid to do my job? That my friend is the wrong question to ask yourself. Do you see how ONE wrong question can jeopardize your entire success?

How do you break out of that?

One step at the time

In case you are overwhelmed or under-motivated, just take one step at a time. Register a domain name (here’s the best place to register a domain name), set up some web hosting and follow the steps from there. Yes, you can first do some keyword research and decide on the niche you want to get into. But if you are suffering from analysis paralysis, just start doing something and course-correct along the way.

As for me, I’ve just completed one step. This article is a wrap!