Some people thought I had killed the Freedly project. Others told me they had not got involved because they did not understand what I was trying to do with Freedly, so they could not see the relevance. Obviously, I need to learn how to communicate effectively.

As you can see from this, the Freedly project is not dead.

There, I hope that is clear enough. If you want some help to find your financial freedom, which is what Freedly is all about, then ask me. You can comment here, ask questions in the forum, ask on Facebook or Google+, or chat to me in the pub if that suits you better.

Freedly is not dead, but I am taking a break from promoting it. Though clearly, the fact I have published this indicates that it is not a complete break.

I feel the least I can do is to communicate my intentions. The only reason I include some thoughts about freedom of speech is to support the notion that effective communication is important. I should have chosen Effective Communication as a main category, but my stupid desire to go overboard on the subject of Freedom got in the way. I will change the Freedom Of Speech references before I relaunch the services.

Many people shy away from publishing websites, or even individual articles, because they do not believe they have the communication skills to manage the task. I believe that if you can talk, you can write. The writing process is well within the capability of most people, but what to write about can be an issue. A huge part of Freedly is to address this issue.

For those people who already know what they want, then I can help you build a website, or some other online presence so that you can earn money from it. That is a subject for another day, though effective communication skills will always be important. For now I will stick to explaining how to make a start for those people who cannot decide what to write about.

How To Communicate Effectively About Anything

What if you want to write, but have no inspiration for topics to write about?

That is a cornerstone of Freedly, though the most difficult to organize. I will supply topics for you to write about, together with the context.

Context is vital in online marketing. If you are promoting shoe sales, what you write will be totally different from promoting a shoe repair service. Both might satisfy your overwhelming interest in shoes, but the context dictates your approach.

The context of this article is totally different between my situation, and someone selling online writing courses, or running a communications workshop. I know that visitors to Freedly are interested in how to communicate effectively, but I do not know why. The forum is a great help here, because a good question will always explain why it is being asked.

If you are looking for opportunities to write for profit, then you could start by answering questions in the forum. Or, I might ask you to write an article about getting the point across on this website or one of my client’s sites.

There are endless opportunities for writing, but if you want to be effective, there is one golden rule. Just do it.

Yes, you only learn to communicate effectively by doing it. You write. You get responses. You respond in turn, building specific expertise on whatever topic, but also building expertise in communications. The forums are a great starting point because you are addressing a specific need, and need only to think of how best to answer a specific question. Communicating ideas in articles can be more challenging, but there is a tried and tested way to go.

Just answer three or four questions on a particular topic, then generate an article that incorporates your answers. There is no doubt that, within a few days of starting, you can be earning money from articles, even if you have never written one before.

That is one important aspect of the service I provide at Freedly. I hope I have communicated it to you effectively. At over 600 words, it is hardly efficient – but that was not the question!

I have time pressures from other projects, but I know that I could make time if I had to. The simple fact is that I made a mistake in my approach to this project. No excuses – it’s a learning curve.

The inspiration for Freedly is my own life.

I enjoy what I do, and I make money from it. I just looked out of my bedroom window at 8:30am to see my village choked with traffic. Commuters on their way to a day in the city – a boring day sandwiched between three or four hours commuting. I shall spend the day writing about stuff that interests me, if I can be bothered. I may lounge around today, and work tomorrow, depending on how I feel.

That is my freedom. I work when I want, doing things I enjoy. I want to develop Freedly to give you that freedom, but I made a mistake.

I thought I could hasten the project by buying-in labor. The problem with bought-in labor is, you cannot buy commitment. And you are hog-tied by minimum wage regulation.

I do not want to exploit anyone, but when was the last time you saw a good mother go on strike, demanding minimum wage for hours of loving care? I am not trying to compare raising a family with raising a web site, but some jobs just do not fit the pay-per-hour system.

When I publish a page on the Internet, nobody pays me. If it is good, advertisers will pay Google to market their products and services on my page, and I get a cut of that a few weeks later through the AdSense program. It is not my only income source, and some people do not like it, but it works for me, and allows me to work when I want. More importantly, it allows me to play when I want. The tan fools people into thinking I’m just back from vacation. But every day is a vacation, and if it is sunny, I sit outside.

So all that work, crafting a page, editing the text, creating suitable images, reviewing periodically, just for a few pennies. Is it worth it.

Well yes, it is.

I get a few pennies tomorrow, a few pennies the day after. The weeks build to dollars, and the months build to freedom, but you have to be patient. Pages that I wrote seven years ago are earning me $50 per month or more. Many pages continue to earn good money every month. That is monthly income now for two or three hours work a few months or years ago.

You can expect a good collection of pages to earn a good monthly income, but it will not happen overnight, and there is no tie between the hours you work and what you get paid. Your payment is linked to your popularity, or at least the popularity of those you work with. I can show you how to turn ten hours a week into a basic minimum wage, or a useful second income. But you have to want to do it.

