Unbelievable, this idiot won a blog prize

I must to an idiot not to do this before.

All I did was write a blog about me being an idiot and I won 1st prize on RedGage. Honestly I thought this was ANOTHER online scam, but I have $25 in a Visa Card. RedGage hold a competition every day for the 'best' blog or article and give $25 to the winner. It need not be new content, as long as it's yours, so you can just upload any of your writings from anywhere.

If a one-armed, one-legged, crippled pensioner with Disphasia [impairment of the power of expression by speech &, writing] can do this, ANYBODY can. 

So come on all of you, start writing, for money.

RedGage is here;  http://www.redgage.com/   it's free and the thing is you can synchronize all of your social media and blogs.

Further more I am NOT making any money for referring you or anyone....    

I was an Idiot to think I could find an online business easily

Idiot me...

I was a real idiot. I was a retired pilot, business owner and widow. But I confess to being an idiot now. I had a comfortable life, if somewhat lonely, in Perth, Australia after my wife died.

But then I decided to go visiting Asia. Especially to wander around China. There I met a very charming Chinese lady, called Lianny, who has become my next wife. I wasn't looking for a new business, I was enjoying myself in retirement, enjoying China and of course meeting Lianny.

And then I fell over! And did I fall over. Wow, really bad.

I thought I was younger than I felt. Even though I had a stroke a few years earlier and that had left me a useless right arm, I could do most things. I was playing with Lianny's neighbors children at Badminton, when I fell over backwards across a concrete kerb.

Everybody has told me since how stupid this was and I agree now with that wonderful vision, called hindsight.

After the fall, after the incredible pain before the operation, I now find my injured leg is some 100 mm [4 inches] short. I had two operations to fix this, but both have failed and the 'new' 40 cm steel pin is working it's way into my hip joint!! My surgeon told me 6 months ago, try not to walk on it. That's a laugh, because of the leg shortage and the pain, walking is last I want to do at the moment.

So there I was, house bound and going 'stir crazy' because I could not do anything practical. I couldn't speak the language and couldn't move. What an IDIOT!

Online Business, Working from Home

Thinking about what I could do in this position, I thought it would be nice and easy to start an online business. That's what I mean about being an idiot. Not just in falling over, but in thinking this was going to be a so easy...

I have researched many internet business. I have purchased heaps of eBooks and systems from so called Gurus. I have looked at selling many products from Clickbank etc, and have advertised them and written blogs. I have a couple of web sites and I have tried Mobile phone advertising. All of this has been unprofitable.

Now, I not blaming anybody but myself. It is this idiot that has gone from one idea to the next. Thinking the latest gimmick would prove profitable. But none has... This online world is FULL of 'second hand car' types. All anxious to relieve you of your money with this 'latest get rich schemes'. All, or most of them, don't work. It is very easier to say that now and to say 'they would never work'. But at the time be exposed to all this hype, lies and inflated profits you can easily get lulled into saying yes. Most of the inline purveyors do not sell any product at all except their own 'get rich quick' schemes. The online business is full to overflowing with these pirates.

There is a company called Clickbank, they sell many, many online products. They are huge in there turnover. Some of the products are IMHO worthless, but many do work. But Clickbank has many of these 'get rich quick' schemes for sale. The biggest good thing about Clickbank is their refund policy for 60 days. It is VERY Good. No questions asked, just return the money. I have been a real idiot to buy some of these 'get rich quick' schemes, but Clickbank have always repaid the money after I found it didn't work.

Why do these marketeers of these products keep selling them if Clickbank return the money? It is easy, most of the time the buyers are somewhat 'lazy' and do not bother asking for a refund. The buyers usually try the product once or twice and then because it's 'hard' or 'different' or 'it's old hat' repackaged, they put it down. The 'product' gathers dust on their computer and is soon forgotten.

