WhatsApp Raises Minimum Age for EU Users to 16 Ahead of GDPR Implementation

With the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) looming on the horizon and coming into effect as of 25 May 2018, many prominent companies across various fields are beginning to take steps designed to protect themselves from the heavy fines that accompany violations of the new legislation. The latest to show their hand in this regard is the popular Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp, making it one of the first online messaging services to act in response to the upcoming changes.

WhatsApp have announced that in order to comply with the terms set out by the GDPR, which bans the processing of personal information of children under 16 unless a parent or legal guardian provides consent, they will simply raise their minimum age for users to 16 and effectively prohibit any users from whom they cannot gather data from using the service altogether.

Outside of the EU where the GDPR will have no effect, WhatsApp’s minimum age will remain at 13; a clear indication that their primary concern is the gathering of data for advertising and monetary purposes, rather than user experience.

Particularly unclear is how exactly the company plans to enforce the new age limit as they have never asked users to disclose their date of birth and they have already stated that this “will not change with the new update”. Basically they will in effect continue to gather data from underage users whom they know are making use of the service by lying about their age, but by covering themselves in their terms and conditions they can do so without penalty.

As for parent company Facebook, their flagship platform will do things a little differently. Users of the site under the age of 16 will be directed to a parent or guardian who can then give the company permission to gather data; if permission is not granted these users will not be subject to targeted advertising, nor will they be allowed to include and religious or political views on their profile.

“These teens will see a less personalised version of Facebook with restricted sharing and less relevant ads until they get permission from a parent or guardian to use all aspects of Facebook,” the company said.



Source: https://www.leftclickrightclick.com/2018/04/whatsapp-raises-minimum-age-for-eu.html

Easy ways for over 50s to earn extra cash

We all enjoy earning a bit of extra cash. Whether you are topping up your pay cheque or your pension income, it’s often this money we feel we can justify spending on treats or luxuries instead of just paying the bills.

Research from Sun Life shows that as many as 17% of over 50s are making money outside work and it’s not just those on low incomes. The numbers rose to 23% of those earning between £40,000 and £50,000, compared to just 10% for workers earning less than £10,000.
Ian Atkinson, marketing director at Sun Life, says: “Our Big 50 research reveals that 17% of people aged 50 and over earn money in ways other than through their main job or pension, such as selling things on eBay or through Airbnb, while a further one in 12 says they plan to find a new way to make money.”

• Nearly half of Moneywise users make money on the side

He adds: “The most common way people are earning extra cash is by selling things and renting out property, but other ways include private tutoring, freelance writing, selling cakes, dog walking and taxi driving.”
Your job will limit just how much time you’re able to spend topping up your income, but if you have already retired or downsized your career, it’s easy to find ways to earn a bit of extra money. Some could bring you in a few extra pounds a month, while others could bring in hundreds. Get inspired, with a few ideas from Moneywise.

Take care of pets

Looking after people’s pets when they go on holiday or are at work is a great way for animal lovers to earn some extra money. This usually involves visiting the owner’s home as often as is required to make sure their four-legged (or otherwise) friend is fed and gets the exercise – and attention – it needs.
Jacqui Summer (pictured below), 64, has been getting work taking care of other people’s dogs through Pawshake.co.uk, which matches owners of cats and dogs who need help with local pet sitters.
“I was working as a dental receptionist and gradually started reducing my hours, but I saw an advert for Pawshake and thought I would give it a go to supplement my income,” she explains.

Now fully retired, Jacqui has left her former home of Gosport in Hampshire and moved to Kendal in the Lake District earlier this year. However, as she promotes her services online, it has proved easy to take her work with her.
“I was able to take all my customer reviews with me and all I had to do was update my address on my profile – it has been a lifeline for me,” she says.
A couple of months down the line, Jacqui has a couple of regular clients. “I’m looking after a nervous dog that has just been rehomed and another whose owner travels overseas,” she says.
To provide care for a dog, Jacqui charges £25 for 9am to 5pm or £40 for 24 hours, with 19% of this fee going to Pawshake (it’s free for pet sitters to list their services on the website).

