About Sunil & The Extra Money Blog

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The Extra Money Blog is a platform for hard working and successful individuals who want more out of life. More refers to more financial abundance, more freedom and more flexibility so they can enjoy more time with their family, friends and loved ones, have the option to work from anywhere they want, do what they want whenever they want.

There are many who are perfectly happy in their successful careers, but are looking to establish a financial foundation that someday (today) can make them “job optional”. In other words, have the option to quit their job if and when they want to.  If you fit that profile, you are just at the right place

Over the years “experimenting” online, talking to and surveying individuals from a variety of personal and professional backgrounds, I have found that most working individuals, men and women, don’t necessarily want to quit their jobs.

Many simply want to make an extra $1,000 a month on the side freelancing or preferably through “passive” means.  Though many may not be in their ideal jobs, they don’t necessarily hate them.  Several others want out as soon as they can. Whatever your goal is, the discussions in this blog will help you achieve either one of them.

This blog discusses various topics within personal finance, entrepreneurship and internet marketing, mainly focused on initiatives that generate passive and residual income.  Some examples include, but are not limited to, real estate, traditional investments, small businesses, income tax planning, “infopreneurship” (selling information online), blogging, e-commerce, niche websites and others.

Why such a blend? Because expedited wealth building and financial freedom can be achieved in more than just one way, and in addition to achieving it, it is also about successfully growing it and preserving it.

Who Is Sunil?

I’m Sunil and I’m the author and entrepreneur behind the ExtraMoneyBlog.com. Since 2002, I have started and invested in several successful (and unsuccessful) online and off-line businesses.

I am 29 years old and have been experimentally, and now seriously, making money online since I was 18. I remember selling a Charles Woodson (University of Michigan – Heisman Trophy Winner) Wolverine helmet on eBay for $400+. The buyer had come to pick it up while I was working at the computer lab on campus.

I am an immigrant who moved to the USA when I was 15. English is my fourth (4th) language. I am the first generation high school graduate in my family’s history. I am also the first one to have gone to college and graduated with both an undergraduate and a Masters degree. I attended a top ten business school.

I have several high profile certifications in my field of study (Accounting and Finance) and held a successful corporate career making a healthy six figure income all before age 30. In spite of all that glory and all the Supernatural powers and achievements I possessed, I decided to pursue my passion on the Internet – learning, writing, sharing and inspiring.

I make a very healthy living online doing what I do. The income didn’t magically appear overnight however. It was a result of steady, persistent work over the years while I held a full time career. It was also preceded by several failed attempts, both online and off. Depending on when you get around to reading this, I may or may not be “working” in the traditional meaning of the word.

I do enjoy live social interaction, camaraderie and real relationships, so it’s very hard for me to sit locked up in my “office” wherever it is that I am working from all by myself, my phone and my laptop. As a result, I frequently take up consulting engagements working mostly for relatively high net worth individuals, their businesses, companies of various sizes and others trying to make it happen on the Internet.

I currently dedicate most of my time on this blog, documenting what I have learned, my experiences, experiments, triumphs and failures, heavily focused on establishing multiple streams of passive and residual income whilst maintaining a full time career (or not).  The ideal  reader of my blog is a busy, hard working and successful individual looking to get more out of life.

How Do I Make Money?

There are several different ways I make money online.

• I own over 20 niche websites that are all generating passive income month after month.
• I also have over 20 eBooks successfully selling on various platforms online such as Amazon Kindle.
• My income comes from various avenues such as privately placed advertisements, ad networks such as Google Adsense, affiliate commissions, lead generation commissions, digital product sales such as eBooks and audio books and other ancillary methods.
• In addition, I consult other individuals and businesses on online business related ventures.  In 2007, I sold a successful e-commerce business to a top Power Seller on Ebay for $250,000, followed by several sales of smaller niche websites for a five figure sales amount each.
• In the offline world, I am involved with real estate, capital markets, small business ownership and investment as well as passive investments in smaller start-up companies.  I also enjoy consulting engagements and take upon several of these each year.

I started building my own little “non venture backed” empire in my spare time while maintaining a successful full time career in a Fortune 100 institution.  The Internet has allowed me to design and live the kind of lifestyle I want all on my own terms. I enjoy traveling both locally and internationally, and have several guilty pleasures which my online endeavors support.

Why am I telling you all this? Because if there is nothing else you take away from me and this blog, there is one thing I want to make sure I get across to you loud and clear: If I can do it, so can you! And you probably can do it much better than me!

Of all the projects that I have been involved in online, this blog is the nearest and dearest to me. It is very special because it has been on my TO DO LIST since day 1. However, in order to preach to others, one must first live through and prove the results themselves. I am passionate about writing on this blog and I am extremely proud to have finally launched it.

On this blog, you will read about all my experiences, the ups and downs, what worked and what didn’t, specific case studies and much more. You can benefit from my experience and not repeat the mistakes I had made. The journey has been absolutely beautiful, and I am sure it will continue to be.  I am happy to be able to share it with you.