As you know, the internet is huge and now millions and millions go online to shop every day. And some of the people, like idiot me, are trying to find a work from home business 'easily'. The work from home business' do exist, but it requires work, not a magic button or money fairy. You HAVE to work at it and because it's in 'unknown territory' it CAN be very hard at times. There is a lot of help online, BUT it's surrounded by Wolfs in Sheep clothing. So be careful. You can do all you self. You can get a Domain Name and a Host and put these two together to make 'your web site' . I have done this and it relatively easy if you have plenty of time or know a bit about the web & computers. I thought I did, but I also thought a Domain & a Host were the same! There are not. The Domain is just you web name like JohnandJaneSmith.com but when you purchased this you have to find a place to Host it [or store it]. I have used godaddy.com and hostgator.com the two both can get a Domain  AND Host it for a year or more. They are many others and some are free. But most of the free ones have adverts etc on everywhere. I find the best free service is where I host this blog, www.blogger.com where you can host a blog or change it to be a full web site. 

Also a free service is provided by http://instantdomainsearch.com/ for anybody to 'look up' their choice of name and see if it is taken.

If you have no idea what to do and you time is limited, I find this site does everything for/with you; http://bit.ly/websitesell  They start of explaining very simply [for idiots like me!] what you have to do etc. They can get you started very quickly and you will have 'your' web site up and running very soon. And it gets better as well, they show how to get an Google Adsense account [& how to keep it!]. This is where advertisers pay you money to advertise on your site. It might be nothing to $5 a week when you start, but with help getting your site in front of the millions of people it can soon turn into thousands. But you have to work at it or get some one like [web]sitesell. The real advantage with this company is it doesn't cost any more than doing it your self. I wish I had found it before it spent hours and hours playing around on godaddy with my 'site' in c-panel and wondering how to I do this or that?

Here is a site that tells you of a young lady that is making a good income from her site and Google Adsense as well. She is a 'real' person, not like some of the 'get rich quick cowboys'!
http://www.2createawebsite.com/money/google-adsense.html

And do look at this site for help and to start [& to make money]; http://bit.ly/websitesell

Trading Forex for Newbies

One of the blessing of being house bound with broken leg [& stroke] was I could give my Forex Trading hobby full time attention. This is like the Stock Market but it's trades 24 hours a day and nearly 6 days a week through out the world.  The Forex Market is the biggest market in the world. Currencies  between 2 to 3 trillion dollars change hands every day. It starts off in Asia time zone with Australia, New Zealand & Japan etc, moving on to the European zone with London & Zürich time zones being the biggest, when it merges with the New York, American market later. Then when the USA market is closing, it's time for the Asian market to start a new day again.

Any currency can be traded against another one, but the popular one are the Euro verses USA Dollar, Gt British Pound verses USA Dollar and the USA Dollar verses the Japanese Yen. Followed by the USA Dollar verses Swiss Franc, British Pound verses Japan Yen and the Euro verses the Japan Yen.  Then the Australian Dollar verses USA Dollar, USA Dollar verses Canadian Dollar brings up the rear on the popular currencies traded. But they many more, about every currency can be traded against another one somewhere in the thousands of Brokers and Banks doing this around the world.

The Forex Market is the largest market in the world. The amount of transactions dwarf what is traded on the Dow & S & P in America, probably reaching some 3 trillion dollars every day. But that's the problem, nobody knows how big it really is, because there is no actual physical market held in one place or city. All the currencies are traded in thousands of places in the Banks and Brokers all over the world. Many of 'the opposite side' of any transaction may [& can] be taken by the Bank or Broker and in the smaller transactions are.

This has caused many disputes in the past, but now most are 'somewhat' regulated by the major countries involved, like the USA, Europe & Japan and others. But it doesn't stop the Broker or Bank still taking the 'opposite side' of your trade or transaction. And why should they not? It is because of the very nature of Forex Trading and its leverage, 90% of traders loose. So if you have the 'side' of the trade, statistics prove that 90% of the time you make a profit. Remember, for any trade in anything there has to be 'two sides', a buyer and a seller, to make it happen. In the Stock Market most trades find another trader [perhaps], but in the Forex Market this doesn't always happen. The Brokers and Banks do not have to pass the trade along. First of all they is no physical market and secondly perhaps they want to trade for there selves. Being as most traders loose [90%] what better way than is there but to take the opposite trade/position for there selves.