• Six ways to cash in on your commute

For Jacqui, the work has helped her get to know her new local area and keeps her fit, but she admits it’s not for everyone. “I’ve been able to fit the work around my lifestyle and as you get older it is important that what you do gives you pleasure,” she says. “But it’s not all glory; it’s hard work especially if you are taking care of dogs in your own home.”
It’s also important to check you have adequate insurance – particularly public liability insurance, which covers you if a dog you are responsible for causes damage or injures somebody under your supervision. If you’re using a site such as Pawshake, this may well be included but if you are making arrangements privately, check what the owner’s pet insurance will cover – for peace of mind, you may wish to set up your own specialist insurance with a pet insurance company.

Appear on TV

If you have time to spare during the working week, you might be able to get work as an extra in a TV show or film. You don’t need experience – all you need is to be able to turn up when you are required and follow instructions from the director.
The best way to get work is to register with a casting agency such as Casting Collective (Castingcollective.co.uk) or Ray Knight Casting (Rayknight.co.uk).
At the time of writing, Casting Collective, was looking for men and women in Bristol of all ages for a 1950s Laurel and Hardy film being shot in Bristol, as well as men and women of all ages and ethnicities for a major new feature film in and around Cardington, Bedfordshire.

• How to make money from social media

You’ll need to provide a selection of photographs, your measurements, passport details and a national insurance number. Also tell them about any skills you might have that could get you more or better paid work – for example, whether you can dance or play a particular sport.
They will also want to know the ins and outs of your wardrobe – in particular, whether you have any uniforms. Ray Knight Casting, for example, promotes the fact it has lots of people on its books that can supply their own police uniform.
Rates depend on where in the country you are working, what you will need to do or say and which of the three main union agreements the production uses. As a guide, extras working in the South East can expect between £70 and £100 for a nine-hour day, however a slice of this will be taken by your agent as commission (Casting Collective charges a 15% commission).

Become a life model

Richard Jordan (pictured below), 68, from Bristol, was lucky enough to retire from his job as an operations director for a haulage company in his early 50s, but he’s still earning money to keep his income topped up.
Richard, a naturist, regularly models for still life art classes. “I do it about two to three times a week at the moment with art schools and colleges. I was lucky to get £7 an hour when I started, but now it’s between £12 and £15 an hour.”

Although he finds the work therapeutic, he says it’s not easy money. “You need to be able to think about what you are doing and hold a pose for up to an hour. I’m always tired at the end, but I do put down much of my fitness to the modelling.”
Richard says anyone can model for art classes and that it’s your attitude that’s more important than your body shape. “Being waxed and toned isn’t what it’s about,” he says. “It’s about the human body in all its forms.”
He also says there’s a lot of demand for the right models. “Colleges find it difficult to find people who are reliable and have the right attitude,” he says. If this is for you, give your local art college a call.
In addition to modelling, Richard also runs a naturist campsite from land he owns south of Bristol. “It’s not a big money maker, but it means that our holiday home is paid for by the campers and the Christmas trees we sell down there,” he says.

Rent a room

If you’ve got the room to spare, taking in a lodger can be a fantastic money-spinner – especially as the government’s rent a room scheme enables you to earn up to £7,500 each year without paying any tax on your rental income.
Jan Knight (pictured below), 64, who works in charity management, lets out two rooms in her home in Willesden Green, north-west London, via the website Spareroom.co.uk.  “We’ve got two sons in their late 20s and since they’ve moved out we’ve had the space to do it,” she says. “It’s a good form of income, but when the government introduced the rent-a-room scheme it became even better as that income is now tax free.”

