Millionaire Challenge

lessonlearned

Hello everyone, and a big welcome to our newbies.

Lots of interesting ideas buzzing around. I wish you all well.

Uphillstruggler.......don’t fret over past mistakes, just learn from them and move forward. Put the past behind you, you are not going there anymore. You are only 40......plenty of time to forge ahead and start making some of these dreams come true.

Chesapeake.....glad to hear your wife is feeling better. Good luck to you both.

Well now -what have I been up to.

Just about recovered from my holiday. Although I did hit the ground running when I got back I have been suffering with “Travellers tummy” and haven’t really achieved much this week, other than some decorating and decluttering. Making steady progress and will have lots of stuff to sell next spring when I get back from my Amazon Adventure, when I will probably put this house in the market and start looking for the next project.

I really fancy a plot of land and doing a new build.

I do have some land but it’s not really suitable as a single building plot. However I have heard that a consortium might be interested in it as vehicle access for a Golf course. That would be a spot of luck because as it stands at the moment it’s not really worth much.

Keeping my fingers crossed, although it could take years before a deal comes to fruition. Still if I don’t benefit then my children will. A nice little nest egg for them.

droopsnoot

lessonlearned wrote: »

I do have some land but it’s not really suitable as a single building plot. However I have heard that a consortium might be interested in it as vehicle access for a Golf course.

That's an interesting twist, around here it tends to be the case (well, it has been for two) that golf courses have closed and applied to have housing built on them. I suspect that one was never intended to be a course for much more than a few years, but the other has some long-term members who are quite annoyed about it.

lessonlearned

Wonder if that was their master plan all along........wouldn’t surprise me.

Maybe they Couldn’t get housing approval so went in through the back door. Golf course first, then housing.

These developers play a long game and know the planning system inside out, exploiting any loopholes they can find. They hold land banks for decades.

The land at the back of my house was owned by a large consortium, it took them nearly 30 years to get building permission. In the meantime they just let it out for farming but their long term plan was always housing.

They used to apply to the local council every three or four years, who threw out the application because they wanted the land kept as “Green Wedge”. They even appealed to the Dept of the Environment a couple of times. Then when the last labour government released green belt land for housing, our council had to cave in to their demands.

They couldn’t develop it all because one of the fields is a Designated Site of Scientific Interest and no building can occur until it has been the subject of archaeological investigations. At the moment no one seems to be able to afford to do this so the land remains fallow most of the time.

The developers won’t be unduly concerned. They have made a killing on the project and still have a nice wodge of land for further development.

droopsnoot

I guess with the money involved in even a reasonably-sized development, never mind one the size of a golf course, it's worth their while to explore every avenue. It still boggles my mind that a developer will buy a field entirely surrounded by houses, and then buy one of those houses (often for £350k or more) just to knock it down to make an access road. That's probably why I'm not a property developer.

lessonlearned

I guess it’s just like any other business opportunity......it helps to have the ability to apply a bit of creative thinking and be able to solve problems that might overwhelm others who are either less experienced or more feint hearted.

AnimalTribe

immuno wrote: »

Do you mind elaborating a bit more on this and how it works?

Did you design the cover for your e-book?

Hi Immuno

The letters are easy. My mum gets a magazine called Take a Break (published by Bauer) who publish loads of the top selling magazines. It would probably be best if you bought the magazine and had a look to see what kind of thing they are after.

The letters I've sent are short, with very, very basic tips. For example, putting polystyrene from delivery boxes at the bottom of plant pots to use less soil and keep the pots warm, how to put toilet paper right where the ends don't line up. Ridiculously easy stuff.

It only takes a couple of minutes to write. They pay more if you send in a photograph - it doesn't have to be an expert shot. Then you just e-mail it to the address in the magazine. Some tips they take, some they don't. They don't tell you whether they've accepted the tip or not - you just get a cheque in the post.

As to eBooks - I've only just written my first one, so I'm a novice. The cover was a photograph I took myself, so I didn't have to draw anything. Amazon instructions are very good at guiding you through the writing process. I'm sure a social media following would help sales. I suppose you could ask family and friends to buy it and review it so that it goes up the ratings, but I'm content to put the book up there and see how it does. It gave me pleasure to write it, so it either sinks or swims on its own. Not a very 'millionaire attitude', but I tend to only work at what I like.

I hope this helps.

immuno

AnimalTribe wrote: »

Hi Immuno

The letters are easy. My mum gets a magazine called Take a Break (published by Bauer) who publish loads of the top selling magazines. It would probably be best if you bought the magazine and had a look to see what kind of thing they are after.

The letters I've sent are short, with very, very basic tips. For example, putting polystyrene from delivery boxes at the bottom of plant pots to use less soil and keep the pots warm, how to put toilet paper right where the ends don't line up. Ridiculously easy stuff.

It only takes a couple of minutes to write. They pay more if you send in a photograph - it doesn't have to be an expert shot. Then you just e-mail it to the address in the magazine. Some tips they take, some they don't. They don't tell you whether they've accepted the tip or not - you just get a cheque in the post.

As to eBooks - I've only just written my first one, so I'm a novice. The cover was a photograph I took myself, so I didn't have to draw anything. Amazon instructions are very good at guiding you through the writing process. I'm sure a social media following would help sales. I suppose you could ask family and friends to buy it and review it so that it goes up the ratings, but I'm content to put the book up there and see how it does. It gave me pleasure to write it, so it either sinks or swims on its own. Not a very 'millionaire attitude', but I tend to only work at what I like.

I hope this helps.

Thanks so much

What is your book about?

I don't have much of a social media following, and my book would be health related.

AnimalTribe

0511034 wrote: »

. It doesn't matter how small those streams are the pennies will make pounds and the pounds will make millionaires :rotfl:

0511034 yes, that's how I see it. Combined with extra cash I've managed to save on daily expenses - it adds up more quickly than you'd expect. I've learned to put all the little extras into a separate account though, so I'm not tempted to spend it on day to day living. Then I use that cash to invest or spend on business ideas.

Totally unrelated - I signed up for the Ikea family card and the Hobbycraft newsletter ages ago. They've both sent me a £5 birthday voucher (no strings attached) - so I got a free plant from Ikea that I can propagate and sell, and free craft stuff from Hobbycraft, that I'll make into something and sell. I think I'll have a quick look at my other loyalty cards and make best use of any points I have.

AnimalTribe

immuno wrote: »

Thanks so much

What is your book about?

I don't have much of a social media following, and my book would be health related.

Immuno I have no social media following, as I'm a dinosaur and I'm not signed up to anything - no Facebook, no Twitter, no anything else. The book is about saving money on fuel. Since I live in the middle of nowhere - neighbour 2 miles away, single track road, surrounded by moorland - it's a subject close to my heart, so I found it easy to write.

A health book has a potentially large readership. Why not do a search on Amazon Kindle and see what your competition would be? If it's a book you would enjoy writing, why not try it? You don't have to write it all in one go - you could pace yourself. Although, if it turns out your book has little competition you might want to get it on Amazon before someone else thinks of it. Being new to it myself I'm not sure how much my advice is worth. There is an Amazon Kindle writers forum (which is free, and on Amazon). The only solid advice I can give though, is that when you've written your book get someone to read it for you, but make sure it's someone who will give proper feedback - including 'bad news'.

You might feel more comfortable writing a couple of letters for a magazine first, as they don't take much time. I've just looked online and you can get an overview of Take a Break online, or you could try your local library and see what magazines they have there that you could write for. I've just bought a couple of gardening ones that I'm going to try writing letters for.

immuno

AnimalTribe wrote: »

Immuno I have no social media following, as I'm a dinosaur and I'm not signed up to anything - no Facebook, no Twitter, no anything else. The book is about saving money on fuel. Since I live in the middle of nowhere - neighbour 2 miles away, single track road, surrounded by moorland - it's a subject close to my heart, so I found it easy to write.

A health book has a potentially large readership. Why not do a search on Amazon Kindle and see what your competition would be? If it's a book you would enjoy writing, why not try it? You don't have to write it all in one go - you could pace yourself. Although, if it turns out your book has little competition you might want to get it on Amazon before someone else thinks of it. Being new to it myself I'm not sure how much my advice is worth. There is an Amazon Kindle writers forum (which is free, and on Amazon). The only solid advice I can give though, is that when you've written your book get someone to read it for you, but make sure it's someone who will give proper feedback - including 'bad news'.

You might feel more comfortable writing a couple of letters for a magazine first, as they don't take much time. I've just looked online and you can get an overview of Take a Break online, or you could try your local library and see what magazines they have there that you could write for. I've just bought a couple of gardening ones that I'm going to try writing letters for.

Thank you

Oh, perhaps I can try out the health magazines! I had never thought of writing tips for them. I guess I just need to contact the editor if there's no info on submitting tips for them?