Now I don't agree that this a good thing. I make sure any Broker I deal doesn't do this. In fact I much prefer to deal with a Broker that does not have any dealing desk and charges a small commission for every trade. This instead of the normal practice of building their fees and charges into the price of the Bid & Ask of the currencies. Most professional traders do this, where as most amateur traders will not pay commission. It is a state of mind when you start trading. You can't believe that the price can be manipulated by the Brokers & Banks. But when you had a few trades that either you were 'stopped-out' at the exact price and then the price reversed, or where the 'Spread' of the Bid & Ask was far too large, you start thinking again....  A Stop Loss is a price you put on your trade, so if the trade goes 'the wrong way', you get 'stopped out before losing too much. Well that's the theory of it. A few years ago some of the less from honest Brokers [& Banks] would manipulate the price to get traders 'stopped out'. Then the price would reverse without your trade.

In Forex you can 'Buy' or 'Sell'. Most [but not all] Share trading is just buying to sell later at a higher price. But in Forex you can 'buy or sell' straight away because you are trading against another currency. You can go either 'Up' or 'Down'. So if you think the American Dollar is weak. You Buy another currency and that is the same as selling the USA Dollar. It doesn't matter if you want to Buy, go Up [go Long] or Sell, go Down [go Short] it's easy with Forex.

The biggest thing to watch, apart from being wrong with direction of your trade is the Leverage that Forex Brokers 'give' to you. This might be 100 to 1 up to 500 to 1. The more Leverage means you can make more profit sooner, but when a trade goes the 'wrong way' and you start losing the Leverage will quickly turn your account into zero, if your not careful. Most new traders go and get the biggest Leverage they can. This is wrong it will contribute to them losing all the money. You should get the minimum, 100 to 1 and start really small.

Most new traders now use Metatraders free charting available here; http://www.metaquotes.net/en/metatrader4 or though most online Brokers. For trading 'Intraday' you can use 1min, 5min, 15min, 30min 60min and 4 hour chart. If you want to trade on a Daily basis, you can use the Daily, Weekly or Monthly charts. There are many 'indicators' in the Metatraders chart and thousands more online.

I have a few hundred myself, so if you email at dm@easy-success-online.com I will send them to you free. But there is no easy way to find out 'what works' and 'what doesn't', only hard work through testing. Because Forex trading is an Art, not a Science and every trader has a different idea on the use of an indicators. There are many sites online with free instruction, but one the best is BabyPips. The site can be found here; http://www.babypips.com/ They have a very free 'school'. If you thinking of trading, check them out.

Also Metertraders have a system called Expert Advisors. This is a way that an automatic system called be made or adapted to trade automatically for you. That's in theory.

Many Expert Advisors etc can be found at Forexisbiz here; http://www.forexisbiz.com
But see my earlier blog post about 'I am a real idiot to trade automatically.'

If you start trading, best of luck.

I am an Idiot to think about Retiring...

I am an Idiot to think about Retiring....

When there so much to do. OK my age says, slow down. My physical is condition is far from perfect, after a stroke and a broken leg [see my post 'In China with Broken Leg'], but siting a front of my Laptop I can do anything, if it doesn't require much movement especially on my feet. Although 'stuck' in China at the moment, I have managed to get back to Perth, Australia every three months for over two years. This has meant 9 trips in an aircraft, from Shenzhen to Perth and 9 trips back again, usually a couple of days later. Some times 'one trip' means two flights with an eight hours wait in Kaula Lumper, both ways. It depends on if I go via Hong Kong, only 25 kilometers away, but so many hassles going over the 'border'. It is OK with immigration, you can virtually walk right through. But that's the problem, you have to walk, about a kilometer and go upstairs & down again in the customs hall on either side. Then you have to repeat it in 20 meters again on the other side of the border! H.K. is still a different country, or so we are told... It takes about 2 to 3 hours depending on the 'local' traffic of Chinese workers that number around a million going backwards and forwards each day.