If you’re truly ready to bring change into your life by taking action, I can guarantee you will find the information on this blog helpful and practical enough to implement.  The best way to achieve success is to replicate a successful business model or individual. That is exactly how I have been able to accomplish what I have (no I did not invent anything). I hope you take advantage of all the content on this blog and make something happen out of it.

Staying Connected

To get the latest and greatest information on the blog, you can subscribe using your favorite feed reader through RSS (copy this link). You can also subscribe to email updates by filling out the form below.   There is a very nice BONUS for signing up so don’t miss this excellent opportunity.

Definitely come say Hi to me on Facebook & Follow me on Twitter

The Genesis of This Blog

I covered the Genesis of this Blog in my first blog post. The post covers how the blog came about, a bit more about me, my interests and passions, who this blog is for and what to expect from this blog. I highly recommend you read my first post here.

After my first post, I got into a series of posts discussing why everyone should own a business on the side (regardless of how successful you are in your profession). Here I discuss the fundamentals of forming a business and its tax advantages.

The Easy Extra Money Online Website

The blog is connected to one of my niche websites Easy Extra Money Online, a website dedicated to helping readers make ends meet by showcasing100% legitimate, qualified, tried and tested income generating opportunities on the Internet.

I had started the Easy Extra Money Online website with the intention of discussing only paid surveys, one way people seeking extra income can raise some cash.  You can read more about how I stumbled upon this niche here.

As the website progressed and my newsletter gaining heavy readership, I started to get requests about other, more serious and long-term opportunities to generate income from home.

The overwhelming interest led me to a subsection of the website called Extra Money, where I tried, tested and recommended several work from home opportunities to my readership base.

Then came another turning point for the website.  My readers started seeing how much money I was making by recommending legitimate companies to interested “work from homers”.  So I started getting inquiries about how I was able to do that.  I found myself answering several emails on the same topic repeatedly until I finally decided to develop a dedicated section on how I did it.  You can read all about it on my How to Make Your Website section.

I finally felt like I had developed a complete website that could help someone looking to generate extra income, work part time from home, or develop a full time income working online from anywhere in the world.  And after all that came The Extra Money Blog!

How This Blog Started

The Extra Money Blog is where I discuss everything I do openly.  You will find me discussing topics that cover career, money, small business, investing, self development, motivation, inspiration, real estate, and several other topics, most frequently and importantly entrepreneurship (specifically online entrepreneurship).

I decided to start this blog because there are many individuals who are just like me who can benefit from the information and experiences I have. Similarly, I too can benefit from everyone’s unique background, experiences and skills.  This blog is an open platform where like minded individuals like us discuss, exchange information and ideas, collaborate, “synergize” and mutually benefit each other.

Who This Blog is For?

The ideal reader of this blog is an individual who closely resemble my profile. The ideal reader of this blog is ambitious, well educated, self disciplined, responsible, financially savvy (or seriously wants to be), may or may not be a first generation American, may or may not speak English as their first language, has a stable, well paying job but wants more out of life.

And like I always say, more in this sense can mean a bigger paycheck, more freedom and time with family and friends, or simply the flexibility that comes with having additional options in life.

Although I am most likely able to relate best to someone who is similar to how I am, someone with a similar background, goals and ambitions, it certainly does not mean that someone who doesn’t fit the bill cannot benefit from the information in this blog.

“Different” individuals can and often do have overlapping interests and desires, such as that of earning passive and residual income, learning about what works in entrepreneurship and what doesn’t, self development, life, money psychology, business or all of the above.

Many have the desire to living a more financially conscious, responsible and abundant life.

So Why the Internet?

I get this question repeatedly:  Why the Internet when you can write a book, give speeches or someday become a “C level” executive in a large corporation?

I believe that one should really do what they love doing best (at least eventually if one cannot afford to do it from the get-go). Everyone should pursue what satisfies them personally. What I do is my passion and this is what gives me real satisfaction.

I like being able to make a direct impact on individuals on larger scales. I have helped enough on an individual basis but feel that my time is better spent delivering value on a larger scale through a broader platform such as the internet. I like to share what has worked for me personally and there is no better place for me to do it at than the Internet.  Here I am not at the mercy of the publisher approving my script or someone with the checkbook allowing me to give a speech to the masses.  After all who am I? I am no one. Who would listen to me?

The Internet platform gives all of us that opportunity immediately and empowers the masses to decide for themselves. If you know how to create and deliver value consistently, people will find you and listen to you.

Why? Because they are looking for what you know and have. They want to know how you did it, replicate your success and avoid the mistakes you made.  They are looking to someday get to where you are today.  The Internet is a great place to marry seekers and providers.

