Time for Retirement But Scared and Nervous about Retiring

This is my latest e-mail from a reader of one of my books:

----- Original Message -----
To: Ernie Zelinski
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 3:45 PM
Subject: How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Dear Ernie,

I bought your retirement book a few months ago after I gave my six-month notice at work. I have been too inundated at the office to contemplate the huge change that's about to occur. Buying your book and reading it in advance was the smartest thing I could have done.

I've been trying to soak up every page, although I may need some re-soaking once I cross the finish line. Your book has been extraordinarily helpful, and I want to thank you so much for writing it.

I'm starting to get scared and nervous, despite the book's encouragement and affirmation of my own thoughts. I've never taken a leap into the unknown before, and your words have given me a little courage for a decision that I struggled with for several years.

I wish one of your [retirement] resources was a newly-retired support group. Perhaps your next book could be a bit more geared towards women, as my only complaint was that it was somewhat male-oriented. I just wrote a review on Amazon and gave you five stars, which you were on the brink of anyway. Good luck on your future writing which I'm looking forward to reading. You have another devoted fan.

Joan

This was my reply:

Hello Joan:

Thank you for your e-mail and your kind words about How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

I normally ask people who e-mail me with kind words like this to put a review of the book on Amazon.com and I try to bribe them by offering them a complimentary signed copy of one of my other books.

Since you have already placed a great review on Amazon.com, all I need is your full name and your address.

Come to think of it, if this is possible, can you also try to place the same review on Barnes and Noble.com.

In any event, once you send me your address, I will send you a copy of my latest book Career Success Without a Real Job (a Free E-book with sample material is attached) given that you have indicated in your pen name on Amazon.com that you want to be a writer.

Many thanks and so long for now,

Ernie J. Zelinski
Author, Innovator, and Unconventional Career Expert
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 110,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)

Check out my Latest websites:

Friendship Poems and Quotes on Squidoo

The Joy of Being Retired

Best Love Quotes on Squidoo

I Love the The 4-Hour Workweek

As the author of the international bestseller The Joy of Not Working (over 225,000 copies sold) and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (over 110,000 copies sold) I follow the principles in my books.

Indeed, I have a great lifestyle. I work only 4 to 5 hours a day and make a comfortable living. In my books I advocate that people leave corporate life as soon as possible and work less than half the hours of the average working stiff. I always considered that the paradigm that I operate with is much different than that of the average working person.

But after reading The 4-Hour Workweek, I realize that my paradigm is much closer to that of the average working person than that of Tim Ferris. I now want to operate closer to the level of Tim Ferris. I love this book.

There is a lot of valuable material in this classic that we all can use although we may never get to the point of working only 4 hours a week. We may be able to work only two hours a day, however, and still make a great living. Some of the most important principles in this book are:

• Get unrealistic.


• Practice the art of nonfinishing.


• Cultivate selective ignorance.


• Do not multi-task.


• Outsource as much of your life as you can.


• Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.


• Forget about time management.

This book is written for ordinary people who want to accomplish extraordinary things with minimal time involved. Here are five of several favorite inspirational quotes from The 4-Hour Workweek:

1. The blind quest for cash is a fool's errand.


2. It's lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for "realistic" goals, paradoxically making them the most time-consuming and energy consuming. It is easier to raise $10,000,000 than it is $1,000,000. It is easier to pick up the one perfect 10 in the bar than the five 8s.


3. The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit home runs while everyone is aiming for base hits.


4. Tens of thousands of people, most of them less capable than you, leave their jobs every day. It's neither uncommon nor fatal.

How Much Retirement Income Do Retirees Need to Retire Comfortably?

Conventional wisdom in the financial industry says that people need about 80 percent of their pre-retirement income to be comfortable after retiring. Some financial advisors are now raising this to 90 percent, even 110 percent of pre-retirement income.

In my opinion, this is ridiculous. In my book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free, I give eight reasons why, generally speaking, people should get by with 65 percent of pre-retirement income.

In fact, highly respected Canadian actuary Malcolm Hamilton says the true number is closer to 50 per cent.

Hamilton points out that the investment industry has a vested interest in telling people that they need a high retirement income because the retirement income and most of them seem quite satisfied with their financial circumstances after they retire," Mr. Hamilton says.

