Neville's Financial Blog

Randomly browsing StumbleUpon one day I saw this little video:

“Make a $200 pen for $6″

…..I thought this was soooo cool!

As a kid who used to collect mechanical pencils in middle school…..naturally I HAD to try this.

I immediately bought some Pilot G2 Pens and Mont Blanc Pen Refills from Amazon.  The pens are super cheap, the Mont Blanc refills are $6.00/piece.  I bought two 2-packs of them.

Fast forward one week for delivery time and it was time to do some pen-surgery:

Notice how the Mont Blanc refill is eeeveerrr sssooo slligghttlly longer than the G2 refill.  This is actually long enough to make them not compatible:

-

-

This means you get out some scissors and do a small little snip-snip.  The end piece is just soft plastic, so even cheap-o scissors will be fine:

-

-

DONE!  Now just insert the freshly-operated-on Mont Blanc pen refill into the G2 pen and it works perfectly!

-

-

You can even see which Mont Blanc-enstein pens you’ve modified through the casing:

-

-

I actually waited a few weeks to post this….just to make sure the pens were actually really good….
and I gotta say……..

-Neville
:-)

Well the book in two weeks is pretty much done.

“But Nevilleeee it’s been more than two weeks!!”

1.) Screw off!
2.) Lemme explain….

The book is done with the exception of some minor picture editing.   I still have to upload it which is generally the easiest part of this equation.

However other projects are taking up a bit of time.  As you may (or may not) know, I’ve become a semi-famous copywriter in the last 4 1/2 months….so I’m being approached by all these cool people to do stuff for them.

Also I’m releasing this KopywritingKourse soon…and a lot of people have been getting anxious to see it (that makes me smile) :-)

Anywhoozle, it’ll be coming out on AppSumo on September 15th most likely…..so I’m busy making it the best I probably can.  I’m 100% convinced whoever watches this video course will have their lives changed in the way they communicate (it starts with their writing first, but then permeates into regular speech after a while).

They already ran a test on how well the course would sell….
….and it tested through the god damn moon!

So ::cross-fingers:: it’ll do well :-)

————–

Alright alright….enough about ME ME ME.  Here’s something for you:

It’s Boo The Dog!!

Friend him on Facebook!

I’m slightly obsessed.  He’s my most checked page on Facebook!

I was on the radio somewhere in New York!

Chris Gaddis scheduled me to be on his MONEY TRAIN radio show a while ago….and on August 17th we had the call.

These radio interviews are usually pretty fun :-)

You can download it here (right-click + save link as):
http://www.nevblog.com/audio/neville-nevblog.mp3

On this recording, the audio from my end turned out pretty horrendous…..but if you crank up the speakers you can hear me ok.

This is another one of those “There’s-really-no-practical-reason-of-doing-this-other-than-that-I-just-want-to-because-I-think-It’ll-be-cool” experiments.

I have no idea why, but I feel like I can write, format, publish and print a PHYSICAL book for NevBlog within 2 weeks.

Correction, it’s not going to be a full-fledged book….I think it’ll be more of a glorified pamphlet.

I want to see how fast I can make a book out of my blog and get it in-hand printed.

So today I am officially kicking off the “Write a Book In 2 Weeks Experiment”!

I already know the end goal, so here’s what I need to do in the next 14 days:

1. Come up with concept/title ideas.
2. Start putting Facebook ads out like 4HWW style to split test names (optional step).
3. Find out what format to write in (PDF or Word) to get it printed correctly.
4. Write Chapter 1
5. Write Chapter 2
6. Write Chapter 3
7. Write Chapter 4
8. Write Chapter 5
9. Write Chapter 6
10. Write Chapter 7
11. Write index
12. Formatting and editing
13. Agree on title from Facebook ads click-through-rates
14. Create book cover - Upload to service for printing like OffTheBookShelf.com or LuLu.com.  Apply for ISBN number.

That’s the rough plan.

Now I’ll soooorrt of be cheating, because each chapter I’m going to write has already been written.  Essentially I’ll be making each chapter out of a blog post.

For example, I might write about the Facebook fan site I made a while back and then sold for a small sum.  That whole saga was already done and documented:

http://www.nevblog.com/facebook-profile-website/

http://www.nevblog.com/why-facebook-sued-me/

http://www.nevblog.com/selling-facebookprofile-com/

…..so one chapter might consist of that story.  It’s already been done, but it’ll still require a lot of formatting and re-doing the photos for the book version.

But if I keep up the one-chapter a day pace I’ll have some extra time to do all the other miscellaneous things that might come up (I’m saving a whole day for formatting errors…..there’s ALWAYS formatting errors).