Jan, and her husband Keith who has retired, charge £550 a calendar month for one room and £480 for the second, which is only available Monday to Friday, so that they have space for their sons to visit at weekends. Jan says: “The extra money allows us to spend money on the house – it makes a noticeable difference to the family finances.”
But Jan and Keith enjoy other benefits than simply cash. “The people we’ve had are mostly great and, in some cases, you end up loving them to bits! There is also such a shortage of housing in London that it feels good to be doing our bit,” says Jan. “Another perk is that there is always someone at home to feed the cat when we go on holiday.”
Jan and Keith have found it quick and easy to fill their rooms. “When we’ve advertised a room late on a Thursday, it’s generally gone by the end of the weekend,” says Jan. “The fact that Spareroom.co.uk has a downloadable contract to use is great too.”

Sell homemade crafts

If you’re artistic or crafty, it’s never been easier to sell your wares. Rather than relying on stalls at fetes and fairs, sites such as Etsy and Folksy enable you to bring your creations to the masses, 24/7.

• 20 ways to make money in your spare time

Etsy charges 16p to list an item and then you pay a 3.5% commission and a 4% plus 20p payment-processing fee. Folksy’s basic package charges 15p plus VAT per item listed plus 6% plus VAT in commission.
Alternatively, you can sell for free on social media platforms such as Facebook – join local groups and networks so you won’t be limited to selling to your own friends or contacts.

Clear clutter

Ebay is an easy way to earn money from the contents of your loft or the kids’ old bedrooms. There are also plenty of people that actively search out bargains at car boot sales and the like and then sell them on to the highest bidder online in the hope of turning a profit. But there are other ways to cash in on your clutter too.
Carole Edge (pictured below), a 63-year-old retiree from Sandhurst in Berkshire, has taken clutter clearance to a new level by selling what she regarded as junk via the website VintageCashCow.co.uk. “We moved house a while ago and had so much clutter,” she says. “There were things of ours and from both sets of our parents.”
Carole saw an advert for the website on Facebook and although she was a bit dubious at first, she decided to give it a go because it was free. “I packed up a shoebox of things such as watches and old jewellery, most of it broken and not working. There were some cut-glass candlesticks, old coins, some pearls that I didn’t know were real or not. It was just junk really.”
Carole sent the box off using the prepaid labels and packaging that Vintage Cash Cow sent and on receipt of the items she was offered a quote which she decided to accept. “There was nothing in the box that I was sorry to lose and I got around £400. I was gobsmacked!”

• Easy ways to earn an extra £1,000 a year

Now that she’s seen how smoothly the process works, she’s considering packing up another box of items that she knows are of greater value. “I would recommend it to anyone who has all this sort of stuff accumulated,” she says.

Take online surveys

If you like voicing your opinions, why not get paid for them? Online survey websites will send surveys to your inbox and the more you complete, the more you will earn. You could be quizzed on anything from your political views, to TV, radio, new product launches or an advertising campaign.
Each site operates differently, so make sure you know how it works and how you’ll be paid.
Among the most popular sites is I-say.com, which is run by Ipsos. It pays between 5p and £1.80 per survey and once you’ve racked up £10 you can claim your payment in vouchers for retailers including Amazon, Argos, Boots and John Lewis.

Other ways to boost your income

• Experienced medical secretaries can top up their income by typing up letters and medical reports for doctors through websites such as DICT8, which says that you can earn from around £500 to £1,000 a month working a couple of hours a day.
• Teachers can get extra income from private tutoring. According to Tutorpages.com, the average rate for academic tutoring up to age 14 is between £30.40 and £32 an hour.
• Musicians can earn around £33.20 an hour teaching musical instruments (Tutorpages.com).
• If you have car parking space, you don’t need and live close to a train station, airport, town centre, hospital, sports or entertainment venue, plenty of people will pay to use it. JustPark.com matches space owners with drivers that need to park, and it’s free to list your space. A space near St Alban’s train station in Hertfordshire, for example, which is a 20-minute commute to London, would net you around £5 a day. 
• If you have time to spare in May and June, why not look into becoming an exam invigilator at a local school or college. Experience may not be required, but you will need a DBS check. Average earnings are around £10 an hour.
• Your home doesn’t need to be stately to make it appealing to film-makers. You can market your home to production companies via agencies such as Amazingspaces.co.uk or The Collective (Location-collective.co.uk). Homes around London are most in demand. Amazing Spaces says earnings start from £100 a day for a small photoshoot to £2,000 a day for filming.