I know that there will be a time when I can work with like-minded people to build better financial freedom and better life freedom. I am taking a break from seeking out such people.

If you want my help, just ask by way of a comment here – I am taking a break from developing Freedly, but I will continue to monitor it, and may even make the occasional contribution. Later this year, I will restart the push to make Freedly the obvious choice for anyone who wants to work online.

But I love it, so I get the double benefit of writing about things that interest me, and tinkering behind the scenes, finding new ways to break improve my websites.

Whilst rummaging around for information on a technical issue I was intrigued by a message that the website owner had “quit his job and gone gypsy.” The “Follow his travels” button was hard to resist for a freedom seeker such as I. I’m glad I didn’t resist the chance to find out about Driving Inertia.

What a brilliant way to live your life.

I will not give too much away. Please just browse around the website, starting with Driving Inertia’s free competition to help find your freedom.

Please remember to come back here and share your opinions. Better still, share your own outrageously daring bid for freedom.

I know this is one of the best ways to learn about most subjects. Certainly, it is the best way to learn about ourselves, and how we can improve our skills and use them to improve our lives.

But many hours get wasted in forums because someone asks a question, and none of the answers is right.

Invariably, the answer is not right because the question was wrong.

I know that sounds like nonsense, but a large percentage of questions are very difficult to answer. The biggest stumbling block is when it is not clear what the question really means, or why the questioner is asking it.

I am compiling guidelines to improve the forums, so here is a draft. Please ask questions about it in the Using Freedly forum.

Using Freedly Forums – How To Ask A Good Question

Ask in the right place

Spend a few moments to familiarize yourself with the topics covered in each forum. There is a list of forums down the right hand side of most forum pages, and you can also see them in the Forum Categories List

Use a meaningful question title

You start your question with a simple one line question, then add your explanation and additional information. Before you click the Ask question button, go back to check your opening question. Is it exactly what you want to ask? Is it short and to the point? If not, change it, or start again with a simpler question.

Is it a single question?

Do not ask questions that have more than one topic. If you have more than one question about a topic, ask more than one question.

Try to use good English

This is not school. You do not get penalized for bad spelling or bad grammar. However, if you do not make an effort to use a spell checker, or to read your question out loud to make it sensible, then people will ignore you. Or they may misunderstand you and give an answer that does not mean anything to you.

What do you want to do/know.

Start your question with what you want to achieve/learn, then follow it up with things you have tried so far. E.g. I want to earn $100 per day online, so I built a website about photography to earn money with AdSense.

Describe clearly what the problem is

You started with what you wanted to do, so continue with what is stopping you. E.g. I have read all Google’s information about AdSense, and several websites that recommend trying different layouts, colors and positions, but the maximum I have ever got is $2 per day, with a total of $20 per month.

Describe exactly what is wrong, not your guesses about how to fix it.

If you have a choice of options, it is OK to ask “Is it better to do X or Y” but in most cases, just stick to the facts, and let people answer in there own way.

Describe failed attempts to find a solution

I always recommend that you search for your question before you ask it. If you do this, say so, and say why the results did not help you.

Be clear on questions and meanings

If you do not understand the meaning of something, that is not a real practical question. Be careful how you ask for an explanation, and be sure to give it a personal context. If you want to know the meaning of a technical term, try a dictionary first.

Never say please or urgent

Though it may be polite in conversation, putting please in your question is just a waste of forum title space. Marking something as urgent is rude.

I will compile some examples of good and bad questions so that you can see these guidelines in a practical way.

Until all guidelines are complete, I will leave the comment boxes open here, though I would prefer you to ask questions and share opinions in the Using Freedly forum.

I can tell you that contributing in the forum is it’s own reward, but you will not be satisfied with that.

I’ll tell you anyway, before I describe the good stuff.

When you ask a question in the forum, you focus your thoughts. Thinking about a problem is one thing. Describing it in public is quite another. Just the act of typing it starts you in the direction of finding your financial freedom. That journey might be quick, or it might take several years, but that first question is a good starting point.

Answering questions is even more rewarding. You are helping others, and it is a first step to building a network of people who will help you in future.

That ought to be enough for you, but I will provide much more.

Resources to help your financial freedom project, a tracker to help you monitor and manage your success, and more.

What more could you ask – how about your very own Freedly Rewards.

Freedly Financial Rewards

If you have an existing website, your reward for contributing to the knowledge-base is a link back to your website. Only you know how valuable that is. But is it enough? And what if you have no website?

If you do not have a website, you can link to an affiliate site such as Amazon. That means real cash, which I will explain later.

I can sense the disappointment of many of you who want to see a more reliable source of income. Hide your disappointment – there is more.

I will pay you for comments and articles.