The easy way out of Shenzhen is via the International airport situated about 40 minutes away from where we live. But the only flights to Australia have a long wait in K.L. It is not the best fun staying in a departure hall for 6 to 8 hours with your suit case and carry on case in a wheelchair. And being one handed as well. But I have done this a number of times, up to 4 times plus the return trip, every year.

 I use the 'LCC Budget Terminal', not the Main KL Terminal,  because of costs.I used to sit in McDonald's for eight hours, because they had the best.....air/cond, [not food!]. But then my good friend Clive told about a V.I.P.Lounge  that had opened on the 'air-side' in the Budget Terminal. The problem with is you can't check into an Australian flight more than 2 hours before. Why? no idea. If it is anywhere else, no problem. But after approaching the Management and telling them about the problems, they said, OK, just 'check in' via the Big/Large Cases and INSIST that you can do this because you are using the VIP lounge. And it worked. You have to pay about $30 'every six hours', but you can get all the food and drink you want and in comfortable surroundings. It is called the Plaza VIP Lounge. I think I used to spend more than $30 while in Maccas....ugh!!!!!

Why to do I have to travel so frequently? Being an Australian citizen and having a disability pension, my Lords & Masters, Centrelink, who give me my pension every two weeks INSIST that I do not go away from Australia for more then three months. They get very upset about it.... This is in spite of saving the Australian government heaps of money by me being 'away'. In fact they get upset with me on anything, saying I HAVE to inform then when I want to ANYTHING.

If I lived in Perth all the time, I would have to live in a nursing home, or get somebody to come and wash me and dress me every day. I could do 'most' things before breaking my leg, but know because of the stroke in that side, it has stopped me from bending it sufficiently to put my shoes & socks on, etc. Also after the break and two operations, my right side is 4 inches shorter. This makes walking without the 'special raised' shoe nearly impossible.

I have Lianny and her family to care and look after me in China. They do this very well and of course very cheaply. But Centrelink insists that I am trying to use a 'loophole' or take advantage of "their" generosity!! In my working past, as a business owner having six furniture stores and also being a commercial pilot, I paid heaps of taxes of various kinds, to the states and the federal governments. Now when I have a pension,  I must accept 'their' rules and live in a nursing home! Even I don't want to...

But this is IF you can find a nursing home with a vacancy! Because when my dieing wife, Geraldine, was terminally ill with M.S. for seven years, I tried for four years to get her admitted to ANY N.H. in Perth. I made repeated phones calls and wrote to so many, I was an embarrassment, but I couldn't find her a place. Because my wife was bed-ridden, I had to turn her over every 2 or 3 hours. She couldn't swallow either, so I had to feed her by a tube thru' her stomach as well. I had no help from anyone. We have a son but he is bloody useless. It took him all his time to phone his mother once week, never mind to visit her.

To make Geraldine happy, I used to send her flowers, and put one the 'message card' they were sent by our son!!! Now he and I do not speak. I think it's because I am disabled and I 'like' all things that are Asian, including the Asian ladies!!

Just before Geraldine died, I had a stroke!! My doctor said, it's not surprising... I spent six months learning how to talk and walk again.

So after all this, the Australian government, through Centrelink, think I have found a loop-hole in the system. They should try the travel 4 times a year, one handed in a wheel-chair...

Now apart from this rant about my pension, I want to tell you about retiring. Everybody tells you, 'when you retire, keep busy.'  This has been no trouble for me. I am now more busy than ever. Even with the stroke, but before breaking my leg, I managed to visit Bali, Malaysia and China for many weeks and months both with friends and on my own. The secret for me, was to find the 'back-packers' hotels online. They can be so cheap, but very comfortable, with hot & cold everything, including if you want air/cond. The average price for a room is about $15 to $20 a night. There are thousands online and I have never been disappointed with the ones I used for some 5 years. Plus using these 'cheap' hotels, you see more of genuine people & country as opposed to staying in the same old 5 star, that is exactly the same as the ones at home.