Do I need to tell the taxman?

In the current tax year (2017/18), everyone is able to earn £11,500 before they have to pay tax. However, for the first time this personal allowance is being boosted by two separate new income tax allowances for so-called ‘micro-entrepreneurs’.

• Taxes, personal allowances and limits - what you'll pay in 2017/18

The new property and trading allowances, which were introduced in April this year, enable people to earn £1,000 from property and £1,000 for selling goods without paying income tax on those earnings.

Source: Rachel Lacey

Mobile money-saving app Qapital raises $30 million to spend on growth

Qapital, one of a slew of mobile applications trying to make it easier for users to save money (and spend it more wisely), has raised $30 million in fresh financing as it expands beyond savings to offer investment advisory services.

Since its launch in the U.S. in 2015, Qapital  has amassed roughly 420,000 users that have saved nearly $500 million on the platform, according to the company.

But Qapital is more than just a Digit -style savings tool these days. The company has also folded in Qapital Spending through a linked Visa Debit Card that works with money saved through the app — as well as a budgeting tool called Qapital Weekly Spending Target.

The company now has designs on the robo-investment market through Qapital Invest, a new product that Qapital expects to roll out before the end of the year.

Financing that push into investment advisory is the $30 million war chest the company just raised from big Nordic investment firms Swedbank Robur, Norron, SEB Stiftelsen and Athanase, with additional participation from the Nordic venture capital firm Northzone .

Qapital’s approach combines tools that have been rolled out into financial services verticals by startups like Digit, Acorns,  Betterment, Wealthfront and Clarity Money (which was recently acquired by Goldman Sachs) .

Using certain principles of behavioral economics, Qapital tries to encourage users to save money towards goals and make better financial choices overall.

The company’s executive team even includes the renowned fintech startup whisperer Dan Ariely,  who serves as chief behavioral economist for Qapital when he’s not moonlighting as the James B. Duke professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, and a ​New York Times​ best-selling author.

Ariely’s theories helped shape Qapital’s “rules” and “goals” approach to money management, where users set short-term and long-term goals for themselves and then create spending rules to help them achieve those goals. Rules can vary from “save a dollar every time I buy a coffee” to “save $2 anytime I use a credit or debit card.”

“Building personal banking products that people love is hard, and traditional banks to date haven’t done enough to inspire and engage their customers,” said Pär Jörgen Pärson, Chairman of the Qapital Board and general partner of Northzone, in a statement. “Qapital understands that through building a great product that is easy to use and winning its customers’ trust, we will inspire happiness and empower people to meet their goals.”

The new capital should provide some defensibility for Qapital as the industry looks to head into a period of consolidation. 

As George Friedman,  Qapital’s chief executive and co-founder noted in an email, “banks haven’t done enough to inspire and engage customers, and … banks simply can’t match the innovation speed of start-up challengers.”

With the Goldman Sachs acquisition of Clarity Money,  Friedman says,”there is real demand among consumers for financial products with financial management tools built in.”

 Source: Jonathan Shieber

To Get Wealthy You Need To Get Comfortable With Lots Of Money

“I love money and I love the idea of making even more money!”

Say that aloud and see if you’re comfortable saying it.

Can you say this to a friend comfortably – in fact, can you say it as passionately as when you’re explaining your latest travel adventure?

If not, some negative money beliefs may be holding you back.

The problem with negative or limiting beliefs about money is that they will cause you to subconsciously sabotage yourself along the way in your quest to earn more money.

On one hand you will want to earn money but on the other hand your subconscious belief that “Money is the root of all evil.” will contradict that initial idea and it will hold you from attaining more money.