Anyone can get Freedly Financial Rewards, by sharing their experiences, opinions, or knowledge.

The scheme will be open to people who gain enough points in the forums – I will announce the target points soon.

Once you are in the scheme, everything you write will earn points, and I will pay you for these each month.

There will be chances for extra points. One idea is that we will share a group account on Amazon. This gives commissions at higher levels through the extra volumes from all group members.

If you have other ideas for rewards, please share them below. Your contributions will not earn anything yet, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing you helped. Who knows what bonuses that might get you.

Now is the time to build up your freedom forum points with good questions and answers. Keep it respectful, and use related questions to keep your answers on-topic. Points can, and will, be lost for messages that do not contribute to a better information source.

Leave Freedly Financial Rewards to learn about the Rewards stage in the Financial Freedom Pathway

What more can I say – I am sorry.

You came here looking for practical advice on finding financial freedom. You liked the idea of a pathway – a program you could follow to find a route to financial freedom that suited you.

Then you got hit with “Freedom Financial Purpose Statement”

Not very clear or practical is it? So I am re-writing it. I got sidetracked in my desire to include the word freedom in every page title. I feel fairly pathetic to have fallen into that trap once again – I must work harder to free myself of this obsession with consistency.

It is perfectly OK to depart from a set pattern to make a series complete and worthwhile. The Financial Freedom Pathway is a great series of processes, I simply failed to start it with the title it deserved.

I always start with Purpose, but goals or intentions are equally useful. Financial goal is a much better starting point for a wealth improvement project than financial purpose, but it is a term that I find is widely misunderstood. People view financial goals without considering the place of finance in their lives. I want to emphasize that your first step is to consider why you need more money in the context of the important things in your life.

I fell into the trap of believing that sticking the word Freedom into the task of generating a financial purpose statement would make the reason for doing the task easier. On reflection, it just confuses the issue, and gets your project off to a bad start.

I am reworking the first step of the Financial Freedom Pathway to focus on financial goals. Please remember that the change of wording makes no difference to how you start your project. You must create a statement that clearly shows why you are starting your wealth improvement project, and it must be quantified in dollars, and in the way you want to improve your life.

Setting a purely financial target is never enough. What do you want that extra money for? Meaningful financial goals are good if they enrich your life. Mere dollar targets will not inspire you to keep at it when the going gets tough.

Leave Point Of Financial Freedom to browse the Financial Freedom Pathway

Actually, it isn’t guide, it’s guides – currently 32 of them, full of

things that make you go “Hmmm….”

I first got to know it from their very wise decision to link to one of my early pages on my first website. Surprisingly, this was the Fun Times Guide To Feet! Oh yes, my friends, feet can be fun. Or funny.

So let me cut the rambling, and enlighten you about the point of all this.

One of the guides is for personal finance. Now, I like financial freedom in all its forms, but personal financial freedom is the most… well, personal. I got a message from their update service today that shocked and disgusted interested me. Well perhaps a little bit shocked, but I was not disgusted – that is merely to get your attention.

The article is Should You Find A Roommate To Save On Housing Costs?. Er, NO!

Let me explain.

This is a nicely written article. It weighs-up pros and cons, provides resources for finding roommates, and offers some additional advice for those unwise enough to seriously consider wrecking their homes in this way. Yes, I’m being harsh, but why would you consider this?

The clue, in the title, is that you want to save housing costs. But this scheme will not do that – it will increase your housing costs. Inevitably, you will get increased heating costs. Cleaning costs will increase – rapidly if you agree that”Getting a housekeeper could help to avoid arguments over cleaning.”

You hope that you will gain revenue from this venture, but will it be enough? Can it ever be enough to compensate your loss of privacy? Now, I like the kind of house share schemes that offer temporary relief for homeless people. Reports I have seen suggest that they can be a lifesaver for vulnerable youngsters, and there is huge satisfaction to be gained for the householder who acts with such unselfish care.

But to trade personal privacy for financial gain seems the exact opposite of freedom to me. It goes to the heart of my advice here – be very clear about your purpose before you start wealth improving projects.

Financial freedom is only important when it supports the lifestyle you desire. If you really want to share your home with strangers, open a lodging house. But, is that the only alternative?

The logic of this situation dictates that you have more space than you need. If you want to save housing costs in that situation, surely the answer is to sell up, and by something smaller?

Leave Financial Freedom Is Fun to learn about Freedom Financial Purpose Statements

Financial Freedom Postscript

This represents my personal view on home-sharing. It is not a swipe at Andrea, the author of the piece. I like her style, and she has many interesting online contributions for your delectation and delight. Wow, I have just noticed from her website that she is a home-schooler! Please show her some love, and read more of her stuff.

I feared it might be a distraction, but I’m certain it is too important to ignore.