Check out some of my latest webpages and posts:

The Joy of Being Retired: 365 Reaons Why Retirement Rocks (and Work Sucks)

What Makes a Good Retirement Friend

Headlines about Retirement That Are Not So Pleasant

Being retired affords you the time to say Hi to babies. (From my new book The Joy of Being Retired: 365 Reasons Why Retirement Rocks and Work Sucks.)

Here are some recent headlines about retirement that are not so pleasant for people who want to take early retirement or for retirees already in retirement.

For a Healthy Retirement, Keep Working
New York Times Retirees benefited whether the work was a full- or part-time job, self-employment or temporary. Doctors have long known that staying active during the older ...See a

Young Americans Say They Need Millions to Retire
Reuters... Than Men" "Women Plan to Save About Same Amount as Men for Retirement" Online Calculators Offer Learning Opportunities How long will you live? .

Here are three retirement quotes to help place retirement in proper perspective:

For a happy day, look for something bright and beautiful in nature. Listen for a beautiful sound, speak a kind word to some person, and do something nice for someone without their knowledge.
— Unknown 85-year-old Wise Retired Person

When the majority of people get my age, once they retire and get Social Security they lay on the couch and do nothing. The next thing you know, they're not with us any more.
— 77-year-old Retiree August Gonsoulin

Retirees have two choices: choose the couch — or choose life.
— Jane McBride

Check out:

Retirement Gifts Café

Fun Things to Do in Retirement

Retirement Jobs

Friendship Poems & Quotes

Love Quotes for Retirees

The Get-a-Life Tree: A Great Retirement Planning Tool!

Here is an e-mail that I received about The Get-a-Life Tree (a variation of this retirement tool is depicted in the above image) featured in The World's Best Retirement Book:

----- Original Message -----
From: Gene Schoch
To: vip (dash) books ( at )telus ( dot) net
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 9:17 AM
Subject: Question from a fan


Hello Mr. Zelinski,

Gene Schoch here in WA state, USA. Both my wife and I are happily retired Registered Nurses and I am also a Retired US Army LTC. I have two of your books, The Joy of Not Working and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

I have read these books and recommended them to friends. Maybe it is because I was a nurse for so many years that I find the need to help people to cope with the change in their life from working and having their life controlled by someone else to being as you describe it "Happy, Wild and Free".

One ot the things that I find particularly helpful from your books is the "GET-A-LIFE TREE". My question to you is this: Have you published a small booklet containing your Get-a Life Tree philosophy? If so I would like to purchase some and give them to friends and family members to help them to become acquainted with your books, but also to help them to understand what retirement for them is all about.

I refer to myself on my calling cards as a LEISURE CONSULTANT, which usually gets people started laughing, then they always ask me "What is a Leisure Consultant?" It would be very helpful for me to be able to hand them a small booklet about your Get-a Life Tree to get them started thinking in the right direction. Thank you for your great service and advice, I am sure that you have had a positive affect on the lives of many people, myself included.

Regards,

Eugene Schoch US Army LTC,
Peshastin, WA 98847

This was my reply to Gene:

Hello Gene:

Thank you for your e-mail about How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Barnes and Noble.

First, regarding your comments about the Get-a-Life Tree, you are one of several people to have mentioned how useful it is.

I agree that I might try to put something together as a small booklet, but there is the problem of distribution, etc. I will have to think about this given the number of people who comment about the Get-a-Life Tree.

In the mean time I am busy creating a little gift book that I hope to get published in color by my favorite publisher Workman Publishing (since Ten Speed Press got sold to Random House). If not, I will publish it myself but in black and white.

It is called The Joy of Being Retired with the subtitle 365 Reasons Why Retirement Rocks (and Work Doesn't).

If you have a spare moment, it would be a great help to me if you could post a 5-star review of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com and let other potential readers know why you liked it.

It's not necessary to write a lengthy, formal review — a summary of the comments that you sent me would be fine, particularly mentioning the Get-a-Life Tree.

If you place these reviews, I will send you an autographed copy of my latest book: Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations. (See attached image and E-book with half the book.) This is not strictly a retirement book but it is a great book for retirees who want to continue working, but not in a corporation.