Somewhere in our past we were taught to believe that there is something wrong with having a lot of money.

Why Do We Believe Having Lots Of Money Is Bad?

I think the main reason why this is so is because when we hear about people with a lot of money, in most cases, we hear negative stories. Especially on TV.

They don’t to tell us about a successful entrepreneur who has built a super green ultra-light airplane which won NASA’s “green flight challenge” for the third time in a row.

That’s not what we hear, we hear about Bernie Madoff or we hear about the greedy stock brokers or the bankers that keep getting fat bonuses even though they pushed us to the brink of economic collapse.We associate people with a lot of money with bad things.

We may do that consciously or subconsciously but that’s what we do.

And so we don’t want to be associated with those people.

Why? Well, because most people around us think the same way.

“If you have a lot of money you must have done something dishonest because ordinary people, even if they are very smart, don’t have a lot of money.

So how come you, a normal guy who doesn’t have an IQ of 200 and is not a member of MENSA… How come you are so rich and I am not if I´m just as capable as you are?“

And so that’s what most people around us will feel. And because we feel the same way, we project that on other people too. We believe everyone feels the same.

And so we don’t want to be the person with a lot of money expressing freely how much you love money. And so you become a victim of self-sabotage. And so you don’t get the money.

You will unconsciously perform actions that will stop you from earning a lot of money.

Success Or Money?

And one of those actions is how we avoid talking about “money” and instead refer to it as “success”.

“Online business success.” “Did you succeed online?”

Why are you substituting the word success with money? It’s money. “How much money did you earn?”

I am earning $10,000 a month could be a good answer. If you’re not comfortable saying that than you will not earn $10,000 a month.

Of course discomfort may change over time. So you might be comfortable earning $5000 but not more.

But when you’re earning $5000 you realize this is really cool I’d like to earn $7000.

And as soon as you allow yourself to earn $7000 per month and feel comfortable thinking about it, you will be able to earn that much at some point.

And if you’re not comfortable you might get stuck even though you’re consciously saying I would like to earn $7000 or $10000. But in your subconscious there might be a block of staying at $5000.

Anthony Robbins – the famous motivational speaker – wrote about dealing with his own money beliefs in one of his books.

I don’t remember exactly which book but perhaps you can Google that and find out how he was stuck at I think one million dollars per year and once he reached that he was not able to earn more and move forward until he realized that he had a limiting belief about money.

He believed that one million dollars per year was enough. It was simply enough to live well and that anything more was simply being greedy.

(In fact, you might nod your head while reading this and agreeing to this idea – and that’s where you would get stuck too if you reached a million dollars per year. That’s your limiting belief too.)

And so when he was able to overcome that, he was able to earn more. But what that translates into actually is not doing bad, evil business; it’s just that he was then able to expand his business.

Before he was subconsciously stopping opportunities that would actually allow him to expand his business and earn more.

And once he realized that earning more than the million dollars per year is fine then he actually expanded his business and he was able to help more people.

Your Income Is The Reflection Of Your Value In The World

How much money you earn is nothing else than your value in the world.

This formula defines your income:

“How much money you earn in your life is how much value you provide to people times how much you think you are actually worth.”

So you might be providing a lot of value to people but if you think that this is not really worth a lot (and that comes down to your self-esteem!) then you won’t earn a lot of money.

And if you believe that what you’re offering is extremely valuable then you will raise the price of your services or products and that will multiply into a lot of money.

And this is where most people get stuck.

They might actually offer a lot of value, but they don’t think it’s actually that valuable.

They think it’s nothing special. Because they think they are nothing special.

(Where they acquired that belief is another topic. You can dig deeper into psychology and parenting – that’s where I believe it all stems from).

So again the key question, the key point is “how much money you earn is how much value you provide times how worthy you think you are”.

And how worthy you think you are is typically stuck at the same point for years – while in fact it should be growing and growing. And this is another point where people get stuck.