To be concluded in part two soon;
When I shall talk what keeps me busy now;

Foreign Exchange Trading and Making Money Online

       

I am a real idiot to do this: I would be a complete Idiot not to do this...

I am a real idiot to do this: I would be a complete Idiot not to do this...: "I was going to write a blog post for newbies like me. But then I discovered I have this article about blogs that is very good. So I would be..."

I would be a complete Idiot not to do this...

I was going to write a blog post for newbies like me. But then I discovered I have this article about blogs that is very good. So I would be an idiot to try and put it better or not to use it.

I am the first to say these are not my words below. I do not know where they came from. But I want thank the author who ever it is. I think Mr Bryan Winters passed it to me.


It is Called:

Blogging 101

If writing is an art, then, blogging is one way of using words to come up with an art. This is because people who are into blogging are the ones who are artistic on their own sense, carefully choosing words that would best describe their feelings, sentiments, wishes, desires, and everything.

Basically, blogs were first introduced as weblogs that refer to a “server’s log file.” It was created when web logging hit the virtual market. Since its inception in the mid-1990s, web logging gradually saturated the virtual community making the Internet a viable source of greater information.

However, with web logging, you still need a web site and domain names, but with blogging, you do not need anything just an account with blog providers. In most cases, these kinds of blogs are free of charge.

With the onset of blogging in the industry, personal journaling had been a common ground for people who wish to be known all over the world. However, not literally famous as this is not a case on being popular or well-known personality.

Generally, blogs are created for personal use. Like a journal, people can write their daily adventures, sentiments, and whatever ideas they want to express online.

Nevertheless, with the advent of the online businesses, blogs had gradually taken the limelight in providing businesses a chance to boost their productivity online. This is where the business blogs have taken the limelight.

Business blogs are, basically, created to advertise the services or products of a certain web site or online business in order to increase online sales.

Moreover, business blogs are also one way of promoting the company so that the other readers will know that a certain company exists online. With blogs, entrepreneurs are able to establish a name in the virtual market through articles that can be very useful in the reader’s life.

From there, you can make money out of blogs by simply syndicating it to your business’ web site. This can be done through the RSS technology.

So, if you are thinking to create a blog, whether for business or for pleasure, you need to know some tips that could help you get through and make your blog one of the interesting blogs online.

Here’s how:

1. Consider your audience

Even if your blog is generally personal, still, it would be better to consider the minds of your readers. You have to think of something that would interest them.

After all, most of the reasons of people who write blogs are not at all confined to their own personal motives. Most of them would love to be “heard” (or read) and would love to be known, in some way or another, even for just a minute. Hence, it is very important to come with a write up that everybody can understand, not necessarily that these people can relate to it but they can understand it.

2. Pictures speaks a thousand words

To make your blogging worth the browsing effort of your readers, it would be extremely nice if you will put some pictures in it. It does not necessarily mean you have to place a picture of yourself. Any photographs will do as long as it does not pose danger or insult to anyone who will be reading your blog.

3. Make constructive and beneficial blogs

Even if you are free to write anything you wan to say to the world, still, it would be better to create some write-ups that would be beneficial to your readers.

After all, its information technology that you have there so better be inclined to provide information rather than sheer quirky entertainment.

4. Avoid making multifaceted and complicated blogs

In order to have an interesting blogs, try not to use some highly technical and highfalutin words. After all, it is not a science discourse or a debate that you are making, so better stick to simple facts and short blogs.

Bear in mind that most people who use the Internet usually do more scanning than scrutinizing each site word for word. Therefore, it would be better to come with blogs that will not bore your readers just because you have these lengthy articles.

5. Make it interactive

As much as possible and if your capacity will allow it, make your blog interactive. Yu can do this by placing some video or audio clips in your blog.

You can even place an area for comments or for some feedbacks. In this way, you can get some impressions or reactions of other people. Who knows, you might even gain some friends just by making them feel at home in your blog site.

Indeed, blogs are not created just for the mere fun of it. It also has its own purpose in the world of the Internet.
Therefore, for people who wish to harness their craft, as far as writing is concerned, blogs are the best way to do it.