Anywhoozle, I’ll be starting this tomorrow.  First step will be to come up with the subject of the bamphlet (book / pamphelt).

Random title and subject brainstorms (based off blog posts I already have done):

• 7 weird ways I made money through college
• 7 ways I made money without a job
• 7 stupid ways I’ve made money

Other suggestions are welcome!

Here’s something I’ve been doing just for fun:

Writing down the actual dollar value an activity has made me.

I already track my daily to-do lists pretty meticulously…..so after I scratch something off, I now write the amount of money it made me (if any).

Now there’s only a FEW things that literally put money in my pocket each time I do them, such as:

• Daily profit from HouseOfRave.com
• Writing a piece of copy
• Making sales from the Behind The Scenes product
• Selling an ad or link on this el blog-o
• Whatever else I do that equates to cold hard ca$h

The goal is to hit about $1,000 every weekday.
Some days I hit $1,000 easily.
Some days I miss by a few hundred.
Some days I far exceed that number.

….it’s just simply a reminder or the minimum I want to make (I always thought the minimum amount of money I’d be satisfied with is what a higher-end doctor makes).

Anyhooowww…..

Here’s a list of what you’ll make per month and per year if you make $XXX.xx per day.

I’m only counting weekdays to be realistic:

(I was just gonna make a boring Excel-style list….but thought Photoshopping it out would be more fun. The result actually turned out to look like an infographic)!

I was all excited for this marketing event thingy at the lake….and the conclusion:

TOTALLY DAMN WORTH IT!

As you may (or may not) know, I’ve become a semi-famous copywriter in the last 4 months….and this event brings together some of the top marketers (many of whom started by writing sales copy) from around the world.

Naturally I learned a lot stuff in the seminar parts of the conference, but the real value is NOT JUST GETTING TO MEET the greats in an industry….

….but getting to hang out with them in lots of different personal settings.

THAT is where the real value sets in.

FOR EXAMPLE:
I was all excited to meet Joe Sugarman again at this conference, because since I heard of him I’ve:

• Read everything by him
• Studied his work
• Copied the style of some of his work
• Used the principles he teaches to make money for myself and others
• Watched every YouTube video about him
• Downloaded interviews etc….

His work has actually added a major element to the way I work….and it’s exciting to meet a personal hero of yours.

HOWEVER it’s getting to sit next to him on a 45 min bus ride to a restaurant, or go boating with him, hanging out at the pool, or simply sitting next to him at meals and getting to ask stuff you don’t hear about in his work.  This is where the networking happens…..because it’s not just “networking”…it’s actually becoming friends with someone.

Allllrriiigghhttyyy…..so here’s some of the highlights of the conference (well….the whole thing was a blast):

Here’s Joe Sugarman up on stage giving a talk:

Me with the great Joe Sugarman (and my Kopy shirt):

The first day of the conference, all 80+ people got on a big boat and went cruising around Lake Travis…complete with full indoor seating area, lunch buffet, three full-time jet skii’s and a wake boarding boat (not a bad day at a “boring conference” right?!):

Hanging out on a boat while Joe Polish goes tubing:

Hahah….Joe had a “tubing war” with a “hefty” Brit…..and judging by this picture I’d say he’s about to win!

We got treated to Joe speaking several times through the conference:

….and of course I got my obligatory picture:

I love all these pictures….but it’s more gratifying to hang out on a personal level with some with some other industry greats (some not so publicly-well-known) like Michael Fishman:

While hanging out at a restaurant by the lake I got a random shot of John Carlton and Joe Sugarman talking…..and with a little cropping and making the picture black & white it looks like they’re total badasses (or they’re asking “Why the fuck are you taking a picture of us?“)

Later on everyone got to hear John Carlton speak.  He had a lot of cool ways to come up with a definition of your bid-nazz as well as other advice:

…and of course, the obligatory picture with one of the greats (who was good friends with Gary Halbert….another idol of mine):

The final speaker for the whole conference was Bill Phillips.  I honestly don’t know toooo much about Bill other than he’s a HUGGGEEE figure in the fitness industry.  I’ve heard this a lot in the past….and could tell everyone was genuinely excited to meet him.

Apparently he just had major surgery on both his knees, and up till last week was confined to a wheel chair.  He can now walk a bit….but only with these massive full-leg braces.  They kept calling him The Bionic Man :-)

….and what did you expect….a PICTURE with him of course :-)

I also made sure I brought my copy of “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word” by Joe Sugarman to get it signed….here it is!

—————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————

Fantastic learning experience, great getting to mingle with higher-ups, lots of fun…and completely worth it :-)

I’ve scanned and posted my notes from the conference below. I dunno how much REAL value you’ll get out of them since most of it comes from BEING THERE….but here ya go, enjoy!