10 years ago you might not have been as worthy as you are right now. Because you were less skilled and experienced than you are now.

So yes, at that point you were not as worthy and as valuable and you couldn’t charge so much for your services or products – but in time you learned more, gained more experience and now your information is more valuable to people.

But in your mind you stayed at the same level.

If you were an adult 10 years ago, you didn’t really change much until now – physically or personally.

You still have the same friends, live in a similar way and it seems that everything is more or less the same – BUT your information is much more valuable now!

You now have much more experience and you can help people faster in whatever you are doing.

And so you need to value your information more in time.

Actually every year you should charge more for your services because you’re smarter, you have more experience and you bring more value to people.

And I think this is where a lot of us get stuck. At some point we judge our value and we say “This is how much I’m worth now.”

And we don’t feel that we have changed in time.

Why? Because you’re changing extremely slowly. Like a child grows. When you’re with a child you don’t see the child growing.

When your grandmother or some relatives sees your child once every month they say: “Wow, how much he’s grown!” They can see the difference.

So you, yourself you don’t actually see the difference in your teaching or whatever you’re doing.

But if someone (honest and sincere) you have taught 5 years ago would come back again and you would teach that person again, that person would say: ”Wow, your teaching is so much better now. You should charge more.”

Love of Money and Integrity

In order for you to be comfortable with money and earn a lot of money you must be able to say: ”Money is fantastic. I love money.”

But not at the cost of losing your integrity. Because that’s the problem, you might lose integrity.

The money thing is extremely addictive. It’s one of the greatest powers for your ego.

Your ego thrives on money. Because money gives you power.

And why do we thrive on money? Why do we need that power?

Because our power was taken away when we were children.

By parents, by bullies in school, by coaches, by teachers, by stronger people and you lost your power and now you’re fighting back for that power with money and status: your car, your house, your travels, your stories, with your facebook pictures where you are always perfectly happy.

That’s just a sign of power that you want to present to other people. And you need money for that.

And so that’s where the problem can begin: where your love of money or your ego takes over integrity and you want money at any cost.

And that can be the problem with loving money.

But if you don’t lose integrity then there is no problem with loving money and in fact that’s the only way to earn a lot of money and be wealthy and be free.

The real question you need to ask yourself is why do I need money? Do I need money to show something to other people? Or to gain power for my ego? Or do I need money for myself?

If I’m going to the Australian Open for myself to watch Roger Federer from Row 4 then I love money, it’s fantastic. If I fly business class there, 9 hours from Bangkok to Melbourne it’s just fantastic.

I’m not doing that for showing off. I’m not doing that for anyone. I’m doing that for my personal pleasure and enjoying life. And so I need money to do that.

And so if I don’t have money I’m going to go to the local store and eat something and stay in Slovenia for the rest of my life and take two vacations per year. And that’s not good enough for me in the one short life that I have.

Life Is A Game With One Life

I used to play computer games when I was a kid. At some point I started playing a very difficult game (Baldur’s Gate 2) where I kept dying and the game kept saying “Save often because you will die often!”

So when you died you could reload and play from there onwards.

Eventually I became better and started reading forums about this game. Then a new craze came out: how to complete the game without dying once!

Once I started playing the game that way, it sort of dawned upon me later that – well this is my life. This is my life from zero to 100 or 80; I don’t know how many years I will live.

And I have one single life and I have just one chance to get through life from zero to the end without dying. So what do I want to do with it? Am I going to go to work and sit in my office and go to sleep and play some tennis and that’s it?

While all sorts of interesting things are happening around the world?

Tennis tournaments. Traveling around the world and meeting other people.Going to conferences.  Having fantastic vacations.

Why don’t I deserve that?

I do actually. I have just one life.

But on planet Earth I have to pay for everything.
This is planet Earth. This is not some imaginary world in Heaven where if I am nice they will let me stay in a five star hotel and watch Roger Federer from row 4.

No that’s not how this system works. It works ONLY by paying for it – you guessed it – with money.

So in order for me to fly to Melbourne and watch tennis which is a fantastic experience for me, not for someone else but it is for me, then I have to have a lot of money.

And I have to love money in order to get there.

And If I have a problem with earning a lot of money or think that money is the root of all evil or some negative beliefs about money, then I simply won’t get enough of it.

I will stop and self-sabotage myself subconsciously along the way of earning money.

Get Comfortable With LOTS Of Money!

If someone asks you how you’re doing financially, you need to be able to comfortably say: ”Hey, I’m earning tons of money and I love it”.

And if they’re jealous then they’re not wise enough. What they should do is respect you and say: ”Well, show me how to do it.”

That’s what a mature and wise person would do. But someone who is immature and unwise and has a lot of negative beliefs will be jealous and will not like you.

Well, I don’t like these people either. 😉

Why do you have to be liked by everyone? I don’t like people who don’t like me. I don’t need to be liked by everyone in this world.

I have a group of my best friends and a group of good friends and they don’t mind if I earn a lot of money. They’re happy for me.

Then there are other people who say: ”That’s fantastic – show me how to do it.”

That’s why you’re reading this blog. You want to see how I did it.

So that’s what it’s all about. Being open to new ideas and being honest about the idea of earning more money.

Getting Rid Of Limiting Money Beliefs

I am not an expert on getting rid of money beliefs so I can just point you to a couple of resources.

Go through the list of money beliefs and see which one of those make you uncomfortable. If some of those make you uncomfortable then that means you will self-sabotage yourself at some point.

You’re going to turn down a deal for a joint venture. You’re going to pass on the opportunity to publish your ebook on a successful publishing website.

You’re going to miss an appointment with an affiliate manager and never hear from him again.

You’re going to buy the wrong website; you’re going to sell the wrong website.

You’re going to hire the wrong freelancer. You’re going to hire the wrong designer. You’re going to make this mistake and that mistake.

And these things will not happen because you’re stupid but because your belief is preventing you from earning more money. Your limiting belief has set a level of money or income that you are comfortable with.

And when there’s chance you will earn more, you’ll feel uncomfortable and then do something to avoid this discomfort. And all that will probably happen totally outside of your conscious awareness.

So you need to deal with negative money beliefs now, consciously.

And be cool with it, life is a game with only one life, so how are you going to play it?

Source: http://www.freedomideas.com/to-get-wealthy-you-need-to-get-comfortable-with-lots-of-money/

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Could you join the T-shirt millionaires?

The site that lets you create designs for free and earn money if they're a hit

Ever looked at the T-shirts on offer and though you could do a better job?

You might have an amazing idea but even then there is the risk that it could crash and burn, leaving you out of pocket and with boxes of T-shirts in the garage that you were convinced would sell like hotcakes.

Tapping into that entrepreneurial spirit but desire to avoid things going wrong, website Teespring offers aspiring designers a chance to test the waters and only incur costs if T-shirts sell.

It's part of the new world of 'on-demand' commerce - and has made some of its sellers a fortune. 

The site was founded in San Francisco in 2012 and has sent 19 million products to 180 countries to date. It claims to have already made its users more than $300million (£240million) - including 30 millionaires. 

Today, the company has three offices in the US, and one in London. 

Teespring millionaire: 'I want to build my own brands and hit $10m'

Sumit Sinha, 26, started his T-shirt business with a fellow student while he was still at university. 

He originally wanted to build his own online marketplace, but a lack of start-up capital meant he turned to Teespring. 

None of Sumit's original designs made anything but eventually the sheer volume of ideas being produced meant that he struck gold.

Striking gold: Sumit Sinha kept going until he found designs that were a hit

'After about 20 or so campaigns, and midway through our total testing budget, we hit our first big winner. That more than made up for all the losses we had made thus far and then some,' he says.

'We realised the more campaigns we launched, the more our chances of hitting a winner. Without wasting time we started launching as many campaigns as we could. We then hit on another winner and hired our first employee.'