If you just want to improve your wealth then “stop talking, start earning” looks like a better option. Much better than all this Free Speech waffle.

And you’d be right to think that. If you are confident to take what you know, improve it, and earn from it, then get on with it. The tools to help you do this faster will be here soon, but in the meantime, just ask for help in the forums.

But what if you cannot do that? What if you are afraid to start writing a website, or what if you fear you will never learn how to communicate? These are very real fears that stop people everyday. The fear of failure stops them seeking their dreams.

Click for Freedom Is Not Free photograph details

My point is, if you have got something to say, the Internet is a good place to say it. It might not change the world in the way that direct political action will. But it engages people, and where you engage people to listen to your views, you can hear the money talking to you.

I will base my services on the understanding that you are allowed to write anything that is legal, decent, and honest. If you have political restraints that prevent you from doing this, I will help if I can – just ask specific questions in the Freedom Of Speech forum. By specific questions, I mean personal to you, with explanation of how you feel restrained from expressing yourself, and what you wish to achieve.

For most people, the freedom of speech restraints are personal ones. These restraints might be lack of skill, lack of confidence, lack of knowledge, etc, etc. If you tell me what is holding you back from writing whatever you want to write, I will find ways to help you.

It might be something as simple as not understanding how writing anything can make you money. Well it can.

And if you have actual writing problems, for example dyslexia, then replace writing with other publishing formats. Video and audio websites can make millions. You can be part of it.

Money talks.

If you want to hear it talking to you, you have to listen. Listening is the first step to communicating your ideas, your feelings, your opinions, and your experiences.

First listen to yourself. What do you want to say?

But let’s swap your for more to make it more relevant. Now choose:

Click for More Money photograph details

More Life Photograph Details

I have thought about this long and hard. Rob reminded me with his comment about costs of running a website:

looking at ways of making money, and not looking at the freedom of life that I should lead

I spend a lot of time helping people to make more money on the Internet. The projects never fly when making money is the only goal. Money has no value without a reason for it, and you can be certain that chasing money for it’s own purpose will not improve your quality of life. It is also much easier to make money when you have a clear purpose for the extra funds.

I live by a motto that changes too much to be a true motto. One day I’ll get an official version carved in stone, but it sounds something like:

Live by doing what you like, then find ways of making money at it.

Let me assure you, the harder you work at something other than making money, the faster you will get more money.

Tell me what you want to do, and I will show you where more money is.

Leave More Money to browse the Purpose Financial Goals pages

I’m glad it isn’t, because I really want to wish you a PROSPRA-ous New Year, but I’d better explain that.

I’ve just completed the first pathway. This one guides you to financial freedom. I will improve it, and add to it over the months and years that follow. I will add tools that allow you to plan, track, and appreciate your projects online. It will get better, and be easier to apply to your specific needs. That is stunning, considering how amazing it is in it’s current form.

It is essentially, a problem solving tool. I use PROSPRA whenever I have a problem to solve. It is also a very fine task management system, especially useful for repetitive tasks.

I have developed the financial pathway first, as most visitors are concerned with finding financial freedom. The model is quite easy to adapt to any project, and I will adapt it for fears, speech, and health very soon. So why is it so good?

What Is PROSPRA

I will keep the financial theme going, by way of an example. PROSPRA is my seven stage problem solving technique. Here is how it applies to finding financial freedom:

Purpose

Why are you doing this project? Express your financial goals as a statement such as “I need to raise $5,000 within twelve months to clear my credit card debt by reducing my household spending”

Reward

Are your rewards realistic given the resources available to you? Feedback and improve your purpose: “Credit card debt of $5032 is killing me. I will clear it within twelve months by canceling my unwanted memberships ($600), downgrading subscriptions($720), eating out less($1580), one less vacation($1500) and interest charges($632)”

Objective

Simple on this simple example. We cut out all non-essential purchases, then relaxed and added back some most desired luxuries to make target.

Strategy

A to-do list of subscriptions and memberships to change, and an eating plan for cook-at-home days.

Production

Work down the list and check all tasks completed.

Reap

Check credit card statement for cancellations, changes, lower balance, and lower interest charges.

Appreciate

Share better deals with friends, apply processes to non-credit card costs.

This is a simple example, but the principles apply to all projects. Careful planning in the first 4 stages results in an achievable plan that is uniquely personal. The clear purpose keeps you focused as you do the plan, which is now a simple task list. Monitoring and feedback stages ensure that, not only do we reap our expected rewards, we continuously improve the plan in the light of real experience. This gives us a better plan, a better result, and also exposes opportunities for new financial freedom projects.

When will you start yours?

You can follow the Financial Freedom Pathway on your own spreadsheet, or using pen and paper.

I will open registrations soon for your free online PROSPRA planning service. If you have not done so, now is a good time to subscribe to my free update service:

Leave this page to browse the Financial Freedom Pathway