My January 2017 Monthly Update

“You are crazy!” A guy said to me the other day.

“What?” I replied

“Yes, super crazy!!” He replied. “You are only 37 years old and you have given up a terrific job with stable income and retirement.”

As I thought about it, the idea of quitting my job actually was a super crazy thing to do. Now that I have quit my job, it surely is the best thing I could do for myself and my family.

What is even more crazy is that I never thought not having a job could feel THIS GOOD!

Well, now that I have already quit my job, there is no looking back now. Time to push ahead to bigger and better things. And believe me, there are so many other BIGGER AND BETTER things out there than working a job your entire life.

January Updates

As you know, each month I post an update of all the things going with my passive income businesses. The month of January, as each month it seems, has been very exciting with LOTS going on.

First off, as I stated in last month’s update, we are moving to Arizona!

I know, right!?!

To sum everything up, we are moving from CA to AZ to be closer to my wife’s parents and family for a few years. We had been talking about moving to AZ for 4 years or so and now that I don’t have or need a job, we are moving!

Remember the AZ property we bought in December and had to remove the tenants?

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We had planned on having them rent the place since they had already been in there ten years. Since they are now gone, we have a place to live near the grandparents.

Feb 15^th is the day we are moving everything to Arizona.

6 Week Family Vacation Trip to the Land of the Rising Sun

Last summer, my family and I decided to celebrate my quitting my job by going to Japan for 6 weeks. I have relatives there and plan to sight see all over the country.

For most people, taking 6 weeks off work would wipe out their vacation time. Not for those who have passive income though. The businesses I have created make money for me even while I am on vacation.

While I am away, my books are selling, my blog is generating traffic, and my properties are making me money from rents.

Also, I can work on my business while I am in Japan. For my business, all I need is a laptop and an internet connection to continue to build my business. Now, I don’t plan to do much work in Japan because this is a celebration trip, but knowing me, I probably cannot help myself. I’ll still build my business while everyone is asleep.  😀

The trip will be from March 8^th to April 19^th.  So, in my March and April updates, I’ll be sharing the things I am doing in Japan.

Side note: Since I will be looking at real estate to buy (I don’t actually need to buy something) I’ll be able to use the trip as a tax write-off. Oh, the joys have having a real estate business!

Problems with Smoking Arizona Tenants

I chalk it up to the cost of doing business but there is a lot of work need on the home from the previous tenants. They were pretty bad people and it will cost me about $2500 to get the property ready for us to move into.

The tenants smoked in the property and breached the lease contract because it specifically states there is to be no smoking in the house.

When you run into this issue, here are the things you need to do to get rid of the smoke smell out of a house.

1. Use HTQYJ w RP and water solution to wash all carpets. If that doesn’t work, then try
2. Remove and replace all carpet and padding
3. Wash all walls with HTQYJ w RP and water. If that doesn’t work, then try
4. Wipe all walls with bleach to neutralize the smoke odor. If that doesn’t work, then try
5. If the bleach does not work, paint all walls and ceiling with Kilz primer.
6. Paint the entire house with a fresh coat of paint.
7. Mop all tile and all other floor types with strong detergent

This can be completely irritating and even infuriating but again, this is the cost of doing business.

When I get there, I will do all the work myself and save around $2000. It should only take me about 3 days to do all the work. If a penny saved is a penny earned, $2000 is a lot of earned pennies.

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Book Sales From Multiple Sources is Awesome!

January was a terrific month for book sales.

The books made me over $1500 this month in sales for all media types.

The best thing about it is that I am helping so many people learn about passive income and how they can quit their job just like I did. I am constantly receiving emails from readers about how I can help them in their situation.

Getting emails from my readers is a highlight of what I do. Working with real people, in their real-life situation, and helping them push through their limits into passive income is what excites me.

Now for the book sales, I can really only say that the more good books you write, the more the others sell.

My recent book, “How to Quit Your Job with Passive Income” is selling very well and pointing others to my first book “How to Quit Your Job with Rental Properties”

A great thing about book writing for your passive income businesses is that it is another way to reach new readers. Not everyone searches for blogs to read about the things they want to learn. Some go to books, some go to youtube.com, and others go to some sort of online course or school.

My advice is to take your content you create and find as many ways as possible to get people to consume it. The more ways you reach your target audience, the better.

Multiple Mediums for Selling Your Products

I cannot stress enough how beneficial it is to have your content displayed or sold in many different forms.

When you write an ebook, you can stop their and only sell that one medium of your book. If you do that, then you are leaving money on the table. When you write a book, look to sell it in as many places as you can.

Still the best place to sell your book is on Amazon.com. This company is the 100lb gorilla of the book selling business. If you think about it, they have millions of customers, with their credit cards ready for the purchase, who are looking to buy a book.

The bulk of my sales come from Amazon.com. I highly recommend selling your products through this website.

Here are three best three ways to sell your book:

• Digital: The ebook form of your book is usually a lower price point but is easy for everyone to buy and consume.
• Physical: The physical book is another way for others to enjoy your content. To do this easily, I use createspace.com. This fantastic company makes books “On-Demand”. This means that when someone orders the book on Amazon, they begin to print, bind, package and ship it to the customer. It will usually arrive within two days.
• Audio: Having your book in audio format is a must just like a physical and digital copy of your book. ACX.com is the best place to list your audiobook. It places a listing on Audible.com, Itunes, and Amazon. I have been amazing at how many sales I get with the audio version. This is a must.

Rental Business Staying Strong

I have not purchased any new properties this month because I have been focusing on selling my house. I have however, sold another property with a rent-to-own strategy as I described in last month’s update.

Here is how I did it:

Rent to Own Price Details:
Non-Refundable Down Payment: $1500
Monthly Rent: $425
Security Deposit: $425
Terms: 8 years
Tenant maintains every aspect of the house. I am only the bank.

Total Payments Plus Down Payment: $35,500

The reason for a rent-to-own is that these properties are low income areas, have high crime and are less desirable to live in. Tenants have no vested interest in the property and do not take care of it. Owners, on the other hand, do.

When they know they will own the property in 10 years, they will take care of it. Plus the $1500 down payment shows that they are to put their money where their mouth is.

I will try to get a couple more of my less desired homes sold this way.

How are you doing with your passive income? Let me know, I'd love to hear your comments below.

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