• Notes page 1
• Notes page 2
• Notes page 3
• Notes page 4
• Notes page 5
• Notes page 6
• Notes page 7
• Notes page 8
• Notes page 9
• Notes page 10

OMG OMG OMG I’M SO EXCITED!!  :-D  :-D  :-D

The reason I sound like a 13 year girl is that next week I’m going to a marketing conference at the Lakeway Marine (here in Austin fortunately, so I don’t have to travel far).

Some of the main draws are the speakers, several whom I already highly admire:

• Joe Sugarman
• Joe Polish
• John Carlton
• Bill Phillips

…..to non-marketing people these names won’t ring a bell.  But to someone like me….

…it’s like a doctor getting to meet the famous Dr. DeBakey

…or a bicyclist meeting Lance Armstrong

…or a murderer meeting Charles Manson

It’s very exciting :-)

This event after registration, hotel, and extra spending will run about $2,000.

However it’s a really cool conference.  I went last year, and they did “sessions” from only 9am till noon.  THAT’S IT!  The rest of the time is spent yachting around, jet skiing, wakeboarding and mingling (part of the big draw).

3 hours of sessions is about as much as a dummy like me can realistically absorb in one day. Simply packing in 8 hours of sessions would just be a snooze-fest (and when there’s a lake, pool and jet ski’s waiting for you outside….it’s REALLY not cool to spend all day indoors)!

The event is also pretty much invite-only, so there’s no newbies asking you, “Ummmm…so how do I make money online cause I hate my job cause my boss suckss bllahahh blaaahh blaaahhh.” You get to hob-knob with all the big names out there.  I believe last year attendance was capped at 85 people.

That’s neat, cause you get to hang out with the big guys in a personal, social settings…..not some massive conference where you can’t really talk to them.

Last time I was there I got to meet Joe Polish and Joseph Sugarman (I didn’t know Sugarman at the time)….. I love this picture:

….after that conference I bought everything I can find written by Joseph Sugarman, and have learned an IMMENSE amount from him.

I also got to hang out with Tim Ferris and do handstands with him:

I’m not sure if many people know, but apparently in the last 4 months or so I’ve become a semi-famous copywriter (thanks much in part to this same conference last year)…..so Joe Sugarman and John Carlton are now heroes of mine.

I made this shirt to take pictures with them:

…it should arrive right before the conference.  I have a course coming out soon called KopywritingKourse…..and for some reason like spelling “copy” with a “K”.

I purposely didn’t write “KopywritingKourse.com” on the shirt since I’m looking to blatantly plug my stuff….rather just honor the greats in my own way.

This will be a GREAT time…and hopefully I’ll pull a lot of great connections and notes out of it :-)

“But Nevillleee…this is supposed to be a FINANCIAL BLOG…not a personal blog!”

Screw off…I forget pretty much everything that happens, so I have to write it down.

And I DON’T want to forget what a blast I had the last two weeks!

So a quick re-cap :

I first went to VANCOUVER.

I went there for a Zoroastrian youth congress (if you recall, I’m a Parsi Zoroastrian).  We’re such a small community that we have these “Congress” events where everyone meets up.

They put everyone up at the Gage Towers at UBC (University of British Columbia), so this was the view a lot of people got.  Gorgeous:

….got to stir up trouble with old friends (you might see what I’m talking about if you Google “Neville Medhora” ;-)

We went on a Canada Day cruise through Vancouver….it was amazingly perfect outside:

And they had fireworks at night…..really fun to stand around with close friends watching this view:

We went to the Stanley Park beach for a while…once again, terrific weather and amazzzzinngg views:

Of course I took my obligatory handstand picture :-)

Got to hang out with friends from across the country:

This is officially my favorite picture of the whole trip.  After 5 days of craziness, I remember being physically exhausted, sad I had to leave, and already missing everyone……but it felt SO comfortable at this moment :-)

I came back to Austin…..immediately unpacked, did laundry, then re-packed.

Then headed out to:

The Grand Cayman Islands!

It was a family friends wedding on the beach:

We did stuff like ride a catamaran:

….swimming with stingrays:

….I fathered a child whilst there (they grow up sooo fast)!

….went snorkeling

….hung out on the beach a lot

….did the obligatory handstand picture on a sandbar:

….enjoyed the blue waters:

….hung out with a lot of family friends:

….took pictures sucking my stomach in to make me look stronger:

……and since I can work from anywhere…..I didn’t have to worry about vacation days and could still do a tad bit of work whenever I wanted to :-)

Good times!

This is one of those quotes I read in an interview that just stopped me cold and I had to write down:
http://www.layogamagazine.com/issue18/Departments/bikram.htm

This applies to business as well as relationships of all kind: