Elijah, Author at The At Home Couple

They Thought Killing Us Would Be Easy

Do you see this face? This is the face of a man who will not go quietly. This is the face of a man who will not give up on his dreams of financial freedom and mini retirements; all because the system refuses to cooperate. Technology tried to crush our focus. The corporations tried to give us the runaround.

They tried to kill TheAtHomeCouple.

They tried to kill Elijah and Veronica.

They tried to kill us and they failed.

For those of you who’ve been wondering if we’re doing ok, here is a brief, but graphic summary of the last 8 weeks:

The light bulb in my desk lamp blew out. At first it didn’t seem like a big deal, but later I would realize that it was a symbolic gesture foreshadowing the mind-numbing course of events to follow. A few days after that our Internet stopped working. It had been 3 years, with the same service provider, without a bump.

No internet equals no money. Funny how the guru’s never mention that one. Note to self.

With the obvious sense of impending urgency, we decided to give them 2 weeks to fix it. 3 technicians and 2 weeks later the problem was still occurring, so we made the executive decision to cancel services (broadband cable internet and digital cable television) and call up our voip provider and get some DSL web service bundled-up and running.

If it were only that simple. There is no “option” in “monopoly”.

6 weeks, 40 phone calls and 7 support tickets later, we have no high speed internet, our credit cards are maxed out and we’re 2 months behind on all of our utility bills with $20 in the bank. There is no bail out for ambitious home business owners. Help was not on its way. We were 1 click away from checking out the cubicle-job market on Craigslist.

Apparently hitting rock bottom is required and we were fulfilling our obligation.

Today is Wednesday, and today we have high speed. We’ve come full circle to our original service provider, but discovered along the way that they have business internet and phone solutions that offer a more robust support package, with a considerable increase in service speed and features. Where was this 6 weeks and $3000 ago?

Please listen to what I’m about to tell you…

If you have or are planning to quit your job and work online full time – make sure you have a solid, back up resource for high speed internet. Whether it’s your grandmothers place, a Starbucks downtown or a 4G usb internet stick – know exactly where you are going and what you will do if you suddenly have no internet access.

I realize that in this day and age we completely abuse and take advantage of our dependency on technology. Money spends the majority of our lives in a virtual state. Our banking, businesses and social black books rely on technology.

If you’re chasing this money making dream – please take at least 30 minutes to think about what I’ve just shared with you. Yes, we can all make money online. Yes, we can quit our jobs and cash Adsense checks once a month. Yes, we can visit each others blogs and make little jokes about things we’ll do when we’re “at the top”.

But what will you do if all these great things were coming into fruition and your internet connection fails? Simple, yet deadly.

Cheers,

Elijah

August Was Crap – What’s Next?

Is it just me or was August crap for everyone? Not to be a total buzzkill but Veronica and I had the worst possible month ever. As tempted as I am to get into everything, let’s just say that after Veronica quit her job, everything that could have possibly gone wrong has gone wrong. Websites haven’t been selling, we’ve had to change Internet providers (in the process), lights are blowing out in our apartment, tears have been shed, scotch has been consumed and my laptop screen doesn’t seem as bright as it once was.

A few things that I’ve realized while picking my nose at absolute rock bottom is that my absolute worst case scenario isn’t all that bad. What’s the worst that could happen, really? Let’s think about this for a second:

The rent can’t get paid
The bills fall behind
We get evicted

We have no children, no mortgage and no car. Both of our families could easily take us in for a few months if we crashed and burned. We would help out around the house, continue plugging away online while paying down our debt and pitching in. In the meantime we’d be well fed, with the company and support of those whom we love most and things would eventually get back to where they were before Pandora’s box opened.

I was so stressed a week ago. I honestly felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown and once I visualized the absolute worst case scenario, it all seemed a little over dramatic in my head.

Each day is a new opportunity.

Today wasn’t so bad. I managed to secure relations with a new client, as well as connect with two prospects for long term development and marketing partnerships. Our Paypal account is $373 heavier today and it’s my birthday right now (09/04)… I have a strange feeling that my 28th year of existence is going to monumental. I’ve already got a couple of gray hairs and I’m okay with it.

Shit could always be worse.

Keep your heads up!

Cheers,

Elijah

NicheOnDemand 2.0 – Back From The Dead And Ready For Business!

After a grueling month of in-depth analysis, development and restructuring NicheOnDemand.com is finally re-opened for business! I can’t even begin to describe how exited I am.

Not only did I focus on increasing the already awesome quality of our niche website packages, but I also brought on some experts during the process to assist in the development of kick-ass services to help you succeed online.

Better Niche Website Packages

Taking almost a year of feedback and suggestions from our sales on Sitepoint.com, we managed to beef up our Niche Website Packages by adding previously known add-ons as standard features. For example, our Niche Domination package priced at $327 USD now includes the PLR Ebook, Amazon Store and Video Gallery addons.

WordPress Services

For those of you who are familiar with WordPress you’re probably thinking, “why would I pay someone to install WordPress for me when I can do it myself?” My answer is simple – you’d be surprised to know that a great majority of people online, with or without websites, have no idea how to fully optimize WordPress to ensure maximum performance. We now have a WordPress Services page, with 3 affordable WordPress installation/optimization packages to choose from, giving you a solid foundation for your niche website or business.

Consultation Services

I’ve been providing consultation on keyword research and WordPress for quite some time now, just previously it was by referral only. After seeking the advice of my own mentors and support system, I’ve decided to open up my Online Consultation Services to the public. Using some great technologies you can now speak with me one on one and watch my computer screen to see exactly what it is that I’m showing you and how I do it step by step.

Tutorials Section

I’ve always tried to provide great tutorials to my paying clients, combining video, audio and documentation. After some consideration, I decided it would only be appropriate to increase the value of my services by providing my clients – past, present and future – with an in depth archive of web tutorials covering all things WordPress, marketing and design.

Other Stuff

Aside from the new and improved services, you can expect a killer freebies section jam-packed with reports, ebooks, courses, videos and software that will help you and your niche business conquer the search rankings. As well, we are currently in the works of develping our own built-in marketplace in which we will be selling our infamous niche website packages. No more success fees and third party crap – you’ll now be able to buy our pre-made unique packages directly from us and completely cut out the middle man.

To the future and beyond!

Cheers and Beers,

Elijah

At Home Freedom: Stop Thinking And Start Doing

Ahhhh… At home freedom. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The truth of the matter is that now more than ever people are desperate for a lifestyle change, especially one that allows them to have freedom of time, finance and location. I mean, who doesn’t want more time to do what they want? Who doesn’t have dreams of one day being free of debt or being able to travel this (still beautiful) planet without worrying about financial or career restraints? I do.

Every fu**ing day.

But here’s the problem: 80% of people who have these desires for change and prosperity spend most of their time thinking about an ideal lifestyle, but if you’re constantly thinking and reading about it – when will you actually have time to do it? Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Everyday after work, for the last 2 years, Joe Blow comes home and turns on his computer. He goes to the money making forums to check the action on his favorite threads. He’s always the first to order the latest “cash cow” hard copy from some guru-schmuck on Amazon.

He spends at least 3 hours a night absorbing methods and reading what other people have done/are doing. He hates his job. He can’t sleep at night and for the last 2 years he’s been waiting for his time to come.

The at home freedom. It’s gotta be out there, somewhere…

I don’t want to pull your pants down, but I’m sure some of you reading this fall into Joe’s scenario quite comfortably. You’re so caught up in the “idea” of the dream that you’ve accomplished very little towards actually making it a reality.

I get emails all the time from people asking me how they should get started with this, or if I have any suggestions for that. To be honest, most of the questions I receive can and have been answered 3743 times elsewhere online, but for some reason they assume I might reveal an untold truth – which is fair enough. And almost everytime I end with the same thing, “The best advice I can give you is to just write down your goals, the steps required to achieive them, and start doing the necessary actions to complete these steps little by little. Stick with it, and before you know it you’ll be where you want to be.”

I can’t stress this enough.

You have to start DOING. Once you start DOING you have to KEEP DOING. If it isn’t working, figure out why and DO IT DIFFERENTLY. Stop thinking, start DOING and fucking stick with it! Success is inevitable.

Let’s take me for example… Back in October I was not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I had been out of work and struggling to make ends online for over 4 months. My bills were past due, we were eating like shit and though I made a few bucks flipping websites, it was not coming together.

I was about to sell this blog, cash out and call it a day.

9 months later, in April to be exact, I cleared almost $4000 in profit, which enabled me to pay for a nice 1 week vacation to Vancouver – in cash – with enough money in the pocket to live like royalty for a week and get drunk with the SuiteJ clan.

Still waiting for the video footage.

Back in October I was spending way too much time thinking about how I should be doing things, instead of actually doing them, making mistakes, and doing them better. I was caught up with the success of those around me, instead of enjoying my own small victories.

Anyways – I really hope you guys get what I’m saying here. Anyone can do anything. I don’t care if you have a mortgage, 7 kids, 3 husbands and a midget housecleaner who you pay in peanuts and paint chips; the real at home freedom is there for the taking. Spend less time fucking around on Twitter and more time working on your goals. If you aren’t sweating then you’re doing something wrong.

I’m not kidding!

Assess your scenario. Write shit down. Develop the steps needed to accomplish them and DO IT. Whether it’s making $100 a day passively through a network of Adsense blogs – do it! If you want to flip websites for cash and be a pyjama pimp like me – do it! There is nothing stopping you but you.

I know I’m ranting, but so what. It’s the truth and you know it.

Cheers,

Elijah

Custom Paypal Payment Page & Customer Experience

Hey guys – going to keep this relatively short and sweet. Paypal is the king of all online merchants, and as you know, WordBoo.com (our SEO Article Writing venture) has officially launched. During the month or so of developing this website I had quite a few “cherry popping” experiences i.e. setting up an affiliate program and what I’m going to go over today, creating and implementing a custom Paypal payment page.

When it comes to an online start-up, or simply improving your existing online business model, there are so many little things that can make a huge difference when taking your customers from point A to point B – and having a transparent transaction process will impact the overall success of a digital-goods-fueled environment.

In other words, your shit needs to be smooth and seamless.

Taking 20 minutes to set up a custom Paypal payment page for your clients to identify with is a great way to start – what really amuses me is that not too many people (myself included) know how to do this!

So I put together a quick tutorial with Camtasia as I was doing it myself, figured it wouldn’t hurt to save two birds with one cage. Feel free to click on the link below and watch the video – it’s about 8 minutes long, so grab a coffee and relax.

Custom Paypal Payment Page Tutorial

Let me know if this was helpful at all – if you get stuck somewhere or need some graphics done, holler back!

Cheers,

Elijah