Your past has brought you here today

The by-line of this blog is "Everything in your past has succeeded in bringing you here today". It means that the choices you've made in the past and the experiences you've had have led you to this point, right here, right now.

It's nice to have you here. Thanks for coming! But did you know that your path to this blog, to read this post of mine, started many years ago?

You've been travelling a particular path during the course of your life. You've made choices that have resulted in experiences that have helped you become who you are today. They've also helped you get to where you are today.

I've had experiences too. I've made mistakes, had successes, met some wonderful people along the way (while some people I wished I hadn't met!), and learned a lot about myself.

But there's always more questions. Old experiences often create questions in our minds, and so we seek answers, which leads to new experiences.

And the cycle goes on.

I'm here, writing to you, because my own life experiences have led me to this point. And I want to share some of those experiences with you, as well as some of the questions I've had, and the questions I'm going to have in the future.

This blog is my journey. It's my past, my present, and my future - whatever it might be.

But I realised today that even though the theme of this blog is my journey, there's that byline to it that I find very important and significant.

"Everything in your past has succeeded in bringing you here today."

There's a multi-layered message in that byline, and it's a message that I want to impart as often as I can.

So the theme of this blog isn't just about my journey in life, but is also about how my journey in the past has led me to where I am now. And it's about your own journey that might be somewhat similar to mine, which is why you've found this blog

I'm writing for myself, but also for you, to let you know that you're not alone. The problems and experiences that might challenge you are not unique to you. Whatever it was that brought you here is something that I share with you.

We're connected, you and I.

How much do you rely on technology?

As I'm waiting for Telstra to reconnect our internet after one of their technicians accidentally cut some cabling in the neighbourhood, I'm pondering how much we rely on technology these days, and when it disappears, we feel a loss. Or maybe it's just me?

I have a perfectly good desktop computer here that, without the internet, becomes somewhat useless.

Most of our computer activities these days are based on being connected to the internet, so when it disappears, we look at an empty screen and wonder what we can do with ourselves.

Maybe I'll go for a walk after I've finished writing this, and take some photos of the sunset. Then I might share them on Instagram via my mobile connection. At least I still have that.

Even while out enjoying nature, I'm connected to the internet, and can share my activities and my life to the world.

Is it unusual that I enjoy being connected like this?

Maybe it used to be, but I don't think it is any more.

Imagine if all that is gone, and there's no such thing as internet connectivity any more. All the things that we take for granted, we can't do them any more.

No more email, Facebook, Instagram, Skype, online chatting...

Almost too horrible to imagine, isn't it.  :/

But at least I can write. I could read too, but not on my computer, since the Kindle web page needs the internet.

There should be a standalone Kindle application for the desktop, so that you can have your books available for when you have no internet connection. Or maybe there already is such an application, but I just haven't looked for it. [Update: I just checked out my desktop Kindle, a couple days after writing this, and it seems to be 'saving app for offline use'. Nice.]

Am I rambling? I don't think so. I'm throwing out some thoughts about how so much of our life is based on being connected, and how much we take it for granted.

What about you? How much of your life is dependent upon being connected? What would you miss if there was no longer any internet connection for you?

Do you suffer from headaches?

I have a headache as I'm writing this, and I was thinking of what I can blog about when I thought - I know, I'll blog about headaches!

We all get headaches, some of us even get migraines. Lucky for me, I've never got a migraine.  knock wood  They can be pretty debilitating at times.

My headaches usually result from my back issues. The collapsed disc in my lower spine results in a spinal and muscular imbalance which causes muscle tension in the shoulders and neck, with the main effect being extremely tight muscles from the shoulders that go up the back of the neck and into (or connect with) the base of the skull.

This tension in that location results in some amazing tension headaches. And I don't mean good amazing either.

Over the years that I've had these headaces, aligned with the years I've had the back injury / disability, there have often been people who tell me to drink more water. Unfortunately, their tips have never worked for me.

Dehydration can often cause headaches too, and drinking lots of water can usually dispel such headaches. But water doesn't dispel tension headaches resulting from spinal imbalance.

Stretching hasn't helped me much, but it apparently should. I used to do lots of stretching, but I don't any more. This is because I've never noticed a 'cause and effect benefit' from stretching. I've done stretching over the years, morning and night, and it hasn't changed the effects of my disability. I still get tension headaches.

So I've stopped stretching.  Maybe it's simply because I never did enough stretching, I don't know. But too much stretching causes discomfort and pain to my back, and I just have no interest in pushing it to a point that might make it much, much worse. So I just don't do that much of it any more.

You know what works with my headaches? Drugs. Strong drugs. And avoiding work.

When I'm busy at work, I get more tension in my shoulders, which results in more headaches. When I'm not working, there's no tension, and no headaches.

I was VERY surprised over the holidays when I drove 5,000km over two weeks but didn't get any headaches or extreme back pain. That's a LOT of hours in the car, but my back was fine, I had no tension in my shoulders and neck, and I never got a headache while I was on holiday and driving around the country.

Only when I'm working.

Seems like a good reason to give up work, don't you think?

But what about you? Do you get headaches? Do you know why you get them? What do you do to make your headaches go away?

Tips for you to secure a rental property

A friend of mine is looking for a rental property to move in to, and after talking about it with them, I thought it'd be a great idea to write down some of my own tips to being successful with securing a rental property.

What's available

First up, look at the market to see what's available out there for the type of property you're looking at. If you're looking for a 4 bedroom family house, or a 2 bedroom flat, they're going to have very different values in the weekly rent.

What features do you want

Once you know the weekly rental prices, you can then start to look at the features available. The more 'luxuries' that are included in the property, the higher will be the weekly rent. For example, a 3 bedroom house with a dishwasher, heating and airconditioning, outdoor entertainment area, and a double garage will have a much higher weekly rent than a 3 bedroom house without those features.

If you have certain luxuries that you can't live without, you're going to have to pay more for them.

Beating the competition

When you go to an open home inspection (where everyone who's interested can come and look at the property), expect there to be competition. Especially for cheaper places. An open home can have dozens of people all walking around the house at the same time, looking into the cupboards, opening the kitchen drawers, wandering around the yard, or talking to the real estate agent.

It's important that the real estage agent remember you when they're considering who they're going to shortlist to check out references and consider suitability for the property, but that can be impossible when there's dozens of other people there trying to do the same thing.

Organise a private inspection

A good strategy is to find a property in the online real estate / rentals website and contact the real estate agent / property manager a few days before the open home inspection. Let them know that you're really interested in the property but you're unable to go to the open home because you're unfortunately going to be out of town. You'd like to organise an inspection "today or tomorrow" to have a look at it, with the intention that you'd be happy to go ahead with renting the place if you think it's suitable.

Tell them you've already got copies of the application form off of their website which you'll have filled in, along with references for them to call.

A good real estate agent or property manager will be happy to organise this for you. They need a tenant for the place as soon as possible, and it would be better to do it without dozens of people stampeding around the house and gardens. If you like the place and hand over the forms on the spot, you're the only person so far that's applied for the place. Naturally they're going to remember you, especially since you've already got the paperwork for them.

Appearances DO matter

Make sure that you dress nicely and that you turn up in a nice car. It's not necessary to turn up in a luxury car or sports car, but something that says you can afford the rent on the place because you can obviously afford a reasonably nice car. Borrow someone's car, or even hire a car if necessary.

Your appearance and the impression you give them are extremely important. You're selling yourself here. They don't know you, they don't know what kind of person you are. But if you show up looking presentable and in a car that you seem to look after, they'll already get a good feeling that you'll be looking after their property for them.

Also make sure to talk to them when you're inspecting the house. Ask questions about the place, about what they're looking for in a tenant. Be friendly, smile, make a joke or two. Don't just walk in, look around and say nothing, and then hand them the paperwork and leave.

Make a new friend

If it's a property that you'd really like to live in, then you've got to connect with them. You've got to be someone that they'd be happy to live in the property. You've got to be someone they remember, and that they'd recommend to the owner as someone suitable to be a tenant.

If you can follow the above strategy, you're almost guaranteed that you'll secure the property that you want.

If you can't get a private inspection

Of course, you might not be able to get a private inspection, so you can go along to the open home anyway, while doing your best to maintain the above strategy.

Turn up presentable, in a nice car, and introduce yourself to the real estate agent. Tell them you were the one who called, and it's lucky you were able to reschedule your trip out of town because you'd really like this place. Be friendly, smile, and ask them to show you around because you're going to have questions.

Out of all the people at the open home as well, the agent is going to remember you. Have the forms ready to hand over, and let them know you'd be happy to move in straight away. The less time the property is on the market, the better, so they're more likely to give it to you than to someone else who might be as presentable as you, but can't move in for another few weeks.

After all that, you might not like it

All of these strategies are only suitable if you really want the place. If you turn up to the private inspection or the open home and you find that it just doesn't meet all your needs, then don't be afraid to be honest. You don't want to waste their time and have them thinking you want the place if you actually don't.

"Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it, but - it's just not what I'm looking for."

Don't be afraid to let them know why it's not suitable for you if you get along with the agent. They will have other properties, and they might have something that you'll find is a better match for your requirements.

Negotiate for a lower rent

Also, remember that most rental properties on the market are going to be there for no more than a week. They'll be wanting a tenant from their open home inspection and will take anyone they think is suitable. If you find a property that's been on the market for a few weeks, but it's a bit higher priced than what you're prepared to pay, contact them for an inspection and then ask them if they'd be willing to reduce the weekly rent a bit in exchange for a longer-term lease.

For example, you might be looking to live somewhere for a while. Ask them to drop the rent from $500 a week to $480 a week in exchange for a 2 year lease instead of a 1 year lease. Since the property's already been available for a few weeks and costing money without anyone paying rent to compensate for the loss, they'll be more enthusiastic about accepting your request. And having someone in the property for 2 years at a reduced rate is better for them than keeping the property on the market.

Be a good tenant

To help make sure you get a rental that you want, you already need to be a good tenant. References are important, and you really want your current or past property manager or landlord to give you a glowing reference when they're called. That's not going to happen if you've been a bad tenant and haven't paid the rent or you've let the garden grow wild or you've trashed the house.

I hope all the above has been helpful. If you can think of any other tips, strategies or improvements, please make sure you leave a comment below.

And above all - good luck!

12 Reasons Why I Should Sell E-books

I'm looking to make me some money from the internet. I hear that ebooks are the way to go, so I'll be working on some original content from past articles that I've done, bringing them together in ebooks.

Here's a few reasons why I should be doing this right now:

1. Selling ebooks means my earning potential becomes unlimited. They're always available for people to buy. I will no longer need to exchange my time for money.


2. Each ebook becomes a new 'product', creating a new income stream. I can have multiple income streams instead of just one.


3. It costs me nothing to 'manufacture' an ebook, it's purely a digital product. I don't have to spend money on materials when selling them. It's 100% profit.


4. The market is the entire world, and the audience is everywhere.


5. I'm adding value to people's lives. My ebooks will give them solutions and information that they're willing to pay for.


6. Leverage is an important factor. The internet is a huge leverage tool in its own right. Advertising and affiliate marketing allows others to sell my ebooks for me.


7. It costs practically nothing to set up.


8. You spend the time on creating an ebook and then spend no more time on it once it's 'out there', and it keeps on making money for me.   9. I can work from home.   10. I can make sure my ebook business is fully automated, so that people can buy and download my ebooks without me doing anything.


9. Having published ebooks helps establish me as an expert in my niche, whatever that might be.


10. I can create an ebook and then have it available for sale to the whole world in less than a day. That's pretty amazing!   13. I can do write and publish ebooks in my spare time, while still maintaining a day job. Anything I earn will be a nice bonus.


11. When my ebooks become popular and earn me enough money to quit the day job, I'll have all the spare time I could possibly want, with the ebooks earning money without me needing to be 'working'.


12. If I want more money, I write more ebooks!

I better get started now!

Becoming a Perpetual Traveler

Freedom. It's something that's been important to me for many years. It's something I've aspired to, but never quite succeeded. And today I discovered a new term called 'Perpetual Traveller' that, simply put, excites the absolute hell outta me. You might be wondering what that is.

From its wikipedia entry we have this definition:

In practical terms, perpetual travellers (PTs) are people who live in such a way that they are not considered a legal resident of any of the countries in which they spend time. By lacking a legal permanent residence status, they seek to avoid the legal obligations which may accompany residency, such as income and asset taxes, social security contributions, jury duty and military service. For example, while PTs may hold citizenship in one or more countries that impose taxes based solely on residency, their legal residence will most likely be in a tax haven. PTs may spend the majority of their time in other countries, never staying long enough to be considered a resident.

Sounds attractive, right? Well, it sure does to me.

So now I have to build an internet business that can allow me to make money so that I can afford to pay for Fanfan and I to travel from country to country indefinitely. Not having to pay income tax on anything I earn is a mighty attractive bonus with that.

What about you? Have you heard of this before? Maybe you're even someone that does it, or knows someone that does it? Or maybe you'd like to know more about it?

Please leave your comments and feedback below. The more I can learn about this the better.

I'm going to see Bruce Springsteen

Fanfan asked me this afternoon if I wanted to see Bruce Springsteen this March 22nd, in Sydney. I was originally against the idea, thinking I've seen him once, I don't need to see him again. Which is why I hadn’t booked the tickets as soon as they came out.

However, while I was looking at the concert information she sent me a link to, I got such an incredible rush that almost brought tears to my eyes, that I realised it’s something I needed to do. Again. So I’ve just bought us two tickets to Bruce Springsteen for March 22nd.

The first concert I saw of his – and the only concert so far – was in Auckland 2003.

Whoah….  I just looked back on my old blog and found that I saw him on March 28, 2003. Almost exactly 10 years later I’m seeing him again. That’s somewhat spooky.

Anyway, back to where I was going with this. Back in 1984, I enjoyed his Born in the USA songs. Then in 1985 I listened to a ‘concert’ that the local radio station had one night, where they played a full 4 hours of his older music going back to 1972. I was not only shocked that I’d never heard of him before Born in the USA, but further shocked that I absolutely loved pretty much all of his music that I heard.

What followed was a new passion. I loved his music so much I went out and bought every album, and have bought every album since. I vowed to myself back in 1985 that I would see Bruce Springsteen in concert. It was a promise I made to myself.

It took 18 years, but I saw him in 2003, and it was honestly an amazing, awesome, incredible experience of a lifetime for me. And now again. The rush I got to my head a short while ago when I was considering not going tells me it’s going to be another amazing, awesome, and incredible experience of a lifetime for me.

Also the fact that I can share this with Fanfan.

I seem to have a lot of emotion about this right now. Odd.