But this tip could not wait for any precursor articles about personal brand as time is of the essence. Plus it is super quick and cheap to implement so you can and should take action now.

You know the internet is massive in its reach and influence so protect your personal brand on the internet. One way to do that is with your own domain name like www.matthern.com

You’re probably already familiar with this concept as celebrities and experts in the media tend to all have their own domain.

Luckily I didn’t wait…

Don’t wait until you’re famous or even just recognised as being prominent before getting your own domain name. It’ll probably be too late.

Fortunately I took action within a week of being given this advice in May 2003. I later discovered there is a prominent Canadian author who shares my name. Now he includes another word before his name in his domain name.

I wonder how many of his fans land on my site by typing matthern.com into their browser out of habit? Don’t let that happen to you some time in the future. If I had waited until I started my own business then I would have missed out on my own .com domain name.

Your own domain name is useful right now too

Having your own domain name right now can give you your own dedicated e-mail address that you will have for your lifetime. Say goodbye to being shackled to your internet service provider because so many contacts have that e-mail address.

Plus next time you apply for a job you put that personalised e-mail address on your CV. Looks much more professional. And given it is not that common (yet) I bet it stands out to recruiters and makes them curious.

Later that domain will be the home of your blog. But that’s for another article.

Register your children’s names too

Immediately after they were born I registered domains for my two children, Sophie and Isaac. Plus I’ve registered domains for my wife and sister.

One day they will all thank me for protecting their personal brand. (And if they don’t thank me I’ll sell the domain name to the celebrity or other enlightened person of the same name. )

Quickly and cheaply getting your own domain name

You probably realise that .com domains are the most popular and recognisable. So if available buy yourname.com. The great news is that you don’t need to be a registered company to do so.

I use GoDaddy, one of the largest domain registrars. The domains are low cost, easy to register and come with a free personalised e-mail address at your own address. (Awesome!)

Buying .au Australian domain names

Australians may also like to buy the .com.au address, but there are restrictions in that you need to be a registered business with your own ABN. If you have an ABN then get your .com.au domain as well. (Unfortunately my uncle beat me to hern.com.au as he already had his own business.)

Don’t pay hundreds of dollars per year to register a .com.au domain. You can get them for about $30 to $40 for the minimum two year registration. (I’ve used Intaserve and Smartyhost. They are no frills but that’s ok for now since you just want to own the virtual real estate of your domain name.)

Got it? Now go register your name as a domain name and protect your personal brand.

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1. Why now is the time to cash in on your passion

Gary Vaynerchuk passionately believes that now is the time to be cashing in on your passion, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. In Crush It! Gary gives you an insight into his story of how he built his personal brand with great success through Wine Library TV. Plus he shares tips and strategies for how you too can cash in on your passion.

If you are seeking inspiration and motivation to profit from your passion then this is a great book to start with. (It certainly inspired my wife to get cracking.)  Crush It! is very big picture but also includes some of the “How To”s.

Watch my brief video review below for a summary of the tips Gary shares for how you too can Crush It! and cash in on your passion.

Related posts:

1. Making money writing about your passion
2. Try to make your passion a business
3. Protect your personal brand with your own domain name

The answer will have a significant impact on the tax you pay and the protection of your assets.

For an overview of the two major structures watch this brief video by lawyer Brett Davies.

Also read the full article on LawCentral in issue 262 of their regular Bulletin (dated 4th May 2009). You will need to pay a small fee to become a platinum subscriber to read the full article. But that’s a small price to pay compared to the tax you could save from what you learn.

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2. Checklist to ensure your SMSF deed is up to date
3. Try to make your passion a business

The Public Trustee in Western Australia provide a fantastic free serice called the WA Will Bank. They store your Will in a “purpose-built, fire-proof vault, keeping it safe from loss, theft or damage”.

This is a brilliant community service and I recommend it highly. When you store your copy of your Will at home just write on it that the original can be found at the WA Will Bank with the Public Trustee. Your family/friends with then easily be able to find it.

For interstate readers - I’ve browsed the websites of other state trustees but they don’t appear to offer a similar Will Bank service. If however you know of such a service please let me and other readers know in the comment section below.

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1. Create wealth with your home
2. Housing affordability an urgent problem, but who’s to blame?
3. Homecomings: the real reason to…

Over one million working-age parents with dependents will be impacted by death, serious accident or illness.

Many people overlook personal insurance thinking tragedy will never happen to them. Then a friend or family experiences tragedy and they get a wake-up call.

The latest research released yesterday reveals that it can and probably will happen to you at some time during your working life.

Let this research be your wake-up call to review your health, wellbeing and safety nets.
Research by NATSEM for Lifewise revealed that based on 2008 statistics:

• 18 Australian families lose a working age parent every day.
• Every year 235,790 working age parents suffer a serious illness or injury
• Every year over 17,000 working age parents are forced to stop working, either permanently or for an extended period of time.

More than one in five families will be impacted by an insurable event in their working lives.

Yesterday I was given a DVD called “Living with Water” about water safety with children. It’s aimed at preventing the drowning deaths of children under age five – 300 of which have occurred since 2000. That’s just over 30 drowning deaths per year targeted by this significant, government funded initiative.

The death of a child is tragic and I agree with our focus on water safety. Yet consider the massive impact on children and families when family income is slashed by injury, illness of death. And take note that more families per day are affected by that than are affected by the drowning death of a young child.

The financial impact

It should be no surprise that the basic levels of insurance you may automatically receive with your employer superannuation are nowhere near enough.

With typical levels of insurance cover the typical family with dependants will lose around half their income if tragedy strikes, according to the research by Lifewise/NATSEM.

Could you and your family survive on half your income?

When you consider the true likelihood of an insurable event and the financial and lifestyle impact, the cost of insurance cover is very affordable protection for your family.

Contact me to discuss how much insurance cover you may need and how affordable it can be.

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1. Life Saving Advice
2. She’ll be right mate – It won’t happen to me
3. Understanding Private Health Insurance

• Tradespeople wanting to go out on their own
• Professionals wanting to start their own consulting business
• Those wanting to start a business to pursue their passions (e.g. to open a restaurant)
• And those who believe that owning their own business is the only way to get rich.

If you too dream of going out on your own or starting a business then I strongly recommend that you read “The E-myth Revisited” by Michal E. Gerber before you quit your job.

Or if you know someone who has the self-employment goal then please do them a huge friendly favour and forward this article to them now.

Preferably you need to read The E-myth before you succumb to what Gerber calls ‘the Entrepreneurial Seizure’. That’s the point where something inside your head resoundingly declares “I could do this for myself’, and from that point on your world is not the same.

The E-myth

The ‘E-myth’ is the myth of the entrepreneur. Gerber describes it best:

At the heart of the e-myth is ‘the fatal assumption’ that if you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work. And the reason it is fatal is that it just isn’t true.

But the technician who starts a business fails to see this.

The real tragedy is that when the technician falls prey to the Fatal Assumption, the business that was supposed to free him form the limitations of working for somebody else actually enslaves him.

Self-employment enslaves many rather than frees them.

Now it’s not my intention to turn you off going into business. I do agree that many of the wealthiest people achieved their wealth by concentrating their risk and investing in their own business.

I want you to embark on that part of your journey with your eyes as wide open as possible to the realities of being in business. That is what Gerber does in “The E-myth”.

Inside The E-myth Revisited

The E-myth Revisited is written with a blend of traditional non-fiction text and parable. Gerber illustrates his points through the story of his client Sarah and her business “All About Pies.” This is a master stroke in getting the message across as Sarah experiences and expresses many of the emotions and questions that you do as you read the text.

If you’ve come across The E-myth after starting your business then you will likely relate to Sarah’s predicament. No matter how raw it feels stick with it as I promise you that the books also brings hope.

Part One of the book is essential reading for the aspiring self-employed person as you get an overview of the phases of business and some of the essential roles. One important distinction to grasp is the difference between:

• The Entrepreneur
• The Manager
• The Technician

And to realise that everyone who goes into business is actually the three roles in one. But the trap is that you start by operating too much in the technician role and neglect the important functions of the other two roles. Yet without completing the function of all three roles the technician becomes stressed and enslaved as mentioned earlier.

After reading part one pause for reflection and take a good hard look at your situation and motives.

Are you truly willing to do what it will take to be successful?

Your Primary Aim

You may have heard of self-employed people that their business is their life. The truth is that a successful business is not your life, though it can play a significantly important role in your life.

You need to decide what role that will be by considering what Gerber refers to as your primary aim. To me this chapter of the book is gold. In one sense you really should start here. But without having read the earlier sections you may be too dismissive and flippant in your answers.

To discover your primary aim Gerber suggests you ask yourself these questions:

• What do I value most?
• What kind of life do I want?
• What do I want my life to look like, to feel like?
• Who do I wish to be?

Those who have worked closely with me may not be surprised that I consider this chapter to be gold as it mirrors my approach to financial planning. The whole purpose of a business and of creating wealth is to facilitate the life that you want. So first you must start by defining what is most important to you.

If having reflected on your primary aim you decide your business aspirations are for the right reasons then read further into the book to learn what a successful business needs to look like.

Your Turn-key Operation – The Franchise Prototype

One of the big ideas in “The E-myth” is that every business can aim to be turn-key and operate in a methodical, repeatable way like the successful franchises such as McDonalds. Whilst many entrepreneurs may not ever plan to franchise they can still operate their business as if it were the prototype for a franchise.

The pay-off for creating a turn-key operation includes:

• Creating a real exit strategy. A well-run business that will continue to operate smoothly and profitably after sale is very attractive to buyers.
• More time for you in the other roles in your life. Plus your time in the business will be more enjoyable.

Enjoying being in business and then easily selling it for a bucket load of cash seems to be the aim of most aspiring entrepreneurs. So resist the temptation to dismiss this section just because you can’t imagine yourself as a McDonalds.

The essential business eye opener

Self-employment and a business can be extremely rewarding both personally and financially. Sadly for most it is not. Businesses can burn through your hard earned assets and strain your relationships to breaking point. You can end up in a place you never wanted to be and don’t know how to get out of. (Ask Sarah.)

Even if owning your own business is just a speck on the horizon I strongly recommend you promptly buy and read “The E-myth Revisited” by Michal E. Gerber.

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Average Australian Bull Market

Average Bull Market Duration: 38 months
Average Annual Bull Market Return: 30.8%

Average Australian Bear Market

Average Bear Market Duration: 15 months
Average Annual Bear Market Loss: -31.1%

Interesting, but don’t put too much weight (if any at all) on these sort of statistics when making your investment decisions.

Related posts:

1. How long markets have taken to recover
2. Volatile markets present a great opportunity
3. Four Lessons from the Market

Download and read the full article here.

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1. A guide to investment markets in 2010

My career crisis lasted much longer than I week. I had been getting progressively more miserable in my career as a petroleum engineer as I cycled through each placement on my graduate program with BHP Billiton Petroleum.

Then my 25th birthday arrived. This was a birthday that during high school had been one about which I had wondered what I would be doing. My life didn’t much resemble the high school fantasy.

My thoughts turned to one of the other future milestones – age 50 when I would have doubled my lifetime. I realised that I had worked with many people around that age who moaned about a lack of fulfillment and enjoyment in their jobs and careers. It suddenly dawned on me that if I continued my current path I would likely become one of those people at age 50.

Then I realised that if at age 50 I was one of those people and was still working in my first career as an engineer then my 50 year old self would want to go back and kick the butt of the 25 year old for not having the guts to do something about it.

That was my catalytic moment!

Finally I acted on the oft-repeated advice of my mentor at the time, Roger Dingle to read the book “What Colour Is Your Parachute?”