His company, Scaleswift, have a dedicated research team that scout for phrases and trends to inspire new designs. 

'We do research to find what is trending in the market and what people are looking for. Then our creative team comes up with their ideas about how those phrases can be best represented on a shirt. Finally, it goes to the design team.'

He says that the perfect design is a combination of many different factors: The combination of quote or phrase with the design itself, but then also the right audience targeting, and effective advertising.

Today, Sumit, who is from Bihar in Eastern India, has 16 employees and around 10,000 designs. His turnover ranges between $1.2million and $1.5million a year (£1-£1.2million). But his ambitions stretch further still.

'We want to hit $10million turnover by building long term brands. More importantly, we want to increase our size to 100 people over the next three years and build a long term, profitable company.'

How does Teespring work? 

Users create their idea using the Teespring designer and decide how much they want to sell it for, after the 'base fee'. 

This fee includes the cost of manufacturing, production, handling, Teespring's cut and customer services after the product has been sold.

Teespring's initial cut is 25 per cent, but can fall to as low as 15 per cent depending on how many you sell.

The cost is also determined by the level of quality you opt for, taking the base cost from around £7 for basic, up to £11 for 'top of the line'.  T-shirts are the main focus but would-be entrepreneurs can also design other products such as sweatshirts and mugs.

Users can upload designs, or use those already provided by the website, such emoticons shapes and pictures of animals. Most of the designs are intended to be funny or politically engaging - or a mix of the two.

The products are made to order, so if no one commissions one of your T-shirts it won't have cost you anything - apart from your time. 

Teespring also incentivises sellers by awarding them five levels of membership depending on how many units they've shifted and offering perks like free translation services when they reach the higher echelons of membership.

What's the catch?

UK customers who want to buy your products will have to fork out for shipping costs - between £2.75 and £3.99 for the first item and £1 for every additional item (or £3.50 for mugs).

You are also expected to find your own customers. Teespring provides free design and marketing tools but you will need to think carefully about your design, target audience and your marketing campaign to make sure it gains traction. 

This means it would be helpful to already have a strong social media following or ready audience of some form. 

Some Teespring sellers like Alison (featured below) choose to advertise through Facebook, although obviously this will ramp up initial costs.

If your design infringes on someone else's intellectual property, for example by featuring an existing trademark, logo or fictional character, the site will remove it. 

Likewise, if you are deemed to be copying someone else's Teespring campaign then you won't be allowed to sell on the site.

'I left a 25-year career at DWP to make a living out of T-shirts'

Former civil servant Alison Scott left her 25-year career behind to sell through Teespring, after her witty and politically-charged merchandise proved to be a hit.

Alison: 'If you can find an audience, your sales are basically unlimited'

Alison was a deputy director at the Department for Work and Pensions  when she started designing T-shirts, mugs and bags on the website in 2015.

She has gone on to leave her government job and build a successful online business, Stow shirts, which encompasses T-shirts, mugs and bags.

At first business was trickling in, but then her 'All I want for Christmas is EU' T-shirt became a runaway success after the referendum result last year, selling thousands during the festive party season.

She says: 'I started in a very slow and part-time way, just doing the odd shirt as I felt like it. And then in June I had a running shirt and thought "maybe I could make a go of this"'. 

'I quickly had two or three more designs that sold, 20 or 30 shirts, and at that point, I ran some numbers and thought it would definitely work. Christmas 2016 was better than I was expecting, though.'

Alison, who is based in Walthamstow in East London, is proactive about marketing her designs, using Facebook advertising to get the word out. 

She adds: 'I think the tipping point was my first profitable Facebook ad that scaled. That was when I saw the power of the platform, that if you can just find your audience your sales are essentially unlimited. 

'And that rang a bell, because I'd been looking to build a new career in an area where I could lever my work, so that I did something once and sold it many times.'

By ELEANOR LAWRIE FOR THISISMONEY.CO.UK