As they say, blogging is the contemporary term of creative and commercial writing.

I must be an Idiot to Trade Forex Automatically

Trading Introduction

I have been a Trader of Shares, Futures and Foreign Exchange [Forex] for longer than I care to remember. I have made a lot of money and I have lost a lot of money. But throughout all the years, say 14,  I have longed for an automatic system to trade for me.

14 or 15 years ago this was unbelievable to even think about, but now in trading every body is using them. Or trying to use them. I say trying, because although I have used, tried, tested many, many automatic systems 99 to 100% of them fail.

In Forex it is understandably the rage, because this market trades for 24 hours nearly six days a week. It takes a lot of willpower to 'stare' at a pc screen for even 5 or 6 hours. But most Forex Intraday Traders are 'glued' to their screens 12 to 15 hours a day. Believe me, I have done this for many years and I know hundreds of traders that do the the same. It plays havoc with a social or a married life. But there are thousands of traders doing this week in, week out.

With Forex anybody with $50 can start trading. Most [but not all] traders use Technical Analysis/Trading. Where the Foreign Exchange Currency are displayed on a chart in various time scales, from 1 minute to 1 day or 1 week.The most popular Intraday time frame is 5 minutes to 60 minutes. Those who don't use Technical Analysis use Fundamental Analysis. The means rather than plotting a chart with things like Support & Resistance or Moving Averages & other Indicators the Trader uses the physical news about the currency.  The 'chart' packages are freely available from any of the thousands of brokers, especially the ones promoting Metatrader. This is a free charting package and is used from many thousands and probably millions of amateur and professionals alike.

The Forex Market is the biggest market in the world. Currencies of between 2 to 3 trillion dollars change hands every day. It starts off in Asia time zone with Australia, New Zealand & Japan etc, moving on to the European zone with London time zone being the biggest, when it merges with the New York, American market later. Then when the USA market is closing, it's time for the Asian market to start a new day again.

Forex trading has leverage for the trader. This means you can trade 100 to 200 times [or more] your account balance. This is great when your are winning, but it soon makes your account zero when you loose.

Automatic Trading

So most of the traders, especially the 24 hour Forex traders, want to find an automatic system. Metatrader makes this easy with software. They have built into it a function called an Expert Advisor, called an EA or Bot for short. Software writers make thousands of EA to try to trade like a person, or try to trade better than a human trader. In theory this is very manageable. An auto EA will take out all of the stress and the difficult decisions and just trade the market conditions as the software writer planned. That is in theory. I like many thousands of traders know in practice this isn't so. We have tested and tested thousands of EA Bots, all of them we hoped would set us free from watching the screen for many hours.

It doesn't matter if the auto EA is free or costing a lot of hard earned cash, most do not work. It is a sad fact of life they are hundreds of auto EA being sold online for $77, $97 or more, but 99% do not work. Or do not work for long, like 3 months or so. And to try to get these auto EA to work they ALL have a very big Stop Loss. That means for example, the EA will win say $10, but every time it losses it probably has a loss of some $200 or more!!

Part of trading is to accept a loss. That's OK, you cannot win 100%, I know plenty of traders that have a win to loss less than 50%. But their wins are bigger than their losses. That is the 'secret' of trading. But in all the thousands of EA I have tested and used, it is the other way around. So you back is 'against the wall' before you start. In many cases an EA will have a winning run of some tens of trades, but for a small amount and then when you are thinking, 'this is easy', the EA will have a huge loss, sometimes wiping out you whole account. Believe me, it happens every day.

Conclusion

If you thinking about trading, be very careful. It is the hardest job I have ever done and that includes being a commercial pilot. But it can be rewarding, if you learn to walk before you run. Actually you should never run at trading. There are Bold Traders and Old Traders, but never the same....

And do not put your trust into an automatic EA, until it's proved itself for 3 to 6 months on a Demo account.

I do not want to stop people from trading, it's a 'fun' way of making some money, but it is hard and it's very unforgiving, especially for the new people. There is no real structured learning path. Every one has to find a way from all  the 'stuff' online or from a broker or a mentor.