The job hunter’s and career changer’s bible

“What Colour Is Your Parachute?” by Richard Nelson Bolles is a fantastic resource. The first half you read and learn about some fantastic processes for identifying the job of your dreams. The second half of the book is systematic exercises that work through each element of a dream job including industry,  type of work, environment, responsibility, income, geographic location.

To complete the exercises you often start by thinking about what you have enjoyed in your life to date and methodically identify the characteristics that made it enjoyable. It takes time but the investment is worth it.

This is your fulfilling life we are talking about. Invest time now and you reap the rewards over your lifetime.

If you are pondering what career may be your passion then I strongly recommend you buy a copy of this book. Don’t borrow it from the library. Make the investment, write all through it and own the process.

If I had my time over I’d get help

Knowing what I know now I would go much further than the book. I should’ve also enlisted professional help with a career coach or counsellor.

But I was too tight! That ’s the main reason I didn’t speak to a professional. I was young and didn’t yet appreciate the immense value of professional guidance. The biggest value is intangible but it is there in spades.

The value includes:

• Enlightenment – discovering what I didn’t realise I needed to consider.
• Clarity - filtering out the irrelevant and lasering in on what is applicable to my circumstance.
• Direction - a road map of steps to do next and even resources to access.
• Timeliness – discovering all of the above much sooner, quicker and easier than if explored on my own. Time is limited for all of us. I love it when others can accelerate my progress to greater success and fulfillment. That reward is immense.

It was tough but the rewards followed

I almost halved my salary when I changed jobs from working as engineer to a paraplanner. Plus I had the extra costs of funding my post-graduate study. Yes, that was hard.

But within two years I was promoted to a role with a salary package that exceed my former engineering package. And I was much happier.

You can do it too

I was able to handle the drop in income because I had been a reasonable saver and had planned ahead. You can do it to.

If you ponder a career change in your future life plan don’t let money be your hand brake. Start planning and saving now to have the financial resources to support you in pursuing your passion and a more fulfilling life.

Pursue your passions and wealth follows.

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‘Consumers are still cautious about the debt they build up on credit cards. An analysis by card operator Mastercard shows that only 70.8 per cent of the total $46.9bn in credit card debt is accruing interest, which is the lowest level in a year.’

“Shoppers splash out $21bn on their credit cards” by David Uren, The Weekend Australian, February 13-14, 2010″

Over seventy percent of credit card debt is accruing interest. That’s outrageous! I hope that is a large amount of debt held by a small percentage of card holders – but I already know I hope in vain. Other research shows that around fifty percent of credit card holders regularly pay interest on their credit cards.

The first, most important rule of getting rich

It’s outrageous that in 2010 this is the case when the basic rule of personal financial management (and wealth creation) is to spend less than you earn. Such credit card statistics just reinforce the fact that as a society we are terrible at this basic rule and so we can only point the finger inward when we are dissatisfied with our financial achievements

But that is not what made me double-back over the paragraph. What astounded me was that the journalist Mr Uren described that high percentage as consumers being cautious about the debt built up on their credit cards.

Repay debt before building cash savings

On Wednesday I was again asked a question I am commonly asked by people with large credit cards debts, “should I use my cash savings to repay part of my credit card?”

Absolutely! Mathematically it is a no-brainer.

You earn less interest on your cash savings than the interest you pay on the credit card debt. So you are further ahead by actually having less cash and less debt.

After giving that advice the next thing I sometimes hear is “oh yeah but that cash is savings for a…[big holiday]“.

You’re joking right? Don’t even think about splashing out and probably getting into more debt while you’ve got this big anchor of credit card debt accruing interest. You’ll never get rich that way, let alone have enough money for what’s really important. (In the flesh I am much more diplomatic, honest.)

What do you think?

• Am I over-reacting to be outraged and astounded by this newspaper paragraph and credit card statistic?
• Is my suggestion about savings vs credit card to simplistic to be realistic? What makes you struggle to implement it? (share it below and I’ll reply with some suggestions.)
• Are we perhaps not socially and behaviouraly mature enough to handle credit cards? Are they legal weapons of mass financial destruction?

Please share your opinions in the comment section below. I read them all and respond as often as I can.

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