Alternatively, I can send you a copy of my second latest book called 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgettingby
VIP BOOKS. (See sample pages in the attached E-book)

Once you place the review, send me your address so that I can send you one of my other books.

I will also send you an E-book in PDF format with about 50 samples pages from The Joy of Being Retired.

Thanks a million and so long for now.

Ernie Zelinski

Check out these resources:

Friendship Poems & Quotes on Squidoo

Viral Marketing for Your Book

Marketing Books - Sell Them What They Want and Not What They Need

I recently received this e-mail:

----- Original Message -----
From: Therese Von Holstein
To: Ernie Zelinski
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 4:40 AM
Subject: [Fwd: I almost got to meet you!]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject:
I almost got to meet you!
Date:
Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:12:51 +0200
From:
Therese Von Holstein

Hello again Ernie, wishing you well! As I have not heard from you I am wondering if you cannot offer to publish my book in Canada or give me some info on the subject - prices , time etc. Did you get a chance to check out my web page: www.HelloWild.com -? Is there any information you could give concerning placing my book on the Canadian /north American market. My book is just sitting there and I have spent 4 years getting it up to par. It can help a lot of people and our planet, and those who have read it have given it many compliments. I do hope to hear from you.

Best

Thérèse

This was my reply:

Hello Thérèse

First, I don't publish anyone else's books but my own, for many reasons which I will not get into.

I have just had to find a new distributor (National Book Network) myself and it was not easy. Previously, Ten Speed Press distributed my books in the U.S. and other parts of the world through their network. But Random House purchased Ten Speed Press and immediately canceled the distributions Agreements, wanting to take over my books in an author / publisher relationship. I told Random House to take a hike and I am glad I did, give all the problems I have had with Random House since then including late payments, unaccountability, and stupidity.

I quickly looked at your website. The website looks great.

But, this is not what sells books. In fact, two of the top internet marketing gurus in the world state that ugly websites make much more money than professional looking websites. I won't elaborate because I don't have time.

One of the top internet marketing gurus is Tom Antion. Look at his main website. http://www.tomantion.com/ .

Not very professional, wouldn't you say. Yet Antion says that his $100 websites will outsell the million-dollar websites every day of the year.

I also question the book you are selling on your website. Yes, it's probably a great book and people may "need" it if they want a greener world. But people don't buy what they need. They buy what they "want."

Here is one of Tom Antion's websites on which he makes about $40,000 a year selling an e-book.

http://www.wedding-speeches.org/

Notice that this is not a great looking website. But as Tom Antion says, this $100 website will outsell all the milllion-dollar websites every day of the year.
The reason is that he is selling people what people want.

Here is another website where a woman is selling people what they want, (a book people think they need). It even has a bit of the "Green" aspect.

http://www.slickmove.net/

For the woman's success story and a problem that she has go to this link. (Also read my comment).

http://www.weberbooks.com/2009/10/q-should-i-sell-electronic-rights-to-my.html

If you still think that people "want" your book, then you have to take 100 percent responsibility - 99 percent won't do - for marketing it and getting a distributor. Don't make excuses and don't expect anyone to do if for you!

For effective book marketing, do most of it yourself with websites and the things that successful authors do.

Spend a lot of money on education and seminars relating to book publishing and book marketing so that you learn what is important.As successful as I have been, I am still spending over $1,000 to attend Author 101 University in Las Vegas on Oct 30 and Oct 31 with my new friend Oliver Luke from Vernon.If you want to truly learn marketing, learn from the people who are truly successful. As Jack Canfield says, "Results don't lie!"See Author 101 University at this link http://www.blogger.com/

Note that Tom Antion is one of the speakers. He is quite arrogant but I like this guy a lot because I know that creative people of this world are often arrogant and produce results.See my blog post about one of Oliver's and my goals from taking this seminar.
http://www.redroom.com/blog/ernie-j-zelinski/the-blue-porsche-boxster-challenge-the-race-is-on

So long for now,

Ernie Zelinski
Author, Innovator, and Unconventional Career Expert
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 110,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)
http://www.erniezelinski.com/


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