Here are some other reasons why the Internet platform can be lucrative for many:

• If the color of your skin is not white, like it or not, prejudice still exists and precludes success for some
• English is not my second or third language.  It is my fourth! Is your verbal communication ability limiting you from achieving success?
• Like it or not, the corporate man’s slap still exists.  Don’t believe me? Try it and see for yourself.  As much as I’d like to look beyond that, it is true. Why else do you think we have affirmative action and Chief Diversity Officers in Fortune 500 companies?
• Credibility and capability sometimes gets you nowhere. Ever heard the saying it’s about who you know, not what you know?
• There are several other reasons…

I may be totally wrong, and I sure hope that I am.  It is hard not to believe the above however because I have personally experienced that in my career in spite of achieving a lot of success very early.  If not directly pertaining to me, I have definitely experienced it in large scale near and around me.  I’ve often felt bad, but completely helpless.

The Evolution of an Internet Marketer (My Personal Journey in a Nut-Shell)

• Phase 1: Studied various models to generate passive, residual cash (different ways successful entrepreneurs made money)
• Phase 2: Selected a suitable method (Internet in this case) and learned how websites and blogs worked – including their basic structures, how to drive traffic and how to convert that traffic into money
• Phase 3: Studied the art of copyrighting, the concepts of pre-selling and soft-selling
• Phase 4: Invested time and resources into learning basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) fundamentals, email marketing, affiliate marketing and the various ways a website can be monetized (i.e. advertisement revenues, lead generation, affiliate commissions, selling ebooks, etc)
• Phase 5: Learned more about internet marketing strategies such as article marketing, press releases, search engine and directory submissions, posting in blogs and forums, social networking and social bookmarking
• Phase 6: Studied PPC – Pay Per Click marketing
• Phase 7: Developed a strategy and executed it step by step, monitoring results and tweaking along the way for optimal performance
• Phase 8: Studied outsourcing and outsourced strategically (always learn what you must know, and then outsource what you don’t enjoy doing)

This is not the only approach to success, but it is one that has worked for me.  I have followed a similar systematic process in other disciplines such as real estate, stock market investing, small business and have found success at each endeavor (I have had my share of failures as well).

My Offline Entrepreneurial Ventures

• Real estate investing (I really enjoy this; it is where I invest all my excess cash proceeds)
• Stock market investing (everyone should do this even if it is on a minor scale)
• Small Businesses (like a local dry cleaner for example; I enjoy buying them on leverage, turning them around to profitability and then selling them for a profit)
• Funding small start-up companies (no better feeling than seeing them flourish)
• Recently precious metals (not in paper certificate form but real tangible metals)

Hobbies & Interests

• Sports (both watching and playing)
• Movies – I can watch movies all day long
• Music of all sorts
• Traveling (the world is too small for those that have seen it; for others it’s way too BIG)
• Shopping  - proud to admit that I am quite the metro
• Bowling
• Billiards / Pool
• Reading
• Entrepreneurship
• Self Development
• Spirituality

Priorities in Life (in order)

1. Family, Friends & Spirituality
2. Career (I need money to feed my family, enjoy with friends and help God with his work)
3. Fitness (I need to be in good shape to enjoy life and what I have been blessed with)
4. Philanthropy (One MUST give back and help those in need)
5. Social

I cannot agree more with Suze Orman who often preaches: People first, then money, then things.  She is just missing the fitness part of it . . . but then again, she appears quite fit especially for her age so I am sure she is squeezing in gym time somewhere in between there.

Welcome

So, that was my long winded way of saying welcome to my blog.  This is truly what I love doing.  I have more than what I need and can ask for, and I am truly grateful for that.  They say when you love what you do it does not feel like you ever work.  I cannot agree with that more.

I hope to provide value, inspiration, motivation and give you that extra push you need to get over the hump and Just Do It! I am a practical example of what I discuss on this blog, and if I can do it, so you can you.  In fact, you can do it much better. I hope you know me (or at least feel like) a little better than you did before visiting this page.

I hope you enjoyed this “short” (relative to my “long” life) biography I am confident that you will find value on this blog.

All the Best,

Sunil

Some of my favorite quotes that I want to leave you with

• Always be positioned to take advantage of opportunity – that means keeping your ears and eyes open and empowering yourself with knowledge and awareness
• Invest in yourself – learning and development does not always require money
• Try something you have always wanted to do – there is no bad time to get started
• Get your spouse’s and family’s buy-in before taking up an entrepreneurial venture
• Always network, meet people and build relationships
• Always be smart with the funds you have – making money is one thing, spending, managing, growing and preserving it is a whole another ball game
• Live a lean lifestyle; cut your spending down in tough times enough so that the “massive” unemployment check that the Government gives covers it if it comes down to it
• The pursuit of excellence is a lifelong process
• Successful people don’t do different things – they do the same things differently
• Successful people don’t always succeed. In fact, they fail repeatedly. But they all rise up, dust themselves off and keep marching forward
• Try this or try that, or try anything, as long as you try something
• It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed
• And finally, always remember, when one door closes, several other small windows open